Poswa particles and minor parts of speech

Almost all words in Poswa sentences are either nouns or verbs.

Particles occurring in isolation

The question particle pa

The word pa means "or", but is generally not used alone unless it is at the end of a sentence, in which case its meaning would be better translated into English as "..., right?", "..., yes?", or by simply adding a question mark.

Pampappepe pipopebe, pa?

You couldn't find your cellphone, right?

Particles occurring in pairs

wi ... wa

The particle pair wi ... wa expresses the meaning of "if ... then" in English. Note that wa used alone means "and; with; accompanying", but is not generally used in the sense that it would be in English. Thus

Wi bumptuspup pappap, wa swub.

If I swallow the medicine, then I will sleep.

pa ... pa

The particle pair pa ... pa expresses the meaning of "either ... or" in English.

Pa nobellieppub, pa wiwiabub.

Either I get your ice cream, or I beat you up.

Preverbal particles

See Poswa_verbs#Non-accusative_verbs.