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Why do people hate grammatical cases?

by Wilhelm, January 7, 2012

Messages: 115

Language: English

Hyperboreus (User's profile) April 16, 2012, 1:18:33 AM

Forigite

robbkvasnak (User's profile) April 16, 2012, 1:39:47 AM

Yes, I meant pronouns. I was being rushed to get the message done to go shopping. Sorry, a slip.

razlem (User's profile) April 16, 2012, 5:02:32 AM

Hyperboreus:But true enough, if you can make a difference between "he" and "him", why not between "hundo" and "hundon"...
Because "hundo" is not a pronoun.

darkweasel (User's profile) April 16, 2012, 5:58:20 AM

Hyperboreus:
robbkvasnak:English does have cases - though now only for the prepositions: I, mine, me; He, his, him; she, hers, her, etc. That is how I explain the cases to English speakers studying Esperanto.
Pronouns, not prepositions. But true enough, if you can make a difference between "he" and "him", why not between "hundo" and "hundon"...
Note however that you still need to explain to English speakers (also to German speakers) that "for him" is not *por lin but por li.

Hyperboreus (User's profile) April 16, 2012, 4:37:36 PM

Forigite

robbkvasnak (User's profile) April 16, 2012, 5:54:46 PM

German uses "in das Haus" as opposed to "in dem Haus" as well as "in die See" and "in der See" but "in den Ozean" (not "in der Ozean") and "in dem Ozean". In the first two examples, German speakers see the "das" and "die" as accusatives even though they look like nominatives.

whysea (User's profile) April 16, 2012, 6:08:24 PM

razlem:
Hyperboreus:But true enough, if you can make a difference between "he" and "him", why not between "hundo" and "hundon"...
Because "hundo" is not a pronoun.
But aren't pronouns a type of noun?

I'm not sure what they are really classified as, but I mean they function as a noun does because they replace the noun, so...

Hyperboreus (User's profile) April 16, 2012, 6:24:50 PM

Forigite

whysea (User's profile) April 16, 2012, 7:16:21 PM

Thanks for the clarification, Hyperboreus. I knew pronouns would end up being more complicated. lango.gif

I still think the he/him, hundo/hundon thing is a very concise explanation, even if it is not exact.

darkweasel (User's profile) April 16, 2012, 7:28:34 PM

robbkvasnak:German speakers see the "das" and "die" as accusatives even though they look like nominatives.
Indeed, so I don’t really get your point... demando.gif

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