Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: Spanish Question (with Expanded Politesse)

From:Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Date:Monday, January 14, 2002, 12:53
En réponse à laokou <laokou@...>:

> Okay, now in French, you can express "use the 'tu' form" as "tutoyer" > and > "use the 'vous' form" as "vouvoyer".
Only when "vous" means "formal", not when it means "plural".
> > And so, is there a Spanish word for "use the 'Vd.' form"? Is there a > word > for "use the 'vosotros' form"? In German, is there a word for "use the > 'ihr' > form" ('ihren')?
Probably not, since they are informal plurals. You can problably use "duzen" and "tutear" (after all, those forms mean that you would say "du" or "tu" separately to all the members of the group, which is basically the meaning of the verbs).
> > Immediate question: does Spanish have that "Vd" form?
Not that I know of, but it may be connected to the fact that the form was not that long ago still a nominal form (it comes from "vuestra merced"). How do other langs
> on > the Continent treat this? How do conlangs cope? >
I know Dutch says "tutoyeren" (obvious French-loan) although their informal form is "jij/je" and their formal form "u" :))) . Christophe. http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.