Some Words for Leap Year Day

Kaltxì, ma frapo!

Is it already Leap Year Day? It’s hard to believe! Kä krr pesengne?

Here are a few new words I hope you’ll find useful:

smaw (vtr.) ‘approve of’

Fayhemit oel smaw nìwotx.
‘I completely approve of these actions.’

natxu (vtr., na.TXU, inf. 1,2) ‘disapprove of’

Oel ngeyä tìhawlit natxu ulte tsawä wasyem.
‘I disapprove of your plan and will oppose (fight against) it.’

Derived nouns:

tìsmaw (n., tì.SMAW) ‘approval’

Moeyä tìmuntxari tìsmaw ngeyä oeru teya si.
‘Your approval of our marriage fills me (with joy).’

tìnatxu (n., tì.na.TXU) ‘disapproval’

la’um (vin, LA.’um, inf. 1,2) ’pretend’

Plltxe po san nga yawne lu oer sìk, slä la’um nì’aw.
‘He says he loves you, but he’s only pretending.’

This intransitive verb is used with tsnì:

Lumpe nga la’um tsnì ke tsun srivew?
Why are you pretending (that) you can’t dance?’

Derived noun:

tìla’um (n., tì.LA.’um) ‘pretence’

Furia ke tsun tìkangkem sivi, peyä säspxin lu tìla’um nì’aw.
‘As for not being able to work, his illness is only a pretence.’

tsaktap (n., TSAK.tap) ‘violence’

letsaktap (adj.) ‘violent’

tsaktap si (vin.) ‘be violent, use violence’

Tsaktap rä’ä si kawkrr mungwrrtxo ke livu kea fya’o alahe.
‘Never use violence unless there is no other way.’

Note in the previous example:

mungwrrtxo (conj., mung.WRR.txo) ‘unless, except if’

As in the example, this conjunction is usually used with the subjunctive (here, livu). In casual conversation it’s usually pronounced mungwrrto.

Make sure you distinguish between mungwrrtxo and mungwrr fwa ‘except that’:

Poru ke poleng oel ke’ut mungwrr fwa Ralul ke tsatsenget.
’I told her nothing except that Ralu wasn’t there.’

And a note about colloquial grammar:

In casual conversation, tok can be omitted when it’s easily understood. The nouns, however, still retain the same case marking they would have if tok were present. For example:

Pol tok fìtsenget.  –> Pol fìtsenget.
‘He’s here.’

Pol ke tok fìtsenget. –> Pol ke fìtsenget.
‘He’s not here.’

I have a lot of great submissions for listening exercises that I still haven’t gotten to, but I will. Rutxe maweypivey nulkrr nì’it, ma eylan. 😊

More soon, I hope.

Hayalovay!

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15 Responses to Some Words for Leap Year Day

  1. Tekre says:

    Kaltxì ma nawma Karyu,

    Aylì’uri amip irayo nìtxan! Lesar sayi faylì’u a fì’ut fpìl oel 😀

    Hayalovay ulte Eywa ngahu
    -ta Tekre

  2. sgm (Plumps) says:

    Mllte oe nìwotx!

    Tsaylì’u lesar lìyu nìtxan, tì’efumì oeyä.

    Ayvurìri a teri fwa yunetswot tsan’eykul, srefereiey nìprrte’.

  3. soweli says:

    Would it also be correct to use la’um tsnì with the subjunctive? Lumpe nga la’um tsnì ke tsivun srivew?

    • Pawl says:

      Tìpawm a eltur tìtxen si! It’s a question I asked myself as well.

      I think the answer should be “No, the subjunctive isn’t used with la’um.” With sìlpey, for example, you do use the subjunctive, because when you hope for something, you don’t know it’s true, only that it might come true. But when you’re pretending, you’re claiming that something is in fact true. For that you use the indicative (i.e., the form without -iv-).

      I checked to see how some natural languages handle the comparable construction. A friend who’s a native speaker of Spanish verified these judgments:

      1. They hope that he loves you. Ellos esperan que él te ame.

      2. They’re pretending that he loves you. Ellos están fingiendo que él te ama.

      In 1, ame is subjunctive. In 2, ama is indicative. My friend judged that using ame in 2 would be ungrammatical.

      • Eana Unil says:

        Very interesting! So, going from this and other example sentences on here, I’d assume that rangal, ätxäle si, mowar si and fe’pey would also require in the verb after tsnì; and that leymfe’, leymkem, srefey and srefpìl wouldn’t – would that be correct?

        • Eana Unil says:

          ‘ä’, the blog swallowed my -iv- because of those little angular brackets, my bad, hrh; “(…) would also require -iv- in the verb after tsnì (…)”

  4. Eana Unil says:

    Hu Tekre sì Plumps mllteie.

    Kosmana aylì’u amip, txasunu oeru! Furia tìng sat ayoeru, irayo si nìmun nìtxan.

    Small typo: Kaltxì, ma frato → frapo 😀 Nitpicking nerds pak ;D

  5. Vawmataw says:

    Kaltxì ma Karyu Pawl!

    Faylì’u lu txantsan nìwotx! Tsaylì’uri nìfrakrr irayo seiyi ayoe ngaru.
    Oeru sunu kemlì’u alu tsaktap si tilì’usì alu mungwrrtxo. Nìteng sunu oer aylì’fyavi fìpostìyä.

    Hayalovay!

  6. Neytiri says:

    Kaltxì sì irayo ngaru! Sìlpey oe tsnì ngeyä trr asawnung lefpom lilvu, ma ‘eylan.

    Sunu oeru fwa tsun fko nìyey pivlltxe san pol fìtsenget sìk. Fyin sì lesar. 🙂

    Nìtpìk nì’aw: tìla’um (n., tìla’um) ‘pretence’ -> tìla’um (n., tì.LA.’um) ‘pretence’

    Eywa ngahu!

  7. Pawl says:

    Irayo, ma smuk! Furia sunu ayngar faylì’u amip ‘efu oe nitram. Ulte run tsamekeyeyt ahì’i a fì’uri irayo nìteng! 😊👍

  8. Wind12 says:

    Kaltxì ma Karyu! Mipa aylì’uri, oe irayo si.
    Mipa aylì’u fpi zìskrrmipaw, tse zìskrrmipaw tìftiayä yafkeykä. 🙂

  9. Marlon says:

    Kaltxì ma Karyu aNawm. Srake ngengar lu fpom? Mipa faylì’uri a eltur tìtxen si, ngengar irayo seiyi oe nìtxan! Lì’fyari oe var mì helku nivume atalun, tì’efumì oeyä lesar seiyi sa’u nìngay.

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