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 by car or bicycle or walk come.PAST 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