Wikipedia talk:Grammar problems/en/index
-it
A word with -it means: his [word] / its [word] / her [word].
Example: Aniden = flag; anidenit = his flag ≈ flag of.
THat is ALMOST correct. The third person singular possessive suffix is -/in/ or -/en/. The -/it/ is used when the next word begins with /e/ or /t/ (without trying every combination in Nauruan). Examples are:
Amin Aiwo - person from Aiwo district BUT Amit Ewa - person from Ewa district
Iriangin Naoero - Nauruan songs BUT Iriangit imago - foreign songs
equon ima - ship of the dead BUT equot epe - phosphate ship
ewakin ditsin - kitchen BUT ewakit earak - hospital
Even more common in some people's orthographies is the seperation of the possessive from the root. Therefore, some people are writing ewak it earak, iriang in Naoero and so on.
A similar rule applies to conjugating verbs that end with -/n/. But i can explain that later.
A lot of words remain the same in the plural.
Example: itsio (S) (servant) → itsio (P)
Yes, again that is correct. But the itsio (and i suppose all nouns) is assumed to be emicaly plural. But saying itsio means nothing. It doesn't actually mean 'servant' but is the lowest of the classes in Nauruan hierarchy and refers to the people who own no land and are in some way 'indentured' to a higher ranked person. To speak of 'that itsio' or 'those itsio' one must then state the number of them. FOr example: Eiy ngea amin itsio - 'that single man/woman who is itsio' Amerumane itsio - 'these two itsio here'
Thanks a lot for this information!!! Belgian man 17:53, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
Auxiliary Verb "to be"
Here in Wikipedia "to be" is often translated with won or wono. But Nauruan Grammar says that there is no auxiliary verb "to be". Instead of "to be", one has to use an absolute pronoun (e.g. eiy, urõr, ureiy etc.). This is Form 1 of the personal pronouns in Kayser's grammar book. Kayser explains the use of these forms on page 200, § 78 with following examples:
- Gott eiy monibait imin memak. – God is the ruler of all things. – 3rd Person Singular.
- Eva me Adam urõr adamonit engame. – Adam and Eve were the first people. – 3rd Person Dual.
So I think we should replace the "won" and "wono" always used here in Wikipedia, don't you think? --Jamovi 12:24, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
- Yes, hat seems to be a good idea, your information from A. Kayser is very interesting. I presume you don't mind if I copy your information to the Index? Belgian man 12:37, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
- No problem, very good. I only didn't want precipitate something, so I wrote in discussion first. Thank you for adding! :-) --Jamovi 13:48, 21 January 2007 (UTC)