# werkwoord (verb)



## ThomasK

Do you have special translations of the word 'verb'/ 'verbum' (like _to be, to do, to have_, ...) ? it seems as if Dutch is an exception in having the word 'werkwoord' (working word ??) as a synonym. But it may just be because I do not know too many languages...


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## jazyk

In Portuguese: verbos.


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## Alxmrphi

We commonly say in English *doing words*.


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## Tamar

In Hebrew it's פועל po'al. The root is פ.ע.ל , a root that indicates an action (so to choose between 'verb' and 'werkwoord', I think it's more similar to 'werkwoord').


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## ThomasK

'Doing words' : really ? Never come across. But interesting ! Thanks !

'Werken' en _activity_: they close, but ours seems narrower (or do we always work ? ;- ) !


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## Alxmrphi

Hi Thomas, when you're explaining to people about verbs, like to children you call them "doing words"...

But a surprising amount of people don't know what verbs are, we English don't really learn foreign languages, and therefore lose contact with the terminology, so never needing to describe what one is, many people forget, but if you say "doing word", a connection is usually made to being taught about them, as there is a big clue in the name, they will link it to "ahh like to do / to see / to play" etc.

More people in England know what a 'doing word' is rather than a 'verb', by an absolutely astonishingly huge margin.


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## ThomasK

I noticed one English lady started sobbing due to me talking about prepositions, direct objects, subjects, etc., during a Dutch class. 

Well, in fact one can explain those things in 'human' terms quite quickly, be it paradigmatically very often...


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## Alxmrphi

Wow, was she just so confused she just started crying?
I suppose with a big desire to learn another language, throwing yourself in at the deep end and wanting to rush it, you will come in contact with all this stuff you've never heard about before..

But like I said, only language learners / linguists seem to keep this vocabulary, as for everyone else it's only taught at a young age and isn't really delved into again (in the English school system anyway) 

I don't have any recolection of studying grammar or grammar terms, it must have been that long ago, and it certainly wasn't after I was 8/9.

It was only 3.5 years ago I didn't know what a preposition, subject pronoun, direct/indirect object was, or the pluperfect / past perfect tense, I am not even sure I'd be able to answer what a verb or a noun was.


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## ThomasK

Well, you'd be so pleasantly surprised to hear about semantic grammar, I think: that is quite insightful. But let's stick to verbs here - or we'll be kicked out by our moderator !


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## Alxmrphi

Ah ok
I have something to add 

(Icelandic)
*Sögn* = tale / story
*Orð* = word 
*Sagnorð* = verb (story word..... which I think means expressing of an action type thing, interesting eh?)


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## ThomasK

Really interesting ! (Do you, eh, have IIcelandic-Canadian roots (eh !!!) ?) !


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## Alxmrphi

No, Icelandic is just fascinating, it's like the ultimate brain-workout and test of memory, it's basically a challenge after I went to Iceland and heard how it was meant to be so difficult, when I got back I started to learn, I'm too far in to give up now


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## Frank06

Hi,

I looked in my list of words for verb, but I couldn't find a lot.
Chinese 動詞 or 动词 (dòng cí) could be translated as 'action word', which is not really the same as working.

Pashto has fehl (via Arabic), but also kar (any link with Perisan kâr??????).

Groetjes,

Frank

PS: As for the history of Dutch 'werkwoord' (a successful 16th/17th century purism) see this text (pdf).


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## ThomasK

Thanks anyhow: the story verb is great such. 

The attachment is quite interesting, thanks for that too !


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## Hakro

In  Finnish we have both _international_ and *Finnish* words for practically all the grammar terms.

verb = _verbi_ or *teonsana* (word of doing)
noun =  _substantiivi_ or *nimisana* (name word)
adjective = _adjektiivi_ or *laatusana* (quality word)
pronoun = _pronomini_ or *asemo(sana)* (word instead of sth)
preposition = _prepostitio_ or *etusana* (fore word)
etc.


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## astlanda

Hakro said:


> In Estonian we have both _international_ and our own words as well.
> 
> verb = _verb_ or *tegusõna* (word of doing)
> noun =  _substantiiv_ or *nimisõna* (name word)
> adjective = _adjektiiv_ or *omadussõna* (quality word)
> pronoun = _pronoomen_ or *asesõna* (word instead of sth)
> preposition = _prepositsioon_ or *eessõna* (fore word)
> even though both in Estonian and Finnish you'll more likely found a
> postposition = _postpositsioon_ or *tagasõna* (behind word)
> etc.
> 
> Estonians tend to use more often their own terms and Finns use the _international_ ones.



And Chinese 動詞 = 动词 (dòng cí) is more like a "movement word". Compare with 动作 , 动物, 运动.


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## Mahaodeh

In Arabic it's fi'l, the root of which means "to do", so I guess it's a "doing word".


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## Saluton

In Russian it's *глагол* (glag*o*l), which originates from the word 'to speak'. Tee hee. It doesn't really imply doing anything.

I was surprised to learn that in Ukrainian it's *дієслово* (diyesl*o*vo), i.e. 'action word', 'doing word'.

But well, in Afrikaans it's werkwoord, in Alemannisch it's Verb... See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verb and choose from the column 'Languages' on the left.


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## ger4

In German:
- _Tu(n)wort_ - lit. 'do_word' - (used to be) used in primary school lessons 
- _Tätigkeitswort_ - lit. 'activity_word' - can be heard frequently; most people seem to prefer _Verb_, though.


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## apmoy70

In Greek:

*«Ρήμα»* [ˈɾima] (neut.) < Classical neut. noun *«ῥῆμᾰ» rhêmă* --> lit. _that which is said or spoken, word, saying_, as a grammatical term _predicate, verb_ < Classical v. *«εἴρω» eírō* --> _to say, speak, tell_ (PIE *uerh₁-, _to speak_ cf Hitt. u̯erii̯e-, _to call, name, order_; Proto-Slavic *vьrati > Rus. врать, Ukr. брехати).


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## bibax

Latin: *verbum* means 1. word 2. verb.

Czech (similarly like in Latin):

*slovo* = word;

*sloveso* = verb;

The term *sloveso* is artificially created from the older (OCS, Protoslavic) consonantal stem *sloves-*.


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## Encolpius

here is a nice list

*Hungarian *-- ige [origin unknown] (second meaning ige = the *word *of God; I wonder we are the only who do not use "word" for the word of God ]


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## 810senior

Japanese only has 動詞(doushi; moving[acting/doing] words) as kanji-compounded word...


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## Gavril

Alxmrphi said:


> Hi Thomas, when you're explaining to people about verbs, like to children you call them "doing words"...



I am more used to hearing/seeing the phrase *action word* to explain what a verb is. Perhaps _doing word_ is a more common expression for this in Britain.


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## 123xyz

In Macedonian, it's "глагол", just like in Russian (except for the different pronunciation, of course).


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