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What are some grammar rules in your language that not even the natives get it right? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by Object@sh.itjust.works to c/AskTheWorld@sh.itjust.works
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My first language is Korean, and one rule no one gets right is the spacing. It seems pretty obvious in English and many other languages, but in Korean, there are things that look like a single word but is actually two separate words (and vice versa), particles which needs to be written without spacing, and some other rules that makes it confusing. It's bad enough that one of the former director of the National Institute of Korean Language confessed he's not confident about it either.

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[-] slazer2au@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

Possessive 's and s'

[-] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 5 points 3 weeks ago

I hate this one when it comes to names ending in s as well. I need it to be plural and possessive but Robbinses' Robbins' and Robbins's all seem wrong.

[-] Object@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 weeks ago

Same, this rule seems straightforward but it just feels wrong when writing that. I straight up rewrite the entire sentence so I don't have to use it at all.

[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Robbinses' this isn’t correct

Robbins' belongs to a group of people in the Robbin family

Robbins's belongs to one person in the Robbins who is being referred to by their last name

[-] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 1 points 3 weeks ago

But now the singular has more syllables than the plural and part of me is just not willing to accept that. I'll stick with just avoiding it altogether.

[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Hey everybody, please respect zero_spelled_with_an_ecks’s choice.

[-] Lumidaub@feddit.org 4 points 3 weeks ago

In German, the construction to say "because of X", "wegen X", requires X to be put into genitive case. Most people will default to dative, unless they're actively thinking about it. "Because of the car" should be "wegen des Autos" but you'll regularly see "wegen dem Auto". "Because of you" should be "wegen deiner" but you'll absolutely never hear that but "wegen dir" (or maybe "deinetwegen", if they're fancy, which is also correct).

This is widespread enough that I'm wondering why it hasn't been standardised yet.

[-] AZX3RIC@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Two that always kill me:

Not knowing when to use "and I" vs "and me" and defaulting to "and I" because they think it's correct.

You do things on purpose and by accident. You do not do things on accident. That's saying you did it accidently on purpose.

[-] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 2 points 3 weeks ago

The "and I" vs "and me" is a tricky one, especially because we don't teach people to understand subject vs object except in perhaps grade school.

I have to really think about it, and I consider myself a bit of a pedant.

[-] bootloop@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

You mean vice-versa ? ;)

[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Prescriptive rules or descriptive rules?

this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2026
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