Syntax of Ame - Phrases
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This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 15 Feb 2019, 09:11.
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3. Ame Calendar
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6. Ame script
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11. Morphology of Ame
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12. Morphosyntax of Ame
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14. resultative
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16. Stories in Ame
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17. Syntax of Ame - Clause
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This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
A phrase is a grammatical structure that consists of one or several words, it plays a particular role within the grammatical structure of a sentence. The type of a phrase is determined by its head, for example, a noun phrase is a phrase whose head is a noun, an adjective phrase is a phrase whose head is an adjective, etc.
Noun phrases are phrases that act like nouns, it can be either a noun along, a noun with modifiers, a pronoun or a subordinate clause without the head noun.
Nouns
Nouns are words referreing to ideas such as persons, objects and abstract ideas. Nouns can be first divided into proper nouns and common nouns, a proper noun is a noun referring to the name of an unique entity, like the name of a person, a place, an institution or an object; while a common noun is a noun referring to a class of entities, either animate, concrete or abstract ones.
A proper noun is not usually used with modifiers; while a common noun is often used with modifiers. Common nouns can be further divided into countable nouns and uncountable nouns. Countable nouns refer to objects that can be counted, for example, keza "book", kimeka "car. cart, wheeled vehicle", etc. are countable nouns; Uncountable nouns refer to objects that cannot be counted, nouns referring to fluids like liquids, gases, or a large mass of small particles, and nouns referring to an abstract idea are often uncountable. For example, mimo "water", hiso "sand", fuso "air", onashima "wildness" are uncountable nouns.
Countable nouns can be directly modified with determiners like demonstratives, the difinite article and numerals, countable nouns without determiners are seen as indefinite nouns referring to non-specific objects with an unspecific quantity. The Plural form of a countable noun is marked by the quantifier moi preceding the noun.
Uncountable nouns usually can't be modified with determiners, although it is not uncommon to use measure words with concrete uncountable nouns, for example, natei mirazai mi mimo "three cups of water.
Determiners
Demonstratives, the definite article and possessive pronouns can be used as determiners of a noun. Determiners precede the noun they modify.
A sentence contains at most one determiners, and noun phrases with determiners are definite semantically, that is, it refers to a specific object whose uniqueness can be inferred by the context. For example:
- ani koza motari - this house is big
- ada sare okaishi - that girl is tall
- da imaka kaiko - the sun rises
- tamene kimeka fuushi - his car is broken
Definite Article "Da"
The definite article da is used to distinguish referents or entities that are identifiable in a given context, it is used in the following situations:
1. Referring to something that has been mentioned before. For example:
- me ai migo ei sare, da sare tokorai. - I saw a girl, the girl was cute.
- tame ai soko ei kimeka, da kimeka hadji. - he found a car, the car was old.
2. Referring to the sole object in a given context, like the sole thing in a given place. For example:
- Akari kaiso da mega. - Akari opened the door.
- da keimadjii okaishi sare ai soko ada. - the tallest girl found it.
3. Referring to an object that is known by both of the speaker and the listener. For example:
- da kazari ne ai egako omaasa. - the teacher did not come yesterday.
- da hadji koza ai yo teinaso ta Akari. - the old house was sold to Akari.
4. Referring to an object whose existence is unique. For example:
- da imaka ako. - The sun shines.
- tame nayo da miraka i ei hachimigero. - she observes the moon with a telescope.
5. Referring to a system or a service:
- tame erekaro ta tamene aya tainii na da metaazaiyago. - She talks to her friends via the internet.
3. and 4. can be seen as variants of 2.
Possessive pronominal determiners
Possessive pronominal determiners are determiners with possessive meanings, they are used to indicate the owner of an object when the owner is expressed as pronouns.
The use of the possessive pronominal determiners is in the section of possessions.
Demonstratives
there are two demonstratives in Ame: ani and ada, ani is used to refer to objects that are close to the speaker; ada is used to refer to objects that are far away from the speaker. For example:
- ani moga motari - this box is big.
- ada sare kona meso - that girl is swimming.
Quantifiers
Quantifiers can be the head of a noun phrase, when they are used as the head of a noun phrase, they act like a pronoun functioinally, and are often followed by an adpositional phrase which serves as the modifier. For example:
- natei mawami koshimeki - three little pigs
- maneri keza - many books
- koshi ya - few people
Numbers are a part of quantifiers, they are further divided into cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers.
