Test Sentences, 59

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. A box of growing plants stood in the window.

Well, boxes don’t stand, they sit. And it’s in the entrance. And it’s flowers instead of the generic “plants”.

81. pede maladi eyoninɛn tɛndɛ edatta dɛstɛ.

pede
basket.SSsg
maladi
flower.SSpl
eyoni
growing.SSpl
-nɛn
with
tɛndɛ
tɛndɛ.IMP
edatta
entrance.SSsg
dɛstɛ
I’m told

Questions?

Test Sentences, 58

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. The spool of thread rolled across the floor.

This is also actually fairly straightforward.

80. bɛlnɨmɨdɛn ŋyoninɛn alamonnɨt lɛki bɛldɛnya dɛstɛ.

bɛlnɨmɨdɛn
spool.SSsg
ŋyoni
thread.SSpl
-nɛn
with
alam-
across
onnɨt
aŋi.PRF
lɛki
ground.SSpl
bɛldɛnya
rollingly
dɛstɛ
I’m told

Questions?

Test Sentences, 57

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. The west wind blew across my face like a friendly caress.

This is actually fairly straightforward.

79. soddɨŋi udan alantɨŋi ŋɛhɛ le go syana ma dalat.

soddɨŋi
west.SSsg
udan
wind.MTsg
alan-
across
tɨŋi
tɨŋi.IMP
ŋɛhɛ
face.SSsg
le
my
go
as
syana
friend.MTsg
ma
PS
dalat
touch.SSsg

In Kēlen:

79. ñi anūrān rūōrrie rā leŋē ālme honahan maxāna sakū;

ñi
NI
anūrān
wind
rūōrrie
from the west
to
leŋē
my face
ālme
across
honahan
in the manner
maxāna
friend
sakū
his/her hand

Questions?

Test Sentences, 56

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. 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.

lohava
sun.SSsg
logɨdiya
light.MTpl
tɨŋi
tɨŋi.IMP
daka
path
tadya
downwards
alan-
across
duso
duso.IMP
nɨdi
branch.SSpl
tɨŋi
tɨŋi.IMP
hɨsnavi
child.SSpl
ma
REL
sɛdɛ
sɛdɛ.IMP
gyɛdɛ
play.SSsg
dɛstɛ
I’m told

We could use tattɨŋi if we wanted to be poetical.

In Kēlen:

78. ñi anlōki rā annīri tā rā mīsi majēreni;

ñi
NI
anlōki
sunlight
to
annīri
branches
down
to
mīsi
children
majēreni
playing

Questions?

Test Sentences, 55

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. 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.

lɛki
ground.SSpl
kɛdi
oak.SSpl
dayi
PS
gyɨmɨdi
root.MTpl
kɨtɬɨdi
strong.MTpl
otni
tɨŋi.IMP
busya
pulled
olaya
upwards
dɛstɛ
I’m told

In Kēlen:

77. ñi jakēþi jajīmimma jejēxi rū anāxkīñi ōl;

ñi
NI
jakēþi
oak
jajīmi
roots
-mma
its
jejēxi
resistant
from
anāxkīñi
ground
ōl
up

Questions?

Test Sentences, 54

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. Among the wheat grew tall red poppies.

This uses the same structure as yesterday’s sentence.

76. dappɛbɨdi hɛnɨdi sɨŋyɨdi alanduso gamaɬi olaya dɛstɛ.

dappɛbɨdi
poppy.MTpl
hɛnɨdi
red.MTpl
sɨŋyɨdi
tall.MTpl
alan-
across
duso
duso.IMP
gamaɬi
wheat.SSpl
olaya
upwards
dɛstɛ
I’m told

In Kēlen:

76. la jamāli japēwi janēli jasīñi sū anhamāji āñ;

la
LA
jamāli
flowers
japēwi
milky
janēli
red
jasīñi
tall
at
anhamāji
wheat
āñ
among

Questions?

Test Sentences, 53

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. 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.

gyɨdɨdɛn
valley.MTsg
gegyelɨdɛn
fertile.MTsg
alan-
across
duso
duso.IMP
laɬi
mountain.SSpl
laddɨŋyi
lofty.SSpl
ɛni
two.SSpl
dɛstɛ
I’m told

In Kēlen:

75. la jajīra sū jalāji jasīñi ēnne āñ;

la
LA
jajīra
valley
at
jalāji
mountains
jasīñi
tall
ēnne
two
āñ
between

Questions?

Test Sentences, 52

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. 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.

tanan
river.MTsg
dan-
along
tɨŋi
tɨŋi.IMP
daka
path
no-
towards
kiɬi
kiɬi.IMP
mɛddatta
end of path
tɨŋi
tɨŋi.IMP
hɨddatta
turn
aŋana
sharp
no-
towards
tɨŋi
tɨŋi.IMP
sandɨŋi
east
dɛstɛ
I’m told

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;

ñi
NI
jatāna
river
to
jatōrren
end
towards
rānnie
to east
ānen
with
anāŋŋena
sharpness

Questions?

Test Sentences, 51

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. 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.

susi
here
madɛlɛna
guest.MTpl
ma
REL
dɛspɛ
village.SSsg
hɨde
other.SSsg
tɨŋi
tɨŋi.IMP
ono
ono.IMP
baŋi
which
ɨlɨŋi
time.SSsg
dɛmɛ
DUB

In Kēlen:

73. ñi malāsēli rū jamāonre rā þō ilkēñ;

ñi
NI
malāsēli
guests
from
jamāonre
city
to
þō
here
il-
when
kēñ
Q

Questions?

Test Sentences, 50

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. 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.

leni
1P.MTco
kohɨdɛn
home.MTsg
ey-
in
ɛmɛmɛ
ɛmɛmɛ.IMP
da
that.SSsg
sota
place.SSsg
na
when
leni
1P.MTco
ey-
in
aŋi
aŋi.IMP
mɨŋyi
fields
ɨnavi
often

In Kēlen:

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

il
when
ñ-
NI
alna
1PC.excl.A
jamāra
home
at
there
il
then
ñi
NI
lēim
1PC.excl
to
jamāesi
fields
āñ
among
ilnāja
often

Questions?