Khangaþyagon Questions etc
Questions, commands, conditionals and counterfactuals
Questions
A yes/no question is formed simply by putting the verb in the interrogative mood
nellodahidau rik?
| nello | dah | i | dau | rik |
| worthy | be | 3p | int | man |
Is the man worthy?
Yes is lœ, no is sheshe
Negative questions are answered with
- wenu
- Indeed not
- ngip
- on the contrary, yes
nellodahidaushe rik?
| nello | dah | i | dau | she | rik |
| worthy | be | 3p | int | neg | man |
Is not the man worthy?
wenu means that the man is not worthy, ngip that he is worthy.
There are no interrogative pronouns per se, but any noun may be made into a wh- word by the modsegunak dau
nellodahi rikdau?
| nello | dah | i | rik | dau |
| worthy | be | 3p | man | what |
Which man is worthy?
nellovlanting rik nazdauol?
| nello | vlant | i | ng | rik | naz | dau | ol |
| worthy | become | 3p | pt | man | means | what | inst |
By what means did the man become worthy?
Commands
The imperative in Khangaþyagon can be used in any person, and is not pro-drop
iðuzhalt ya sarmneye!
| iðuzh | a | lt | ya | sarmne | ye |
| see | 1p | imp | 1p | friend | voc |
Behold a friend! (Customary greeting between wizards)
ærkriuflt kriāriþon glæstæpontol
| ærkr | i | uf | lt | kriā | riþ | on | glæs | tæp | ont | ol |
| heal | 3p | pass | imp | blood | flow | PrP | spirit | command | PrP | inst |
Let the bleeding be healed by conjuration!
Conditionals and counterfactuals
A condition is marked with the conditional mood segunak, azh
nellodahiazh rik, yagakh ya yiakh
| nello | dah | i | azh | rik | yag | a | kh | ya | yi | akh |
| worthy | be | 3p | cond | man | speak | 1p | ft | 1p | 3p | recip |
If the man is worthy, I will speak to him.
If two conditionally marked clauses occur together without an intervening conjunction, the sentence expresses a counterfactual.
nellodahiazh rik, yagaazh ya yiakh.
| nello | dah | i | azh | rik | yag | a | azh | ya | yi | akh |
| worthy | be | 3p | cond | man | speak | 1p | cond | 1p | 3p | recip |
If the man were worthy, I would speak to him.
If two or more conditions occur together, they are separated by a conjunction.
nellodahiazh rik beb yagaazh ya yiakh, gelikh yi.
| nello | dah | i | azh | rik | beb | yag | a | azh | ya | yi | akh | gel | i | kh | yi |
| worthy | be | 3p | cond | man | and | speak | 1p | cond | 1p | 3p | go | 3p | ft | 3p |
If the man is worthy and I speak to him, he will go.
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|---|---|---|
| Subordinate Clases and Reported Speech | Syntax | Syntactical Miscellany |