Quantifiers can also be used as the head of a phrase to indicate a part of the whole with a specific quantity being referred. When being the head of a phrase, they are often used with a modifier, mostly a possessive phrase. For example:
- natei mi da koshimeki ai teidoko da miga. - three of the pigs went across the river.
- maneri mi tamedame yo awaaso. - many of them were killed.
The formation of quantifiers is discussed in the section of numerals and quantifiers.
moi
The quantifier moi is the plural marker. When moi is used, other quantifiers are not used. For example:
- moi koza - houses
- ada moi koza - those houses
- moi motari koza - big houses
The plural marker moi is not used when there are other quantifiers or when the plurality of the noun is indicated by other means e.g. reduplication.
Possessions
A possessor follows the head noun when the possessor is indicated by a noun phrase or pronoun other than a personal pronoun, and the possessor is introduced by the preposition mi. The noun phrase indicating the possessor is called a possessive noun.
Some examples are given below:
- da koza mi Akari - Akari's house
- da koza mi da eimoya - the queen's house
- da tari mi Akari - Akari's hand
- da nema mi da sagi - the name of the country
- da eimoya mi da sagi - the queen of the country
However, when the possessor is a personal pronoun, the possessor precedes the head noun, and possessive pronominal determiners are used to indicate the possessor, and demonstratives and the definite article are not used on the head noun in this case.
Some examples are given below:
- mene koza - my house
- tene nema - your name
- tamene tari - his/her/its hand
The possessive pronominal determiners and the possessive phrase starting with mi don't indicate the same possessor.
As the possessive noun is a noun phrase by its own, it can also have its own possessive nouns:
- da koza mi tame baba. - her grandmother's house.
- da kazorou mi da aya mi Akari. - Akari's friend's school.
Possessive nouns don't identify the owner of its head noun, it does not indicate if the head noun is an inalienable part of the possessor either. A possessive noun might be the origin, the creator of the head noun, or is associated to the head noun in a variety of ways. For example:
- da azari mi da tora - the creator of the story.
- da tari mi Akari - Akari's hand
- da tenari mi da kimeka - the driver of the car.
Appositions and Titles
When two noun phrases occur side by side and refer to the same person or the same thing, they are said to be in apposition with each other. Usually, the second noun phrase provides additional information about the first noun phrase.
Some examples of appositions are given below:
- Da fuuke tokoro Akari, da eimoya mi da sagi - The people love Akari, the queen of the country.
- tamene aya, ei tetoukari mi ei esoyasakazorou, emi ada hetowasa - her friend, a medical student, likes that movie.
Titles, honorifics and other similar things usually precede the proper noun, and are not usually used with the definite article:
- Ha Teresa - Mother Teresa
- Eimoya Akari - Queen Akari
- Esari Imakare - Doctore Imakare
Attributives
Adjectives and verbs can modify a noun in Ame, when modifying a noun, they precede the noun they modify. For example:
- ani koza - this house
- da yaki baba - the good grandmother
- ada natei mawami onosare - those three little boys
- da meso sare - the swimming girl
Verbs used as attributive have its object preceding the verb, and only the direct object is used with the verb. For example:
- da ya-kako hakara - the man-eating fish
- da onosare-tokoro onosare - the boy-loving boy
Relative and Complement Clauses of Noun Phrases
One way to give more information about a noun is to place a clause within a noun phrase. There are two major types of clauses that are used with a noun: Relative Clauses and Complement Clauses. Relative clauses always start with the invariant relativizer da, and complement clauses always start with the complementizer noda. Relative clauses and complement clauses are discussed in the chapter for clauses.
Adverbial Phrases Modifying a Noun
Adverbial phrases, such as prepositional phrases can modify a noun, when modifying a noun, they follow the noun they modify. For example:
- mei naikii na ani - thoughts like this.
- e keboga i da tego - a hit with the hammer.
- da saga omaasa - the meeting yesterday.
The reflexive pronoun so can also act as an adverbial modifier of a noun as an intensifier. For example:
- da sare so sabo da nizo - the girl made the cake herself.
- da keza yo keito mi Akari so - the book was written by Akari herself.
Word Order Within Noun Phrases
When there are multiple modifiers occurring in a noun phrase, the usual order within a noun phrase is as the follows:
- determiners - quantifiers - attributives - the head noun - possessions - relative clauses
For example:
- da natei mawami koshimeki - the three little pigs.
- da nai koza mi da eimoya - the two houses of the queen.
- tamene enaa hehe - her four children.
