english

lovely language slovenian is

on a weblog I found this great example of slovenian language

In English, the phrase:

Did you eat anything?

In Dutch you have three possibilities to express the same idea. You would say:

1. Heb jij iets gegeten? (informal)
2. Heeft U iets gegeten? (formal)
3. Hebben jullie wat gegeten? (plural)

At Slovene, in which everything changes depending on the number of people you're asking, as well as their gender AND if you're using formal or not. Behold the possibilities:

1. Si kaj jedel? (one male, informal)
2. Si kaj jedla? (one female, informal)
3. Si kaj jedlo? (neuter form, informal)
4. Sta kaj jedla? (two males, informal or formal)
5. Sta kaj jedli? (two females, informal or formal)
6. Sta kaj jedla? (one male and one female, informal or formal)
7. Ste kaj jedli? (plural, as long as at least one male is present)
8. Ste kaj jedle? (plural, females only)
9. Ste kaj jedla? (plural, neuter form)
10. Ste kaj jedli? (formal, singular form, gender unimportant)

(the slovenian examples i found on carnolia.org)

So my point is i have great respect for the Slovenian people who speak this language

but i have some doubts for the easy use on database driven internet sites :)


2 comments:

lovely language

Hi,
Slovenian is not very easy even for us.
But what can we do...
We just try to learn :)
Best regards,
Marjan Pintar, SLO

posted on 22.05.2005, 08:05
quote

Anonymous

Mary-go-round

And let's not forget the declinations!
You haven't lived until you've tried THAT...-:)

BTW, I find the Dutch language really cool!

posted on 25.05.2005, 00:47
quote

Design by Mediamatic Lab  content management by anyMeta