Kaltxì, ma frapo!

Is it already Leap Year Day? It’s hard to believe! Kä krr pesengne?

Here are a few new words I hope you’ll find useful:

smaw (vtr.) ‘approve of’

Fayhemit oel smaw nìwotx.

‘I completely approve of these actions.’

natxu (vtr., na.TXU, inf. 1,2) ‘disapprove of’

Oel ngeyä tìhawlit natxu ulte tsawä wasyem.

‘I disapprove of your plan and will oppose (fight against) it.’

Derived nouns:

tìsmaw (n., tì.SMAW) ‘approval’

Moeyä tìmuntxari tìsmaw ngeyä oeru teya si.

‘Your approval of our marriage fills me (with joy).’

tìnatxu (n., tì.na.TXU) ‘disapproval’

la’um (vin, LA.’um, inf. 1,2) ’pretend’

Plltxe po san nga yawne lu oer sìk, slä la’um nì’aw.

‘He says he loves you, but he’s only pretending.’

This intransitive verb is used with tsnì:

Lumpe nga la’um tsnì ke tsun srivew?

Why are you pretending (that) you can’t dance?’

Derived noun:

tìla’um (n., tì.LA.’um) ‘pretence’

Furia ke tsun tìkangkem sivi, peyä säspxin lu tìla’um nì’aw.

‘As for not being able to work, his illness is only a pretence.’

tsaktap (n., TSAK.tap) ‘violence’

letsaktap (adj.) ‘violent’

tsaktap si (vin.) ‘be violent, use violence’

Tsaktap rä’ä si kawkrr mungwrrtxo ke livu kea fya’o alahe.

‘Never use violence unless there is no other way.’

Note in the previous example:

mungwrrtxo (conj., mung.WRR.txo) ‘unless, except if’

As in the example, this conjunction is usually used with the subjunctive (here, livu). In casual conversation it’s usually pronounced mungwrrto.

Make sure you distinguish between mungwrrtxo and mungwrr fwa ‘except that’:

Poru ke poleng oel ke’ut mungwrr fwa Ralul ke tsatsenget.

’I told her nothing except that Ralu wasn’t there.’

And a note about colloquial grammar:

In casual conversation, tok can be omitted when it’s easily understood. The nouns, however, still retain the same case marking they would have if tok were present. For example:

Pol tok fìtsenget. –> Pol fìtsenget.

‘He’s here.’

Pol ke tok fìtsenget. –> Pol ke fìtsenget.

‘He’s not here.’

I have a lot of great submissions for listening exercises that I still haven’t gotten to, but I will. Rutxe maweypivey nulkrr nì’it, ma eylan. 😊

More soon, I hope.

Hayalovay!