Wednesday, March 18, 2020
The Difference Between Bienvenu and Bienvenue
The Difference Between 'Bienvenu' and 'Bienvenue'          Mistakes will always be made in French, and now you can learn from them. When wanting to express Welcome! as a stand-alone phrase, beginners to French will often writeà  Bienvenu! ââ¬â¹instead ofà  the correct spelling of Bienvenue!          Explanation of Bienvenue vs. Bienvenu      Bienvenue used as a greeting is short for je vous souhaite la bienvenue, which literally means I wish you welcome. When saying Welcome! with no verb, you always have to use the feminine:à  Bienvenue!         Bienvenu with no e is an adjective often used as a noun conforming to a subject. To use this spelling of Bienvenu, the employed sentence needs to have a subject. Because of this, only when using a complete sentence can you say either Soyez le bienvenu or Soyez la bienvenue, according to the gender of the person you are talking to. You can say Soyez les bienvenus if its more than one person.         The distinction is confusing and often leads to mistakes. A famous example is that of a sign in Utah that reads: Bienvenu internationale voyageurs.         This sentence is wrong on many levels. Because it possesses no subject, the correct spelling would be Bienvenue ending with an e. In this instance, it would also need to be followed by the preposition . On a different but related note, the adjective international should be plural instead of feminine (to agree with voyageurs), and it should follow rather than precede the noun. The apostrophe has no business there either.         Better French Greetings for the sign would be:         Bienvenue aux voyageurs internationauxVoyageurs internationaux : soyez les bienvenus    
Monday, March 2, 2020
German Verb Future Tense Conjugations
German Verb Future Tense Conjugations          In German, theà  future tenseà  (das Futur) occurs less frequently than in English. Even more frequently than in English, German often substitutes the present tense for the future (Wir sehen uns morgen. -  Well see you tomorrow.) However, German verbs do follow an easy-to-learn and predictable pattern in the future tense. Once you learn the pattern for just about any German verb, you know howà  allà  German verbsà  are conjugated in the future. Even irregular verbs are no exception.          Das Futur I: The Basics      German uses the basicà  werden  infinitiveà  formula to form DAS FUTUR. To conjugate any verb in the future, you simply conjugateà  werdenà  and add the infinitive of the verb you want to have in the future. Basically, if you can conjugateà  werden, you can form the future tense of all verbs. The chart below shows a sample German verb in theà  future tense.          Spielenà  -  To PlayFuture Tense - à  Futur I                    Deutsch  English  Sample Sentence      SINGULAR          ich werde spielen  I will play  Ich werde Basketball spielen.      du wirst spielen  you (fam.)will play  Wirst du Schach spielen? (chess)      er wird spielen  he will play  Er wird mit mir spielen. (with me)      sie wird spielen  she will play  Sie wird Karten spielen. (cards)      es wird spielen  it will play  Es wird keine Rolle spielen. (It wont matter.)                             PLURAL          wir werden spielen  we will play  Wir werden Basketball spielen.      ihr werdet spielen  you (guys) will play  Werdet ihr Monopoly spielen?      sie werden spielen  they will play  Sie werden Golf spielen.      Sie werden spielen  you will play  Werden Sie heute spielen? (Sie, formal you, is both singular and plural.)                Futur II: The Basicsà  (Future Perfect)      Theà  future perfectà  is somewhat rare in German. To form the future perfect (das Futur II) in German, you take the past participle of the verb being conjugated (for example,à  gespielt/played) and use it with a conjugated form ofà  werden. The infinitive of the helping verb (habenà  orà  sein) is placed at the end of the sentence: ââ¬Å"Wir werden die ganze Nacht gespielt haben.â⬠ (We will have played all night.)          Spielen -  To PlayFuture Perfect - à  Futur II / vollendete Zukunft                    Deutsch  English  Sample Sentence      SINGULAR          ich werde gespielt haben  I will have played  Ich werde Gitarre gespielt haben.      du wirst gespielt haben  you (fam.) will have played  Wirst du Schach gespielt haben?      er wird gespielt haben  he will have played  Er wird mit mir gespielt haben.      sie wird gespielt haben  she will have played  Sie wird Karten gespielt haben.      es wird gespielt haben  it will have played  Es wird keine Rolle gespielt haben. (It will not have mattered.)                             PLURAL          wir werden gespielt haben  we will have played  Wir werden Basketball gespielt haben.      ihr werdet gespielt haben  you (guys) will have played  Werdet ihr Monopoly gespielt haben?      sie werden gespielt haben  they will have played  Sie werden Golf gespielt haben.      Sie werden gespielt haben  you will have played  Werden Sie gespielt haben?    
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
 
