Sentences consist of clauses, which in turn consist of constituents, which are phrases, which consist of words and have a certain internal word order.
The clause constituents are listed below.
| Subject | Predicate | Object | Adverbial |
|---|---|---|---|
| A young man | is driving | a car | on the street. |
| We | should take | our old stuff | to the flea market. |
| Subject | Predicate | Predicative | Adverbial |
|---|---|---|---|
| You and me | are | happy | together. |
| My friend | got | upset | for the war. |
The clause constituents are phrases. The main phrase types are listed below.
Pandunia sentences are made up of the building blocks listed above. The figure below shows the decomposition of a Pandunia sentence in three levels: (1) clause constituents, (2) phrases and (3) words.
Figure 1. Decomposition of a sentence structure in Pandunia.
╔═════════╗ ╔═══════════╗ ╔═══════════╗ ╔═══════════════╗
(1) ║ SUBJECT ║ ║ PREDICATE ║ ║ ADVERBIAL ║ ║ENDING PARTICLE║
╚════╤════╝ ╚═════╤═════╝ ╚═════╤═════╝ ╚═══════╤═══════╝
│ │ │ │
┌─────┴─────┐ ┌─────┴─────┐ ┌─────┴──────┐ │
(2) │noun phrase│ │verb phrase│ │prep. phrase│ │
└─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘ └────────┬───┘ │
│ │ │ │
┌───┬─┴─┬────┐ ┌───┬─┴─┬────┐ ┌────┬───┼───┬────┐ ┌───┴────┐
(3) │det│adj│noun│ │TAM│adv│verb│ │prep│det│adj│noun│ │particle│
└───┴───┴────┘ └───┴───┴────┘ └────┴───┴───┴────┘ └────────┘
la juni man pas rapid marche na la dai dao he.
that young man did fast walk on the big road huh
'That young man walked fast on the big road, huh?'
Clause constituents can consist of more than one word. Subject and object can be noun phrases that consist of many words, and there can be a series of verbs (i.e. a serial verb) instead of a single verb. In such cases the boundaries between the clause constituents can become doubtful.
let baku meme vola shuru yama boni seng chau. – Little white sheep want to start to eat good fresh grass.
Boundaries between sentence elements can be marked with little words. Determiners, like un ‘a, one’, ye ‘this or these’, vo ‘that or those over there’, la ‘that or those’, and som ‘some’, help to indicate where noun phrases begin.
la lit baku meme ye vola shuru yama la boni seng chau. – The little white sheep want to start to eat that good fresh grass.
The basic predicative clause patterns are:
Someone is something.
Someone is of some kind of.
In short, the subject is what the predicative says.
The predicative clause is simple in Pandunia. What is new for English speakers, is that the copula verb ’to be’ can be left out. It’s not necessary in Pandunia. There are two types of predicative clause: verbal and nominal.
Figure 2. Decomposition of the copula clause.
╔═════════╗ ╔═══════════╗ ╔═════════════╗
║ SUBJECT ║ ║ (COPULA) ║ ║ PREDICATIVE ║
╚════╤════╝ ╚═════╤═════╝ ╚══════╤══════╝
│ │ ┌────┴───────┐
┌─────┴─────┐ ┌─────┴─────┐ ┌─────┴─────┐ ┌────┴──────┐
│noun phrase│ │verb phrase│ │noun phrase│ │adj. phrase│
└─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘
│ │ │ │
┌───┬─┴─┬────┐ ┌───┬─┴─┬────┐ ┌───┬─┴─┬────┐ ┌───┼───┐
│det│adj│noun│ │TAM│adv│verb│ │det│adj│noun│ │adv│adj│
└───┴───┴────┘ └───┴───┴────┘ └───┴───┴────┘ └───┴───┘
A predicative completes the meaning of a sentence by giving information about a noun by either renaming it or describing it. Often there is no copula verb (i.e. linking verb) between the subject and its predicative complement.
ho – Ali.
