Miskito/Lesson 4
Miskitu Aisas! Miskito Language Course | |||
Lesson 3 | 4 | Yaptiki ba Miskitu aisisa | |
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Contents | My mother speaks Miskito | ||
The -isa form
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What do they mean?
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Practice | Translate into English: |
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Answers
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Notice that these present tense forms all end in the letters -isa. They can each have various English translations depending on the context.
aisisa |
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daukisa |
does, makes (etc.) |
piakisa |
cooks (etc.) |
pulisa |
plays (etc.) |
- You may be interested to know that the -sa at the end of these forms is actually the sa you already know ("is, are"). The remaining part of each verb is its "i-form", a sort of participle, which we can think of being equivalent to the English "-ing" form. According to this analysis, pulisa comes from puli sa, i.e. "is/are + playing". The i-form is the stem of the verb (dauk-, pul- etc.) plus the ending -i.
The -ras form
editStudy |
What do they mean?
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Practice | Make these sentences negative: |
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Answers
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Most verb forms cannot be negated by placing apia in front of them as with sa. To make the verb negative, remove the -isa ending and put -ras in its place.
aisaras |
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inras |
doesn't cry (etc.) |
plikras |
doesn't look for (etc.) |
pulras |
doesn't play (etc.) |
- Notice that aisaras is an exception. This verb's stem is really aisa-, but the -a- has dropped away in the positive form aisisa.
- The -ras form is actually a sort of negative participle: aisaras, inras etc. mean something like "not speaking", "not crying" and so on. They can be followed by sa to make the full form aisaras sa "is not speaking" etc., but it is very common to omit sa here.
More notes:
- Witin diara plikras: diara means "thing", but in negative sentences is used for "anything, nothing".
- Tuktan is "child" when no possession is expressed (compare tuktika, tuktikam my/your child).
- Sut all follows the noun it refers to: tuktan nani sut all (the) children.
Vocabulary and review
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Vocabulary
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speaks ~ doesn't speak
makes/does ~ doesn't make/do
why
n/pron
thing, anything
cries ~ doesn't cry
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n.
Miskito
adv
now
cooks ~ doesn't cook
looks for ~ doesn't look for
n
food
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plays ~ doesn't play
quan
all
n
child
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Say in Miskito:
Review
What is your mother doing?
Yaptikam dia daukisa? What are the children doing?
Tuktan nani ba dia daukisa? Who is crying?
Ya inisa ki? Is the dog playing?
Yul ba pulisa ki? The dog is not playing.
Yul ba pulras. It is looking for food.
Witin ba plun plikisa. The children are looking for a book.
Tuktan nani ba buk kum plikisa. We aren't looking for anything.
Yawan diara plikras. We're speaking Miskito.
Yawan Miskitu aisisa. What are the women cooking?
Mairin nani ba dia piakisa? All the mangoes are very small.
Mangu nani sut sirpi pali sa. These ones are not small, they're big.
Naha nani ba sirpi apia sa, tara sa. Why are the women crying now?
Nanara mairin nani ba dia muni inisa? Why aren't the men looking for food?
Waitna nani ba dia muni plun plikras? Where are the Americans now?
Miriki nani nanara anira sa ki? |
Lesson 3 | |
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Contents |