After a week, we had been taught how to conjugate verbs into present tense. I was told that this was something that French kids recite everyday in school (like how we Chinamen recite the multiplication table in school- remember?). Having grasp enough verbs and conjugation skills for French verbs ending with -er, we started to write and converse in French.
Body: Whatever we have learnt may seem pretty odd to someone who speaks, writes and reads the language. Imagine if you were to drop into our class and overheard a typical exercise:-
STUDENT 1: G-o-o-d Murning
STUDENT 2: Gud Mourning
STUDENT 1: Howe air you?
STUDENT 2: Fun. And you?
STUDENT 1: I’m unwell too. Do you like the chinema?
STUDENT 2: I adore the a cinema. And you?
STUDENT 1: No. I detest the chinuma.
and so on.
I wonder how it would take before we can have real conversations. Right now, we have learned the present tense so our grammar confines us to just a moment of present time. For instance, I can’t ask someone whether if they liked (past tense) something or to say something in the future.
Sigh….
– Vous aimez le cinéma? Le théâtre?
– Non, je n’aime pas le cinema. Oui, j’aime le théâtre.
– You like the cinema? The theatre?
– No, I don’t like the cinema. Yes, I like the theatre.