Re: EXERCISE: Meanings of to be

Jake X wrote:


>1. forming predicate nominative: He IS happy
In Kash, adjectives are verbs:  ya/minda 3s/happy; yaminda/sa he was happy--
fully comparable to ya/yama he runs, ya/yama/sa he ran
>
>2. equivalence: Today is Wednesday.
You could use _ale_ 'to be' here-- letraru yale kayiñ 'today 3s-be Kayiñ',
but much more likely as a topic-comment, letrayu, kayiñ.  The copula usually
occurs when stating/denying a profession-- yale kandumbra 'he is a doctor';
ta male kañulin 'I am not a carpenter'; ta male kañulin, iya omo yale 'I'm
not a carpenter, but _he_ is.' (lit.... he but he-is)

One place where Engl. can use "be" but Kash requires "become":  he wants to
be a doctor-- yamelo yukar kandumbra  3s-want become doctor

Other cases where Engl. uses "be", Kash does not:  what time is it?  how old
are you?  etc.:  fiyan aroni? 'how-much hour-its'  fiyan pehandi 'how
much/many year- your'.  When is the lecture? rikanju acivar yu? when lecture
that?  Colloquial, 'where are you going/heading/off to? riyene hat?
to-where? you
>
>3. existance: To be, or not to be.
Probably:  ale, iti tak ale. mapila, aloni male 'I think, therefore I
am'...... Though I suspect _yukale_ (begin/become-be= 'exist') would be
preferred.
>
>4. English use, for creating verb forms: He is walking.
No. The simple tense can be so interpreted.  But to really emphasize
something ongoing, or to be perfectly clear, the aux. _senda_ is used:
minahan anju yarata 'we ate when he arrived' or 'we were eating when he
arrived'
senda minahan anju yarata only 'we were (engaged in) eating when he
arrived.'

Probably with a stative/adj., senda would mean "acting/looking..."--  senda
yaminda 'he's looking/acting happy'  As in Engl., there are probably verbs
that simply can't take the progressive, like 'to know' ??he is knowing
(something)' = ??senda yakaya.
>
>5. Numerical equivalence: One plus one is two.
Correctly, use invariant _yale_ 'there is/are':  nim i sila yale fanu 'five
and three is/are eight'. Possible yukar 'become' or mepu 'make', without
number agreement.  Possible and very likely: topic/comment nim i sila, fanu.
(We are just beginning to figure out mathematical terms).