Posted Jul 25, 2014, 7:45 PM UTC
You are just jealous of how awesome Spanish is. No irregular verbs, no double negations, no dialectal variation...
Tienes toda la razón en lo que dices. Eso en español no pasa nunca. Por eso es tan chévere, chido, bacano, guay, padre, copado, chulo.
Bien dicho, amigo.
Not sure if tienes is best labeled an "irregular" form. That stress-driven e/ie alternation is rather widespread in Spanish verbal paradigms, so much that I'd at least call it subregular instead of flat-out irregular. (Of course, tengo is not very regular...)
Agreed. At a certain point if an irregularity is common enough it becomes a regularity. I think the traditional school definition I was taught for regular verbs in Spanish is that only the -ar, -er, -ir endings change in the different conjugations.
And you can't just say whatever you feel like!! God, those black people speaking English like that. English is awful and has no rules, lol.
Yep, because stem-changing verbs AREN'T irregular?
[deleted]
They were being entirely sarcastic.
as some accents have a hard time understanding between them
Then they are speaking bad Spanish.
Big ole whoosh
Super good translation of the linked comment:
Cuando yo daba clases de inglés me di cuenta que el principal problema para los mexicanos es la estructura.
When I taught English classes I realized that the main problem for Mexicans is the structure.
El español es un derivado del latín, nuestro idioma tiene dos estructuras: Sujeto y predicado. Toda frase necesita ambos elementos para tener sentido, aunque sea implícito todo predicado debe pertenecer a un sujeto. También tienes adverbios que varían según la intención de la frase y en general es un lenguaje mucho, mucho más complejo gramaticalmente que el inglés.
Spanish is a derivative of Latin. Our language has two structures: subject and predicate. All sentences need both elements to make sense. Even when it's implied, all predicates must belong to a subject. You also have adverbs which vary according to the intent of the sentence and in general it's a language much, much more grammatically complex than English.
El inglés es una lengua germánica y su estructura se concentra específicamente en el verbo. Es un idioma extremadamente primitivo, al grado en que decir "be" o "do" es una frase gramaticalmente correcta. Si en español solo dijeras "ser" o "haz", no estarías diciendo una frase completa. Entonces yo le decía a mis alumnos que no trataran de "traducir" en su cabeza, que es lo que más hacen. Es difícil porque tienes que aprender una estructura gramatical completamente diferente. Es más sencillo aprender otros idiomas derivados del latín como el Francés, Italiano o Portugués que el Inglés. Aunque si ya dominas inglés es fácil aprender otras lenguas germánicas como el Sueco o el Alemán.
English is a Germanic tongue and its structure is concentrated specifically in the verb. It's an extremely primitive language, so much so that saying "be" or "do" is a completely grammatically correct sentence. If in Spanish you just said "ser" or "do", you would not be saying a complete sentence. Therefore I would tell my students to not try to "translate" in their heads, which is what they tend to do most. It's difficult because you have to learn a completely different grammatical structure. It's much simpler to learn other languages derived from Latin, such as French, Italian, or Portuguese, than English. Although, if you have already mastered English it is easy to learn other Germanic tongues like Swedish or German.
El inglés es súper fácil cuando consideras que en su mayoría es un idioma "inventado", hasta suena como de broma "ring" es una palabra, pero es una onomatopeya. Apple se pronuncia como se lee, pero en Airplane la "A" suena como "e" y esas pronunciaciones no tienen ninguna razón de ser más que el hecho de que así es. Los verbos irregulares son una lista finita que nadie puede explicar por qué se dice "read" y no "readed". Es pura costumbre.
English is super easy when you consider that it's mostly an "invented" language, it even sounds like a joke in that "ring" is a word, but it is an onomatopoeia. "Apple" is pronounced the way it is written, but the A in "airplane" sounds like "e" [Spanish e] and those pronunciations have no reason to be that way besides the fact that they just are. Irregular verbs make up a finite list in which no one can explain why you say "read" but not "readed". It is purely a matter of custom.
