Author Topic: Anyone here from Spain? (Malaga) (Read 789 times)

CyranoAH · « **Reply #15 on:** July 18, 2003, 03:55:48 AM »

Yeah, plenty of those in Malaga.

Daniel

Nash · « **Reply #16 on:** July 18, 2003, 04:08:34 AM »

Hey Maniac - your english is perfect, except for one small thing. In most cases when folks write in a 2nd language, they get so much wrong that it's not really worth it to point it out. In your case, you're so close to nailing it that I thought you might appreciate the lesson.

Here goes...

You're often using "an" when you should be using "a".

There are two kinds of letters. Consonants and vowels. "A" gets used when the word following it starts with a consonant. "An" gets used when the word following it starts with a vowel (vowels are a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y).

You fly an airplane.

You drive a car.

There you have it. Damn... I am such a nice guy.

CyranoAH · « **Reply #17 on:** July 18, 2003, 04:22:45 AM »

He just strives to be like Hitech, give the poor man some time.

Daniel

Maniac · « **Reply #18 on:** July 18, 2003, 04:27:36 AM »

Thanks an lot!

I cant remember the vowels, i have to print em out and have em by my comp i guess

Nash · « **Reply #19 on:** July 18, 2003, 05:00:16 AM »

Ah. Here's how to know what vowels are.

Say this out loud:
Aaaaaiiiieeeiioooooyyyyuuuuuu aaaaaoooiiieeeeeyyaa.

Then say this out loud: bdptvnctdvfg

Totally different, eh?

If they're soft sounding, like the 1st example, they're vowels so use "an" before them. If they're hard sounding, and stop abruptly, they're consonants so you'd just use "a".

mora · « **Reply #20 on:** July 18, 2003, 09:33:41 AM »

I just went to Spain recently and at least croceries were much cheaper than in Finland or Sweden. Typical food stuff was 1/2 price and beverages even more cheaper. Cheapest beer was 15 cent!!! I will be going to Valencia for 3 weeks in september.

Maniac · « **Reply #21 on:** July 22, 2003, 08:10:13 AM »

Thx for the input Mora... The only thing i need to survive is indeed beer

DA98 · « **Reply #22 on:** July 22, 2003, 08:15:42 AM »

15 cents a can of beer????? Well, it's clear that this place is nowhere near my city... where did you found beer so cheap?

Curval · « **Reply #23 on:** July 22, 2003, 08:20:21 AM »

Nash...since you are so good at the English language and explaining it to those who do not speak it as their first language...help me out on this one:

My wife (Vietnamese) always uses the plural, when she should be using the singular...or visa vera.

Example:

We are eating fishes tonight.

She learned the rule somewhere that if there is more than one object she should pluralise the noun.

What is the correct rule?

LLv34_Snefens · « **Reply #24 on:** July 22, 2003, 08:42:14 AM »

Curval. I think the rule is correct. Only problem is the word fish. In plural it is still fish (though my dictionary claims that is can also be "fishes", but this sounds plain wrong in my ear(s)

)

Some words are just inconsistent, and don't follow the regular rules when put in plural (putting an "s" at the end). One just have to learn which words are like this, since there are no rule.

Well, there might be, but it's been so long since I had english in school, that I now just go with what sounds right, instead of thinking of rules.

mora · « **Reply #25 on:** July 22, 2003, 08:45:21 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by DA98
15 cents a can of beer????? Well, it's clear that this place is nowhere near my city... where did you found beer so cheap?

It was in a supermarket called "champion" or something.. That beer was their own brand but quite drinkable, other beers weren't too expensive either

edit: Now that I think of it that place wasn't too far away from Barcelona, just 3 hours south, It was in an area where there are a lot of tile factories. I was riding with a friend who was getting a load of tiles from there with a lorry.

Curval · « **Reply #26 on:** July 22, 2003, 08:48:11 AM »

Snefens..the rule isn't correct. There are lots of examples where the singular is the same as plural in English. My brain isn't functioning quite yet as I only have one coffee in me, so I can't think of examples off the top of my head. The wife ALWAYS gets it wrong, but I don't know of a hard & fast rule that would help her.

LLv34_Snefens · « **Reply #27 on:** July 22, 2003, 09:07:57 AM »

ehh, yes, that's what I meant with the sentence: "Some words are just inconsistant..."

I search google and came up with:

"In English, plurals of nouns are normally indicated by the ending –s or –es, or in a few cases by –en, as in children and oxen."

and

"•The absence of –s in the plural form of animal names (hunting for bear, a herd of buffalo) probably arose by analogy with animals like deer and sheep whose plurals have been unmarked since the earliest beginnings of the English language."

But there always are exceptions. two dogs/cats/horses.

I don't think either that there is a "end it all"-rule

LLv34_Snefens · « **Reply #28 on:** July 22, 2003, 09:11:33 AM »

uhh, and here it is all explained:

http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/crump.htm

Curval · « **Reply #29 on:** July 22, 2003, 09:20:06 AM »

hehe...thanks man. Just sent her the link..she's probably going to think I am picking on her as it came out of the blue.