Modern Descendants of Latin 367
sermr de = to use If the inanimate object IT then accompanies the
English verb, we translate it by en which always follows another pro-
noun object, e g je m'en sers = I use it Another expression of this class
is avoir be$oin des e g fen at besom — I need it In the same way y is the
equivalent for it or to tt when the preposition a follows the French verb
Since penser a means to think (abouf)>fy pensais means / was thinking
about it
The Italian descendant of inde is ne, as in quanta ne volete*> how much
do you want (of itp, me ne ncordo, I remember it For both functions of
the French y, Italian has a (Latin ecce-hic}> vi (Latin ibi) These are
interchangeable., e g ci penserd (I shall see to it), m e stato (he has been
there) Neither tnde nor ibi has left descendants in Spanish or Portu-
guese For French fy penserai the Spaniard says pensare en ello
We have still to discuss the reflexive and possessive forms of Romance
personal pronouns Our own words myself> yourself, etc , have to do two
jobs We can use them for emphasis> and we can use them reflexively.
Whenever we use them refiexively (e g wash yourself} in the first or
second persons, the equivalent word of a modern Romance dialect is
the corresponding unstressed direct object form For the third person
there is a single reflexive pronoun for singulai or plural use It is a
current Anglo-American habit to omit the reflexive pronoun when the
context shows that we are using a verb reflexively This is never per-
missible in Spanish, Portuguese, French, or Italian The identity of the
reflexive and direct object pronoun is illustrated by the first two of the
following The last illustrates the use of the common singular and plural
reflexive of the third person
FRENCH SPANISH
I wash je me lave me lavo
we wash nous nous lavons nos lavamos
they wash ils se lavent se laian
Romance languages have many pseudo-zz&t'sivt verbs, such as the
French verbs se mettre a (Italian metiers?) to begin, se promener> to go
for a walk (Spanish pasearse)> s'en aller to go away (Spanish *?$£), se
souvenir', remember (Spanish acordarse^o* the impersonal il s'agit de
(it is a question of)
elle se mit d pleurer allez~vous-en
she began to cry go away (beat it)
no me acuerdo de eso ella se pasea en el parque
I don't remember that she walks in the park