Arêndron Syntax
5: Questions, auxiliary verbs, existence

Questions

Yes/no questions

A statement may be turned into a question by placing the interrogative suffix -te after the verb:

Bâs' Endros ven Argundrain
Endros is in Argundra

Bâste Endros ven Argundrain?
Is Endros in Argundra?

As this example shows, the -a of the third person singular is often lost before -te (but may be retained to prevent an awkward consonant cluster, particularly if the verb stem ends in -t or -d). The e of the suffix does not elide before a vowel, but instead acquires a glide, becoming [ɛj] or [ɛɪj].

With regard to stress, the -te suffix behaves in the same way as the -mi suffix; see Conjunctions.

Questions are also distinguished by a different intonation pattern. Note, however, that this is not the same as the intonation given to questions in English; for details, see the linked page.

If it is a particular word that is being questioned, rather than the sentence as a whole, -te can be added to that word:

Bâs' Endroste ven Argundrain?
Is Endros in Argundra?

Sentence fragments can be questioned in this way:

Tilnê balnik. Balnikte?
I saw a cat. A cat?

Note that when a noun is modified by adjectives, -te should be put on the noun to question the noun phrase as a whole; putting it on the adjective questions the adjective.

Tiloŋ prothte zur? / Tiloŋ proth zurte?
You saw a black book? / You saw a black book?

Adding khauxa (a contraction of khaute sa, “is it not so?”) to a question suggests that the speaker expects a positive answer; hum auxa (a contraction of hum aute sa, “or is it so?”) suggests that the answer will be negative. Note that as both of these include the interrogative -te morpheme, this morpheme is not marked on the first verb.

Au grœn cazêra shunha, khauxa?
That girl is beautiful, isn't she?

Au grœn cazêra shunha, hum auxa?
That girl isn't beautiful, is she?

The second of these constructions may strike the reader as somewhat “illogical” (logically, one might think the statement should be cast in the negative, as it is in English), but this just happens to be the construction that is used in colloquial Arêndron. (Neither khauxa nor hum auxa is part of the formal written language in any case.)

Answers

Arêndron has no words for “yes” or “no”; instead, there are two ways to answer a yes/no question. One is simply to repeat the verb for “yes” or to put it into the negative for “no”:

Aute grœn cazêra shunha? Au. / Khau.
Is that girl beautiful? She is. / She is not.

Ŋœroŋte Taulau? Ŋœrê. / Khê ŋœrat.
Are you going to Taula? I am. / I am not.

The second way (which cannot be used when the verb of the question is part of the copula bar-) is to replace the verb by the verbal anaphor sau-:

Ŋœroŋte Taulau? Savê. / Khê saut.
Are you going to Taula? I am. / I am not.

In the negative form of this construction, saut is often replaced by sa in colloquial speech; sa is a more general anaphor that can replace any part of speech, not just a verb. Note that khê saut and the corresponding forms in the other persons stress saut; the forms with sa stress the first word. (Even more informally, saut can be entirely omitted from the negative construction.)

Adding sa when not required (that is, when the question verb is the copula) has the effect of making the answer more emphatic. (Naturally, content words such as bindel “truly” can be used for this purpose as well.)

Aute grœn cazêra shunha? Au sa. / Khau sa.
Is that girl beautiful? She certainly is. / She certainly is not.

Other possible answers to yes/no questions: reu sa “I hope so”; khareu sa “I hope not”; au's'um khau sa “maybe”, literally “it is or it is not”.

Other questions

Other questions can be asked using the interrogative pronoun var (or vâral for persons):

Au klet proth. Aute klet var?
This is a book. What is this?

Au klet Cênar. Aute klet vâral?
This is Cênar. Who is this?

No other interrogative pronouns are necessary; var can be inflected to mean “where” (locative), “to where” (allative), “from where” (ablative), “for what” or “why” (dative), “with what” or “how” (instrumental), or “whose” (genitive or associative; the latter can also mean “with whom”). For the last two, and also for the dative meaning “for whom”, note that Arêndron only uses the inflected forms of var, not those of vâral, even when referring to persons.

Other meanings can be created with prepositions, in which case var takes the same case as a noun would after the same preposition:

Bâste Endros lêsh vâryen?
Endros is near where?

