Several constructions in Italian use the verb fare (‘do’, ‘make’). Two of these constructions look very similar on the surface but syntactically they behave in very different ways. A short book Fare: Elementi di sintassi, by Nunzio La Fauci and Ignazio M Mirto (2003) analyses them. Here are 2 examples: (1) Adamo fa il medicoAdam…… Continue reading Doing work and playing roles in Italian
Tag: Reflexive
So-Called “Pronouns” in English
Pronouns include forms such as I, we, you, he, she, it, they, as well as their inflected forms such as me, him, her, them and reflexives, such as myself, yourself. It is traditional to think of pronouns as replacing phrases containing a noun (noun phrases). For example, consider sentence (1) I ate the red apple.…… Continue reading So-Called “Pronouns” in English
Scandinavian language challenge day 27
Today I worked through chapter 8 of Norwegian in three months, covering: future tensereflexive verbsrelative pronounmore about comparisonsco-ordinating conjunctionsother words Future tense Ways of talking about the future: with the present tense of the main verb:Kommer di i morgen? (Are you coming tomorrow?)Noen mennesker tviler på at flyplassen noen gang blir ferdig(some people doubt that the…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 27
Scandinavian language challenge day 25
Today I worked through chapter 8 of Danish in three months, covering: reflexive pronounscommon adverbsconjunctionsother words Reflexive pronouns The normal object forms of the pronoun (see day 7) are also used for myself, yourself etc, but the form sig is used for himself / herself / themselves: jeg skærer mig (I cut myself)han / hun /…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 25
Scandinavian language challenge day 23
Today I worked through chapter 7 of Swedish in three months, covering: present participlepossessive pronoun: reflexivefuture tenseconditionalother words Present participle The present participle is formed by adding the suffix -ende (-nde for verbs with an infinitive ending in -a). Used as an adjective or adverb, the present participle is indeclinable. en fängslande film (a fascinating film)en…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 23
Scandinavian language challenge day 14
Today I worked through chapter 4 of Swedish in three months, covering: weak and strong verbsimperfect tense of weak and irregular verbsreflexive verbsadjectives: definitive formspolite requestsword order: adverbsother words Weak and strong verbs As in other Germanic languages, weak verbs form their past tenses by adding a suffix and strong verbs form them by changing a…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 14
The Scandinavian languages
The Scandinavian Languages are members of the Germanic family within the broader family of Indo-European languages. The ancestral language, North Germanic (Common Scandinavian), began to divide from the Germanic group around 500-800 CE and then to split into East Scandinavian (the Kingdom of Denmark, the southern two thirds of Sweden and adjacent parts of Norway)…… Continue reading The Scandinavian languages