Posted by princessgillian
Oct 31, 2007 4:31 pm

Replies (3)

Posted by

• Forgive the typo(s) above. My typing isn't up to par.

  Oct 31, 2007 4:33 pm
  by princessgillian

• I haven't read the book yet, but judging from your table, N/P/O look like the "cases" of English: nominative, possessive, and objective.
  "I saw her." =>
  I = subject (nominative case)
  her = object (objective case)
  "That's my umbrella." =>
  my = possessive form of 1st person singular pronoun.
  
  German has one more case--the dative, corresponding in some cases to the indirect object function in English:
  "I gave _her_ a present."
  There is no difference between in the forms of direct and indirect object pronouns in _modern_ English (me, her, him, etc.) but in German they can be different, e.g., in the case of "I":
  N: Ich, O: mich, D: mir, P: mein(etc.)
  I wrote "O" for the German direct object's case but that may be wrong; it may actually be called something else; e.g., the "accusative" case in Russian is the case that generally corresponds to a direct object.
  
  Hope this is of some help to you.

  Nov 11, 2007 8:29 am
  by bill_r

• Please forgive my "between in the forms", too; I meant "between the forms". Also, do you mean "their" (instead of "theirs") after "P:" in your table?

  Nov 11, 2007 8:34 am
  by bill_r

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