Comment on What's the weirdest thing in english?
thymos@discuss.tchncs.de 6 days ago
I think what is exceptional for English is that negation and forming a question require a modal verb. You can say “I love apples” but not “*I not love apples”, nor “*Love I apples?”. This is rare in a language. (An exception for negation could be “Apples, I love not”, but this does not sound like everyday speech.)
forestbeasts@pawb.social 5 days ago
Fun fact: “Love I apples?” and “Apples, I love not” are how German works, and English used to be like that (back when it was still turning into English)!
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 5 days ago
It’s funny how learning different grammar can change the way you think. I read this and think, “Ah yes, perfectly normal Japanese word order. Topic first, with verb + negation at the end.”
I have to be careful when I talk sometimes, because my mental grammar structure is all over the place now.