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Lesson 3
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Huyu li?  -  Who are you? 

After sharing one's name and nationality with one another, it's time to discover a little bit more about each others background. This lesson deals with various interhuman relations and manners to describe these:

Fatimeh: -Mai

Fatime: -Hello 

Huan: -Mai wai. Yau, li vawana na Okan ha?

Juan: -Hello back. Excuse me, aren't you Ökan's wife?

Fatimeh: -Wa ha? Nong, vabu na wa Omer.

Fatime: -Me? No, my husband is Ömer. 

Huan: -Nong jo Omer.

Juan: -I don't know Ömer

Fatimeh: -Omer bua na Okan. Bua yunyo.

Fatime: -Ömer is Okan's brother. They're brothers. 

Huan: -O, Okan eo jo. Nong jo bua na yu.

Huan: -Oh, Ökan I do know. I did not know his brother.

Fatimeh: -Fanyo na yu ha? Jo yunyo ha?

Fatime: -What about his parents? Do you know them?

Huan: -Nong, esto jo mea na yu.

Huan: -No, but I do know his sister.

Fatimeh: -Emineh ha?

Fatime: -Emine?

Huan: -Nong jo yu. Wa jo Gil sisi.

Huan: -I don't know her. I just know Gül.

Fatimeh: -Eo, Gil mea wan na yu.

Fatime: -Yes, Gül is his big sister.

...

 bua - brother

 yunyo - they

 fanyo - parents

 esto - but

 sisi - just, only

 mea - sister

 

Paragraph 3.1 -  Na

In the previous sections the word na has popped up multiple times. It expresses a possessive relation between two nouns in the same manner the English word "of" does:

vawana na wa - my wife

vawana na li  - your wife

vawana na yu  - his wife

vawana na yunyo  - their wives

vawana na Omer - Ömer's wife

vabu na wa - my husband

uba na wa - my father

bua na wa - my brother

benyo na wa - my children

vabu na mea na wa - my sister's husband

Depending on the context however, it is not always expressed whose the item is. When person A asks person B: "Who is that?", and person B answers: yu uma, literally: "she is mother", then it is obvious from the context, this refers to person B's mother and the utterance can be translated as "she is my mother".  Because of this context-dependency, the word na is not always expressed in combination with pronouns such as wa, li or yu.

Because of this, a simple question like yu uma ha? can be understood either as "Is she my mother?" or "Is she his mother?" or "Is she your mother?", all depending on the context. As a matter of fact, a sentence like yu uma na wa in a clear context denotes a certain amount of focus: "She is my mother" (and not yours or anyone else's).

 

Paragraph 3.2 -  X is Y

...

Fatimeh: -Omer bua na Okan. Bua yunyo.

Fatime: -Ömer is Okan's brother. They're brothers. 

...

In the snippet of conversation above, Fatime mentions the relationship between her husband and her brother in law: "They are brothers". In order to express this, she simply puts the two words together: yunyo for "they" and bua for "brother". The same technique can be seen in the following phrases:

 

Huan wa - I'm Juan

Huan vabu - Juan is her husband

yu Emineh - she is Emine

yu vawana na Kim - she is Kim's wife

wanyo mea - we are sisters

yu uma - she is my mother

yu uba na wa - he is my father

Huan bua - Juan is my brother

linyo vanyo ha? - are you family?

Omer bua na Okan ha? - is Ömer Okan's brother?

wanyo - we

linyo - you (plural), y'all, yous

 

Paragraph 3.3 -  Nong

The word nong expresses negation. It can be translated as "no" or "not". It can be placed in between nouns in order to express "X is not Y"

 

wa nong Huan - I'm not Juan

Huan nong vabu - Juan is not her husband

yu nong Emineh - She is not Emine

yu nong vawana na Kim - she is not Kim's wife

wanyo nong mea - we are not sisters

yu nong uma - she is not my mother

yu nong uba na wa - he is not my father

Huan nong bua - Juan is not my brother

linyo nong vanyo ha? - aren't you family?

Omer nong bua na Okan ha? - is Ömer not Okan's brother?

 

In order to practice the use of na, the X=Y formula and nong, please make the following exercise:

Translate into Kah:

1. Ökan is not my father.

2. They are not my sisters, they are his sisters.

3. Turkey is not my country.

4. Lima is not a country. Lima is a city.

5. What about France? Is France a country?

6. What is the capital of France?

7. What is the capital of your country?

8. Who is your sister?

9. I only know Ömer and his wife.

Answers