English distinguishes between 'hung' and 'hanged' in the past tense depending on the meaning i.e. 'I hung my washing out to dry', but 'He hanged himself'. I can't think of any other example of this in English, but do other languages change the past tense form like this depending on context, either in only a few instances or routinely with many verbs?
Hung/Hanged
Very absurd.Im an American and have never heard of anything like "hung".It's just like a spelling to have been left from Shakespeare's time.What a nonsense!If you wanna speak American Eng, no need to learn it ;) but if youre gonna be professioned in British Eng, yes you'd better count on it.
Thanks Brennus, that's not what I mean though. I wasn't talking about languages simply changing the form of the verb in the past tense or having weak and strong verbs.
What I was getting at is, that for most verbs English has just one simple past form and present perfect form (which I know can be weak, strong or mixed), and these forms are used whatever the context.
However in the case of the verb 'to hang', the past tense is normally hung, except when referring to someone hanging themselves or being hanged (although this form is often not used).
Off the top of my head I can't think of any other instances where an English verb behaves like this. I was wondering if this kind of thing is common in other languages.
What I was getting at is, that for most verbs English has just one simple past form and present perfect form (which I know can be weak, strong or mixed), and these forms are used whatever the context.
However in the case of the verb 'to hang', the past tense is normally hung, except when referring to someone hanging themselves or being hanged (although this form is often not used).
Off the top of my head I can't think of any other instances where an English verb behaves like this. I was wondering if this kind of thing is common in other languages.
Thanks Brennus, that's not what I mean though. I wasn't talking about languages simply changing the form of the verb in the past tense or having weak and strong verbs.
What I was getting at is, that for most verbs English has just one simple past form and present perfect form (which I know can be weak, strong or mixed), and these forms are used whatever the context.
However in the case of the verb 'to hang', the past tense is normally hung, except when referring to someone hanging themselves or being hanged (although this form is often not used).
Off the top of my head I can't think of any other instances where an English verb behaves like this. I was wondering if this kind of thing is common in other languages.
What I was getting at is, that for most verbs English has just one simple past form and present perfect form (which I know can be weak, strong or mixed), and these forms are used whatever the context.
However in the case of the verb 'to hang', the past tense is normally hung, except when referring to someone hanging themselves or being hanged (although this form is often not used).
Off the top of my head I can't think of any other instances where an English verb behaves like this. I was wondering if this kind of thing is common in other languages.
I can't think of another example of this sort of thing. I'd also say "I hung the washing out to dry" but "the murderer was hanged", never "I hanged the washing out to dry" or "the murderer was hung".
Afrikaans has already completely lost the strong verb, so one has "sing" (sing) - gesing (sang), swem (swim) - geswim (swam), gee (give) - gegee (gave) etc.
Afrikaans has already completely lost the strong verb, so one has "sing" (sing) - gesing (sang), swem (swim) - geswim (swam), gee (give) - gegee (gave) etc.
Brennus
Yes, I know a lot of people would say 'He hung himself', although I have always been led to believe that strictly speaking it should be 'hanged' in this context.
What makes you say that all strong verbs will eventually turn into weak ones in English?
Yes, I know a lot of people would say 'He hung himself', although I have always been led to believe that strictly speaking it should be 'hanged' in this context.
What makes you say that all strong verbs will eventually turn into weak ones in English?