Organic systems
October 15, 2011
Latin | Spanish | French | |
Infinitive | esse | ser | être (estre) |
1p. sing. | sum | soy | suis |
2p. sing. | es | eres | es |
3p. sing. | est | es | est |
1p. pl. | sumus | somos | sommes |
2p. pl. | estis | sois | êtes (estes) |
3p. pl. | sunt | son | sont |
I love making this table. It’s fascinating. Three different languages, having evolved separately over thousands of years. And yet the conjugation of “to be” is virtually the same in all three. In fact, in some cases the verb form is, orthographically, exactly the same. A wonderful example of order behind an organic system, one of my favorite themes.