Kala Questions

Questions

• There are three kinds of question: those that can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no", those that present a range of options to choose from, and those that ask for a particular piece of information.

• Additionally, questions can be direct ("Where are we going?") or indirect ("I asked you where we are going", "I don't know who I am").

Yes/No questions

A sentence can be turned into a yes/no question by adding a? ("yes?") or ak? ("no?") just before the interrogative particle ka.

• Do you speak German?

ta alemanyatla kala ka

2S Germany.Language speak INT.PART

• Did you eat?

ta inaye ka

2S eat.PAST INT.PART

• We're lost, aren't we?

nam kayo ak ka

1P lost COP.NEG INT.PART

• Does she understand?

ha unya ka

3S understand INT.PART

Indirect

• I want to know whether the food has arrived.

na iya ke ina talaye unyaue

1S COND.PART TOP.PART food come.PAST know.VOL

• She asked if I could help.

ha iya ke na yotapa kanyoye

3S COND.PART TOP.PART 1S help.ABIL ask.PAST

The answer to a yes/no question is a ("yes") or ak ("no"), a states that the possibility expressed in the question is true; ak states that it is false:

• ta nkapaue ka

2S alcohol.VOL INT.PART

Do you want (a) beer?

• tsepa a

please yes

Yes, please. (I do want beer)

• nyasak

thank you.NEG

No, thanks. (I don't want beer)

Alternative questions

• An alternative question simply asks the listener to pick one of a number of options, usually expressed as a list joined with the conjunction ua:

• ta tsa'i ua kaua ua nkapa ueha ka - 2S tea or coffee or beer want INT.PART – Do you want tea, coffee, or beer?

• tsepa kaua - please coffee – Coffee, please.

• ta nya tsiti ua uelo ua yala talaye ka - 2S tea or coffee or beer want INT.PART - Did you come by car, or by bicycle, or did you walk?

Other questions

• Other questions use interrogative determiners or pronouns such as ote, ko, ke, ama, ku, to, mo, and nye. The interrogative word appears at the beginning of the sentence:

• ote mosa ke ta yomu ka - which book TOP.PART 2S read INT.PART - Which book are you reading?
• ko moyako ke ta tsopo ka - person write.AG TOP.PART 2S prefer INT.PART - Who is your preferred author?
• ke itla maka kapi ka - TOP.PART this music ugly INT.PART - What is this ugly music?
• ke ta muya ka - TOP.PART 2S do INT.PART - What are you doing?
• ama ta moku ka - time 2S sleep INT.PART - When do you sleep?
• ku ta inatli ka - amount 2S eat.FUT INT.PART - How much will you eat?
• to ta yalaye ka - way 2S walk.PAST INT.PART - How did you walk?
• mo nam a ka - place 1P COP INT.PART - Where are we?
• nye ta empa ka - reason 2S run INT.PART - Why are you running?

Index

grammar outline | sentences | questions | lexicon | thematic lexicon | writing