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- "זאת מסעדתי או המסעדה שלי?"
53 Comments
Is this unnatural sentence just to show the difference between combining conjugations?
Perhaps a student confused with those pronouns (just like a lot of people here, well, at least me :)) would say this asking which form is correct. If you think about it that way it's a pretty useful phrase. :)
Would the student be wrong because, in asking which form is correct, that implies that one form is incorrect?
Since Theresa woke this thread up... That's a clever suggestion, but doesn't quite work. Suppose even you put quotation marks around מסעדתי and המסעדה שלי; What's the role of זאת? If it should parallel the "it" in "Is it 'horse' or 'mare'", in Hebrew we'd probably use זה, definitely not זאת.
I think that's exactly what it is: showing the different ways to construct the possessive.
Is this for emphasis (I know that the Hebrew language uses repetition for emphasis) as in the person asking it rhetorically to a non-owner who is acting autocratic? And the owner is asserting himself? Or am I overthinking it? :)
I'd say you're overthinking it -- it's more that the sentence is presented this way to show the two different ways to word the possessive. Just my thought, though.
It occurred to me, too! But the Hebrew way to see it would be זאת המסעדה שלי או (זאת) המסעדה שלי. Changing one of them to מסעדתי would severely weaken the impression...
You would say, 'is it my resaturant or my restaurant?'. You wouldn't say, 'is it my restaurant or is it my diner?'
I like this sentence languages are useful for having fun as well, don't take life so seriously
This sentence is fun if you enjoy the challenge of figuring out how “Is this my restaurant or my restaurant?” could possibly make sense. Actually, it only makes sense in Hebrew. For the English to make sense, Duolingo should have put quotation marks around both occurrences of “my restaurant”.
For me, a student of Biblical Hebrew, מסעדתי is much more beautiful :) Will people in Israel be confused if I would use many of those typical biblical terms?
They (we) would totally understand what you mean, and totally think you're talking funny (-:
Yeah seeing it in the Bible and its similarity to Arabic makes me want to speak like this. It is so fun
It's probably the equivalent of when someone says to you, "Am I right or am I right?" I don't like it. :-)
I don't think it is, because he's not saying the same thing. No one says, "am I right or am I correct?"
What is that mark between the s and the a? Are you saying it should be a deep ע (like the Yemenites)?
Yes, it marks the Sephardi pronunciation. I know that the standard pronunciation for עַ֫יִן is the glottal stop (ʔ) or nothing at all, but I wanted to mark the phoneme for those who prefer to pronounce it. And no, you shouldn't, but might.
Well, the form with the suffixed possessive מִסְעַדְתִּי is formal, the one with שֶׁל a neutral register.
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Are the two completely interchangeable or do some circumstances call for one or the other?
Is there a difference that would make one form more suitable than the other dependent on context? (Eg level of formality)
Wouldn't a better translation be "Is this my restaurant or the restaurant of mine?"
Does not "my restaurant" and "the restaurant of mine" mean the exact same thing too?
I might hear someone say “a restaurant of mine”, someone who has enough money to own more than one restaurant, but I can’t imagine anyone saying “the restaurant of mine”.
Well, to put it more positively for those who love the small things that can escape casual notice, in Hebrew אֱלֹהִים נִמְצָא בַּפְּרָטִים הַקְּטַנִּים G-d is in the small details is as much used as the version with הַשָּׂטָן.
Im confused as to why "my restaurant" comes before "my restaurants". Isnt ממסעדתי the plural?
Missed it because I didn't realize what you were doing. I have trouble spelling in Hebrew, anyway. Discourages me a little.
I like this example. Is it "מסעדתי" or "סכדה שלי"? Not unnatural nor bullying at all...
He wants to assert to his friends that it is definitelly his restaurant. It is elegant when you can express something in a language twice in order to emphasise, it makes a language rich in style and expressions