– He is Ali.
Ali – guru.
– Ali is a teacher.
Ali – rike.
– Ali is rich.
Ali na haus.
– Ali is at home.
The copula verb sa ‘to be’ can be used optionally in simple predicative sentences like the ones above.
ho sa Ali.
– He is Ali.
Ali sa guru.
– Ali is a teacher.
Ali sa rike.
– Ali is rich.
Ali sa a haus.
– Ali is at home.
The copula verb is used when it is necessary in order to convey the desired meaning. For example, modal verbs, like vola ‘to want’, always need it as the main verb because the sentences would have a different meaning without it.
ho vola sa guru.
– He (or she) wants to be a teacher.
Compare with:
ho vola guru.
– He (or she) wants a teacher.
ho vola sa rike.
– He (or she) wants to be rich.
Compare with:
ho vola rike.
– He (or she) wants riches.
The linking verb is used also when structural complexity of subject and/or predicate makes the boundary between the two sentence elements doubtful.
mi di kar helpa bache.
– My job helps children.
mi di kar sa helpa bache.
– My job is to help children.
It is also possible to use a pause, that is indicated by a dash in writing, instead of the linking verb.
mi di kar – helpa bache. – My job: to help children.
All predicative complements can be negated by no ‘not’ and the linking verb sa is optional in the same cases as before
ho no Ali. ~ ho no sa Ali.
– He is not Ali.
ho no guru. ~ ho no sa guru.
– He is not a teacher.
ho no vola sa guru.
– He doesn’t want to be a teacher.
ho no rike. ~ ho no sa rike.
– He is not rich.
ho no vola sa rike.
– He doesn’t want to be rich.
ho no a haus. ~ ho no sa a haus.
– He is not at home.
ho di kar no sa helpa bache.
– His job is not to help children.
In addition to noun subjects and pronoun subjects, the previous rules apply also to adjective subjects and verb subjects.
juni – mei. ~ juni sa mei.
– Young is beautiful.
juni – no seni. ~ juni no sa seni.
– Young is not old.
gani – boni. ~ gani sa boni.
– Singing is good.
gani – no dus. ~ gani no sa dus.
– Singing is not bad.
skolefa bache – helpa bache. ~ skolefa bache sa helpa bache.
– To teach children is to help children.
The purpose of the intransitive clause is to express an event, where someone does something, or where something happens. The intransitive clause contains only one participant, the subject. It is the doer or the experiencer of the event. Intransitive clause does not contain an object.
Figure 3. Decomposition of the intransitive clause.
╔═════════╗ ╔═══════════╗
║ SUBJECT ║ ║ PREDICATE ║
╚════╤════╝ ╚═════╤═════╝
│ │
┌─────┴─────┐ ┌─────┴─────┐
│noun phrase│ │verb phrase│
└─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘
│ │
┌───┬─┴─┬────┐ ┌───┬─┴─┬────┐
│det│adj│noun│ │TAM│adv│verb│
└───┴───┴────┘ └───┴───┴────┘
Here are some examples of intransitive clauses. Children run. This sentence tells what the children do, they run. The door opens. This sentence tells what the door does, it opens. The old man dies. This sentence tells what the old man experiences, he dies.
The actions described by intransitive clauses can be voluntary or involuntary. They are done by the subject, or they just happen to the subject.
In intransitive clauses, if anyone at all is affected by the event, it is the subject. So the action is directed at the subject. The subject undergoes a change. The change can be a change of state or a change of place.
In the sentence the children run, the subject changes place. In the sentence the old man dies, the subject changes state from living to dead.
Here are some intransitive clauses in Pandunia. The subjects are written in cursive.
bache kursa.
– Children run.
juni fem dansa.
– The young woman dances.
seni man mortu.
– The old man died.
Note that Pandunia verbs don’t include tense. So they can express the past and present alike. Therefore for example mortu can mean both ’died’ and ’dies’.
