Predicative Particles §
There's a limited set of particles that interact with copulas and sometime replace them.
| Cheatsheet | ||
| ❓ | question particles: ++у, йа++ | ++уцци ҡил у?++ --is brother home?-- |
| 💭 | modal particles: ++ҡьал, ккотте++ | ++уцци ҡил ҡьал++ --surely brother is home-- |
Glossary
| ++ча++ | --who-- |
| ++коцци++ | --where-- |
| ++ду++ | --me-- |
| ++и++ | --you-- |
| ++уцци++ | --brother-- |
| ++ҡил++ | --at home-- |
| ++цянне++ | --coming-- |
1 Inventory §
There're only a few such particles. Two for questions:
- polar questions — ++у++;
++уцци ҡил у?++
--is brother home?-- - content questions — ++йа / ей++.
++ҡил ча йа?++
--who is home?--
And two more with modal meaning:
- expressing assurance — ++ҡьал++;
++уцци ҡил ҡьал++
--of course brother is home-- - expressing assumption — ++ккотте++ (variant ++кко++).
++уцци ҡил ккотте++
--brother is home [right?] --
2 Copula Placement §
The predicative particles always come after any copulas.
- ++и цянне де++ ➡️ ++и цянне де ҡьал++
--you are coming ➡️ surely you are coming-- - ++и ҡил вел де++ ➡️ ++и ҡил вел де у++
--you are still home ➡️ are you still home?-- - ++и коцци де йа?++
--where are you?--
Importantly, the 3rd person form of "to be" ++це++ always gets replaced by the particles.
- ++уцци цянне це++ ➡️ ++уцци цянне ҡьал++
--brother is coming ➡️ of course brother is coming-- - ++уцци ҡил це ++ ➡️ ++уцци ҡил у?++
--brother is home ➡️ is brother home?--
TIP
That's why question almost never contain the copula ++це++.
3 Emphasis §
As the copulas put emphasis on the word they come after:
- ++ду ҡил да++
--I'm home (not e.g. at work)-- - ++ду да ҡил++
--I'm home (not e.g. brother)--
The predicative particles inherit this property as well:
- ++и ҡил де у++
--are you home? (e.g. not somewhere else)-- - ++и де у ҡил++
--are you home? (e.g. not someone else)--