Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Speaking in passives

From:Harald Stoiber <hstoiber@...>
Date:Thursday, April 17, 2003, 11:23
Have a wonderful day,

As some of you may know, German is quite in love with passives. ;-)
I noticed this once more while I looked at the Latin phrase "nota bene"
which is still commonly used by English and also German speakers. In
German, we usually translate the phrase in the grammatical role of an
adverb. Thus, not "note!" or "note well!". Instead we rape the Latin
imperative into a passive participle form and use it as an adverb,
giving a kind of "well-notedly" - sounds strange to me in English!
*ggg*

Compare "Notabene, it is green." (Note well! It is green.) to
"Wohlgemerkt, es ist grün." (<Well-notedly>, it is green.)

Has anybody else converted imperatives to adjectives and/or
adverbs in another natlang or even in a conlang? Yes? Then I'd
like to hear from you, ladies and gentlemen! :-))))

Take care,

Harald