So called intransitive verbs can take a cognate object, whose meaning is very close to the meaning of the verb. For example the sentence bache kursa, ‘the children run’, can take an object like long kurse, ‘a long run’.
bache kursa long kurse. – ‘The chilren run a long run.’
The meaning of the sentence doesn’t really change. It is still about an activity and a change of place, but structurally it is now a transitive clause.
juni fem dansa mei danse.
– The young woman dances a beautiful dance.
seni man mortu boni morte.
– The old man died a good death.
The intransitive clause is structurally similar to the nominal predicative clause, which has zero copula. Compare the first two examples below!
(1) seni man mortu.
– The old man died. (intransitive clause)
(2) seni man – morti.
– The old man (is) dead. (nominal predicative clause)
(3) seni man sa morti.
– The old man is dead. (verbal predicative clause)
The same sentence can mean both ‘the old man died’ and ‘the old man is dead’. However, they mean almost the same thing, so their almost similar appearance is not an issue. One can use the copula verb to clarify the situation, as in the third sentence, when necessary.
The transitive clause is the most versatile clause type in Pandunia, and it has many different realizations.
Transitive clauses are clauses where the verb takes a direct object. The purpose of the transitive clause is to express an event where someone does something to someone or something.
The three constituents of the transitive clause are subject, verb and object. In theory, they can be ordered in many different ways. In Pandunia, their normal order is subject–verb–object (SVO). This order is one of the most common word orders among world’s languages. It is the most common word order by number of speakers and the second-most common order by number of languages.
Figure 4. Decomposition of the transitive clause.
╔═════════╗ ╔═══════════╗ ╔════════╗
║ SUBJECT ║ ║ PREDICATE ║ ║ OBJECT ║
╚════╤════╝ ╚═════╤═════╝ ╚════╤═══╝
│ │ │
┌─────┴─────┐ ┌─────┴─────┐ ┌─────┴─────┐
│noun phrase│ │verb phrase│ │noun phrase│
└─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘
│ │ │
┌───┬─┴─┬────┐ ┌───┬─┴─┬────┐ ┌───┬─┴─┬────┐
│det│adj│noun│ │TAM│adv│verb│ │det│adj│noun│
└───┴───┴────┘ └───┴───┴────┘ └───┴───┴────┘
la juni man did viza un seni guru.
'The young man did see an old teacher.'
Transitive clauses are called transitive because they express an event where some energy transits from the subject to the object. Subject–verb–object is a natural word order, because it follows the natural order of the event. The subject is the source of the energy and it sends the energy through the verb, which transits it to the object. The object receives the energy and is affected by it.
In transitive clauses, the subject is the agent and the object is the patient. There is a lot of variation in the the roles of agent and patient, but their most basic types can be described as prototypical roles.
The prototypical agent
The prototypical patient
In the event, energy flows from the agent to the patient in the form that the verb describes. Consider the following sentence, where the child is the agent that departs energy in the form of a push to the ball, the patient.
bache bata bol. – The child hits the ball.
There can also be an instrument that mediates the flow of energy from the agent to the patient.
The sequence agent > instrument > patient reflects the flow of energy in an action chain.
bache uza bang bata bol. – The child uses the bat to hit the ball.
The order of the participants is in line with the order of the action chain in reality. The agent, as the origin of the energy flow, is in the beginning, the instrument is in the middle, and the patient, as the recipient of the energy flow, is in the end.
In syntactical terms the order of the words is subject–verb–object (or SVO in short). This is the normal and neutral word order in Pandunia.
For example, in the following sentence, the subject is mi ‘I’, the verb is viza ‘see’, and the object is tu ‘you’.
mi viza tu. – I see you.
If the words are arranged in the opposite order, the entire sentence will have the opposite meaning.
tu viza mi. – You see me.
The subject and object roles are related to syntax, which deals with word order and other grammatical phenomena. The agent, instrument and patient roles are related to semantics, which is about the meaning of words. The semantic and syntactic roles can be mapped together in many ways. Usually the most energetic semantic participant takes the role of the subject.
