Tag: sentences

Continuing with Gary’s list:

78. The sun looked down through the branches upon the children at play.

Usually light (from the sun or elsewhere) uses evi because it goes out in all directions. Here, however, we are describing the path of some light downwards and between some branches to where the children are at play.

78. lohava logɨdiya tɨŋi daka tadya alanduso nɨdi tɨŋi hɨsnavi ma sɛdɛ gyɛdɛ dɛstɛ.

We could use tattɨŋi if we wanted to be poetical.

In Kēlen:

78. ñi anlōki rā annīri tā rā mīsi majēreni;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

77. The strong roots of the oak trees were torn from the ground.

This uses two adverbs busya and olaya to convey the idea of “pulled up from” a source, namely the ground.

77. lɛki kɛdi dayi gyɨmɨdi kɨtɬɨdi otni busya olaya dɛstɛ.

In Kēlen:

77. ñi jakēþi jajīmimma jejēxi rū anāxkīñi ōl;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

76. Among the wheat grew tall red poppies.

This uses the same structure as yesterday’s sentence.

76. dappɛbɨdi hɛnɨdi sɨŋyɨdi alanduso gamaɬi olaya dɛstɛ.

In Kēlen:

76. la jamāli japēwi janēli jasīñi sū anhamāji āñ;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

75. Between the two lofty mountains lay a fertile valley.

Between! That means a new verb: duso. And that means I have now used all 11 verbs. Yay, me!

duso means to go back and forth from one point to another. To make a path between two points, we prefix duso with alamya making alanduso. And even though the valley is not actually moving, we still use alanduso.

75. gyɨdɨdɛn gegyelɨdɛn alanduso laɬi laddɨŋyi ɛni dɛstɛ.

In Kēlen:

75. la jajīra sū jalāji jasīñi ēnne āñ;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

74. Near the mouth of the river, its course turns sharply towards the East.

Hmm. This is a description of the river’s path. Which means we get to use some neato path words, one of which we’ve already seen: edatta “entrance, beginning of a path”. For this sentence we will use mɛddatta “end of a path” and hɨddatta “turn in a path”.

74. tanan dantɨŋi daka nokiɬi mɛddatta tɨŋi hɨddatta aŋana notɨŋi sandɨŋi dɛstɛ.

The river goes along its path and goes towards its end and goes to a sharp turn and goes towards the east. We could probably omit dantɨŋi daka.

In Kēlen:

74. ñi jatāna rā jatōrren nō rānnie ānen anāŋŋena;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

73. When will your guests from the city arrive?

OK a question with an actual question word. This took a little thinking, and I think I am satisfied by how I did this, but I reserve the right to change it later.

First, for guests, we use madɛlɛ. Arriving is susi N ono where N is arriving. Guests from the city requires a relative clause, and I am going to use “other village” rather than “city”: madɛlɛ ma dɛspɛ hɨde tɨŋi.

Now for the question word “when”. For this we are going to use the phrase baŋi ɨlɨŋi which means “which time” or “some time”. We will also use the dubitive dɛmɛ as we did in other questions.

73. susi madɛlɛna ma dɛspɛ hɨde tɨŋi ono baŋi ɨlɨŋi dɛmɛ.

In Kēlen:

73. ñi malāsēli rū jamāonre rā þō ilkēñ;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

72. During our residence in the country we often walked in the pastures.

Let’s deal with the second half first. We often walked in the pastures or fields uses eyaŋi “move about in”. leni eyaŋi mɨŋyi ɨnavi.

Now for the first part. Country here is “countryside” as opposed to “city”. I am not sure this conceptual distinction exists in my language. So, we are going to use da sota “this place”. And “during our residence” is “while we dwelled” because I don’t want to create an abstract noun “residence”. leni kohɨdɛn eyɛmɛ da sota.

To join the two pieces, we use na which would be the equivalent of “while, during”.

72. leni kohɨdɛn eyɛmɛ da sota na leni eyaŋi mɨŋyi ɨnavi.

In Kēlen:

72. il ñalna jamāra sū xō il ñi lēim rā jamāesi āñ ilnāja;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

71. On the top of the hill in a little hut lived a wise old woman.

Way back in episode 8 I discussed the pattern SRC LOC mɛhaŋi ko as “SRC makes a home in|dwells in|lives in LOC”. But that gets a bit unwieldy with a complex location like “on the top of the hill in a little hut”. So, an alternative construction involves the verb ɛmɛmɛ, which we haven’t used yet. Specifically, it involves ey-ɛmɛmɛ in the construction SRC ko-hɨdɛn ey-ɛmɛ LOC, which leaves room for a complex LOC.

71. kyɛnɛ tɛta syena kohɨdɛn eyɛmɛ laka ɨsa da tɛndɛ lɛnɛ da olat dɛstɛ.

In Kēlen:

71. ñamma jamāra ā macēna mahēna masōnen sū jakō jīña sū jalāīñ ōl;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

70. The first boy in the line stopped at the entrance.

The first boy in line is the subject of the sentence, and it is rendered as the line’s first boy galanɨd da koda andana and he goes to the entrance edatta and then he stands there, all stopped or unmoving vodakya.

70. galanɨd da koda andana otni edatta ladi mava sɛttɛ vodakya dɛstɛ.

In Kēlen:

70. ñi mamōīñ sū jañūna jānne mōrre sū anxūri;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

69. The cover of the basket fell to the floor.

This one is fairly straightforward. The cover went from the basket down to the ground.

69. pede dolɨdɛn otni lɛkyi tadya.

In Kēlen:

69. ñi jōl rū jacāona rā anlēci tā;

Questions?