Lesson 4: Where Are You Going?

In this lesson, you will learn how to conjugate verbs in the progressive tenses and to ask yes-or-no questions. You'll also learn about comparison of adjectives and some new pronouns.

Dialog

Dialog 4: Where are you going?
MIRAD	ENGLISH
1. Hom et peye?	Where are you going?
2. At peye tam.	I'm going home.
3. Duven et peyo bey pur?	Will you be going by car? (Lit. Say whether you will be going...)
4. Vo. At tyoyapo. Ata tam voy se yib bi him.	No. I'll walk. My house is not far from here.
5. At pepeya humep. Apu ha pur bay at.	I was going that way. Get in the car with me.
6. Hway! Hus su ga iga.	Thanks! That would be faster.
7. Hwey. Duven et ifie enzyukparen?	Don't mention it. Do you enjoy bicycling?
8. Gla. At enzyukpareya hijwamaj.	Very much so. I was cycling this morning.
9. Hiy eta tam. Duven hus se eta enzyukpar be ha zadeym?	Here's your house. Is that your bicycle in the front yard?
10. Vo. Atas se be ha zodeym. Huas ayswe ata dat.	No. Mine is in the backyard. That one belongs to my friend.
11. Hua enzyuk se go via vyel etas	That bike is less good-looking than yours.
12. Ve. Hway av ha pepuen, datif.	Maybe. Thanks for the lift, buddy.

Grammar Notes

Progressive Aspect Verbs

In the above dialog, you will notice that there are some verbs in a tense other than one of the simple tenses you learned in the last lesson, namely the progressive tenses. The tenses in the progressive aspect refer to states and actions that go over a period of time. When we way "I am walking home", that refers to an ongoing action, not a habit. This is pretty easy for English speakers, because English tenses have the same opposition of simple vs. progressive aspect.

The progressive tenses are formed with the infix ey between the verb stem and suffix. Here is a chart showing the new set of tenses (active voice only):

Progressive Aspect Tenses
ASPECT	VOICE	MOOD	TENSE	INFINITIVE = per...to go STEM+INFIX = p+ey-
PROGRESSIVE	ACTIVE	INDICATIVE	PRESENT	at peye....I am going
PROGRESSIVE	ACTIVE	INDICATIVE	PAST	at peya....I was going
PROGRESSIVE	ACTIVE	INDICATIVE	FUTURE	at peyo....I will be going
PROGRESSIVE	ACTIVE	HYPOTHETICAL	(CONDITIONAL)	at peyu....I would be going

Examples:

At peye tam.....I am going home.
Et seye fua.....You are being bad.
Duven et tambeseyo Fransam ojo huj?....Will you be living in France by then?
At tyoyapeyu, oy se gra yiba.....I would be walking, but it's too far.

Note the difference between the simple and the progressive aspect in the following two sentences:

Ha tixut tyoyape tistam hyajub.....The student walks to school every day. (SIMPLE ASPECT)
Ha tixut tyoyapeye tistam hijub.....The student is walking to school today. (PROGRESSIVE ASPECT )

Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs

First of all, there is a set of 'quantitative determiners' built on the basic word ga meaning more. They are shown in the chart below. Some of them are used in the comparison of adjectives and adverbs.

Dialog 1 Quantitative Determiners
TYPE	POSITIVE	INTERMEDIATE	NEGATIVE
COMPARATIVE	ga....more	ge....equally, as	go....less
ABSOLUTE	gla....very	gle....rather, quite	glo....not very
EXCESSIVE	gra....too	gre....enough	gro....insufficiently
SUPERLATIVE	gwa....most	gwe....just the right degree	gwo....least

These words can be used, among other things, to modify adjectives and adverbs for degree. In the comparative construction, the word than or as in English is translated by the preposition vyel in Mirad:

ga via vyel x....more beautiful than x
ga igay vyel x....more quickly than x
ge fia vyel x....as good as x
ge fiay vyel x....as well as x
go fia vyel....less good than x
go fiay vyel....not a well as x
gra iga....too fast
gre fia....good enough
ha gwa fia tuxut bi ha tistam....the best teacher in the school ( = of the school)
It dala gwe.....He spoke just enough.

Creating Yes-No Questions

A yes-no question is usually introduced by the particle duven, which literally means say whether.... This does not involve inverting the subject and predicate.

Duven et se yata tuxut?....Are you our student?
Duven et tyoyape tistam?....Do you walk to school?
Duven yit yexeya bay et?....Were they working with you?