Pronouns can be the head of a noun phrase, when they are the head of a noun phrase, they usually stand alone.
There are several forms of pronouns: personal pronouns, demonstratives, reflexive and reciprocal pronouns, indefinite pronouns and interrogative pronouns.
Personal Pronouns
The personal pronouns in Ame have three forms: subject pronouns and oblique pronouns. Only first person pronouns and second person pronouns have distinct forms for subject pronouns and oblique pronouns, the forms for subject pronouns and oblique pronouns are the same in third person pronouns and all other kinds of pronouns.
Pronouns have three persons: the first person, the second person and the third person. The first person pronouns are used to refer to the speaker themself, the second person pronouns are used to refer to the listener, the third person pronouns are used to refer to someone other than the speaker and the listener; besides, there are exclusive and inclusive forms for the first person non-singular pronouns, the inclusive forms refer to both of the listener and the speaker, while the exclusive forms refer to the speaker and some other people, but not the listener.
Personal pronouns have singular and plural distinctions, and for first and second person pronouns, there is a dual number besides singular and plural. The singular forms indicate one person, the dual forms indicate two people, the plural forms indicate three or more people in first and second personal pronouns, and indicates two or more people in third person pronouns. The use of number is mandatory for first and second person pronouns, but is optional for third person pronouns.
There are no social distinctions for personal pronouns in Ame, the same set of pronouns are used in all social situations, and personal pronouns are rarely used to indicate inanimates.
Below are the subject pronouns of Ame:
- first person singular: me
- second person singular: te
- third person singular/plural: tame
- first person exclusive dual: meni
- first person inclusive dual: temi
- second person dual: teni
- first person exclusive plural: mise
- first person inclusive plural: chimise
- second person plural: tese
- third person plural: tamedame
The object pronouns of the first person and the second person are formed by adding the suffix -na to their respect subject pronouns, and the object pronouns of the third person are the same to their respect subject pronouns.
Below are the object pronouns of Ame:
- first person singular: mena
- second person singular: tena
- third person singular/plural: tame
- first person exclusive dual: menina
- first person inclusive dual: temina
- second person dual: tenina
- first person exclusive plural: misena
- first person inclusive plural: chimisena
- second person plural: tesena
- third person plural: tamedame
Pronoun Indicating Possession
The possessive pronominal determiners in Ame are not real pronouns, they can't stand along. Possessive pronouns in Ame are formed by adding the suffix -ne to their respective subject pronouns.
To indicate possession, one may use possessive pronouns. Possessive pronouns in Ame are formed by adding the prefix i- to their respective possessive pronominal determiners.
For example:
- ani keza itene - this book is yours.
- ada kimeka itamene - that car is hers.
Below are the possessive pronouns of Ame:
- first person singular: imene
- second person singular: itene
- third person singular/plural: itamene
- first person exclusive dual: imenine
- first person inclusive dual: itemine
- second person dual: itenine
- first person exclusive plural: imisene
- first person inclusive plural: ichimisene
- second person plural: itesene
- third person plural: itamedamene
Demonstratives
Demonstratives may act as noun modifiers, as discussed in the section of noun phrases; besides, the demonstratives ani and ada can stand alone and be used as independent pronouns. For example:
- ani tamene aya, Akari. - this is her friend, Akari.
- ada ei maiki sanidoina. - that is a bad news.
- tame ne yachi ani - he does not know this.
In Ame, the 3rd person pronouns tame and tamedame and their corresponding object forms are rarely applied on non-sentient animals or non-living objects. When a non-sentient animal or a non-living object is referred to with a pronoun, demonstratives are used. For example:
- ani e yaki medana. - this/it is a good idea.
- tame ai soto ada - he said that/it.
Reflexive and Reciprocal Pronouns
Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are pronouns used to express meanings like "who", "what", "which", etc.
Below are the interrogative pronouns in Ame:
- kai - what
- kare - who
- karene - whose
- kaine - which
- koraa - where
- kaisaa - when
- kori - how
- kayo - why
- magoshi - how much, how many
The use of interrogative pronouns is discussed in the chapter of sentences.
Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are pronouns used to express meanings like "anyone", "anything", "everyone", "everything", etc.
Most indefinite pronouns in Ame are derived from interrogatives. Below are some interrogative pronouns of Ame:
- eikare - someone
- eikai - something
- eikai - some
- karekare - everyone
- kaikai - everything
- kaikaine - every
- okare - anyone
- okai - anything
- okaine - any
The use of interrogative pronouns is discussed in the chapter of sentence.