The basic pivot construction is a syntactic realization of an action chain
that reflects the flow of energy from one participant to another.
A basic sequence is that of agent > instrument > patient.
ho uze chaku kata ban.
– He uses a knife to cut the bread.
ho jeta bol bata dike.
– He throws the ball to hit the target.
mi shofa gar laya pol.
– I drive the car to enter the city.
Another common sequence is that of causer > agent > patient.
In such sequences the first verb typically indicates a modality such as desire, permission or obligation,
and the second verb indicates what the causer wants the agent to do.
mi vola tu yama vege.
– I want you to eat vegetables. (desire)
mi sela tu yama vege.
– I advise you to eat vegetables. (advice)
mi halala tu yama vege.
– I allow you to eat vegetables. (permission)
mi potana tu yama vege.
– I enable you to eat vegetables. (ability)
mi musa tu yama vege.
– I compel you to eat vegetables. (obligation)
mi raya tu yama vege.
– I think you eat vegetables. (opinion)
Syntactically the pivot construction is made up of
subject–verb₁–pivot–verb₂–object.
The pivot is at the same time the object for verb₁ and the subject for the verb₂.
mi vola tu yama vege. – I want you to eat vegetables.
In the example above, mi vola has tu as its object. At the same time, the very same tu functions as the subject of the following predicate, yama vege. So tu is the pivot that links the clauses together.
A complete action chain is that of causer > agent > instrument > patient > recipient.
The previous sequences, agent > instrument > patient and causer > agent > patient, were in fact only subsequences of this chain.
One may pick any or all participants of the action chain into a sentence
as long as they stay in the same order.
In the following example sentence all optional participants and their verbs are enclosed in brackets.
(mi vola) (tu uza) (chaku) kata ban (pa ma). – I want you to use the knife to cut the bread (and give) to mother.
In pivot constructions where the first action indicates a modality, such as desire, permission or obligation,
the first participant can be left out when it indicates the first person (‘I’).
The the remaining syntactic construction is verb₁–pivot–verb₂–object.
mi qua tu lai haus.
– I ask (whether) you come come?
qua tu lai haus.
– Do you come come?
mi asha tu yama max fite.
– I wish you would eat more plants.
asha tu yama max fite.
– Wish you would eat more plants.
In commands and requests also the second participant can be left out
when it indicates the second person (‘you’).
The the remaining syntactic structure is verb₁–verb₂–object.
mi ples tu lai haus.
– I ask you to come home.
ples lai haus!
– Please come home!
People tend to express actions that they want to or should do differently than actions that they want other people to do. They don’t say, for example, I want that I write but they say I want to write. Looks like it is worthwhile to mention the participants only when they add new information to the sentence. The second participant can be left out from the pivot construction when it is the same as the subject.
mi vola mi kitaba letre.
– I want me to write a letter.
mi vola kitaba letre.
– I want to write a letter.
This structure is called the verb series or the serial verb construction. It is very common in Pandunia. There can be two, three or even more verbs in a series. All verbs are about the same subject.
The last verb in the series is the main verb. The verbs before it are modal verbs.
tu vola yama vege.
– You want to eat vegetables. (desire)
tu selu yama vege.
– You had better eat vegetables. (advice)
tu halalu yama vege.
– You may eat vegetables. (permission)
tu pota yama vege.
– You can eat vegetables. (ability)
tu musu yama vege.
– You must eat vegetables. (obligation)
The topic is what is being talked about, and the comment is what is being said about the topic. Typically the topic is something that is known before and the comment is a piece of new information about the topic. In Pandunia the topic comes first so it is a topic-fronting language.
The focus of the sentence can be changed by changing the order of the topic and comment.
Maria sa guru.
– Maria is a teacher.
guru sa Maria.
– The teacher is Maria.
