For example, English speakers commonly mix up your/you’re or there/their/they’re. I’m curious about similar mistakes in other languages.

  • Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    Technically not an error but still annoying is to append an apostrophe and an s to a name to indicate the genitive.

    Even technically I’d consider it an error - the genitive/“possessive” apostrophe in English highlights that you’re dealing with a clitic, attached to the end of the noun phrase; e.g. the dog**'s** food` → the dog and the cat**'s** food. In German however it doesn’t behave like a clitic, it’s a plain declension; e.g. das Futter des Hundes → das Futter des Hundes und der Katze - you’re switching words, not moving them.

    I wonder if that’s because most people nowadays use von+Dative instead.