Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Why past tense in imaginative play in Finnish?

+5
−0

When playing house with a child, they say things like "Nyt se meni nukkumaan." when they mean that I should have the toy I am playing with go to bed. Similar use of the simple past / imperfect tense is what the child uses all the time in such contexts.

("meni" is past tense and translates to "went" in English)

The child has been living abroad for about three years now and I no longer remember if this pattern of speech is typical of Finnish children playing.

What is going on here? Why they use of past tense to imply that something should be done, and especially in imaginative play; this does not happen otherwise?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

0 comment threads

2 answers

You are accessing this answer with a direct link, so it's being shown above all other answers regardless of its score. You can return to the normal view.

+1
−0

Could the child be saying, or aiming at, "nyt se menis nukkumaan"? That would be the usual thing for a child to say when playing house.

The form "menis" (in standard Finnish "menisi") is not past tense indicative but present tense conditional: "would go".

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

1 comment thread

General comments (2 comments)
+3
−0

The younger the child, the less established the grammar. You can respond with "Nyt se menee nukkumaan" and put the toy into its sleeping house, thus just implementing the suggestion using your own "adult" grammar.

(I don't see the verb form used by the child as incorrect either. In their powerful imagination, the toy already went to sleep, or at least the process is already started, the moment they conceived it. But you are the adult, so you analyze and speak like an adult.)

The child will pick up more conventional grammar over time as needed, at their own pace. You are not correcting what they said, you are building on it and playing along.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »