Re: THEORY: third-person imperatives

In a message dated 4/24/1999 5:36:43 PM, artabanos@MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU writes:

>Hey, I was just wondering how people here handle the third
>person imperative.
In Eloshtan, there is the subjunctive-imperative mood (formed with a=20
suffix/inifix of "naa/nii"). It can be used for all persons, in all the=20
different tenses.

E jamal herepcecteniinec=3DMay he cook a good meal (in the future)
E jamal herepcecteniic=3DMay he cook a good meal (now)
E jamal koloc herepcecteniinen=3DMay he be cooking a good meal
E jamal herepcecteniict=3DMay he have cook a good meal
etc.

"May" isn't really the best translation.... It's somewhere more in between=20
that and "he'd better." To make it more polite, as with 2nd person commands,=20
you can put it in the interrogative=97that would be more like "may."

Josh
http://members.aol.com/fuscian