Miskito/Lesson 6

	Miskitu Aisas! Miskito Language Course
Lesson 5		6	Nahwala, yauhka
> Next
Contents			Yesterday, tomorrow

With

Study	What do they mean? My father is here. He is with my mother. This man is helping my father. He is going to Bilwi with my father. The man is looking for work with him. What are the children doing? They are playing with a dog. My mother is coming to church with me. She sits with me in church. Who is Maria talking with? She is talking with John. We are with the children in the school.
Aisiki nahara sa. Witin yaptiki wal sa. Waitna na aisiki ra hilp munisa. Witin aisiki wal Bilwi ra auya. Waitna ba witin wal wark plikisa. Tuktan nani ba dia daukisa? Witin nani yul kum wal pulisa. Yaptiki yang wal prias watla ra aula. Prias watla ra witin yang wal iwisa. Maria ya wal aisisa? Witin Jan wal aisisa. Yawan skul ra tuktan nani ba wal sa.

Practice	Answer in the affirmative making a sentence with the word given and wal:
Witin tawan ra auya ki? (aisiki) Tuktikam pulisa ki? (yul ba) Witin Miskitu aisisa ki? (yang) Aisikam ba wark plikisa ki? (waitna nani sut) Mairin ba nahara iwisa ki? (yaptiki)
Answers Au, witin (tawan ra) aisiki wal auya. Au, witin yul ba wal pulisa. Au, witin Miskitu yang wal aisisa. Au, witin waitna nani sut wal wark plikisa. Au, witin yaptiki wal iwisa.

Here we learn a new postposition, wal, equivalent to the English preposition "with", e.g. yaptiki wal with my mother.

• Hilp munaia to help is a compound verb made up of two parts: the noun hilp help (from English) and the verb munaia do, make (similar meaning to daukaia).
• Prias watla church is a compound noun, also made up of two parts: prias prayers (from English) and watla house. (Watla is a special form of utla, which you already know; you will learn about such forms later.)

The future tense

Study	What do they mean? Tomorrow my father will go to Bilwi. What will he do there? He will look for work there. These other men will go with him. The men will help him. My mother will cook the food first, afterwards she will come to the church. She will sit with me. Maria will speak with John. We will be in school. We will play with the children.
Yauhka aisiki Bilwi ra waisa. Witin bahara dia daukaisa? Bahara witin wark plikaisa. Waitna wala nani na sin witin wal waisa. Waitna nani ba witin ra hilp munaisa. Yaptiki taura plun piakaisa, ningkara prias watla ra balaisa. Witin yang wal iwaisa. Maria Jan wal aisaisa. Yawan skul ra kaisa. Yawan tuktan nani ba wal pulaisa.

Practice	Answer in the negative, and say the person/people will do it tomorrow.
Jan nanara wark plikisa ki? Witin nanara plun piakisa ki? Yawan Bilwi ra nanara auya ki? Witin nani yaptikam ra nanara hilp munisa ki? Tuktikam skul ra nanara aula ki? Tuktan ba nanara aisikam wal sa ki?
Answers Apia. Witin yauhka wark plikaisa. Apia. Witin yauhka plun piakaisa. Apia. Yawan yauhka waisa. Apia. Witin nani yauhka hilp munaisa. Apia. Witin yauhka balaisa. Apia. Yauhka witin wal kaisa.

The future tense is formed by removing the -aia ending of the infinitive, and adding -aisa: dauk-aisa will make, plik-aisa will look for, ais-aisa will speak, bal-aisa will come, w-aisa will go, k-aisa will be, etc.

The past tense

Study	What do they mean? Yesterday my father went to the village. What did he do there? He looked for work in the village. Was your mother at home? No. She came with me. Who did she sit with in church? — She sat with me. Were the children at home too? — Yes, they were at home. What did they do? Did they play with the other children? First they played, afterwards they helped my mother.
Nahwala aisiki tawan ra wan. Witin bahara dia daukan? Witin tawan ra wark plikan. Yaptikam utla ra kan ki? Apia. Witin yang wal balan. Witin prias watla ra ya wal iwan? — Witin yang wal iwan. Tuktan nani ba anira kan? — Witin nani utla ra kan. Witin nani dia daukan? Tuktan wala nani ba wal pulan ki? Taura witin nani pulan, ningkara yaptiki ra hilp munan.

Practice	Answer in the negative, and say the person/people did it yesterday.
Aisikam nanara wark plikisa ki? Karla nanara plun piakisa ki? Yawan tawan ra nanara auya ki? Tuktan nani ba skul ra nanara pulisa ki? Tuktikam buk ba nanara kaikisa ki? Buk ba nanara tibil ra sa ki?
Answers Apia. Witin nahwala wark plikan. Apia. Witin nahwala plun piakan. Apia. Yawan nahwala tawan ra wan. Apia. Witin nani nahwala pulan. Apia. Witin buk ba nahwala kaikan. Apia. Buk ba nahwala tibil ra kan.

The past tense is formed by removing the -aia ending of the infinitive, and, for most verbs, adding -an: dauk-an made, plik-an looked for, ais-an spoke, bal-an came, w-an went, k-an was, etc. The following table sums up the five forms of each verb that you now know (irregularities are in italics):

Infinitive	Meaning	Present	Negative	Future	Past
aisaia	speak	aisisa	aisaras	aisaisa	aisan
balaia	come	aula	balras	balaisa	balan
daukaia	make, do	daukisa	daukras	daukaisa	daukan
inaia	cry	inisa	inras	inaisa	inan
iwaia	sit	iwisa	iwras	iwaisa	iwan
kaia	be	sa	apia sa	kaisa	kan
kaikaia	see	kaikisa	kaikras	kaikaisa	kaikan
munaia	do	munisa	munras	munaisa	munan
piakaia	cook	piaakisa	piakras	piakaisa	piakan
plikaia	look for	plikisa	plikras	plikaisa	plikan
pulaia	play	pulisa	pulras	pulaisa	pulan
waia	go	auya	waras	waisa	wan

Vocabulary and review

Vocabulary Miskito vocabulary · English vocabulary · Abbreviations · Subject index
hilp munaia cpd v to help nahwala adv yesterday ningkara adv afterwards prias watla cpd n church	taura adv first wal post with wala quan other wark n work	yang pron I, me yauhka adv tomorrow

Say in Miskito: Review First she went to the shop. Afterwards she cooked the food. Taura witin sap ra wan. Ningkara plun ba piakan. My mother came with me. Yaptiki yang wal balan. Why are they looking for work? Witin nani dia muni wark plikisa? What are they going to do tomorrow? Witin nani yauhka dia daukaisa? My children will speak Miskito at school. Tuktiki nani skul ra Miskitu aisaisa. One book was big. The other book was small. Buk kum tara kan. Buk wala ba sirpi kan. Will we go to church? No, we'll help your mother in the house. Yawan prias watla ra waisa ki? Apia, yawan utla ra yaptikam ra hilp munaisa. Tomorrow an American will come to the village. Yauhka Miriki kum tawan ra balaisa. All the children were very poor. Tuktan nani sut umpira pali kan. Some men sat in the car. The children sat on the ground. Then ("afterwards") the woman spoke. Waitna kum kum truk ra iwan. Tuktan nani ba tasba ra iwan. Ningkara mairin ba aisan.

Lesson 5
> Next
Contents