The reason 'to be able to' breaks every rule in Gazal
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This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 29 Sep 2016, 19:37.
[comments] gzlgrammar In
Gazal, the verb 'to be able to' (as in 'I can help you') always breaks word order and appears the wrong side of the subject.E.g. I can help you - Qá lac agotdala śah
Literally ' Can I help you '
However, if sentence is interrogative it appears after, which is the regular word order.
E.g. Can I help you? - Lac qá agotdala śah?
Literally ' I can help you '
This following part only applies to the verb 'to be able to'. The word order is different because it was once considered impolite ( so it was believed that bold statements such as ' I can swim 500 meters ' were taken rudely ) What was considered more polite was if the statement became a question. So ' Can I swim 500 meters ' was a more polite way of saying it, and made it less like bragging.
But when it came to questions it was less persuasive to format it like a question. For example, questions like ' Can you go out with me? ' became ' You can come out with me ' . This wasn't because of manners, but because in the olden days it was less offensive as today.
Slowly, the underlying meaning was forgotten. But the verb 'to be able to' never swapped back.
Can you go out with me? - Śah qá alroa cap lac? ( You can go out with me )
You can go out with me!! - Qá śah alroa cap lac!! ( Can you go out with me!! ) ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article
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