R: Re: R: Re: New to the list

Jesse S. Bangs wrote:

> > > Also, Latin is a natural
> > > language. It's dead, but it's a natural language, so if Latin had so
many
> > > endings (and that's a matter of taste, personnally I don't think it
has
> > that
> > > many endings, but maybe it's because I'm French), why not other
languages?
> >
> > Ah! We Italians have more endings than you, our dear Frenchies ; )
Remember
> > that Romance langs have developped a *much* more difficult verbal system
> > than Latin's one (even if many tenses are not syntetically constructed).
>
> How do you figure?
>
Well, Latin had only 6 tenses in indicative (present, future, imperfect,
perfect, plusquamperfect and anterior future - gosh, excuse me if I missed
the terminology, but all the grammar I've studied was obviously in Italian).
Romance langs, at least Italian does, have 8 tenses - * marks the use of an
auxiliar verb, 'essere' for intransitive and 'avere' for transitive verbs
(presente, passato prossimo*, imperfetto, trapassato prossimo*, passato
remoto, trapassato remoto*, futuro, futuro anteriore*). Latin had four
conjunctives retained in Romance langs (2 analytically realized, tho).
Romance langs have a mood Latin didn't have: Conditional (2 tenses).
Imperative's been preserved. Latin 'esse + gerund' is translated in Italian
by a bunch of expressions: 'stare per', 'essere sul punto di', 'essere in
procinto di'...

Luca