Sunday, March 14, 2010
No verb of movement after modal verbs
There is something that German, Dutch, Czech, Polish and Romanian allow, which I haven't encountered in other languages: it is possible to leave out the verb to go after verbs like must, can, want. In German: Ich will zur Mami (gehen), in Dutch Ik wil naar mama (gaan), in Czech Chci (jít) k mámě, in Polish Chcę (iść) do mamy, in Romanian Vreau (să mă duc) la mami. The verb to go is in parentheses, all meaning I want to go to where my mom is or I want my mom.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Interesting indeed!
I am an English teacher and found your blog very stimulating.
If you like poetry, please leave a comment at
www.insidelookingin.blogspot.com
I would love a visit!
Do you happen to know why w and y are considered consonants in English? I find that extremely intriguing, but haven't been able to find an answer yet.
As a teacher, I have difficulty in explaining to students why the words umbrella and university, for instance, require different forms of the indefinite article (an umbrella / a university), precisely because the first sound of university is y. They assume y is a vowel and I can't explain to them why it isn't!
You could try telling them that, for article purposes, w and y are always consonants. As far as the u is concerned, note that the phonetic symbol for words like university is ju:, and the j is a consonant. This ju: sound can also be spelled eu (as in European), yu (as in Yule) and hu (as some people's pronunciation of human).
True. Thank you! I do tell them that. The problem is that I also teach them Portuguese phonetics (first) and in Portuguese j is a vowel (as is [paj] - father). This is what confuses them!
Post a Comment