Héıguko chỉetoaı – Lesson 12

Dủashao jí sa rảı da. Mả jẻo lâ baq ẻlu bı gủosıa môaqshaı hó moq? ① ②	There is something I want to know. Is it true that elephants never forget?
Dủa bũ jí mâ jẻo hóq da. ③	I don’t know whether that’s true.
Je mả jẻo lâ míao bı nỉe sa pỏq míao moq? ④	And is it true that, as for the moon, some people are inside it?
Chỉ bũ jí hóq da.	I don’t believe that.
Je mả baq nỉnıbuı bı tỉ hó sa rỉaq moq?	And as for aliens, are they somewhere?
Dảı hóq da. Jảq sâo jíaq da.	That’s possible. The world is very big.
Je pủ rûaq sa pỏq jîq baq ảıpu da. ② Mỉu súq hı rảı moq?	Some people said that ghosts exist. What do you think?
Sa rảı bı dủa sıa pỏq ráı da. Jí bı mỉu jí lâ baq ảıpu bı dảı jîq hó da. ⑤	There are things which nobody knows. As for me, I think that it’s possible that ghosts exist.
M̉. Je mả beı sa rảı bı dủa súq ráı moq?	Okay. Is there anything you do know?
Dủa jí pûı téoq da. Nảı tûa súq rîa kíao ba. Pỉkuaı jí da! ⑥	I know that those were a lot of questions. Now open the door. I have to pee!

Notes

This lesson introduces the word lâ. lâ could be described as the long form of the rising-falling tone . Instead of using the rising-falling tone directly on a verb, it is also possible to use lâ to start a content clause. The meaning is identical to a bare rising-falling tone : Dủa jí shîe súq “I know that you are awake” can also be expressed as the equivalent Dủa jí lâ shỉe súq. The latter parallels mâ in structure. The main purpose of lâ is to allow content clauses that begin with a noun in topic position, such as lâ jí bı jảı jí “that, as for me, I’m happy”. lâ can only be replaced by a bare rising-falling tone when the content clause begins with a verb.
We encounter two new long roots in this lesson: elu “to be an elephant”, and aıpu “to be a ghost”.
This is another example of mâ “whether”, creating an indirect whether-question. hoq is another pronoun, which means “that”, referring to a case or situation that was just mentioned. mâ jẻo hóq “whether that is true”.
Another example of lâ. The structure is the same as before: lâ, then the topic noun followed by bı, followed by the verb and its nouns.
This might be the longest and most complex sentence so far, but it’s really just a combination of familiar patterns.
pıkuaı “to have to pee” is a compound with the components pı “to pee”, and the familiar kuaı “to long for, to need”.

“They said that every dog is a friend.”
Pủ rûaq hó lâ tu kủne bı pảı hó da.
“I want to know whether you like apples.”
Dủashao jí mâ baq shảmu bı chỏ súq máq da.
“I hope that that’s true.”
Zảı jí jêo hóq da.
“Never did I see a ghost.”
Gủosıa pû lâ sa ảıpu bı kảqgaı jí hó da.
“It’s not the case that the elephant is inside the building.”
Bủ nîe élu jío da.