Sometimes, Duven...? can be omitted and a question is implied by a rising intonation of voice or a question mark in writing.

Et upeye bay at?....(Are) you coming with me?

The answer to any of the questions could be va yes, ve maybe, or vo no.

Note: voy means not and is used to negate a predicate:

Yata voy se eta dati.....We are not your friends.
Voy at.....Not I.

Similarly, vay means indeed, certainly and modifies the predicate verb:

Yet se vay ata dati.....You are really my friends.

Vey is in-between, and means may, possibly as a predicate modifier:

At vey upo.....I may come.
Hia tuxut se vey ga fia vyel hua tuxut.....This teacher is possibly better than that teacher.

Pronominalizing Adjectives

Possessive adjectives like my, his, etc. and deictic adjectives like this, that, etc. can be pronominalized as shown in the following chart:

Dialog 1 Pronominalized Possessive and Deictic Adjectives
ADJECTIVE	SINGULAR PRONOUN	PLURAL PRONOUN
ata....my	atas....mine	atasi....mine
eta....your	etas....yours	etasi....yours
ita....his/her	itas....his/hers	itasi....his/hers
yata....our	yatas....ours	yatasi....ours
yeta....your	yetas....yours	yetasi....yours
yita....their	yitas....theirs	yitasi....theirs
hoa....which	hoas....which one	hoasi....which ones
hia....this	hias....this one	hiasi....these (ones)
hua....my	huas....that one	huasi....those (ones)

Examples:

Hias se etas. Huas se atas.....This one is yours. That one is mine.
Huasi se etasi. Huasi se atasi.....Those are yours. Those are mine.
Duven hua tam se etas?....Is that house yours?
Yatasi se ga aga vyel yetasi.....Ours are bigger than yours.

All the pronouns in the above chart refer to possessed or specified things. Change the s to t to make them refer to possessed or specified people:

Hiati sa fia vyel huati.....These (people) were better than those (ones).
Yatati.....Our own (people) ( = Sinn Fein, in Irish)

Quiz

Fill in the following blanks with the Mirad equivalent of the underlined English:

At _________ tam haj hu et yibdalara at.....I was walking home when you telephoned me.
Ha tuxut ___________ zo ita dresem.....The teacher is working behind his desk.
Duven et ___________ tistam zajub?....Will you be coming to school tomorrow?
Hot _____________ hua enzyuk?....Who is getting on that bicycle?
____________ se ga iga vyel ____________.....Mine are faster than yours.
Ata dresem se ________ aga vyel __________.....My desk is less big than yours.
Yata tuxut yexe ga jestay _______ ________.....Our teacher works harder than yours (pl.).

Vocabulary

Nouns:

par....vehicle, usually small and unmotorized, like a cart or wagon

enzyukpar....bicycle ( < en-....double + zyuk....wheel + par....small vehicle)
enzyuk....bike (abbreviated)

pir....scooter, motorbike

enzyukpir....motorcycle

pur....car
tistam....school ( < tis....learning + tam....house )
datif....buddy ( dat....friend + -if....affection)
zadeym....front yard ( < za....front + deym....garden )
zodeym....back yard ( < zo....back )
jwamaj....morning ( < jwa....early + maj....day vs. moj....night)

Verbs:

per....go (to)

aper....get on, board, mount ( < a(b)....on + per....go)

aper pur....get in a car

tyoyaper....walk (to) ( < tyoya(b)....foot + per )
enzyukper....bike (to) ( < enzyuk + per)
peper....ride (on land)

pepuer....give a ride/lift to (verbs ending in -uer or causative)
pepuen....a lift, a ride (gerunds end in -en)

ifier....like, enjoy, be pleased ( < if....pleasure + (b)ier....take, get)
ayser....have ( < (b)ay....with + ser....be)
ayswer....belong (to) (passive voice of ayser)

Determiners/Adverbs:

humep....that way/direction ( mep....road, way )
hyajub....every day (hya-....every + jub....day
hijub....today (hi-....this + jub....day
hijwamaj....this morning (hi-....this + jwa....early + maj....daylight)

Prepositions:

bay....with, in the company of
bey....by, by means of
boy....without

Pronouns

atas....mine, etas....yours, etc.
hoas?....which one?, hias....this one, etc.

Particles

Duven...?....say whether, is it true that...?

Interjections

hiy.......here is..., here comes... (huy.......there is..., there goes..., voila... )
hway....thanks (hwey....you're welcome, hwoy....sorry)

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