Tag: sentences

Continuing with Gary’s list:

103. Listen.
104. Sit here by me.

Right, commands. Commands are marked with an end-of-clause particle ka. There is also be for negative commands, and ki for polite requests. Since this has a period and not an exclamation point, I am going to assume it is a polite request.

“Listen.” translates to “to your ears this comes”.

103. ŋi sada deya ono ki.

104. ŋidi dantɛndɛ leneya ki.

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

102. How wide is the river?

The river lies which wide?

102. tanan daɬa baŋi oɬon dɛmɛ?

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

101. Are these shoes too big for you?

Here we will use a prefixed form of tɛndɛ, namely etɛndɛ, which with an adjective in the location spot means “A is very ADJ”. So: For you, these shoes sit very big?

101. ŋideya dayi kyati etɛndɛ oni dɛmɛ?

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

100. Is this the first kitten of the litter?

This sits (as) the litter’s first kitten?

100. ha tɛndɛ moɬkɛdɛ da iddɨse andana dɛmɛ?

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

98. Will you send this message for me?

This is a straightforward use of tɨŋi with a causative/agentive source and a purposive source.

98. leneya ŋidi dɨdɛn salɨdɛn tɨŋi dɛmɛ?

Let’s do another:

99. Are you waiting for me?

And this is a straightforward re-working of #47 in post #25.

99. leneya ŋidi sɛdɛ susi goɬi dɛmɛ?

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

97. Will you be ready on time?

Right. Ready. and On time. OK. Readiness is a state I suppose, so “will you be at readiness” will work. On time, though… On time for what? At a specific time? At the time we have previously decided upon? I suppose this could be a time word equivalent of susi (here, there, this place, that place). Something that meant now, then, this time, that time: yanda. So, “Will you be ready then?”

97. ŋidi otni tomot yanda dɛga dɛmɛ?

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

96. Have all the leaves fallen from the tree?

This is straightforward. We could use tattɨŋi “Have all the leaves rained down from the tree”, but I will stick with the more prosaic:

96. mɛdɛ nadɨdi malɨdi otni tadya dɛmɛ?

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

95. Is today Monday?

Right. Let’s see. Let’s figure out orbital mechanics. Let’s figure out the periods of my three or four moons. Let’s decide how many moons I have. Let’s figure out a super cool calendar based on the various lunar cycles. Let’s make up names for different parts of the different cycles. Let’s chuck it all and go study for my Latin final instead. Besides, today is Thursday.

OK then. How about Is today {the day of the ceremony} or Is today {her birthday} (not that I am sure I have a word for birthday). Are those equivalent? I hope so.

95. da lonnas tɛndɛ katɛn da lonnas dɛmɛ?

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

94. Their voices sound very happy.

Another use of ono for hearing.

94. le sada syodɨdiya ono andabalya no bala.

This could also mean that I am very happy to hear their voices.

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

93. Mr. Jones made a knife for his little boy.

Another use of ɛmɛmɛ for making and building. This sentence also has multiple sources: one a sessile purpose (his little boy) and the other a motile cause (Mr J, hereafter referred to as Mada). I should probably put the motile one closer to the verb.

93. kodava ɨsava Mada ɛstɨdɛn omɛt dɛstɛ.

Questions?