In Pandunia, the topic can be fronted by using various sentence structures, such as passivization and change of word order. Consider the following sentence:
mi viza tu. – I see you.
The topic of the sentence is the subject mi ‘I’. The object, tu, can be topicalized by moving it to the front. There are several ways how to do it. The simplest one involves a simple change of word order and a pause.
tu – mi viza. – (It’s) you I saw.
One can also use the passive construction to a similar effect.
tu be mi viza. – You were seen by me.
Another way to front the object is to use the relative clause construction.
tu sa ki mi viza. – You are the one whom I saw.
This sentence can be made more impactful by fronting the linking verb sa. and then even more by dropping the relative pronoun.
sa tu ki mi viza.
– It’s you whom I saw.
sa tu mi viza.
– It’s you I saw.
Finally, the same sa… constructions can be used for emphasizing the topicness of the normal subject too.
sa mi ki viza tu. ~ sa mi viza tu.
– It’s me who saw you.
sa mi ki lai. ~ sa mi lai.
– It’s me who came.
Yes-no questions are questions that expect ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as answer. The easiest way to form a yes-no question in Pandunia is to simply attach the particle he (‘eh’, ‘huh’) to the end of a statement.
tu yama un piza.
– You eat a pizza. (statement)
tu yama un piza, he?
– Do you eat a pizza? (question)
It is also possible to use no (‘no’, ‘not’) or ya (‘yes’) instead of he to suggest the expected answer.
tu yama un piza, no?
– You eat a pizza, don’t you?
tu yama un piza, ya?
– You eat a pizza, right?
The third way to ask a yes-no question is to contradict the verb with the A-not-A structure.
tu yama no yama un piza?
– Do you or don’t you eat a pizza?
tu pota no pota yama un holi piza?
– Can you or can’t you eat a whole pizza?
Finally, you can emphasize the question by using qua.
mi qua, tu yama un piza?
– I ask do you eat a pizza?
qua tu yama un piza?
– Do you eat a pizza?
Yes-no questions are answered with ya (‘yes’) and no (‘no’).
tu viza mi, he?
– Do you see me?
ya. (mi ya viza tu.)
– Yes. (I do see you.)
no. (mi no viza tu.)
– No. (I don’t see you.)
Negative questions are answered so that ya and no apply to the verb, not the whole question.
tu no viza mi, he?
– Don’t you see me?
ya. (mi viza tu.)
– Yes. (I see you.)
no. (mi no viza tu.)
– No. (I don’t see you.)
Questions that offer alternatives end with the particle he or start with the word qua to indicate that an answer is expected. The question is answered by repeating the chosen alternative.
tu yama un o du banana.
– You eat one or two bananas. (statement)
tu yama un o du banana, he?
– Do you eat one or two bananas? (question)
un.
– One.
Open questions, or wh- questions, ask for more information. In Pandunia they use the word que (‘what’).
piza sa que? – What is pizza?
The question word may be moved to the front of the sentence for emphasis. However, unlike in English, the word order may also be unchanged.
que tu yama?
– What are you eating?
tu yama que?
– You are eating what?
ho lai a qui sat?
– When does he arrive?
tumen vizite a qui jan di haus?
– Whose house did you all vizet?
A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun phrase, most commonly a noun. For example, the phrase “the person who lives there” includes the noun person, which is modified by the relative clause who lives there.
There are different ways to build a relative clause in Pandunia. In English, relative clauses are build with the help of relative pronouns that, who and which, but there are no relative pronouns in Pandunia. What is used instead is the subordinator ki and it corresponds to English that, who and which.
In Pandunia, relative clauses are always set off by commas.
la buk, ki la jan kitaba, pada. – The book, which the person writes, falls.
It is also possible to leave ki out. This structure is called reduced relative clause.
la buk, la jan kitaba, pada. – The book the person writes falls.
The subordinator is necessary when the relativized noun is the subject of the relative clause.
la jan, ki kitaba la buk, pada. – The person that writes the book falls.
