LL-L: "Grammar" LOWLANDS-L, 18.SEP.2000 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 18.SEP.2000 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Helge Tietz [helgetietz at yahoo.com]
Subject: LL-L: "Grammar" LOWLANDS-L, 17.SEP.2000 (05) [E]

note the following: in my native low saxon dialect
from rendsborg-district we use for the question "have
you been there already ?" "bues' dar all ween ?" as
well as "bues' dar all wes ?", there is no rule at
all, it various freely from individual to individual.

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From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Grammar

Moin, Helge!

We were talking about the preterite (Präteritum/Imperfekt) forms of 'to be'
(_wesen_ ~ _sien_).  As far as I know, all dialects still have preterite
forms of all verbs, including for 'to be'.  However, you are right in
pointing out that Low Saxon (Low German) dialects tend to prefer using the
perfect tense in place of the imperfect tense:

ick bün wes(t) ~ wesen {I have been > I was}
du büs(t) wes(t) ~ wesen {you have been > you were}
he is wes(t) ~ wesen {he has been > he was}
se is wes(t) ~ wesen{she has been > she was}
dat ~ et ~ it is wes(t) ~ wesen {it has been > it was}
wie sünd wes(t) ~ wesen {we have been > we were}
jie sünd wes(t) ~ wesen {you have been > you were}
se sünd wes(t) ~ wesen {they have been > they were}

I suppose that this tendency is stronger in some dialects than in others.
Preterite forms may be perceived as stilted and unnatural in many.  This
also affects Missingsch varieties (i.e., German with Low Saxon substrates)
and North German varieties that are influenced by Missingsch.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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