To all of my fellow mums out there:
Ladies, there is absolutely no doubt that we are superwomen. We defy space and time every day, managing to do several things at the same time, to talk and listen at the same time, to be in two different places at the same time. We are educated professionals and full time caregivers, teachers, maids, cooks, and all of that AT THE SAME TIME. We can withstand hunger, sleep deprivation and raging all-family stomach bugs. We are even resistant to KRYPTONITE! Nothing beats us!
So much for the opening; now let’s get back to the point – bilingual babies, speech development etc. A few days ago, while teaching Slovak to my very bright English student (I am a superwoman, remember?), I introduced the topic of verbs. I realised that compared to English Slovak verbs are complex, confusing and infuriatingly irregular, even the easy ones. So how does one learn all those conjugations and patterns? What can I do to help my student learn faster and easier? How about Will, as he just started to learn verbs, what is his strategy? Does he speak in infinitives? Does he understand the whole conjugation thing from the beginning? Could I use his verb mastering tactics in teaching a grown up English guy?
Up until very recently William’s vocab consisted mainly of nouns, one or two simplified verbs and some memorised short phrases. Each word had one fixed form so when he started to form his first sentences all of these “words” had an equal function in the sentence. There were no real subjects or predicates or objects; two nouns could form a sentence just as well as a noun and a verb, or a noun and an adverb, or even a noun and a phrase. (You will be able to read more on the composition of the first sentences in the next article.)
Will’s first “verbs” were “ham” (English yum – meaning to eat) and “haja” (English sleep or French dodo). Even though these words came quite early, (about a year and a half of age) I wouldn’t count them as real verbs as they didn’t hold their function of a predicate in a sentence. The real real verbs appeared in Wilko’s speech shortly before the age of two and a half, and even though the sentences are still as simple as possible, some consisting of two and
some of three words at a time, we can observe in them a certain level of syntax beginning to form., a conscious placing of predicate in front of an object. That is why I consider these verbs to be real - predicate verbs.
Now to tell you shortly about Slovak verbs: there are nine conjugation patterns, more or less similar but each of them slightly different from the other ones. The form of the verb (the ending and sometimes the root of the word too) is different in each person singular and plural, which gives us six different forms of a verb within just one conjugation pattern. Now do you own math and use a little bit of multiplying and you might begin to understand what I am talking about.
So how did Will deal with Slovak conjugation? He chose the simplest solution ever and started to use English verbs. No conjugation, no problem. Ok, I can hear you say, but English DO conjugate their verbs through the use of pronouns! And you’re right. But my genius son found a way around this problem as well. He doesn’t bother with indicative mood but jumped straight to imperative avoiding the use of pronouns. And, to be honest, what more does he need really? Mami go! Pull! Push! And the very adorable Dweeeenk! Come here! Go find! Get ball! Look at that! Stop it! Make food/milk/rocket! It is so beautifully simple and logical it makes me wonder if I could use it with my student and teach him the imperative of Slovak verbs first. Unfortunately the adult life requires more sophisticated communication. Even in expressing desires and needs, something that could obviously be dealt with quickly and easily, we need to use modals, condition phrases, subjunctive, various formulas and words of politeness and a whole army of tenses...