Esa misma falta de sentido es lo que permite que se deforme en extremo el lenguaje y tengas abominaciones gramaticales que eventualmente se vuelven parte del léxico popular, porque la verdad puedes pronunciar las cosas como tu quieras y en el orden que tu quieras. Cómo un rapero diciendo "I ain't no nigga". Tienes una doble negación, con una contracción y pues, no pasa nada. Se entiende bien qué quiere decir.
That same lack of sense is what allows for extreme deformation of the language, which is why you get grammatical abominations that eventually become part of popular usage, because really you can pronounce things however you want, in whatever order you want. Like a rapper saying "I ain't no nigga". You have double negation, a contraction, and well, nothing even happens. What you mean is understood.
Irregular verbs make up a finite list in which no one can explain why you say "read" but not "readed". It is purely a matter of custom.
Um... Yes. Yes you can. You can explain that so easily.
I feel like you can give the "no one can explain this" attitude towards all irregularities, which there are in Spanish as well.
Oh, definitely. It's just as a student of German, the past tense of strong verbs is such an easy thing to explain that his insistence towards it being unexplainable is just comical.
it even sounds like a joke "ring" is a word, but it's an onomatopoeia.
Also with this... I really hope he never encounters Japanese, where it seems like half of the words in the language are onomatopoeia.
Also, it's plain wrong. ring is the normal continuation of an -eye- derivate of PIE *kreg-, and a direct cognate to Lithuanian krañkti (caw). The same root is also the base of Albanian vring (swoosh). Neither of those look like onomatopoeia to me, especially considering their meanings.
And actually, I wouldn't say many of the ablauting verb paradigms are still transparent in modern German. I'm obviously biased (kind of native speaker), but if you only have the synchrony, those must look downright irregular.
Spanish has no irregular verbs, they are just different. Calling them irregular is offensive.
ir --> voy? ser --> es? totally regular
no one can explain
I'm not saying it's aliens...
Tides go in, tides go out. You can't explain that.
You see how 3 or 4 of us got very good translations in a very short time? That's because we were taking Spanish and translating into much more primitive English. /s
One of my favorite comments about Spanish came from a Latino who told me, "Latinos make better lovers because they speak Spanish, which is a romantic language."
He does have a point. Spanish is a romantic language.
and Latinos make better lovers
unfortunately, the two are unrelated
Wow, I can read and understand Spanish almost perfectly. I did not expect that. I guess Spanish and French are more simillar than I thought? Neat.
It's because they're both so high-level and well-structured, unlike e.g. English. I hear English speakers are accustomed to such primitive speech that they actually need to take special classes before they even understand Spanish.
Aaah, I bet they even start learning grammar before high school, because their brains are developed enough for it earlier.
If you know a bit of French, it helps a huge amount, especially when the topic is such that they use a lot of words that have been loaned into English or are also present in French.
I can't really speak French to save my life, nor can I read or write in everyday French, but I can read a linguistics text in French just fine (I've had to do so for projects on African languages where most of the descriptive grammars are in French).
Hail to our pro-drop overlords! Only through them can we move away from our primitive language of grunts.
Now if you'll excuse me, I must return to dropping personal pronouns like a pro.
Hailour pro-drop overlords! Only throughthem canwe move away fromour primitive lanuage of grunts.
Now ifyou excuseme, mustI return to dropping personal pronouns like a pro.
FTFY.
Translated(warning: non native spanish speaker here): When I took English classes they told me that the problem for Mexicans is the structure.
Spanish is derived from Latin, our language has two structures: subject and predicate. Every phrase needs both elements to make sense, even if it's implicit, every predicate should belong to a subject. Also you have adverbs that vary according to the intent of the sentence and in general it's a much much, more grammatically complete language than English.
English is a Germanic language and its structure is concentrated specifically on the verb. It's an extremely primitive language, to the degree that "be" or "do" is a grammatically correct sentence. If in Spanish you only said "haz" or "ser," you wouldn't be saying a complete sentence.
