>Thankfully, we don't have these problems in norwegian at all. Unlike most of the languages I know, we don't change the verbs depending on I/you/he-she-it/you/we/they,
In English it's only done for 3rd person singular
>only for infinitive-presence-perfectum-imperfectum (which they were were called when I went to school, now they use preteritum and other words which I don't remember).
We have present- and past-perfect, imperfect, preterite, etc. too.
>It makes life much easier for us, but also means that we have to learn these things thoroughly and more technically before we learn other languages, than you have to. You mostly learn it naturally when you grow up, I would guess?
I'm not sure HOW they teach English in schools nowadays but I went to a grammar school where they were sticklers. However, it was only when I was learning French that I realised how slack English is, and how precise you need to be in other languages.
e.g. you can turn "That's the coat of the man who came here yesterday", in normal speech to "That's the man who came here yesterday's coat" as if "the-man-who-came-here-yesterday" were one word!
Now, translating, say, "That's the man [whom] we were speaking of" (preposition at the end) into French, you have to say:
"That's the man
of whom we were speaking".
Like you say, English grammar is something you "pick up" as you grow up.
>
>When I went to school, I found grammar very interesting, and I think that I am pretty good at it. (blush)
- Whoever said that women are the weaker sex never tried to wrest the bedclothes off one in the middle of the night
- Worry is the interest you pay, in advance, for a loan that you may never need to take out.