Grammar

The Two ‘To Be’s of Irish Gaelic

Like Spanish, Irish Gaelic has two verbs for 'to be', but the logic is entirely different. Instead of temporary vs.…

4 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.…

4 months ago

The Case of the Missing ‘Is’ in Russian

In Russian, "My brother is a doctor" becomes "Мой брат – врач" (My brother – doctor). This isn't a mistake…

4 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…

4 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…

4 months ago

How Persian Lost Its Gender

Modern Persian, or Farsi, is famously gender-neutral, but its ancestor, Old Persian, was not. This post explores the fascinating linguistic…

4 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…

4 months ago

Why Is ‘An’ Used Before Vowels?

Why do we say 'an apple' but 'a pear'? This fundamental rule is about more than just grammar; it's a…

4 months ago

What Are Grammatical ‘Moods’?

When we talk about 'mood' in grammar, we're not talking about being happy or sad; we're referring to a verb's…

4 months ago

What Is a Phrasal Verb?

Phrasal verbs like "run into" and "give up" are a cornerstone of natural English, yet they often frustrate learners. This…

4 months ago

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