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CrashBandioof420 t1_ja6yjjf wrote

The word "human" comes from Middle French "humain". Foreign words in English usually get their plural by adding s at the end. The word "man" comes from Old English "mann" and the plural of mann was menn. Some of Old English's plural system carried over to modern English, and thus we have
man -> men

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Inj4ll t1_ja7c0ly wrote

I confirm that in french adding a s for plural is the default rule.

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philliamswinequeen t1_jabm3od wrote

Someone tell me how that makes sense coz verbally they usually don’t add an ‘s’ sound. idk french has such obscure pronunciation rules T_T… is French mostly based on writing??

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Inj4ll t1_jaboomc wrote

In english there only a few deterministic words: "the, thoses, these..."

In french there is a lot more.

Ex:

I eat the banana / I eat bananas

Je mange la banane / Je mange des bananes

We don't hear the s at the end but the word "des" specify it's plural verbally.

It can also be "je mange les bananes"

Using "des" is to talk about some random bananas. Using "les" is to talk about specific bananas in the context of the conversation

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ScarTheGoth t1_ja8spuc wrote

Also the word humen just looks off. It’s also pronounced so similar to human that when saying it quickly you’d barely notice the difference.

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uhlevar t1_ja9k054 wrote

All words look off if you are used to something else

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PoopIsAlwaysSunny t1_ja9tfnl wrote

I think pronunciation is a big part of this. We can look at etymology, but language is a living thing. If “human” were pronounced like “man” we’d probably have “humen”, but it’s not, so humans makes more sense

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Mixt-meta4z-1463 t1_ja7qfxt wrote

Are you actually a philologist?

If so, you should require remuneration for articulating this explication.

Ok, smarty pants, if more than one ox is 'oxen' then why is more than one ax not 'axen'?

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Tuxxbob t1_ja8jx2u wrote

Because "axe" comes from the French "hache" and thus follows the "s" pluralization rule.

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ScarTheGoth t1_ja8st4o wrote

I’m glad I did not take French. No hate at all, but I’ve heard it can be difficult.

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BopBopBich t1_ja90vn9 wrote

I am haunted by vowels… you always think there’s enough, but there never are

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CharsOwnRX-78-2 t1_ja9zg56 wrote

Writing French: needs more vowels. No, more. More than that.

M O R E

Speaking French: lmao you want me to pronounce all that shit? Get the fuck out of here

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_Ispeakingifs t1_ja9xy4e wrote

Because english is just a bunch of other languages in a trench coat

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