Romance / Latin influence on England?

[antonio]

The indo-european participial forms are even more evident if you compare Italian and German, that are both flexive languages.

Sitting - ITA. sed(e)nte /GER. sitz(e)nde
both have a common root (sit-, found also in English), a vowel that connects the root to the participial form in liquid+dental and a final -e that express the final case and the number.

Also the imperative form has remained pretty similar in these two languages. Imperative form of "to be" (German vs Italian)

(you) ger. sei! |ita. stai!/sii
(you plural) seid! | state!/siate
(cortesy form) sind Sie! | Stia!/stia*

*The Italian makes the imperative of "to be" in two ways: with the root of the verb to stay (stare) and with the imperative of to be (essere), more arcaic (here it's the second form).

But all that stuff is quite general in Romance languages, these are the Spanish counterparts:

1. To sit: (infinitive) sentar (regular participle) sentado (irregular participle) sedente

2. To be: (infinitive) ser, estar (2nd person imperative) sé, estate

[Foxy]

Lol. Castilian/Spanish is the most divergent of the five Romance languages of Iberia, at least in terms of evolution. It is the 'national' language only because of historical events.

There were attempts to Latinize the language a posteriori, specially in the spelling, but that's a different thing.

Ok, thank you for the information. I repeat that I am pretty ignorant about Spanish. I know that Florentine in the case of Italian has been choosed as national language becouse it was the language with less external influxes so the language that was mostly used in literature becouse it could be understood by people from the whole Italy (in theory).
Still today if we speak in dialect a person speaking Milanese is not understood by a person of Neaples, an Abruzzese is not understood and don't understand both.

But all that stuff is quite general in Romance languages, these are the Spanish counterparts:

1. To sit: (infinitive) sentar (regular participle) sentado (irregular participle) sedente

2. To be: (infinitive) ser, estar (2nd person imperative) sé, estate

I was not referring to the root (which are indoeuropean anyway), but to the participial form (which is also indoeuropean).
I made the exemples using Italian vs German becouse I dunno Spanish, but I suppose that Spanish vs German is the same of Italian vs German.
From what I know Italian and Spanish have not such difference in the grammar structure, except in some uses of the participle, congiuntive etc. , but more than general rules they seem to me exception.

[San Galgano]

Ok, thank you for the information. I repeat that I am pretty ignorant about Spanish. I know that Florentine in the case of Italian has been choosed as national language becouse it was the language with less external influxes so the language that was mostly used in literature becouse it could be understood by people from the whole Italy (in theory).
Still today if we speak in dialect a person speaking Milanese is not understood by a person of Neaples, an Abruzzese is not understood and don't understand both.

Right. As Ibex once pointed out in Italy we use the term "dialect" too easily(or maybe correctly since the root is almost always the same)but in Italy exist several languages as in Spain if not more, whereas florentine is the language that is most similar to vulgar latin.

[Tony]

But all that stuff is quite general in Romance languages, these are the Spanish counterparts:

1. To sit: (infinitive) sentar (regular participle) sentado (irregular participle) sedente

How familiar , they're the exact words with the very same meaning used in the venetian dialect (used also here in Trieste)

[Foxy]

Right. As Ibex once pointed out in Italy we use the term "dialect" too easily(or maybe correctly since the root is always the same)but in Italy exist several languages as in Spain if not more, whereas florentine is the language that is most similar to vulgar latin.

Effectively 5 languages are not so much.
Languages spoken in Italy that have not a common root with Italian are 19: Sardinian, Friulan, Tirolese, Occitan, Sassarese, Corsic gallurese, Arberesh, Francoprovencial, Slovenjan, Ladin, Catalan, French, Griko, Bavarese, Croatian, Carintian, Carnic, pusterese Tirolese and Romaniska.

Italian dialects (regional/local languages deriving from vulgar Latin + other elements):

NORTHERN DIALECTS (dialects don't follow a geographical division, sometimes dialects considered Northern are found in the South and in the centre or vice versa, like for istance Gaulish-Sicilian):
1) Gaulish-Italic variety (piemontese, western and eastern lombard, ligurian, emilian, romagnol, gaulish-marchisan, gaulish-Italic of Sicily, gaulish-Italic of Basilicata;
2) Venetian and Istriote.

CENTRAL DIALECTS:
1) tuscan
2) romanesc, ciociarus, the Umbrian varieties and Sabinic of Western Abruzzo.

SOUTHERN DIALECTS:
1)southern marchisan
2)the Abruzzese dialects
3)The Molisan dialects
4)The Campanian dialects
5) Lucanian
6)northern Apulian and northernCalabrian

EXTREME SOUTHERN DIALECTS:
1)Selentine
2)Southern Salentine
3) Tarantine
4)Calabrese
5) Sicilian
6)Pantesc
7)Arpitan

SARDINIAN DIALECTS:
1)Lugodurese stock
2)Nuorese stock
3)Arborense stock
4)Campidanese stock
5)Sassarese

to add...

Ligurian
Corse
Galluric
Algherese

Who counts all and tell me how much they are?

[Comte Arnau]

Effectively 5 languages are not so much.

Well, five are the Romance ones in the Peninsula. Within the Spanish kingdom, the native languages are 8: Spanish, Catalan, Galician-Portuguese, Basque, Asturian, Aragonese, Gascon and Riffian. (11 if non-oral languages are added: Spanish Sign Language, Catalan Sign Language and Gomera's Whistled Language).

But yes, Italian has several more indeed, even being a smaller country. The fact that Iberia had a Reconquista process and that Italy is a relatively recent state could explain much of this difference.

[Ibericus]

Well, five are the Romance ones in the Peninsula. Within the Spanish kingdom, the native languages are 8: Spanish, Catalan, Galician-Portuguese, Basque, Asturian, Aragonese, Gascon and Riffian. (11 if non-oral languages are added: Spanish Sign Language, Catalan Sign Language and Gomera's Whistled Language).

And Estremeñu, Leonese, and if we count the dialects even more: Valencian, Balearic, etc.

[Comte Arnau]

And Estremeñu, Leonese, and if we count the dialects even more: Valencian, Balearic, etc.

Estremaduran and Leonese are Asturian varieties.

Valencian and Balearic are Catalan varieties.

[Albion]

How is English to Romance speakers anyway? French and Italians keep telling me it isn't too hard for them to learn, what about for Spanish, Portuguese or Romanian speakers?

[Arthur Scharrenhans]

I'd like to point out that the -s plurals of English and Romance are similar by coincidence only: the Romance ending goes back to the Latin accusative, the English one goes back to the Germanic nominative.