Rpgsr4me's Ravenous, Roaring, Raging Rampage of Random Banter #134

[CurlyKitGirl]

Indeed I can! Also, interesting that while the English-y version doesn't make a lot of sense with the infinitive, the German-y version does.

Ah well, push it through MdE through EME to MnE you get and broad assumptions here:

iċ eom (iċ by the way is pronounced ich) -> I am
þū eart (þū by the way being pronounced 'thoo') ->tu art -> thy/you art -> you are
Need I even bother with the next one? No.
I don't know about the next one. But the 'wē' of the second form is obvious.

Interestingly, 'you' comes from the formal French 'vous' which was only used to address those of higher status, customers or strangers. Therefore the English language has true equality by addressing everyone as 'you' rather than differentiating between classes/situations/people we don't know.

Similarities between French and Spanish entertain me. il/elle and él/ella; nous and nosotros; tu and tú. It's not surprising at all given the romance language deal, but it's nevertheless somehow amusing.


Edit: But the big question? Does French have two versions of the verb "to be" the way Spanish does (ser and estar)?

And quite useful too! On occasion. French has one 'to be'. OE has two forms of bēon, hence the OR options and also wesan which also means to be.
Apparently.