grammar

The Two Pasts of Bulgarian: Witnessed vs. Unwitnessed

In most languages, the past is simply the past. But in Bulgarian, your grammar forces you to specify your source:…

6 months ago

The ‘About-To-Be’ Tense of Lithuanian

Lithuanian, one of Europe's oldest languages, possesses a fascinating grammatical tool that English lacks: a specific way to talk about…

6 months ago

The Four ‘You’s of Mandarin Chinese

Think "you" is simple? In English, it is, but Mandarin Chinese requires a more nuanced approach. The choice between the…

6 months ago

Counting People in Japanese: The ‘Nin’ Counter

Learning to count in Japanese means mastering counters, and the one for people holds a fascinating secret. While most numbers…

6 months ago

The Fluid Verb: Tense and Aspect in Swahili

Swahili verbs are masterpieces of modular design, built by "gluing" prefixes for tense, person, and more onto a single root.…

6 months ago

The Amharic ‘And’: A Verb’s Best Friend

In English, we connect actions with a simple 'and.' But in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, this conjunction is…

6 months ago

Forgetting the Subject: The Case of Pro-Drop in Italian

Ever wonder why an Italian speaker says "Vado al cinema" instead of "Io vado al cinema"? This linguistic magic trick…

6 months ago

Speaking Up, Speaking Down: Java’s Speech Levels

In the Javanese language, 'please' and 'thank you' are just the beginning. The entire vocabulary—from pronouns to verbs—changes based on…

6 months ago

The Georgian Verb: A Sentence in One Word

Ever wondered if you could fit an entire sentence into a single word? In the ancient and beautiful Georgian language,…

6 months ago

The Non-Apology: A Grammatical Breakdown

"I'm sorry if you were offended". This familiar phrase feels hollow for a reason: it's a non-apology, an illusion of…

6 months ago

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