Tatari Faran Grammar

Sentences (2)

Imperatives

Imperatives use imperative word order (verb-subject-arguments). This word order is sufficient to indicate imperative mood. Although subjunctives share the same word order, subjunctives always have other particles to mark them as such.

Here are some examples of imperative sentences:

This sentence is formed simply by rearranging the words in its indicative analog. However, unlike in English, the use of the 2nd person pronoun in an imperative weakens it. Normally, the 2nd person pronoun is omitted:

Even when politeness is desired, the 2nd person pronoun is normally not preferred, unless the imperative is addressed specifically to someone within a larger audience. Instead, the adverb ina, “please”, is appended to the verb:

The finalizer is sometimes included in imperatives to make it more forceful. It implies that the requested action is expected to be performed completely. For example:

Note that using a finalizer with an imperative does not always indicate forcefulness, since the finalizer may be present for syntactic purposes, such as described later for conditional statements.

Another way of expressing a forceful imperative is by appending the adverb eka, “must”, to the verb:

It is also common to use the temporal adverb kana (“now” or “immediately”) to strengthen an imperative:

These can be combined to make a very strong imperative:

Questions

Questions use interrogative word order. The finalizer is omitted, and interrogative markers are present to indicate that the sentence is a question, and what type of question it is.

Yes/no questions

For yes/no questions, the interrogative postposition ta is placed in adverbial position:

The postposition ta may modify the subject NP instead, to ask a confirmative question:

(Note that when ta follows sei, they contract into sita.)

If the question is formed from a non-verbal sentence such as an adjectival statement, ta is placed after the predicate, and the finalizer is omitted. For example:

The expected answer to this type of question is ai (“yes”) or bai (“no”).

Asking about alternatives

One may also use a double subject in questions to inquire about alternatives:

The interrogative ta occurs on both subject NP's, and indicate a choice between them. (Note: kita is the contraction of kei and ta.)

In answering such a question, one may simply state the bare NP:

The noun case of the answer must match that of the question.

The double subject construction may also be used for adjectival questions. In this case, the interrogative ta replaces the finalizer. For example:

In the answer, the finalizer associated with the adjective should be included:

Who/what/where questions

For “what” or “who” questions, the interrogative nouns sia and sii (“who” or “what”) are used. For example:

sii can be used for both animate and inanimate nouns, and sia can only be used for people (“who”). However, sia is only used when the person referred to isn't known yet, and sii is used when the person is known but not yet identified. In the first example above, san tara' sei (that person) is already known, and the question is concerning the identity of that person. Hence, sii is used (literally, it means “What kind of person is that?”). In the third example, the person who walked to the house is unknown, and so sia is used instead.

The interrogative particle ta is not used when sia or sii are used. (They have conflicting meanings: ta is used for yes/no questions, and sia/sii are used for who/what questions.)

The postposition ipai, “at (a location)”, is used with sii to ask “where” questions. For example:

Similarly, the postposition iti, “at (a point in time)”, is used with sii to ask “when” questions. For example:

Conjunctions

So far, we've only considered sentences built from a single clause. We now consider how multiple clauses can be joined together to make complex sentences.

In complex sentences, the position between the subject NP and the verb in a constituent clause is called the conjunctive position. Conjunctions — words that indicate how this clause relates to others — usually appear in this position.

Sometimes, when the subject NP of a clause is coreferent with the subject NP of the preceding clause, it may be omitted. In this case, the case clitic will reattach itself after the conjunction, making the conjunction appear at the head of the clause. Examples of this will be shown in the following sections.

hena

The conjunction hena [hɛna] is used to join two or more clauses together. It indicates a sequence of events. For example:

Note how the case particle sa in the second clause serves to mark the case of the elided huu. Since the subject NP is the same in both clauses, it is elided from the second clause.

The finalizer is present in both clauses, but could be omitted in any but the last clause for dramatic effect. This is device is used especially when more than two clauses are joined together by hena. For example:

The absence of the finalizer in all but the last clause lends dramatic emphasis to it.

isi

The conjunction isi [ʔisi], “because”, is used to make cause-and-effect statements. It is present in both clauses. The cause clause omits the finalizer, whereas the result clause keeps the finalizer as a manner of emphasis. When the subject NP is present, isi occurs immediately following it. If the subject NP has been elided, isi may serve the role of a conjunction in the manner of hena, occurring clause-initially and taking a case particle as a modifier. Examples:

(Note: isa is the contraction of isi and sa.)

Observe that the presence or absence of the finalizer determines which clause is the antecedent and which is the consequent. The ordering of the clauses is arbitrary.

If the cause clause is a non-verbal clause such as an adjectival statement, isi appears at the end of the clause and replaces the finalizer (if any). For example:

If the adjectival statement occurs in the result clause, isi appears between the subject NP and the predicate. For example:

bera

The conjunction bera means “if not”, “or else”, or “otherwise” and is used for expressing alternatives. For example:

Just like hena, it can be placed after the subject NP, or, if the subject has been elided, it can appear clause-initially followed by the case clitic of the elided subject. For example:

The conditional construct used in this example is explained in the following section.

Conditional statements

A conditional (if A then B) is constructed by putting together a subjunctive clause with an indicative clause. The subjunctive clause is called the antecedent and the indicative clause the consequent. The conditional particle era [ʔɛɾa] is placed in adverbial position to serve as a subjunctive marker in the antecedent, and the finalizer is omitted from the same. The finalizer only appears in the consequent.

Examples:

The conjunction bera may be used to add an “else” clause. For example:

If the antecedent is a non-verbal clause, such as a statement of equivalance or an adjectival statement, the predicate is moved to the front and modified by era, and the subject NP is placed last. For example:

Imperative clauses may also be used as the consequent of a conditional statement. In this case, the finalizer will always be present in the imperative clause, and does not necessarily indicate forcefulness. Here is an example of an imperative consequent:

Quoted Discourse

Quoted discourse is started by the particle e [ʔɛ], and terminated by the modified finalizer e'aniin (sometimes simply aniin). For example:

When the verb is araf (to shout), the quoted discourse is ended by daa or eraa instead. For example:

Instead of

To express not X but Y or X instead of Y, the formula be ... ai is used, with be and ai inserted between the corresponding nouns and their case clitics:

When ai appears before a feminine case particle, they undergo euphonic contraction, as here with asei.

Reflexives

To express actions performed on oneself, the reflexive noun sahu is used:

sahu always refers back to the subject NP; thus the meaning may change if the subject NP is switched with an argument NP:

sahu never appears as the subject NP in a clause.