So I told my classmates to not try to "translate" en their heads, that's what most people do. It's difficult because you have to learn a completely different grammatical structure. It's more simple to learn other Latin based languages like French, Italian or Portuguese than English. Although if you master English, it's easy to learn other Germanic languages like Swedish and German.
English is super easy when you consider it's mostly an "invented" language, it even sounds like a joke "ring" is a word, but it's an onomatopoeia. Apple is pronounced like it reads, but in Airplane the "A" sounds like an "e" and those pronunciations don't have any reason other than that's just the way it is. Irregular verbs are a finite list that nobody can explain why they say "read" and not "readed." It's pure custom.
That same lack of sense is what permits the language to deform in the extreme and you have grammatical abominations that eventually become part of the popular lexicon, because really you can pronounce things how you want and in the order you want. Like a rapper said, "I ain't no nigga." You have a double negation, with a contradiction and well, nothing happens. They understand what you want to say just fine.
I don't do a lot of translation, so I welcome a more bilingual person to correct me!
Took so long to make the translation that everyone seems to have beaten me to it, lol.
I may not have written mine if I knew so many people were going to translate it, lmao. If you want, you can read mine to compare. I am very confident in my translation. Most of the translations are roughly the same, though.
I did the same man. Checked the thread again to make sure that no one else had beat me to it, and then my heart broke.
Quick corrections though, not to be a dick, but just incase you'd like to know a few things you missed.
Cuando yo daba clases de inglés
When I taught English classes.
Cómo un rapero diciendo "I ain't no nigga"
For example, a rapper saying "I ain't no nigga"
[deleted]
Anyone care to translate it for us non-spanish speakers?
It might be hard since English is so much more primitive than Spanish. I don't know if all the concepts will transfer. I'll do my best though.
Cuando yo daba clases de inglés me di cuenta que el principal problema para los mexicanos es la estructura.
Me give class! Teach English! Hard! Mexicans have problem! Me think, structure!
El español es un derivado del latín, nuestro idioma tiene dos estructuras: Sujeto y predicado. Toda frase necesita ambos elementos para tener sentido, aunque sea implícito todo predicado debe pertenecer a un sujeto. También tienes adverbios que varían según la intención de la frase y en general es un lenguaje mucho, mucho más complejo gramaticalmente que el inglés.
Old old Spanish, Latin! Spanish, two way! Subject! Predicate! All sentence, subject, predicate! All predicate, subject! No subject, bad! No understand. Adverbs! Spanish complex! English simple!
El inglés es una lengua germánica y su estructura se concentra específicamente en el verbo. Es un idioma extremadamente primitivo, al grado en que decir "be" o "do" es una frase gramaticalmente correcta. Si en español solo dijeras "ser" o "haz", no estarías diciendo una frase completa.
English! Germanic! Verb important! Primitive language. PRIMITIVE! Be, do, say! Spanish, not say!
Entonces yo le decía a mis alumnos que no trataran de "traducir" en su cabeza, que es lo que más hacen. Es difícil porque tienes que aprender una estructura gramatical completamente diferente. Es más sencillo aprender otros idiomas derivados del latín como el Francés, Italiano o Portugués que el Inglés. Aunque si ya dominas inglés es fácil aprender otras lenguas germánicas como el Sueco o el Alemán.
Me say student, no translate! Learn new grammar. Hard! Learn French, Italian, Portuguese. Easy! Know English, learn Swedish, German! Easy!
El inglés es súper fácil cuando consideras que en su mayoría es un idioma "inventado", hasta suena como de broma "ring" es una palabra, pero es una onomatopeya. Apple se pronuncia como se lee, pero en Airplane la "A" suena como "e" y esas pronunciaciones no tienen ninguna razón de ser más que el hecho de que así es. Los verbos irregulares son una lista finita que nadie puede explicar por qué se dice "read" y no "readed". Es pura costumbre.
You know English not real language! Now easy! EASY! Funny word. Ring! Ha ha! Funny. Letter confusing! Confusing! No reason. Verbs crazy. No understand. Just accept. No explain.
