harpy ([info]metempsychosis) wrote,
@ 2005-08-18 22:05:00
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I wonder why it is we say
"you ought to go"
but
"you should go";
what's the rule that determines whether or not you use the infinitive? 'du sollst gehen', it'd be in German, I think, infinitive construction surely? The ones that are like the german equiv, I've forgotten the name, darf and so on - should, must, might, could - don't take the inf; it's ought, need, have, want, are supposed, and so on, that do. Hum.

Ah, irregular languages.


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[info]frogspace
2005-08-19 08:13 pm UTC (link)
I think "you should go" and "you ought to go" would both be "du solltest gehen" in Germany. "Solltest" would be a suggestion and "sollst" an order. It would only be an infinitive construction with "zu" ("zu gehen"), but "zu" and "sollen" don't go together. At least I don't think so, sounds strange. Hm, I can't think of an infinitive construction that would express the same as "you ought to go". Maybe there isn't one in German? ^^°

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oh man how much do I need to relearn my german? argh.
[info]metempsychosis
2005-08-21 09:28 am UTC (link)
Bah, good point - soll is shall rather than should, isn't it. Du sollst nach dem Ball gehen! and so on.

Just gehen on its own isn't an infinitive construction? Then that's it, modals do follow the same rules in both languages, not just the can/could and kann/könnte past-adds-softness thing. 'ought' is from the old English, so it must have come into the language at a different time, and we've ended up with what is essentially two systems for saying the same things. Ahh, hybridity.

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[info]ayatsujik
2005-08-22 04:34 pm UTC (link)
Utterly random (and I got a headache trying to parse the linguistics-fu of this post XD) - if you don't manage to find that Wong Jing IA parody with transvestite!Shawn Yue, ping me and I will gladly burn you an actual CD of the file and an extra Shawn-with-pubic-hair peeking out his tight pants pic. Since postal rates to the UK from the US will be more decent than S'pore-to-UK and all. XD

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[info]metempsychosis
2005-08-23 09:04 pm UTC (link)
My lord, you're off already, aren't you? And to think my term doesn't start until October 10th... although given the insane amount of work i need to get done before then, that's probably a good thing.

Stupid work hours mean I've yet to check at my favourite HK-VCD place (am also on lookout for IniD the movie, asyoucanimagine), but I may well end up taking you up on that offer, since not much comes over this way alas. Will have to find something to send in return! ^^ Thanks for offering, dude.

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