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The English Language


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I saw this while poking around a Linux forum. Thought it was funny.

The english-student, where his classmate had had "had", had had "had had". "Had had" had had the tutor's approval.

I can see why English is considered a difficult language to learn.

Well.... other languages probably have things like that too.

Anyway, I think it's funny. Especially that, as far as I can tell, it's a grammatically correct sentence (Err.... two sentences). (Unless, of course, there is a grammatical rule that words should be chosen sensibly in a sentence.)

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In French, we have "Surcomposé" where composed forms become composed themselves. Hence :

J'ai aimé = I have loved

J'ai eu aimé = I have had loved

J'ai eu été aimé = I have had been loved

And indeed, French would permit (but it isn't that stylish), that any "ai" turn into a "ai eu" without any problem. Japanese is also such language, but it can get freakier :

Iku = I go

Itte iru = I am going

Itte ite shimau = I finally am going

Motte itte ite shimau = I finally am bringing (lit. holding and going)

Motte itte ite kudasatte shimau = I finally am bringing for somone's else benefit

Motte itte ite kudasatte shimaimasita = I finally was bringing for someone's

else benefit...

Japanese is cool for such verbal formation, but it's a pain for most student. It's easy to align a half dozen of -te forms like that, though it is uncommon to go over three. ("motte itte kudasaimasita" AND "motte itte shimaimasita" are normal sentences to intermediate students like me.)

EDIT

Esperanto also has freaky expressions like that,

Mi estis estanta estonta fari tion.

Literally, it means : I was being going to do this.

And, unlike with French, such construction have no stylish feeling : if you need so much details to make it clear, go for it!

And, I won't speak of other languages (as my conlang Thenqol)

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lol... yeah there should be.

My dad showed me this word in Russian:

длинношеее животное

It means "long-necked animal" (aka giraffe).

Anyway, it's has three vowels in a row. And (Russian is a phonetic language) they are all pronounced separately.

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"Eien" (Eternity, in Japanese).

Three vowels in a row, and not the same (though most Japanese will pronounce it as a three mora long e :P)

"Ryouude" (Both arms, in Japanese0

"Taiyou" (Sun, in Japanese) : This word I hate the most. It has an awful Y in the middle of nowhere. Iya.

"Arasoou" (Let's fight!, in Japanese) : This is an awfully long "o"

There are a lot of vowels in Japanese. I'm lucky, since I love vowels :P But, sometimes...

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I think the English language RULES\ROCKS! That's my opinion. It's harder to lean French.

I vote for the opposite :P. It has been much easier for me to learn English than it is to learn French (still, I need to keep in mind that I've been doing English for six years now, while I've only completed one and a half year of French :P).

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