Esa misma falta de sentido es lo que permite que se deforme en extremo el lenguaje y tengas abominaciones gramaticales que eventualmente se vuelven parte del léxico popular, porque la verdad puedes pronunciar las cosas como tu quieras y en el orden que tu quieras. Cómo un rapero diciendo "I ain't no nigga". Tienes una doble negación, con una contracción y pues, no pasa nada. Se entiende bien qué quiere decir.
Not real language. Invent new bad word easy! Say any way, easy! Not important. Understand! Rapper! Double negation!
My head don't not hurts even trying comprehend complexity Spanish.
When I gave English classes I realised that the main problem for Mexicans is structure.
Spanish is derived from Latin, our language has two structures: subject and predicate. The whole sentence needs both elements to make sense, although it is implicit that every predicate must pertain to a subject. You also have adverbs which vary according to the intention of the sentence and generally it is a much, much more grammatically complex language than English.
English is a Germanic language and its structure focuses specifically on the verb. It is an extremely primitive language, to the point where saying “be” or “do” is a grammatically correct sentence. If you said “ser” or “haz” in Spanish, you wouldn’t be saying a full sentence.
So I used to tell my students to not try to “translate” in their heads, which is what they would do. It’s difficult because you must learn a totally different grammatical structure. It’s simpler to understand other Latin-derived languages like French, Italian, or Portuguese than English. Although if you have already mastered English it’s easier to learn other Germanic languages like Swedish or German.
English is really easy when you consider that it is, for the most part, an “invented” language. Even “ring” is a word, though it may sound like a joke, as it is onomatopoeia. Apple is pronounced as it reads, but in Airplane the “A” sounds like “e” and those pronunciations have no more reason than “that’s how it is”. Irregular verbs are a finite (might have meant "infinite"? idk) list, in which no-one can explain why one says “read” and not “readed”. It’s out of pure habit.
This same lack of sense is what allows extreme deformities in the language, and you get abominations that eventually end up part of the popular vocabulary, because the truth is you can pronounce things as you like, and in the order you want. Like a rapper saying “I ain’t no nigga”. (!) You have a double negative with a contraction, and it’s just fine. What you’re trying to say is perfectly understood.
Note: not a native Spanish speaker. Apologies for any errors.
FlanInACupboard MVP!
There, I translated it.
I'm already getting drunk tonight so I might as well go ahead.
"When I taught English lessons I realized that the main problem for Mexicans was structure.
Spanish is derived from Latin, our language has two structures: Subject and predicate. Every sentence needs both elements to make sense, even if it is implicit every predicate must belong to a subject. You also have adverbs that vary according to the intention of your sentence and in general it is a much, much more gramatically complex language than English.
English is a Germanic language and its structure is specifically concentrated on the verb. It's an extremely primitive language to the extent that saying "be" or "do" is a gramatically correct sentence. If you said "ser" (be, infinitive) or "haz" (do/make, 2nd pers. sing. imperative), you wouldn't be saying a gramatically correct sentence.
So I used to tell my students that they shouldn't try to translate in theur heads, which is what they most often do. It's hard becaus eyou have to learn a completely different gramatical structure. It's easier to learn other languages derived from Latin like French, Italian or Portuguese. Though if you already speak English it's easy to learn other Germanic languages like Swedish or German.
English is super easy when you consider that it's mostly an "invented" language, it even sounds like a joke sometimes: "ring" is a word, but it's an onomatopoeia. Apple is pronounced like it's read, but in Airplane the 'a' sounds like a [Spanish] e, and those pronunciations have no reason other than that's they way it is. Irregular verbs are a finite list that no one can explain why it's correct to say "read" [past tense] and not "readed". It's just a custom/habit.
It's this lack of sense that allows the language to be deformed to an extreme extent, and you get grammatical abominations that eventually become part of the popular vocabulary, because you can pronounce things however you like and in whatever order you like. Like a rapper saying "I ain't no nigga". You have a double negative, a contraction and well, nothing bad happens. You can still understand well what's being said."
