Chi. Split split split?
Huh?
Split? Splat? Splitted?
He wants to know if 'split' is an irregular verb
Oh. Um….I split…you split…he split..
Ok, he's looking for the past participle.
Oh. It's….'split'. I split the apple yesterday.
Yesterday I have split the apple?
Ooh. No. That's not right.
So what's the conjugation?
I…don't….we don't learn verbs like that.
What? You don't have charts of verbs? How do you learn your language?
We….we just listen. And we talk and write. And that's it.
They exhange glances and mutter to themselves. Incredible, these Americans.
Héhéhé
ReplyDeleteIn the other hand I remember that trainee at work who wouldn't know what « conjugation » meant. I think we have different ways of learning our languages. Didn't have an American education so I'm just figuring out but it looks like school there doesn't insist as much on grammar as we do. But maybe I'm wrong. You'll kick my butt next time we meet :þ
Oh, try to learn that one, we all know it :
Chou hibou caillou genou pou joujou bijou. The seven -ou words that take a -x on plural. Tell it to your colleagues next time, they'll be happy to see that you know a French list :D
Reminds me of the time when i lived in Paris and my colleague used to get me to do her 12 yr old son's english homework.
ReplyDeleteI didn't half get a bollocking when he didn't score 100% even though the way that the questions were corrected is not how the English speak - just the way that the French learn English ie from the 1950's....