09:00 I look at the Radio Times and I see that there's an interesting discussion being broadcast tomorrow morning about Chaucer. I decide to email the members of Lynda's U3A Middle English group to alert them to the broadcast. In our group we've just been studying Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
I look forward to the war, the revolts and the sex, but no plague please - we've had it up to here with that, thank you very much!
No plague please, we're British!
Chelsea pensioners waiting to greet the Duchess of Cornwall today
10:00 Our daughter Alison, together with Ed and their 3 children, spent
nearly 6 years in Copenhagen from 2012 to 2018. They are now back in Surrey.
Yesterday their eldest, Josie (13), asked me to explain the rules about Danish
adjectival endings – she is teaching herself Danish online – I know she has a
number of Danish friends.
I spend this morning trying to figure out the rules for adjectival
endings, and trying to make it as simple as I can, not an easy task. Does my
explanation make any sense? The jury is still out on that – and Josie has not
got back to me on it yet. We’ll have to see!
This is what I said:
1. The easiest thing is when the noun is in the plural –
then the adjective always
takes the “-e” ending, whether the noun is a common gender noun like “hund” or a neuter noun like “hus”.
the good dogs de gode hunde
the good houses de
gode huse
good dogs gode hunde
good houses gode huse
dogs are good hunde er gode
houses are
good huse er gode
the dogs are
good hundene er gode
the houses are
good husene er gode
2. If the noun is in the singular, it’s more complicated.
But if the adjective has “the” “that” or “this” directly in front of it, the
adjective still takes the “-e” ending.
the good dog den gode hund
the good house det gode hus
that good dog den gode hund
that good
house det gode hus
this good dog denne gode hund
this good house dette
gode hus
3. If the noun is in the singular, and the adjective
hasn’t got “the”, “that” or “this” directly in front of it, then the adjective
takes no ending at all for common gender nouns, and it takes a “-t” ending for
neuter nouns.
a good dog en god hund
a good house et godt hus
a dog is good en hund er god
a house is
good et hus er godt
good milk god mælk [”mælk” is common gender]
good water godt vand [”vand” is neuter gender]
milk is good mælk er god
water is good vand er godt
the dog is
good hunden er god
the house is
good huset er godt
the milk is good mælken
er god
the water is good vandet
er godt
Note: although there is a “the” in the last four
sentences, notice that in these examples the word “the” is directly in front of
the noun, and not directly in front of the adjective.
My goodness - English is so simple compared to other languages!
12:00 Phew – time for lunch and a gigantic afternoon nap!
22:00 It’s 10 o’ clock and here we are in bed again already.
Lois bakes a delicious cake – yum yum!
19:00 We watch a bit of TV: two episodes of “Staged”, which is
about 2 actors and a director starting to rehearse a play online with each
other, so that they will be ready at the end of lockdown.
It’s interesting that the main male characters in Staged, played
by Michael Sheen and David Tennant as the actors, and also the director, Simon
Evans, are not doing well under lockdown conditions, to put it mildly. They look
rough and unkempt and they look as if they’re going slightly crazy. The 2 actors
themselves parade their massive, easily bruised egos, and they are continually
bitching, cursing and swearing at each other. They are also cowardly whenever
there is any unpleasant task or message to put across.
By contrast, the actors’ wives/partners always look immaculate,
and are cool, calm and collected, looking after the children, providing meals
and looking out for less fortunate neighbours, friends etc.
Very true to life, I suspect, for many lockdown couples. Oh dear!
20:00 Lois goes into the dining-room to take part online with her
sect’s weekly Bible Class. I watch a bit of Dan Jones’s series on Roman Roads.
It’s amazing that Ermine Street, built by the Romans, a road that started in London and went all the way to York via Lincoln, continued for 1500 years to be the main road to the north (the A1), until the motorway was built in the 1960s.
Zzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!
