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Potentials and Imperatives
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| 1. |
28 Jun 2006 Wed 09:08 am |
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If you want to ask someone to do something, is the imperative generally used or is that impolite? Would it be better to use the potential mood with an interrogative particle?
Imperative:
Daha yavaş konuş lütfen
Potential Mood:
Daha yavaş konuşabılır mısın lütfen?
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| 2. |
28 Jun 2006 Wed 10:15 am |
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2. one is more more polite, 1. one is impolite and a little agressive...
so prefer to use the 2. one 
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| 3. |
28 Jun 2006 Wed 04:29 pm |
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In that case, is the imperative only used when you want to be impolite? Or are there everyday uses for it?
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| 4. |
28 Jun 2006 Wed 06:07 pm |
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Quoting bod: In that case, is the imperative only used when you want to be impolite? Or are there everyday uses for it? |
With the imperative people's ages and status are important. Parents often use imperative when they want something to be done by their children. Teachers also use the imperative quite often. At least I do in the classroom.
You use the imperative when the person you are speaking to is supposed to do what you say. I don't see any difference between the imperative in English and Turkish. Now, "speak slowly please" or "could you speak slowly please."
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| 5. |
28 Jun 2006 Wed 09:43 pm |
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Quoting erdinc: Quoting bod: In that case, is the imperative only used when you want to be impolite? Or are there everyday uses for it? |
With the imperative people's ages and status are important. Parents often use imperative when they want something to be done by their children. Teachers also use the imperative quite often. At least I do in the classroom.
You use the imperative when the person you are speaking to is supposed to do what you say. I don't see any difference between the imperative in English and Turkish. Now, "speak slowly please" or "could you speak slowly please." |
If the Turkish imperative is impolite then is certainly a difference between English and Turkish! I would not find it at all impolite for a person to say "speak more slowly please" unless of course their tone was aggrassive......
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| 6. |
28 Jun 2006 Wed 10:20 pm |
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"Speak more slowly please" and "Daha yavaş konuş lütfen" are at the same level according politeness.
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