Test Sentences, 6

The next three sentences in Gary’s list concern rain:

  1. It’s raining.
  2. The rain came down.
  3. The kitten is playing in the rain.

Rain is tadan, another class II noun, but with a singulative suffix, so really tadan is ‘raindrop’. In the collective/plural, it is tadna.

Falling is motion downwards, using tɨŋi. With rain, the downwards part can be left off.

18. tadna tɨŋi.

tadna
rain.MTpl
rain
tɨŋi
tɨŋi.IMP
moves

19. tadna tɨŋi tadya.

tadna
rain.MTpl
rain
otni
tɨŋi.PRF
moved
tadya
downwards
downwards

I said that tadya was no longer prefixable, but I think it will be possible to simply say tattɨŋi (tad+tɨŋi) and mean “It’s raining”, literally “it’s moving downwards”. Any other usage of tadya with tɨŋi, though, requires the formations above.

20. gyɛdɛ iddɨse eyaŋi tadnavi.

gyɛdɛ
game.SSsg
game
iddɨse
kitten.MTsg
kitten
e-
in
in
aŋi
aŋi.IMP
move about
tadnavi
rain.SSpl
rain

aŋi means to move to a large, diffuse destination. Prefixed with aŋi, it means to move about in a location (here, the rain). gyɛdɛ ‘game’, in the source slot and sessile, is indicating a purpose for the rest of the sentence. So the kitten is moving about in the rain for the purpose of a game.

In Kēlen:

18. la antārranni;

la
LA
antārranni
rain

19. ñi antārranni rājatā;

ñi
NI
antārranni
rain
rājatā;
to+down

20. ñi jatūmse jajēren sū antārranni;

ñi
NI
jatūmse
tūmse
jajēren
playful
at
antārranni
rain

“The tūmse is playful in the rain.”

Questions?