Numerals
Numerals in Ame is decimal, and the formation is highly regular.
Below are basic numerals of Ame:
- ei - one
- nai - two
- natei - three
- enaa - four
- etai - five
- tarei - six
- tainai - seven
- nanaki - eight
- enaki - nine
- natai - ten
- natora - hundred
- tarina - thousand
- eiga - ten thousand
The numerals natora, tarina and eiga are required to be preceded by another numeral when they are used as numerals, other numerals don't have this requirement.
Smaller numerals follow larger numerals:
- natai nai - twelve
- natei natai ei - thirty one
- ei natora nanaki natai ei - one hundred and eighty one
- ei tarina enaa natora natai ei - one thousand four hundred and eleven
In fractions, numerators come first, denominators come after the numerators. The numerators and the denominators are connected by the preposition mi. For example:
- ei mi nanaki - 1/8
- natei mi etai - 3/5
- enaki mi natai - 9/10
Arithmetic expressions are formed by several cardinal numbers separated by the corresponding operators:
- natei to etai - three plus five
- enaa megou ei - four minus one
- etai asaa tarei - five times six
- natai ikekou i etai - ten divided by five
below are common operators:
- to - plus
- megou - minus
- asaa - times
- ikekou i - divided by
Adjectives can act as the head of verbal phrases, they can also be modifiers of noun phrases, and they also have other functions.
Adverbs modifying adjectives
Most adverbs precede the adjective they modify when used attributively, some adverbs always precede the adjective they modify. Adverb list below are some of the adverbs that precede the adjective they modify:
- madjii - more
- keimadjii - most
- kenii - quite
- hadjii - very
Ordinal numbers can also precede the adjective they modify. When ordinal numbers are used, they are usually used with the superlative form of an adjective:
- Akari da naina keimdjii okeichi mi ada sare - Akari is the second shortest of those girls.
Noun phrases indicating the degree of an adjective also directly precede the adjective, the nouns in this structure is often the unit of measurement:
- da sare nanaki chima hedari - the girl is 8 years old.
The adjectival modifier aida is used for thr correlative structure "the ... the ...", they are often used with comparative adverbs. For example:
- aida madji, aida madjii keidji - the more, the merrier
- aida madji noda te eyato, aida madjii yaki noda te kani ko - The more you practice, the better you can do.
Comparative
The comparative forms of adjective phrases are formed by placing the adverb madjii "more" before the adjective. For example:
- madjii yaki - better
- Akari madjii okaishi - Akari is taller
Besides madjii, the adverb katoii "less" is also used to form comparative to indicate the meaning "not as, less". For example:
- katoii yaki - less good, not as good
- da sani koza katoii naki - the new room is less dark.
The object of comparative is introduced with the preposition a "as, than", and the adverbs for comparatives are not omitted:
- Akari madjii okaishi a da eimoya - Akari is taller than the queen
- da sani koza katoii motari a da kedari koza - the new house is not as big as the old house.
The adjectives maneri "many" and koshi "few" have irregular comparative forms, they are madji and katoi respectively.
Superlative
The superlative forms of adjective phrases are formed by placing the adverb keimadjii "most" and keikatoii "least" before, with the definite article da preceding the adjective phrase. For example:
- da keimadjii motari - the biggest
- tame da keimadjii okaishi - she is the tallest
- ani da keimadjii motari koza - this is the biggest house
- da keikatoii yaki - the least good
- ani da keikatoii yaki - this is the least good one
The adjectives maneri "many" and koshi "few" have irregular superlative forms, they are keimadji and keikatoi respectively.
Equative phrases
Equative phrases are formed by adding a complement starting with a "as, like" after the adjective as the standard of comparison. For example:
- ada heiwaki a ei tousa - it is as fast as a bullet
- Akari meso i yaki a ei hakara - Akari swims as well as a fish
The adjeverb norii "equally" can be placed before the adjective in an equative phrase. The use of norii is optional. For example:
- ada norii heiwaki a ei tousa - it is as fast as a bullet
- Akari meso i norii yaki a ei hakara - Akari swims as well as a fish
Predicative phrases, are the most essential part of clauses in Ame. The head of a predicative phrase can be either a verb, a noun phrase or an adjective phrase.
In addition to the head, a predicative phrase may contain one or several elements like negations and tense-aspect-mood particles.
