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Is the verb "to be" irregular in your... | ||
Tags: Verbs/Conjugation | Multilingual | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| matthewmathieu Newbie United States Joined 5121 days ago 14 posts - 19 votes | Message 1 of 41 09 March 2011 at 6:33am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello, forum browsers, I am very interested to know more about the verb "to be" in your native language. In all of the European languages I am familiar with, it is an irregular verb (English, Spanish, French, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Icelandic). In some languages, such as Russian, it is completely absent in the present tense, but appears in the past or future. My question is: does "to be" have irregular conjugation in your native language, or in languages you've studied? Or does it disappear to some extent, like in Russian? In what languages is "to be" conjugated regularly, and would those languages form the clear minority (of the relatively well-known languages, that is)? Does anyone have experience with languages of smaller indigenous communities, and if so are any of their languages' verbs for "to be" also irregular? This question pertains to research I am doing for graduate school, and I thank you in advance for your response! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 2 of 41 09 March 2011 at 6:44am | IP Logged | ||
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In none of the natural languages that I have knowledge of is the verb "to be" completely regular, not even in
Swahili or Japanese where there are only a handful of irregular verbs (Swahili has two irregulars and Japanese has three, I think). Note that I said natural languages though, because the verb "to be" in Esperanto (esti) is completely regular, but as Esperanto is a constructed language and designed to be regular, I don't think it counts. Edited by ellasevia on 09 March 2011 at 8:08am 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Raчraч Ŋuɲa Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 5819 days ago 154 posts - 233 votes Speaks: Bikol languages*, Tagalog, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, Russian, Japanese | Message 3 of 41 09 March 2011 at 7:09am | IP Logged | ||
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Both Tagalog and Bikol do not possess the verb "to be". I think most Austronesian languages don't have a copula, like Maori or Tongan. Malay seems to be an exception as the two copulas there does not conjugate. I think Mandarin has an invariable copula too. Edited by Raчraч Ŋuɲa on 09 March 2011 at 7:16am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jdmoncada Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5035 days ago 470 posts - 741 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Finnish Studies: Russian, Japanese | Message 4 of 41 09 March 2011 at 7:24am | IP Logged | ||
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From my experience, the verbs that are the most irregular are the ones that are most often used. So following that logic, "to be" would be very irregular in all languages, no matter which language family of origin.
I would honestly be surprised if you found a natural language anywhere in which it was regular. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5336 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 5 of 41 09 March 2011 at 7:44am | IP Logged | ||
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What about creoles?
As far as I know, all verbs in Papiamentu are regular, in fact they're not conjugated at all: Mi ta - I am Bo ta - you are É ta - he/she/it is Nos ta - we are Bosnang ta - you (plural) are Nan ta - they are Edited by ReneeMona on 09 March 2011 at 8:09am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| zekecoma Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5345 days ago 561 posts - 655 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 6 of 41 09 March 2011 at 2:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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German is irregular
Ich bin - I am Du bist / Sie sind - You are Er, Sie, Es - He, She, It Wir sind - We are Ihr seid - You (plural) are sie sind - They are It all depends on the case really. These are for the nominative case. Edited by zekecoma on 09 March 2011 at 2:05pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5335 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 7 of 41 09 March 2011 at 2:30pm | IP Logged | ||
But is it regular also when compared to the infinitive? In Norwegian we do not have conjugations either, but "to be" would still be considered an irregular verb, since the infinitiv is "å være" and the present is "er". Å være Jeg er Du er Han er Vi er Dere er De er To campare it to a regular verb vi have Å lære Jeg lærer Du lærer Han lærer Vi lærer Dere lører De lærer 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5336 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 8 of 41 09 March 2011 at 2:37pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, because the infinitive is also "ta". :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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