Talk:Principal parts

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In what languages are verbs classified by principal parts? I know that this is true of English, Latin, and Greek, but are there others? If there are no others or very few others, this page can be a description of principal parts in the languages that do use them for pedagogy, but if not, a more general description may be in order.NatusRoma 00:58, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

Hi! Well, of course, pp's are not a feature of the language per se but rather, as you say, of the teaching technique; for some languages it happens to be necessary. Thinking over the languages I have learned, it strikes me that these are necessary for the Germanic languages, for Latin, Greek and Sanskrit; and certainly I know it is necessary for Old Irish (which I never learned). I have a feeling it would apply to Slavic languages too, but you'd have to enquire elsewhere. In the romance languages, however, verbs are either irregular or else more-or-less predictable from the infinitive. Something similar applies to nouns in some languages, like Latin: you always learn the nominitive and the genitive: rex, regis = "king". From those you can deduce everything else. But yes, do pursue this and write it up! --Doric Loon 13:51, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

Would it make sense to list all of the languages whose verb forms are learned through principal parts, perhaps with a translation of each form (as in the Latin in this article) and an identification of that form (first singular, present indicative active, etc.)? Perhaps in a more coherent chart form? I think the comparison would be interesting. Also, as for Slavic languages, Russian verbs are learned through two infinitives: a perfective and an imperfective form. I've never heard them referred to as "principal parts," but I can check my grammars. Existent80 22:12, August 29, 2005 (UTC)