Negations
There are two words with negative meanings: ne "no, not" and naa "not yet". ne is the usual negation, and the meaning of naa means "not yet" can be seen as the combination of ne and ou. Negations always precede the word they negate. For example:
- da koza ne motari - the house is not big
- tame ne da eimoya - she is not the queen
- da sare ne ai egako - the girl did not come
- Akari ne kako mikori - Akari does not eat meat
- da imaka naa kaiko - the sun has not risen yet
- tame naa heiko da keza - she has not read the book yet
Tense-Aspect-Mood Particles
In Ame, verbs do not conjugate according to person, tense, aspect, etc. A sentence like tame kezo ta da hetowasagoza does not indicate anything about the tense or aspect and is inferred by the context.
The timing of an event indicated by a sentence can be indicated by adverbials. For example:
- da sare migo da eimoya omaasa - the girl saw the queen yesterday.
However, the timing of an event indicated by a sentence can also be indicated by some preverbal particles, they are also called aspect markers.
Aspect Markers
Below are the main aspect markers of Ame:
Wai is used to indicate an event as a completed whole. For example:
- tame wai egako - he came/has come
Koi is used to indicate a completed action, it can also be used with predicatives other than verbs to indicate the meaning "already". For example:
- tame koi egako - he has come
- te koi awaki - you are already dead.
Kona is used to indicate an ongoing action. For example:
- da eimoya kona heiko ei keza - the queen is/was reading a book
Yaa is used to indicate an event that was once a fact but is no longer anymore. For example:
- tawara yaa mako na ani onasa - birds once lived in this forest.
Tense Marker ai
The tense marker Ai is used to indicate that an event happened in the past, it can also be used with predicatives other than verbs. For example:
- Akari ai yamo ei hakara - Akari caught a fish.
- da koza ai motari - the house was big.
when used with the aspect markers, the tense marker precedes the aspect marker:
- da eimoya ai kona heiko ei keza - the queen was reading a book
Mood Marker yoi
Besides the aspect markers, there is also a particle for indicating the irrealis mood, the mood marker yoi, which is used to indicate a counterfactual event. Unlike the tense-aspect markers, the use of the irrealis mood marker yoi is obligatory.
For example:
- chii Akari yoi techi, tame yoi teino ei motari koza - if Akari were rich, she would buy a big house.
- da mosare okato noda tame yoi ei sare - the boy wished that he were a girl.
when used with the tense marker and the aspect markers, it precedes the tense marker and the aspect markers:
- chii te yoi wai heiko da keza, te yoi yachi ada - if you had read the book, you would know that.
A prepositional Phrase consists of a preposition and a noun phrase, with the preposition preceding the noun phrase. Prepositional phrases are often used as complements of a clauses, or as a modifier of a noun phrase. Nouns following a preposition are called complements of prepositions.
Locational Prepositions
The most basic prepositions are locational prepositions. There are three locational prepositions: na "in, on at", mi "from, of" and ta "to, towards".
na is used to indicate the stative location of the action or event. For example:
- hakara meso na mimo - fish swims in water.
When the location is a time, na can be replaced with aina:
- da eimoya kekano Kemiko aina da eina aasa mi da enaana meira - the queen will visit Kemiko on the 1st Day of the 4th Month.
ta is used to indicate the destination of the action or event, or the recipient of the object in verbs indicating the giving of something, or to indicate a relationship after adjectives. For example:
- tame kakezo ta da teina - she walked to the market.
- da sare kaso ei keita ta tamene kazari - the girl sent a letter to her teacher.
- soko ei hedawa tokaimi ta tame - it is difficult for him to find a job.
mi is used to indicate the source of the action or event, or the possessor of an object, or the material in verbs indicating the creation of something. For example:
- tame egako mi Kemiko - she comes from Kemiko
- da eimoya mi da sagi eisari - the queen of the country is beautiful.
- da nizo yo sabo mi mou - the cake is made of powder
The three locational prepositions can be combined with certain locative nouns to indicate the location relative to the object of the preposition, the object of preposition follow the locative noun and they are connected with the preposition mi, and the locative nouns are preceded with the definite article da. Below are the locative nouns:
- heta - side
- ma - inside
- wata -outside
- ema -above
- ka - below
- meta - middle
- ha - front
- hara - behind
- noumera - left
- tarera - right
- neta - other side
- o - surrounding
For example:
- tamedame kezo ta da neta mi da ago - the went to the other side of the road.(the went across the road)
- tame migo da eimoya mi da ma mi da kimeka - he saw the queen from the inside of the car.
