Miskito/Lesson 7
Miskitu Aisas! Miskito Language Course | |||
Lesson 6 | 7 | Inglis aisisma ki? | |
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I am
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What do they mean?
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Practice | Change the subject form witin to yang: |
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Sna I am, apia sna I am not.
- Since these already express the first-person notion, it is not necessary to say yang I with them, although you can: (Yang) Jan sna I am John, (Yang) yaptikam apia sna I am not your mother.
You are
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What do they mean?
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Practice | Answer these questions, taking the words in parentheses as cues: |
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Sma you are, apia sma you are not.
- As with (yang) sna, man you can be omitted with sma.
Forms of the present tense of kaia to be that you now know:
first person (I...) |
sna |
second person (you...) |
sma |
third person (she, he, they...; also yawan we inclusive) |
sa |
Some personal pronouns
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What do they mean?
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Practice | Place yang, man or witin at the beginning of the sentence as appropriate: |
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You also now know the following personal pronouns:
I |
yang |
you |
man |
she, he |
witin |
they |
witin nani |
we inclusive, i.e. you and I |
yawan |
These pronouns may function in different grammatical roles in the sentence: as subject, object, complement of a postposition...
The present tense
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What do they mean?
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Practice | Fill the blank with an appropriate present tense form of the verb whose infinitive is given. |
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It was explained before that a verb form such as daukisa comes from dauki (a participle, doing) and sa is. In order to say I am doing, you are doing.., and also I do, you do..., the appropriate form of to be is placed after the i-form (e.g. dauki), and this gives us the regular present tense, with these endings:
first person |
-isna |
second person |
-isma |
third person, yawan |
-isa |
Examples:
daukaia do | kaikaia see | pulaia play | aisaia speak | |
1 |
daukisna |
kaikisna |
pulisna |
aisisna |
2 |
daukisma |
kaikisma |
pulisma |
aisisma |
3, yawan |
daukisa |
kaikisa |
pulisa |
aisisa |
- The compound verbs wark takaia to work and lan takaia to learn are formed from the borrowings from English wark ("work") and lan ("learn") and the Miskito verb takaia. Used as a simple verb, takaia means "go out, come out".
The future tense
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What do they mean?
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Practice | Answer the questions using the time words given: |
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The endings of the future tense are similar to those of the present, but begin with ai rather than i. Another way to produce the future is to remove the final -a from the infinitive and add, in its place, the present-tense forms of kaia, thus daukaia → daukai- → daukaisna, daukaisma, daukaisa. Compare the present and the future of daukaia:
PRESENT | FUTURE | |
1 |
daukisna |
daukaisna |
2 |
daukisma |
daukaisma |
3, yawan |
daukisa |
daukaisa |
- Miskitu bila the Miskito language, Miskito is a compound noun formed from Miskitu and bila, which basically means "mouth" but also "language" (and numerous other meanings, to be seen later).
- Bara is commonly used as a connecting word to mean "and then", "and so", or just "and". (Not to be confused with bara sa there is/are, bara kan there was/were, bara kaisa there will be.)
Vocabulary and review
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Vocabulary
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adv
when
v
buy
adv
only
con
and then, and so
v
go in, enter
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n
English
n
Spanish
cpd v
to learn
pron
you
cpd n
Miskito (language)
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adv
well
v
go out
adv
soon
v
hear
cpd v
to work
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Choose one of the words given to complete the sentence.
Review
Yang utla ra yaptiki ra __________ munaisna.
(pain — hilp — wark) Yang utla ra yaptiki ra hilp munaisna. Tibil ra buk kum __________ kaikisna.
(baman — bara — bila) Tibil ra buk kum baman kaikisna. Yawan yauhka mangu kum kum __________.
(atkan — atkaisna — atkaisa) Yawan yauhka mangu kum kum atkaisa. Miskitu bila pain lan __________.
(takisma — atkisma — inisma) Miskitu bila pain lan takisma. Miriki na Miskitu bila lan takan __________ yawan wal pain aisisa.
(man — kum — bara) Miriki na Miskitu bila lan takan bara yawan wal pain aisisa. |
Lesson 6 | |
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