Kala Questions
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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?
