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If you had to learn 10 verbs, what would they be?

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  • 25-06-2007 7:27pm
    #1
    dlofnep
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,759 ✭✭✭✭


    You are learning a new language with a short duration to learn it. You need to have 10 verbs to try and get you by with everyday things. What would you pick?


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    #2
    Collumbo
    Registered Users Posts: 180 ✭✭Collumbo


    First five in my opinion are the most important... the last five are really up to you but they are the ones you will probably use on a daily basis...


    do/make [tend to be the same in many other languages]

    have

    want [or "would like" if you want to be polite]

    go [but learn more than 1 way of saying "to go" if you're learning one of the languages that have 17 ways of saying "to go" depending on how you want to go... e.g. by train, by car, by foot... polish has that problem, I'm not sure about slovak, czech, and other slavic languages...]

    speak [learn how to say "I don't speak a lot of --language--]

    know

    eat

    drink

    wait

    work


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    #3
    mental07
    Closed Accounts Posts: 994 ✭✭✭mental07


    -To be
    -To have
    -To eat
    -To work
    -To go
    -To do
    -To think
    -To like
    -To want
    -To live


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    #4
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,472 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    to help
    to be called
    to cost
    to buy
    to come


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    #5
    simu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,730 ✭✭✭✭simu


    Hard to say without knowing the language. Irish, for example has no verb for to have and two verbs for to be. Someone with no prior knowledge of Irish wouldn't know that and might put "to have" and "to be" on thier list. Similarly, I might want to learn say, Hungarian (a language I have no knowledge of), but how am I to know about what Hungarian has and doesn't have verbs for before I start learning?

    I think nouns and some pronouns would be more useful for basic "Me Tarzan"-type communication, anyways.


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