When the interrogative pronoun is the subject of its clause, it can be fronted before the verb, as discussed on the word order page. Interrogative adverbials (that is, the pronoun in the dative, instrumental, allative, ablative or locative) can be fronted even more readily, though note that when the adverbial contains a preposition, this is fronted along with the pronoun:

Lêsh vâryen bâste Endros?
Near where is Endros?

Interrogative pronouns as the direct object or a possessor cannot be directly fronted; it can be left in place, or it can be fronted with a dummy pronoun left in the place vacated.

Aute klet proth vern?
This book is whose?

Vâral aute klet proth hâlon?
Whose is this book?
(literally, “Who, this book is theirs?”)

Cênar orzûlte vâral? / Vâral orzûlte Cênar hagh?
Whom does Cênar love?

In both cases, the variant with fronting and the dummy pronoun is more formal; the shorter variant is more likely to be encountered in everyday speech.

When var or vâral represents the subject of an intensional clause, it can be fronted within its clause, but not to the beginning of the question:

Nheroŋte, vâral au shunha?
You think who is beautiful?

Var can also be placed before a noun to mean “which”: for example, var proth “which book”. In this construction var acts syntactically as a determiner, in that the noun rather than var is given any relevant case inflection (and also in that it cannot be used together with another determiner, though it can with a quantifier). Note also that since vâryen, the locative of var, could mean either “where” or “when”, var zêryen “at what point in time?” is used to specify “when”. (In spoken Arêndron, var zêryen is usually shortened to varzê'n.)

Auxiliaries and negation

Auxiliary verbs are those whose function is to modify the meaning of a second verb. There is no clear-cut distinction between auxiliaries and “normal” verbs; many verbs can be used as either.

When using an auxiliary, the auxiliary is placed before the main verb, and the auxiliary takes the person and number marking, with the main verb being turned into a gerund:

Talŋœrê
I am going home

Ŋastê talŋœrat
I want to go home

If the main verb is transitive or has oblique arguments, it can still be turned into a gerund, with the object and the other arguments remaining after the verb:

Dheulê ŋô ven kentain
I am hugging you in the corner

Ŋastê dheulat ŋô ven kentain
I want to hug you in the corner

The gerund cannot, however, be given a subject different from the subject of the auxiliary verb, as in the English “I want you to go home”. Instead, an intensional clause is used:

Ŋastê talŋœroŋ
I want that you go home

The gerund can be inflected for tense and aspect, so it is possible to distinguish two meanings depending on whether a tense or aspect morpheme is marked on the main verb or the auxiliary:

Ŋastenê talŋœrat
I wanted to go home

Ŋastê talŋœrenat
I want to have gone home

Statements can be made negative with the auxiliary verb khar- “to not do”. Khar- is an irregular verb; its conjugation is given on the verbal morphology page. Syntactically, khar- is used in the same way as the other auxiliaries:

Khê talŋœrat
I am not going home

When the verb of the sentence is the copula bar-, khar- is used directly as its negative equivalent, rather than being used as an auxiliary:

Au Cênar shunha
Cênar is beautiful

Khau Cênar shunha
Cênar is not beautiful

Negative statements can also be made using the negative quantifier khôl “no, none” or its pronoun equivalent, khôl “nothing” or khôlar “nobody”.

Tilê khôlar klet zêryen
I see nobody at the moment

Such sentences normally use the positive form of the verb; however, the negative form can be used to make the negation more emphatic. Doubling the negation in this way does not give a positive meaning (as in “I don't see nobody, but somebody”).

Khê tilat khôlar klet zêryen
I see absolutely nobody at the moment

Existence

To say that a thing exists, the copula bar- is used with only one argument:

Au proth thor grœn thûscen
There is a book on that table

Nherê, leuta bai
I think, therefore I am

As with other uses of the copula, its negation is formed by replacing bar- with khar-:

Khau proth klêchen
There is not a book here

In formal written Arêndron, the existential copula agrees with the person and number of its subject; in the spoken language it is common to use au for both singular and plural.

Arêndron often uses an existential construction where English uses “to have”:

Au zilna ghêa
I have a sister
(literally, “there is a sister of me”)

(Arêndron does have a verb or- “to own”, but its use is limited to naming one's actual physical possessions – not family members, body parts, dreams, headaches, or abstractions such as “an allegiance to my country”, any of which one can be said to “have” in English. The verb lœr-, “to hold”, is used to describe the “possession” of mental events such as an idea or a plan.)