I love English

[paulcs]

By the way, I wasn't talking about message boards in my post about the absence of salutations in Internet correspondence. I was thinking more of E-mail.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Jorden]

At least you got almost a year to think about that answer, Paul

[paulcs]

Better late than never.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Himself]

I like English because it is brief when spoken and written, it fits nicely in dialog boxes and you don't spend 10 minutes when ordering a steak. Systematic and organized it's not, it's a step up from grunts and snorts basically.

I don't think most people appreciate just how different languages are, how they shape the way you think. You have the politically correct French with his and hers qualifiers, the bizzare Spanish varients on that with the concept of a neuter, the robotic German with it's preciseness, etc.

Note: I don't know a damn thing about languages, I'm probably totally incorrect about everything, I'm just going by what I'm read or been told. Except for French, I was forced to take that in school for years, but I can proudly say I didn't learn anything.
If someone came out with a truly systematic and universal standard language, I probably wouldn't learn that either.

[Jorden]

You should've been taught Dutch all, at one time. Easy to understand, difficult to pronounce

Btw, I can order a steak at any restaurant in under 10 minutes. Just figure out what Beef is in the language and point at it to the waiter

The BSE is free, right?

Jord.

------------------
- When you earnestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by doubling your efforts, there's no end to what you can't do" -Despair.com-

[paulcs]

Spanish has two genders; German has three.

English, in an enormous burst of commerce and creativity, was streamlined and rationalized during the Elizabethan era. All vestiges of gender were purged. Almost all cases were eliminated (to the extent that many native English speakers don't know what a case is). Spelling and syntax were conventionalized. Penmanship seemed to improve as well.

Of course, it's not the most phonetic language on the planet. There sometimes seems to be more exceptions to its spelling rules than there are rules. Pronunciation is a problem as well: 26 letters and almost twice as many distinct sounds. It's an *extremely* large language. There are just an enormous number of words and a phenomenal number of synonyms -- all with their own nuances of meaning.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 12 January 2001).]

[Admiral]

We have three genders and five cases.

[Jorden]

Andrei: It, he and she I can follow.
But what are the 5 cases then?
Please try in your own Romanian language

[Admiral]

Nominativ
Acuzativ
Genitiv
Dativ
Vocativ

Say Paulcs, why do you say you don't have cases anymore ? you still have the genitive, no ?



[This message has been edited by Admiral (edited 12 January 2001).]

[DuRaNgO]

I thought it was "forumses"?

[paulcs]

I know of three cases:

nominative (subjective - I, you, he, she, they, we, who, and it)
accusative (objective - me, you, him, her, them, us, whom, and it)
possessive (my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, their, theirs, our, ours, whose and its)

I can't think of anything else.

Japanese, I've read, has nearly 200.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[paulcs]

I had to download a Greek tutorial to figure out what the genetive case was.

Andrei, from what I understand, the genetive case is generally translated into English with a prepositional phrase starting with the word "of" (as in "the vengeance of the Lord").

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 12 January 2001).]

[paulcs]

The vocative case in American English:

HEY YOU! (as in, "HEY YOU! YES YOU! BITE ME!")

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 12 January 2001).]

[Wulfman]

Gisteren begroette ik een Groninger in Scheveningen, vlak voordat hij in een kuil op het Scheveningse strand viel, gegraven door ene inwoner van 's Hertogenbosch

have to guess:

I greeted a Groninger in Scheveningen yesterday ...err...Scheveningse beach ....uh... hertogenbosch (a place? I'm sure I saw this word somewhere in Amsterdam...)

btw: ß (this is not a B)
mfg
wulfman

[edit]typo's

[This message has been edited by Wulfman (edited 12 January 2001).]

[Admiral]

Here's how things are by us:

First of the gender explanation (it will help me with the genitiv questions). Masculine, feminine and neutral. Unlike the germans who get it from der, die and das we get it by how the singular and plural form of the noun sounds.
masculin: cal (horse): un cal, doi cai (one horse, two horses)

feminin: casã (house): o casã, douã case (one house, two houses)

neutru: televizor (TV): un televizor, douã televizoare (one TV, two TVs). The neutral noun gets it's singular form from the masculine and its plural form from the feminine.


The cases:

Nominativ: Eu merg (I walk). Answers to the question "cine ?" (who ?). "Cine merge ?", Who walks ?, well, I walk, so the one that does the action is in nominativ. In this case "eu" (I) is in nominativ.

Acuzativ: L-am vãzut pe Jorden (I saw Jorden). Answers to the questions "pe cine ?" (whom ?, if it's a person we're talking about) and "ce ?" (what ?, if we're talking about a thing). In this case we're talking about a person, Jorden, so we'll ask "pe cine am vãzut ?" (Whom did I see ?).
"pe Jorden" is in acuzativ.

Genitiv: Cartea este a mea (The book is mine). Answers to the questions "al cui ?", "a cui ?", "ai cui ?", "ale cui ?" (whoes ?, for masculine and feminine, singular and plural. For a neutral noun you ask "al cui?" for one object and "ale cui ?" for more objects,).
In this example you ask "a cui este cartea ?" (whoes book is this ?). The answer is "Cartea este a mea" (the book is mine), so
"cartea" (the book) is in genitiv.
You'll always know you have genitive due to "a, al, ale, ai", wich are called "articole genitivale".

Dativ: I-am trimis un mesaj lui Jorden (I sent a message to Jorden). Answers to the question "cui ?" (to whom ?). "Cui i-am trimis un mesaj ?" (To whom I sent a message ?). "Lui Jorden" (to Jorden), in this case "lui Jorden" is in dativ.

Vocativ: Andrei, scoalã-te ! (Andrei, wake up !). In this case Andrei is in vocativ. So, the person beeing shouted at is in vocativ



[This message has been edited by Admiral (edited 13 January 2001).]