English grammar

I think English grammar shall be simplified like Nordic languages.

especially for verbs. I suggest verbs shall not change in different pronouns.

For example

to be

I am , I ain't
You am, You ain't
He/She/It am, He/She/It ain't
We am, We ain't
You am, You ain't
They am, They ain't

and -s will not be added when the pronoun is "she,he,it"

I work , I don't work
You work , You don't work
He,She, It work (Not works) , He/She/It don't work
We work , We don't work
You work , You don't work
They work , They don't work

And what else?! ... shall we reject any kind of inflection?
Let's star using:
"Kali to be home, he to eat breakfast."

I'm a very liberal person in any kind of discipline except for changes in any language.

Brennus : somme-nous dans la bonne section d'Antimoon ?

>>I think English grammar shall be simplified like Nordic languages<<

I don't know how serious this post is meant to be, but I was under the impression that English grammar was already more simplified than the Nordic languages.

Simplicity among the germanic languages beginning with the simplest:

English > Swedish > Danish > Norwegian > Dutch > German > Icelandic

...although I'm not so sure about the difference concerning grammar between Swedish, Danish and Norwegian.
But it's for sure that German and Icelandic are the strongest inflectional ones - and have thus the most complicated grammar - among the germanic languages.

As far as I'm aware the only simpler grammar within the Germanic family is Afrikaans. I'm probably wrong though.

Guest Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:03 pm GMT
Simplicity among the germanic languages beginning with the simplest:

English > Swedish > Danish > Norwegian > Dutch > German > Icelandic

...although I'm not so sure about the difference concerning grammar between Swedish, Danish and Norwegian.
But it's for sure that German and Icelandic are the strongest inflectional ones - and have thus the most complicated grammar - among the germanic languages.


verb's change in Swedish,Danish and Norwegian doesn't occur.

For example, in Swedish

Arbeta(to work)

Jag arbetar(I work)
Du arbetar(You work)
Han/Hon/Det arbetar(He/She/It works)
Vi arbetar(We work)
Ni arbetar(You work)
De arbetar(They work)

So, I consider Swedish grammar may be more simple than English

>>So, I consider Swedish grammar may be more simple than English <<

Don't the Scandinavian languages retain gender though? What about past tense verbs?

zxczxc made a good question. Joey or Sander could answer it. I don't know either if Afrikaans if the most simple Germanic language, even more simple than Scandinavian languages.

Aquatar, yes, they retain gender. "Utrum" or common gender in Se and Dk, masculine and feminine in No, and "Neutrum" for the three of them. Thus, they are more complex than English in this regard.

They all express past tenses as well, and they have regular and irregular verbs, just like English and German.

They have adjective declension, which render them more complex than English in this point also.

They have several plural endings too. That would include the root change as in English foot-feet, mouse-mice, etc. So, they are more complex than English here too.

All these features would let English in the left end of the above cited scale, unlease the mystery of Afrikaans is solved.

Aquatar Tue Aug 22, 2006 3:47 pm GMT
>>So, I consider Swedish grammar may be more simple than English <<

Don't the Scandinavian languages retain gender though? What about past tense verbs?


Arbeta(to work)

Jag arbetade(I worked)
Du arbetade(You worked)
Han/Hon/Det arbetade(He/She/It worked)
Vi arbetade(We worked)
Ni arbetade(You worked)
De arbetade(They worked)

Arthur

>>All these features would let English in the left end of the above cited scale, unlease the mystery of Afrikaans is solved<<

According to the recent thread 'How does Afrikaans grammar compare to English grammar', it would appear that Afrikaans grammar is indeed even more simplified than English (hard to imagine I know lol) being much more regular.

One little thing about the above sentence, you should write 'All these features would LEAVE English at the left end of the scale'. I am pointing this out, as it is a mistake I notice reasonably frequently among non-native speakers. I tried to think what the rule between using let/leave is and I think that 'let' is used more to mean just 'allow' and is usually followed by a verb i.e. 'Let him go, let him be, let him see what happens'. If you are talking about allowing something to remain in a place, it is leave i.e. 'Leave it on the table, leave my things alone, that would leave her as the best in the class'. I know this is not an exact rule though, and you might sometimes hear 'Let him alone/leave him be', which don't seem to fit with the above. Anyone know the rule concernig this?

Hope you don't think I'm being picky Arthur, your English is mostly very good as I said, but I understand you are happy to be 'corrected' anyway, as am I :)

Hi Aquatar,

On the contrary!!! your corrections are always welcome. And yes, I do understand the difference between both verbs (Deine Erklärung ist sehr nett übrigens), but the brain works sometimes in mysterious ways... hehe. I think that it is a matter of practice.

Arthur

Well, obviously while I was writing that I was thinking about the equivalent in German. I know that 'lassen' can be used in the sense of both 'let/leave' in English. So I know you can say 'Lass ihn gehen' for example. But if you want to say 'Leave it on the table', can you just say 'Lass es auf dem Tisch', or do you have to say something like 'Lass es auf dem Tisch STEHEN/LIEGEN etc? I can't remember. I also know you have to say 'Ich VERLASSE das Haus, but that's not the same thing.

You are really lucky that you are speaking and learning one of the easiest languages.English grammar is so so so easy.What about trying Polish.I speak Polish natively, and know Russian, Slovak and Czech, English, Greek.So you should really pray for it.English grammar is very simple.So, no need to make it more simple.

It's a funny idea make the grammar to change!!! Never was this deliberately occuring I think.

My mother tongue's french, my second is dutch, then I can speak a little bit english and german. For me, the grammar most difficult, it's the german one ; all those den, die, das, er, ihn etc... what confusion!!!

I find dutch and english about the same difficulty, although I know dutch much more well. Especially in english I can't understand when they talk, and the verb : ''to do'' I don't like this how it change all the time in the forms. Dutch is horrible but I like very much english, and I want improve it. Aquatar, if you would like, please to correct my faults in english.