Reasons some languages are harder to learn

Re:Reasons some languages are harder to learn by lhorie on Sunday May 16, 2021 @10:30AM (#27173954)

"be" and "have" can be quite quirky from language to language. For example, in portuguese, "I am healthy" can be translated to "eu sou saudavel" (meaning, the person lives a healthy lifestyle) or "eu estou saudavel" (meaning, the person is currently temporarily healthy). "I am 20 years old" translates to "eu tenho vinte anos" (or "I have 20 years of age")

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Re:Reasons some languages are harder to learn by schoen on Sunday May 16, 2021 @05:37PM (#27177227)

Similarly, in Portuguese you can "have" or "be with" various nouns reflecting physical, mental, or emotional states which would be expressed with adjectives in English, like "I have hunger", "I have fear", "I'm with fear", "I'm with jealousy", "I'm with yearning for him".

I know German also uses "have" this way quite a lot (at least for hunger, thirst, fear, and desire, probably for many other things).

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Re:Reasons some languages are harder to learn by glandium on Sunday May 16, 2021 @08:50PM (#27178833)

Same in French and Spanish. It's probably similar in all Romance languages.

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Re:Reasons some languages are harder to learn by mattkrause on Sunday May 16, 2021 @09:14PM (#27179023)

Wait really?

I thought French mostly just had être (and occasionally avoir) for “to be”, and you’d need context to determine if “Elle est heureuse” means she is happy now or generally.

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Re:Reasons some languages are harder to learn by glandium on Sunday May 16, 2021 @11:21PM (#27179782)

Translating the GP example literally in French: Je suis en bonne santé vs. J'ai une bonne santé.

Funnily enough, Google Translate gives the former for both portuguese versions. I guess it is still translating through English.

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