Learning languages is about examples, not rules.
And there are some pretty odd rules out there.
To give you an idea about weird rules in languages, let me show you two French sentences:
1. J'ai vu la voiture. (I have seen the car)
2. Je l'ai vue. (I have seen it, i.e. the car)
Now, even if you don't know French you will notice that in the first sentence the word 'vu' (seen) is spelled without the final 'e' but in the second sentence it has a final 'e'. Let me explain why that is.
First of all, you need to know that in many languages every noun has a gender (masculine, feminine and, in some cases, neuter). Often these genders defy logic. In German "Mädchen" (girl) is not feminine, but neuter. The word for 'problem' is masculine in French (le problème), feminine in Russian (проблема) and neuter in German (das Problem).
In French car (voiture) is feminine.
I could go into all sorts of additional explanations about auxiliary verbs and participles, but I will try to keep it simple. In the first sentence the feminine noun, car, comes after the word 'vu' (seen) in the sentence, so there is no change, but in the second sentence the word 'la' (literally 'her') comes before the word 'vu' (seen) and so it has a feminine ending ('vue').
Now, if all that sounds bewildering, that is sort of the impression I wanted to make... because language learning is about examples, not rules.
To remember the complex rules I explained above all you need to do is to remember those two examples above. One with no ending and the other with the ending 'e'.
And that's the point. That's how you learn the rules: examples!
You want your examples to stick in your mind, to be memorable. I remember one of my friends was taught a point of Russian grammar using a line from a popular song in Russia at the time: "Хочу такого как Путин" ("I want one [a man], like Putin.") I was going to include a link, but you can cut and paste the words and do a search on the internet to find the song and video for yourself. The line from the song shows what grammatical case to use with that particular construction in Russian.
To learn a language you need examples of correct sentences that people actually say (or write). You need to hear (or read) those examples, you need to remember them and you need to use them.
If you are interested in language learning, follow this blog.
My name is Russell Phillips. I offer online video language tuition for English and Russian - and also German, Italian and French.
My rate is GBP 9 (nine pounds sterling) per block of 15 minutes (a typical lesson might be 45 minutes), payable in advance.
Contact me via www.facebook.com/russelljamesphillips or on email at regnavit[at]gmail.com
And there are some pretty odd rules out there.
To give you an idea about weird rules in languages, let me show you two French sentences:
1. J'ai vu la voiture. (I have seen the car)
2. Je l'ai vue. (I have seen it, i.e. the car)
Now, even if you don't know French you will notice that in the first sentence the word 'vu' (seen) is spelled without the final 'e' but in the second sentence it has a final 'e'. Let me explain why that is.
First of all, you need to know that in many languages every noun has a gender (masculine, feminine and, in some cases, neuter). Often these genders defy logic. In German "Mädchen" (girl) is not feminine, but neuter. The word for 'problem' is masculine in French (le problème), feminine in Russian (проблема) and neuter in German (das Problem).
In French car (voiture) is feminine.
I could go into all sorts of additional explanations about auxiliary verbs and participles, but I will try to keep it simple. In the first sentence the feminine noun, car, comes after the word 'vu' (seen) in the sentence, so there is no change, but in the second sentence the word 'la' (literally 'her') comes before the word 'vu' (seen) and so it has a feminine ending ('vue').
Now, if all that sounds bewildering, that is sort of the impression I wanted to make... because language learning is about examples, not rules.
To remember the complex rules I explained above all you need to do is to remember those two examples above. One with no ending and the other with the ending 'e'.
And that's the point. That's how you learn the rules: examples!
You want your examples to stick in your mind, to be memorable. I remember one of my friends was taught a point of Russian grammar using a line from a popular song in Russia at the time: "Хочу такого как Путин" ("I want one [a man], like Putin.") I was going to include a link, but you can cut and paste the words and do a search on the internet to find the song and video for yourself. The line from the song shows what grammatical case to use with that particular construction in Russian.
To learn a language you need examples of correct sentences that people actually say (or write). You need to hear (or read) those examples, you need to remember them and you need to use them.
If you are interested in language learning, follow this blog.
My name is Russell Phillips. I offer online video language tuition for English and Russian - and also German, Italian and French.
My rate is GBP 9 (nine pounds sterling) per block of 15 minutes (a typical lesson might be 45 minutes), payable in advance.
Contact me via www.facebook.com/russelljamesphillips or on email at regnavit[at]gmail.com
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