inflected verbs and languages
I'm trying to find out what and inflected verb is and found more questions. I did a search using inflected verb and in turns out languages and be inflected to. " In general, languages vary from one another in terms of their respective morphemic richness. As a result, some languages (especially more heavily inflected languages) may rely very heavily on conjugated verb forms to convey each of these ideas; whereas, other languages may instead rely more heavily on other devices such as word positioning, the use of verb phrases (often referred to as either compound tenses or verbal perífrases, depending on what nuance is being conveyed) or other parts of speech to convey such ideas."
1 Answer
One can almost hate grammarians. Ask a simple question and you get a confusing answer with words you have never heard before and you are more in the dark than ever.
An inflected language is simply one that adds endings to its words to convey a difference in meaning.
In Spanish the verbs consist of stems and endings. For example the verb "hablar." HABL is the stem and "ar" is the "infinitive" ending. It takes the place of the "to" in the English verb which is in this case "to speak."
Now when you change the ending of a verb according to the rules for this, you get slightly different meanings. "hablo" for example, means "I speak." "Hablas means "you speak. there are many, many more endings which not only indicate who is performing the action, but when it takes place--as in present, past, future, etc.
Latin and Greek even inflect their endings on their nouns and adjectives to serve a variety of purposes which you might not understand unless a fuller explanation is given.
Most Spanish nouns and adjectives are inflected that is different endings will signal whether something is masculine or feminine, singular or plural.
Ex. amigo--male friend. amiga----female friend, amigos--male friends, amigas---female friends.
