On Thu, Feb 08, 2001 at 12:02:29AM -0000, Óskar Guðlaugsson wrote:

Heill Óskar,

> > Hmm, let's see, literally...
> >
> > En þú er skyldr, ek kann gjora sumir með máli islenzku.
> >
> > OK, Haukur, you can stop laughing now. I've no idea if skyldr can
> mean
> > "right" as in "correct", or what preposition really applies to using
> > something like a language. And I took a wild guess at what gender
> to
> > put sumr in, to agree with an implied "things".
>
> Thank you for this very entertaining attempt at a sentence! :o) :þ

I'm glad you appreciated it.

> Ok, there are some mistakes that you shouldn't make there:
>
> * "þú ert", not "þú er".
> * Your guess at the usage of "sumr" is not correct, but it was a good
> guess; however, I'd have expected you to use the accusative, "suma".

Oops. Pure carelessness I'm afraid. I see I misspelled gjöra too.

> I'll entertain you with a further analysis of the mistakes, which you
> very understandably made:
>
> * "skyldr" as an adjective means 'related'. In ON, there is no
> adjective to mean 'right' as the word does above, i.e. "saying
> something correct". "Réttr" means 'correct', but only the fact can be
> correct, not its presenter. The English usage of the word is rather
> idiomatic, and not to be expected to work in other languages. The
> usual phrase for this meaning is "at hafa rétt fyrir sér"; so you'd
> say, in the context above, "En þú hefir rétt fyrir þér,"

Ah, like in French ... tu as raison ... you have right(ness).
Except in Icelandic you have the added "fyrir þér", which wouldn't
belong in French.

> Grammatically correct, but still rather unusual. I'd express the same
> in this way:
>
> "En þú hefir rétt fyrir þér, sumt kann ek mæla íslenzkri tungu."

Thank you.

I take it mæla can mean both written and spoken communication?
I'd assumed it only had the same meanings as the English "speak".

> ("tungu" = weak fem dat sg 'tongue', "íslenzkri" = def fem dat sg
> of 'Icelandic')
>
> But of course, none of you is to worry about any of this. The lessons
> will reach that point in time, just "tread the path" :)

Yes, this is a nice change of pace, but I like following an organized
lesson plan. (Not that this will stop me from learning the two new words,
and the way they are used.)

--
Arlie

(Arlie Stephens arlie@...)