Re: USAGE: German 'be' (was: Re: Person distinctions in languages?{
From: | Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> |
Date: | Friday, February 4, 2005, 12:49 |
Quoting Tristan McLeay <conlang@...>:
> On 4 Feb 2005, at 9.07 pm, Philip Newton wrote:
>
> > On Fri, 4 Feb 2005 20:47:38 +1100, Tristan McLeay
> > <conlang@...> wrote:
> >>
> >> _warst_ might be a generalisation, or it could be the natural
> >> evolution.
> >
> > Natural form, I suppose, given that the 2sg ending is -st.
>
> True, but IIRC the English 2nd p. sing. past indic. of 'to be' was
> _wast_, which doesn't have an r.
Incidentally, the 'r' of _warst_ is often lost pronunciation; I say [va:st] in
informal speech. It would be nifty if this were sound-change undoing an
analogical intrusion!
Andreas
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