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Beauty of Spanish verbs | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Gon-no-suke Triglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6425 days ago 156 posts - 191 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, Japanese, EnglishC2 Studies: Korean, Malay, Swahili | Message 9 of 12 17 April 2012 at 2:27pm | IP Logged | ||
Swahili 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5421 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 10 of 12 20 April 2012 at 2:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think we are confusing two separate issues here. Firstly, there is the question of the complexity of the verb system. Spanish and French, as well as other languages of course, have complex verb morphologies that we call conjugations. English on the other hand has a very simple verb morphology system. For example, English verb morphology does not make the distinction between the formal and informal "you" that you find in French and Spanish. Now, one could point out that peninsular Spanish makes a distinction between TU, VOSOTROS, USTED and USTEDED whereas French distinguishes simply between TU and VOUS.
But the second issue that is completely separate is how the languages can make the same distinctions using various grammatical or even phonological devices. So, something that may be conveyed in French or Spanish by a verb form will be rendered in English by some combination of verb and something else. Just think of something like the subjunctive mood that is widely used in French and even more so in Spanish whereas it barely exists in English. What exactly does the subjunctive do in French or Spanish? Not much really other than make life miserable for native and foreign learners alike. It is a actually a very complex system that is nothing more than a set of purely grammatical constraints, i.e. after certain words the subjunctive is necessary. Most of the time, it conveys no specific meaning. So, it is basically useless. English hardly uses the subjunctive. Is this a disadvantage compared to French or Spanish? Not at all. French and Spanish may have far more complex verb systems than English, but that does not make these languages more capable of making finer distinctions. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| onurdolar Diglot Groupie TurkeyRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4643 days ago 98 posts - 147 votes Speaks: Turkish*, English Studies: Italian, German | Message 11 of 12 20 April 2012 at 3:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well Turkish as an agglutinative language has similar richness for example
sevdim = i loved sevdi = he/she/it loved sevdin = you loved sevildim = i was loved ( by someone else ) sevildi = he/she/it was loved sevildin = you were loved severdin = you would love ( he/she/it ) sevseydin = if you loved sevebilseydin = if you could have loved sevmedim = i did not love sevmiyordum = i was not loving ( he/she/it ) sevemedim = i could not love sevdin mi ? = did you love? sevmek mi? = is it loving ? sevildiğini = ... that you were loved ( sevdiğini bilseydin = if you know you were loved) if i was to continue this list i think i could come up with 100 or so different options 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4835 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 12 of 12 20 April 2012 at 5:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you think Spanish and the other Romance languages have a rich and elegant verbal system, check out Ancient Greek and Sanskrit! You will have the opportunity to get to know the optative, the medio-passive, and countless participal forms. Not to mention the dual and the aorist. Spanish? Ha! ;) Edited by Josquin on 20 April 2012 at 5:10pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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