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.
Interesting indeed!
ReplyDeleteI am an English teacher and found your blog very stimulating.
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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.
ReplyDeleteAs 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).
ReplyDeleteTrue. 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!
ReplyDelete