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Re: THEORY: Tenses (was: Re: THEORY: ... Auxiliaries...)

From:JS Bangs <jaspax@...>
Date:Saturday, July 16, 2005, 21:31
> 2. [COLLOQUIAL] > _a avea (to have) + să + subjunctive (which differs from present indic. > only in 3rd person forms): > am să merg, ai să mergi, are să mearga, avem să mergem, aveţi să mergeţi, > au să mearga
Minor correction to what Ray said: in this construction you must use the short forms of _a avea_, which are different in the 3sg, 1pl and 2pl: am să merg, ai să mergi, *a* să meargă, *am* să mergem, *aţi* să mergeţi, au să meargă. The 3sg construction here is the source of the 3rd construction Ray mentioned w/ "o să": the particle _a_ is pronounced _o_ in many dialects, so "o să meargă" ( < "a să meargă") was borrowed across dialect boundaries and generalized.
> > 3.[CASUAL] > An invariable particle _o_ followed by a să-clause: > o să merg, o să mergi, o să mearga, o să mergem, o să mergeţi, o să mearga > > If the Romanians wrote _o să_ as one word, the lasy construction would be > identical with the modern Greek way of forming the future, i.e. an > variable particle + subjunctive.
-- JS Bangs jaspax@gmail.com http://jaspax.com "I could buy you a drink I could tell you all about it I could tell you why I doubted And why I still believe." - Pedro the Lion

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Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>