- da sare ai saso ei kono na da ha mi da koza - the girl set a pole in front of the house.
When the preposition is na or ta, the use of locative nouns can be replaced with locative adverbs, in this case, the locative adverbs precede the adpositions. For example:
- tamedame kezo netaa ta da ago - the went to the other side of the road.(the went across the road)
- da sare ai saso ei kono haa na da koza - the girl set a pole in front of the house.
Instruments and Means
This indicates the object that the agent of a verb uses to do the action. The preposition i is used to indicate instruments. For example:
- tame sabo katana i e funa - he made meals with a pot.
- Akari kezo ta Kemiko i kimeka - Akari went to Kemiko by car.
The preposition i also indicates the means one uses to do an action, in this case, a predicative phrase can be used as the complement of the preposition. For example:
- tame kayato ogamayasa i kazo tama - she learned geography by teaching others.
Accompaniment
This indicates the person that accompanies with the subject of the predicative. The preposition to is used to indicate accompaniment. For example:
- da sare kezo ta Kemiko to Akari - the girl went to Kemiko with Akari.
- tame sabo katana to tamene aya - he made meals with his friends.
While both are translated as "with" in English, in Ame, instruments and accompaniment are never mixed. Instruments indicats something that one uses to do an action, accompaniment indicates someone that one does an action together with.
Beneficiary
This indicates the person that benefits from the action i.e. it indicates the person for whom the action is done. The preposition fu is used to indicate beneficiary. For example:
Other prepositions
Besides the locational prepositions, there are also other prepositions for a variety of meanings. They are listed below:
- neshii na - against
- sachii na - about
- arou - into(translative), becoming
- nakii - without
- keimi - since
- heita - until
Preposition stranding
In Ame, the complement of a preposition can sometimes be detached from the preposition, this process is called preposition stranding.
In relative clauses, if the head of a relative clause is also the complement of the preposition in the relative clause, the preposition might be stranded. For example:
- da koza, da da eimoya mako na, motari - the house, which the queen dwells, is big.
Another situation where preposition stranding is when the complement of a preposition is moved front for emphasis, especially when the complement is an interrogative. For example:
- koraa te egako mi? - where do you come from.
When the complement of a preposition is moved front for emphasis, it is also possible to move the preposition along with its complement:
- mi koraa te egako? - where do you come from.
Adverbials are words that can be used as complements of a clause, they can be a single word, an adposition phrase, or combination of several words. The formation of prepositional phrases is discussed in the section prepositional phrases.
Adverbs
In Ame, adverbs are single words that can be used alone as an adverbial. The class of adverbs is generally considered as a closed class of the Ame language.
Adjectives as Adverbials
In Ame, adjectives can't be used as adverbials directly, rather, the preposition i is added before adjectives to use adjectives as adverbials. For example:
- tamedame yami i yaki - they sleep well.
- Akari hegamo i heiwaki - Akari runs fast.
Locative Adverbs
Locative adverbs are adverbs expressing the stative location or the direction of the verb, and the actual location or the direction is left unsaid. Below are the locative adverbs of Ame:
- hetaa - aside
- maa - inside
- wataa -outside
- emaa -above
- kaa - below
- metaa - amid
- haa - in front
- haraa - behind
- noumeraa - in the left
- tareraa - in the right
- netaa - on the other side
- oshii - around
- tainii - through
- anii - here
- adaa - there
For example:
- tamedame kezo maa - the went in.
- da sare kako wataa - the girl ate outside.
Temporal Adverbs
Temporal adverbs are adverbs indicating the time of the event of the clause. Below are some common temporal adverbs:
- omaasa - yesterday
- masasa - today
- ikaasa - tomorrow
- masaa - now
For example:
- da sare migo da eimoya omaasa - the girl saw the queen yesterday.
Other Expressions of Times
Except for temporal adverbs, such as those listed in the section temporal adverbs, advebials expressing the time of an event must be preceded by a preposition. As stated in the section of prepositional phrases, the preposition aina is used to indicate a specific time. For example:
- da eimoya kekano Kemiko aina da eina aasa mi da enaana meira - the queen will visit Kemiko on the 1st Day of the 4th Month.
Other prepositions that are used to express time include the ones listed below:
- haa aina - before
- haraa aina - after
- keimi - since
- heita - until
- oshii aina - around
For example:
- tame ne kaso da keita heita da nateina aasa - he did not send the letter until the third day. ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article
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