Danish translation: Onsdag den 15. juli 2020
09:00 Jeg ser på Radio Times, og jeg ser, at der udsendes en interessant diskussion i morgen formiddag om Chaucer. Jeg beslutter at e-maile medlemmerne af Lynda's U3A Mellemengelsk gruppe for at advare dem om udsendelsen. I vores gruppe har vi netop studeret Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
10:00 Vores datter Alison
tilbragte sammen med Ed og deres 3 børn næsten 6 år i København fra 2012 til
2018. De er nu tilbage i Surrey. I går bad deres ældste, Josie (13), mig om at
forklare reglerne om danske adjektivale - hun lærer sig selv dansk online - jeg
ved, at hun har en række danske venner.
Jeg bruger formiddagen på
at finde ud af reglerne for adjektivafslutninger og forsøge at gøre det så
simpelt som jeg kan, ikke en let opgave. Har min forklaring nogen mening? Det
er juryen stadig ude om - og Josie er ikke svaret endnu. Vi får se!
Dette er, hvad jeg sagde:
1. The easiest thing, Josie, is when the noun is in the
plural – then the adjective always
takes the “-e” ending, whether the noun is a common gender noun like “hund” or a neuter noun like “hus”.
the good dogs de gode hunde
the good houses de
gode huse
good dogs gode hunde
good houses gode huse
dogs are good hunde er gode
houses are good huse
er gode
the dogs are good hundene
er gode
the houses are good husene
er gode
2. If the noun is in the singular, it’s more complicated.
But if the adjective has “the” “that” or “this” directly in front of it, the
adjective still takes the “-e” ending.
the good dog den gode hund
the good house det gode hus
that good dog den gode hund
that good
house det gode hus
this good dog denne gode hund
this good house dette
gode hus
3. If the noun is in the singular, and the adjective
hasn’t got “the”, “that” or “this” directly in front of it, then the adjective
takes no ending at all for common gender nouns, and it takes a “-t” ending for
neuter nouns.
a good dog en god hund
a good house et godt hus
a dog is good en hund er god
a house is
good et hus er godt
good milk god mælk [”mælk” is common gender]
good water godt vand [”vand” is neuter gender]
milk is good mælk er god
water is good vand er godt
the dog is
good hunden er god
the house is
good huset er godt
the milk is good mælken
er god
the water is good vandet
er godt
Note: although there is a “the” in the last four sentences,
notice that in these examples the word “the” is directly in front of the noun,
and not directly in front of the adjective.
Du godeste -
Engelsk er så simpelt sammenlignet med andre sprog!
12:00 Puha -
tid til frokost og en gigantisk eftermiddagslur!
Lois bager en
lækker kage - yum yum!
19:00 Vi ser
lidt tv: to episoder af “Staged”, som handler om 2 skuespillere og en
instruktør, der begynder at øve et teaterstykke online med hinanden, så de vil
være klar ved slutningen af lockdown.
Det er
interessant, at de vigtigste mandlige figurer i Staged, spillet af Michael
Sheen og David Tennant, som skuespillerne, også instruktøren, Simon Evans, ikke
klarer sig godt under lockdown-forhold, for at sige det mildt. De ser ujævne og
uforsømmede ud, og de ser ud som om de bliver lidt skøre. De to skuespillere
paraderer selv deres massive, let forslåede egoer, og de bitcher, forbander og
sværger konstant mod hinanden. De er også feige, når der er nogen ubehagelig
opgave eller besked, der skal bruges.
I modsætning
hertil ser skuespillernes hustruer / partnere altid pletfri og er sej, rolig og
samlet, passe børnene, sørger for måltider og passer på mindre heldige naboer
osv.
20:00 Lois går
ind i spisestuen for at deltage online med hendes sekts ugentlige bibelsklasse.
Jeg ser lidt af Dan Jones's serie om romerske veje.
Det er
forbløffende, at Ermine Street, bygget af romerne, en vej, der startede i
London og gik hele vejen til York via Lincoln, fortsatte i 1500 år at være
hovedvejen mod nord (A1), indtil motorvejen blev bygget i 1960'erne.
22:00 Klokken
er 10 og her er vi allerede i sengen igen.
Zzzzzzzzzzzz
!!!!
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