Time for my drink now!
I don't speak Spanish extremely well, but I can give it a shot
Cuando yo daba clases de inglés me di cuenta que el principal problema para los mexicanos es la estructura.
When I taught English, I thought to myself that the biggest problem for Mexicans is the structure of the language.
El español es un derivado del latín, nuestro idioma tiene dos estructuras: Sujeto y predicado. Toda frase necesita ambos elementos para tener sentido, aunque sea implícito todo predicado debe pertenecer a un sujeto. También tienes adverbios que varían según la intención de la frase y en general es un lenguaje mucho, mucho más complejo gramaticalmente que el inglés.
Spanish is a derivative of Latin and has two structures: subject and predicate. Every sentence must have both to make sense, even though it may be implied, every predicate must pertain to a subject. You also have adverbs that vary according to the meaning of the sentence and in general, it's much, much more grammatically complicated than English.
El inglés es una lengua germánica y su estructura se concentra específicamente en el verbo. Es un idioma extremadamente primitivo, al grado en que decir "be" o "do" es una frase gramaticalmente correcta. Si en español solo dijeras "ser" o "haz", no estarías diciendo una frase completa.
English is a Germanic language and its structure revolves around verbs. It's an extremely primative language, to the point that "be" or "do" are complete ssentences if you said just "be" or "do" in Spanish, you would not be saying a complete sentence.
Entonces yo le decía a mis alumnos que no trataran de "traducir" en su cabeza, que es lo que más hacen. Es difícil porque tienes que aprender una estructura gramatical completamente diferente. Es más sencillo aprender otros idiomas derivados del latín como el Francés, Italiano o Portugués que el Inglés. Aunque si ya dominas inglés es fácil aprender otras lenguas germánicas como el Sueco o el Alemán.
So, I would tell my students that you you shouldn't translate English in your head because it's a lot of work. It's difficult because you have to learn a completely different grammatical structure. It's simpler to learn another language derived from Latin like French, Italian or Portuguese. And if you already speak English, it's easier to learn other Germanic languages like swiss or German.
El inglés es súper fácil cuando consideras que en su mayoría es un idioma "inventado", hasta suena como de broma "ring" es una palabra, pero es una onomatopeya. Apple se pronuncia como se lee, pero en Airplane la "A" suena como "e" y esas pronunciaciones no tienen ninguna razón de ser más que el hecho de que así es. Los verbos irregulares son una lista finita que nadie puede explicar por qué se dice "read" y no "readed". Es pura costumbre.
English is a super easy language when you consider that a majority of it is an "invented" language. [I'm not sure what "hasta suena de broma" means] "ring" is a word, but it's an onomatopoeia. Apple is pronounced as it's written, but the "A" in airplane is pronounced like /e/ and these pronunciations are completely illogical and only exist because that's the way it is. And irregular verbs are a finite list and nobody can explain why it's "read" instead or "readed". It's just tradition.
Esa misma falta de sentido es lo que permite que se deforme en extremo el lenguaje y tengas abominaciones gramaticales que eventualmente se vuelven parte del léxico popular, porque la verdad puedes pronunciar las cosas como tu quieras y en el orden que tu quieras. Cómo un rapero diciendo "I ain't no nigga". Tienes una doble negación, con una contracción y pues, no pasa nada. Se entiende bien qué quiere decir.
That lack of sense is what allows the language to become so deformed and have grammatical abominations that eventually become part of the common vernacular, becuase you can pronounce things any way you want and in any order you want. Like a rapper said " I ain't no nigga". It has a double negation with a contraction and nothing happens. You understand better than you speak.
--------end translation
I apologize for any errors, it's difficult to capture the gestalt of the post in a language as primative as English.
I find it funny that the poster complains about double negation in English when it's very common in Spanish and double negation is the usual form of negation in French.
Dude, you totally win this one.
Muphry's Law ain't nothin' to mess with.