Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yohanan bin-Dawidh" <yohanan.bin.dawidh AT gmail.com>]

Dear David,

You wrote, "I would like to add that to me "have dinner" has less to do with
"be in a state of dining" and much more to do with "eating diner". That is,
"We have dinner at Maxim's quite frequently" is, for me, equivalent to
saying "We eat dinner at Maxim's quite frequently" but is absurd if it is
meant to mean "We are-in-a-state-of-dining at Maxim's quite frequently."

I would agree with you, but that is the complexity and simplicity of the
English language. Having attempted to learn several languages outside of
English and Hebrew, I have noticed that what makes sense in their languages
does not make sense in English, and the same applies that what makes sense
in our language does not make sense in their language. And it the case above
it is not that it does not make sense, because in truth, to say "we have
dinner at Maxim's quite frequently" is more grammatically accurate than "we
eat dinner at" or "we eat at", but we do not talk that way these days so it
seems strange to us.

Yohanan bin-Dawidh