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Indoeuropean Expressions

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35 messages over 5 pages: 1 2 3 4
Alfonso
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 Message 33 of 35
15 April 2006 at 3:35pm | IP Logged 
Raistlin Majere wrote:
The adjective "poor", in Indoeuropean tongues, means "deprived of possessions", but it can also describe a feeling of simpathy towards somebody. "Poor you!" doesn't mean you've got no money.


I'm not quite sure this is exclusive for Indoeuropean languages. In Maya-Tsotsil the term abol sba has also both senses: someone who is got out of money and it also connotes a feeling of sympathy towards someone.

Edited by Alfonso on 15 April 2006 at 3:41pm

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Iversen
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 Message 34 of 35
25 July 2006 at 9:00am | IP Logged 
Raistlin Majere wrote:
Jag går och sovar: Me'n vaig a dormir I'm going to sleep


I am a little surprised that Raistlin Majere who has Catalan as one of his native languages mentions the construction "vaig a dormir" (with the usual future meaning) without pointing to the quite astonishing "pretèrit perifrastic" "vaig dormir, meaning "I have (already) slept" (almost the same as "he dormit"). I don't know Catalan well enough to know exactly where to use it and where to use the ordinary composed form, which is called "pretèrit indefinit", but it is one of the most idiosyncratic elements in Catalan.

I have found this link to a description of the construction: www.clas.ufl.edu/users/vilamala/Cat1_docs/UNITAT8.pdf



Edited by Iversen on 18 September 2006 at 8:13am

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Iversen
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 Message 35 of 35
25 July 2006 at 2:41pm | IP Logged 
Steve wrote:
Interestingly, it seems as if that form is acceptable in Norwegian.

"Jeg går og sover" or "Jeg går for å sove", I have been informed, are both common ways of saying "I'm going to sleep."

I wonder if this form is acceptable in Danish?

Edit: Typo


About the situation in Danish: no, there is no near future with "gå (walk). "Jeg går og sover" can only refer to sleepwalking, "Jeg går for at sove"* is not correct, but you could say "Jeg går hen og lægger mig" or "Jeg går hen at sove", where "gå in both cases has kept its original sense of movement.

Notice the little word "hen", which is an adverbial implying direction. It is necessary in this context because you have to go somewhere in order to lie down or sleep, whereas you can say "jeg går og går (I walk and walk) without "hen" because there is no direction.

But that was a digression. More relevant to the present discussion is the other construction involving "to come": "Det her kommer til at gøre ondt" (this will [very soon] hurt). I have seen something like it in Swedish (something like "kommer att göra ont"), and it's probably also possible in Norwegian. It's the kind of thing you might hear from your Danish dentist, and it is the nearest thing to a near future in the Scandinavian languages.


EDIT: I just found one correct interpretation of "Jeg går for at sove": people who cannot fall asleep might walk and walk to get tired enough to fall asleep. Such a person could say "Jeg går (lange ture) for at sove" , but that's not a near future, but a parallel to "Jeg spiser piller for at sove" (I eat sleeping pills in order to sleep).



Edited by Iversen on 02 November 2006 at 10:08am



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