Also the object noun of a preposition can be the target of the relative clause. It’s possible to use the subordinator or the reduced relative clause structure.
la kalam, a ki la jan kitaba la buk, pada.
– The pen, with which the person writes the book, falls.
la kalam, la jan kitaba la buk a, pada.
– The pen the person writes the book with falls.
The resumptive pronoun can be put in its right place in the pivot structure or it can be left out by using the reduced relative clause structure.
la jan, mi viza ki kitaba la buk, pada.
– The person, whom I see write the book, falls.
la jan, mi viza kitaba la buk, pada.
– The person that I see write the book falls.
Also a resumptive relative pronoun can be used if needed.
la jan, mi kitaba la buk a la di kalam, pada. – The person whose pen I write the book with falls.
A content clause is a subordinate clause that provides content that is commented or referred to by its main clause. In Pandunia they are typically introduced with the conjunction ke.
mi nou ke tu sa frende.
– I know that you are a friend.
homen fikra ke memen ha chuta.
– They think that we have left.
A content clause can be placed before or after the clause that talks about it. The demonstrative vo points to the following content clause and plain la points to the previous one.
vo sa bari, ke mi no ha viza homen.
– It is important that I haven’t seen them.
ke pan jan be sana ka par, la sa klar.
– That all people are created as equals; it is clear.
The content clause marker ke can be combined to the prepositions in order to construct conjunctions of cause and purpose.
pa ke
– so that, in order that, with the result that
ja ke
– because, for the reason that
mi duk ye buk pa ke mi trapas la teste.
– I read this book so that I will pass the test.
mi ha trapas la teste ja ke mi duk la buk.
– I have passed the test because I read the book.
The word si is conditional sentences, it works in the same way as English ‘if’.
mi no vud yama la, si mi sa tu. – I wouldn’t eat it if I were you.
The rest of the sentence can optionally be preceded by the word asar, which means ‘then’.
si tu tochu tava, asar tu pate hande. – If you touch the pan, then you will hurt your hand.
e
– and (connects two similar words or phrases)
o
– or (connects two alternative words or phrases)
me
– but (introduces a word or phrase that contrasts with or contradicts the preceding word or phrase)
mi suku mau e gau.
– I like cats and dogs.
mi suku mau o gau.
– I like cats or dogs.
mi suku mau me no gau.
– I like cats but not dogs.
Expressions are affirmative by default.
mi sa shefe.
– I am the boss.
ho sa novi mez.
– It is a new table.
Affirmation can be emphasized with the adverb yo (‘indeed’).
mi yo sa shefe.
– I indeed am the boss.
ho yo sa nova mez.
– It indeed is a new table.
Such sentences can be simply negated with no.
ho no sa shefe.
– He is not the boss.
ho no sa novi mez.
– It’s not a new table.
The word no is used for denying anything. It affects always the next word. Different scopes of negation may result depending on the location of the negative word.
mi viza tu.
– I see you.
mi no viza tu.
– I don’t see you.
mi viza no tu me homen.
– I see, not you, but them.
mi ples tu safi la kamre.
– I ask you to clean the room.
mi no ples tu safi la kamre.
– I do NOT ask you to clean the room.
mi ples tu no safi la kamre.
– I ask you NOT to clean the room.
Particles ya and no are used also for answering questions.
qua tu viza mi?
– Do you see me?
ya. (mi ya viza tu.)
– Yes. (I do see you.)
no. (mi no viza tu.)
– No. (I don’t see you.)
Negative questions are answered so that ya and no apply to the verb alone and not the sentence as a whole.
qua tu no viza mi?
– Don’t you see me?
ya. (mi ya viza tu.)
– Yes. (I do see you.)
no. (mi no viza tu.)
– No. (I don’t see you.)
Particles di and da are used to link a noun, an adjective or a verb phrase to a noun to modify it. di connects the modifying word or phrase to the main noun. da works in the opposite direction, it connects the main noun to the modifying word or phrase.
