Re: OT: Slightly OT: French as a second language

On Tue, 20 Nov 2001, Elliott Lash wrote:

> verite = truth  (noun)
> vrai = true (adjective)
>
> Imperatives take 'suffixed' pronouns: tuez-le 'kill him'
> Infinitives take 'prefixed' pronouns: le tuer 'to kill him'
>
> And of course the pronoune is 'lui' only when its an indirect object:  donnez-lui 'give him'
Ooooh!  Okay.

I hang a lot of French on my knowledge of Spanish, which isn't quite as
awful.  Spanish suffixes, optionally, the pronoun to the infinitive;
that's probably where I got that.

And I don't need to dig for twenty minutes through a dictionary and a
table of conjugations to figure out how to say the same sentence in
Spanish:

Sabe la verdad!  Ahora tenemos que matarlo!

Although now I'm dubious; I don't remember at all if "verdad" is just the
adjective form, or if it is also the noun.

Damn, I love language.  :)

Hey, that'd make a good translation exercise. . . .

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