Mmm, good read! Makes me reconsider an idea I've been throwing around... becoming a doctor-linguist missionary in some random unreached village, documenting their language as well as providing medical treatment and the Gospel. Who knows if I'll have the strength to go through with that, though.
One correction, though... "gustar," or "to like" in Spanish is NOT a reflexive verb. I learned recently that it is one of those verbs where the action is done to the person/thing (I just looked this up and apparently it's called a psych verb, with an experiencer and a stimulus. Or more specifically, it is a reverse intransitive psych verb as described in this paper that I just found: http://www.jstor.org/stable/345307?seq=1). This makes sense if you think about "gustar" in its literal meaning, "to please." "Me/le/te gusta" = "It pleases me/him/her/you" Therefore, in this psych verb, "it" = stimulus, and "me/him/her/you" = experiencer. Consequently, "Me gustas" = "You please me" = "I like you." Another verb like this is "doler" (to hurt). So you'd say, "Me duele la garganta" = "My throat hurts me" = "My throat hurts" since pain is considered as something that is done to something/someone.
Ooh being a doctor-linguist would actually be amazing, David! =)
Thanks for explaining psych verbs! I remember learning gustar in Span101/102 and being confused by it -- but never really doing anything to alleviate my ignorance about its proper usage, and these two words fit together the way they do. Coolcoolcool. Yay words! It's so much fun to learn about them!
Mmm, good read! Makes me reconsider an idea I've been throwing around... becoming a doctor-linguist missionary in some random unreached village, documenting their language as well as providing medical treatment and the Gospel. Who knows if I'll have the strength to go through with that, though.
ReplyDeleteOne correction, though... "gustar," or "to like" in Spanish is NOT a reflexive verb. I learned recently that it is one of those verbs where the action is done to the person/thing (I just looked this up and apparently it's called a psych verb, with an experiencer and a stimulus. Or more specifically, it is a reverse intransitive psych verb as described in this paper that I just found: http://www.jstor.org/stable/345307?seq=1). This makes sense if you think about "gustar" in its literal meaning, "to please." "Me/le/te gusta" = "It pleases me/him/her/you" Therefore, in this psych verb, "it" = stimulus, and "me/him/her/you" = experiencer.
Consequently, "Me gustas" = "You please me" = "I like you."
Another verb like this is "doler" (to hurt). So you'd say, "Me duele la garganta" = "My throat hurts me" = "My throat hurts" since pain is considered as something that is done to something/someone.
Ooh being a doctor-linguist would actually be amazing, David! =)
DeleteThanks for explaining psych verbs! I remember learning gustar in Span101/102 and being confused by it -- but never really doing anything to alleviate my ignorance about its proper usage, and these two words fit together the way they do. Coolcoolcool. Yay words! It's so much fun to learn about them!