One way to use these particles is to connect an adjective or other words with a noun. It gives us more information about the noun, and the particle makes it clear in which end the main noun is.
The modifier particles are useful for creating complex adjectives that consists of two or more words.
rode rang di labi
– rose-colored lips
sama rang di ain
– sky-colored eyes
Or in the opposite order:
labi da rode rang
– lips of the rose-color
ain da sama rang
– eyes of the sky-color
The particles help in creating measure word structures too.
un sake di patate
– one sack of potatoes
du sake di patate
– two sacks of potatoes
max sake di patate
– more sacks of potatoes
Note that di and da connect phrases together. So a modifier phrase with and without them can mean a different thing.
max mei hua
– more beautiful flowers
max da mei hua
– more of beautiful flowers
Verbs are turned into modifiers by placing di or da immediately next to the verb. Verb phrases can also be made into modifiers in this way, but any objects must be moved to before the verb.
shut da grafe pente
– the art of picture-painting (the art of painting pictures)
ale di helpe di suke
– the joy of others-helping (the joy of helping others)
The possessive particle di works like the s-genitive (’s) in English. It indicates that the previous word has possession of the next one.
Maria di mama
– Maria’s mother
Maria di mama di haus
– Maria’s mother’s house
The same particle is used with with personal pronouns too.
mi di haus
– my house
tu di haus
– your house
la di haus
– his or her house
memen di haus
– our house
tumen di haus
– your house
homen di haus
– their house
Sentence-ending particles are modal particles or interaction particles that occur at the end of a sentence. They indicate the speaker’s mood or attitude to the meaning of the sentence. They can also indicate what kind of reaction to the sentence the speaker expects from the listener. For example, the speaker can use the particle ne to indicate that they expect the listener to express their point of view.
ba indicates a suggestion or a command.
yama ba! – Eat!
fi indicates disdainment, disrespect or contempt. It translates as bah, fie.
tu fete ho, fi.
– You did it, bah.
fi! piza! mi no vola.
– Bah! Pizza! I don’t want (it).
he asks a direct yes or no question. It translates as eh? or huh?.
tu love kafe, he? – You love coffee, huh?
me indicates indifference, boredom or lack of excitement.
me. ho no sa novi. – Meh. It’s not new.
ne asks for the listener’s point of view on the matter, usually their agreement. It is different from he in that it’s not directly asking a question but it only seeks confirmation. It roughly translates as right?, isn’t it?, isn’t that so?, etc. One uses it at the end of sentence if one is not completely sure about something but thinks it’s probably true.
tu suku kafe, ne? cepa un kupe ba!
– You like coffee, right? Grab a cup!
ho sa novi, ne?
– It is new, isn’t it?
na is used to introduce a statement. It can fill a pause, particularly at the beginning of a response to a question. It can also introduce a statement that may be contrary to expectations.
tu kitaba ho, he? – na, no haf.
– Did you write it? – Well, not yet.
ho sa boni, ne? – na, ya.
– It’s good, isn’t it? – Well, yes.
o indicates that the speaker is uncertain of the matter. It roughly translates as or…?.
ho sa okei a tu, o… – It is okay for you, or…
va indicates that the speaker is excited, amazed or surprised. It can be used on its own or at the start or end of a sentence to express how amazing or surprising something is.
va!
Wow!
va, ho sa dai!
– Wow, it’s big!
ho sa dai, va!
– It’s so big!
ya reinforces the meaning of the sentence or indicates agreement. The speaker is absolutely sure of what they are saying. It can be translated as indeed or truly.
mi ha viza tu, ya.
– I truly saw you.
ho sa ver, ya.
– It is true indeed.
ho sa novi, ne? – ho sa novi, ya.
– It is new, right? – It’s new indeed.
Observations are the simplest sentence type. They may consist of only one word, which draws the listener’s attention.
mau!
– A cat!
barsha!
– Rain! / (It) rains!