|
|
 Mon Nov 07, 2005 22:31 pm How many tenses in your language? |
|
|
| There is only 1 in mine. |
|
cooliegirly
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 24 Jul 2005
Posts: 257
|
|
| Wed Nov 09, 2005 17:49 pm One tense in Chinese |
|
|
Hi cooliegirly,
You are Chinese, aren't you?
_________________
Life is for living. |
|
Nicole
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Posts: 157
Location: Bern, Switzerland
|
 |
| Wed Nov 09, 2005 22:09 pm How many tenses in your language? |
|
|
Yes!!
We're the people who don't know what tenses are!  |
|
cooliegirly
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 24 Jul 2005
Posts: 257
|
|
| Thu Nov 10, 2005 11:33 am Tenses in Chinese? |
|
|
So do you express activities on different time levels? I guess you use time indicators such as yesterday, tomorrow, next year etc.?
_________________
Life is for living. |
|
Nicole
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Posts: 157
Location: Bern, Switzerland
|
|
| Thu Nov 10, 2005 15:12 pm How many tenses in your language? |
|
|
| It's really hard to explain. |
|
cooliegirly
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 24 Jul 2005
Posts: 257
|
|
| Sat Nov 12, 2005 18:52 pm How many tenses in your language? |
|
|
In my language (Russian) there are only three tenses - Past, Present and Future. And two voices - Passive and Active.
If I am not mistaken, in Latin language there were (are?) 26 tenses!
_________________
Factum non fabula |
|
Sidle Jinks
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 127
Location: Sevastopol, Ukraine
|
|
| Sat Nov 12, 2005 19:14 pm Ukrainian vs. russian |
|
|
Hi Sidle Jinks. You say your mother tongue is Russian but you are from Ukraine. If not mistaken (to use your phrase  ) your president speaks Ukrainian, doesn't he? What is the language situation in Ukraine now?
_________________
Life is for living. |
|
Nicole
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Posts: 157
Location: Bern, Switzerland
|
|
| Sat Nov 12, 2005 20:50 pm How many tenses in your language? |
|
|
Yes, you are absolutely right. Both the Ukrainians and the Russians live in Ukraine. Although the official language is Ukrainian. However, people born when the Soviet Union existed and whose parents lived in Crimea (I also live in Crimea, Sevastopol) mainly speak Russian. And Sevastopol was the base of the Russian Navy, therefore almost all people in Sevastopol speak Russian. I think that about 50% of Ukrainian people speak Russian: Western Ukraine mainly speaks Ukrainian whereas both Central and Eastern Ukraine, and Crimea as well, speak Russian.
And another thing about Ukraine: when it was the part of the Soviet Union, it was the Ukraine. Having become independent, it is Ukraine, without the.
_________________
Factum non fabula |
|
Sidle Jinks
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 127
Location: Sevastopol, Ukraine
|
|
| Sat Nov 12, 2005 21:09 pm Ukrainian vs. russian |
|
|
In the German speaking world the two Klitschko brothers are the most popular Ukrainians I guess. By the way, there website is in four languages Ah, then there was that pop group who one the Euro Vision Song Contest last year, what was their name again? So the Klitschko brothers also speak Russian not Ukrainian as their mother tongue? If Ukrainian is the official language in Ukraine now what happens to the Russian speakers? Do they have to learn Ukrainian?
_________________
Life is for living. |
|
Nicole
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Posts: 157
Location: Bern, Switzerland
|
|
| Sat Nov 12, 2005 21:49 pm Ukrainian vs. russian |
|
|
| Nicole wrote: | | If Ukrainian is the official language in Ukraine now what happens to the Russian speakers? Do they have to learn Ukrainian? |
Since Ukrainian is the official language, everyone who lives in Ukraine is adviced to know it  However, Russian is almost the official language - our Russian-speaking deputies want to make Russian be the second official language. Anyway, it's OK if you speak Russian - both languages are alike that's why we easily understand each other!
_________________
Factum non fabula |
|
Sidle Jinks
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 127
Location: Sevastopol, Ukraine
|
|
| Tue Nov 15, 2005 17:57 pm How many tenses in your language? |
|
|
Yes, Russian and Ukranian are really alike and that's even funny when I read something written in Ukranian on the packet of juice and I understand practically everything. That's amazing!
And an off topic-somebody told me that it's possible to use THE Ukrania now... Is it still so or have they chaged this tendency already?!
_________________
Your Jailbird |
|
Jailbird
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Posts: 187
Location: Russia, Moscow
|
|
| Tue Nov 15, 2005 18:06 pm How many tenses in your language? |
|
|
Hello!
| Jailbird wrote: | | And an off topic-somebody told me that it's possible to use THE Ukrania now... Is it still so or have they chaged this tendency already?! |
Well, this is from WikiPedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine#.22the.22_Ukraine):
| Quote: | The country is often referred to as the Ukraine in English. This usage is now deprecated by many media organizations, partly for stylistic reasons (compare "the Lebanon" and "the Sudan") and partly because of its possible implication that Ukraine is merely a region rather than an independent state. There was, however, no change in Ukrainian or Russian usage with Ukraine's independence, as there are no articles, definite or indefinite, in either language. However there is a parallel in concerning the usage of the preposition "на" (na) or "в" (v) with "Ukraine", both in Ukrainian and in Russian. Traditional usage is "на", but recently Ukrainian authorities have been pushing the usage of "в", as this preposition is used with most other country names. While in Ukrainian the newly introduced usage of "в" took hold, the usage in Russian varies. Russian language media from within Ukraine are increasingly using "в". However, the media in Russia mostly uses traditional "на" maintaining that it remains a proper usage and questioning the authority of Ukrainian government over the Russian language. (See also, Kiev or Kyiv for a similar debate).
|
This answers your question
_________________
Factum non fabula |
|
Sidle Jinks
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 127
Location: Sevastopol, Ukraine
|
|
| Mon Nov 28, 2005 5:56 am How many tenses in your language? |
|
|
| Quote: | | I have always found the correct use of the English tenses particularly difficult |
I agree. English speakers sometimes use present tense to express future events, etc... For example:
The bus is arriving in ten minutes.
In this example, the verb 'is arriving' is in present tense (present progressive) but the event is not yet happening.
_________________
Last night I was looking up at the stars and I was wondering, where the heck is my ceiling? |
|
sylphidae
You can meet me at english-test.net
Joined: 10 Dec 2004
Posts: 56
|
|
| Wed Nov 30, 2005 21:20 pm How many tenses in your language? |
|
|
Hello everybody!
| sylphidae wrote: | English speakers sometimes use present tense to express future events, etc... For example:
The bus is arriving in ten minutes.
In this example, the verb 'is arriving' is in present tense (present progressive) but the event is not yet happening. |
It seems to me that not only English speakers do. In Russian/Ukrainian we also use Present Tense (actually, we have no such subdivisions as Simple, Progressive, Perfect, Perfect Progressive though it's imaginable and (almost) all Russian tenses can be brought into line with the English ones ) when talking about the events that will have place in future (especially in the nearest future). Or when describing a (possible) sequence of events to take place in future.
I think (though I am not sure) that this feature is peculiar to almost every language to a greater or a lesser extent.
_________________
Factum non fabula |
|
Sidle Jinks
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 127
Location: Sevastopol, Ukraine
|
|
|
| Flags to symbolize languages? | Language students who fight |
