Questions in Brithenig

From FrathWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

Questions are formed by changing the word order of the subject and the verb:

Gw pharolath Brithenig, You speak Brithenig.

Parola'gw Frithenig?, Do you speak Brithenig

Note the change in sentence order causes softening to occur on following words. Also the -th ending on the verb has been elided.

When the subject is a noun it remains before the verb but the equivilent pronoun is placed after the verb:

Ill car es llâ, the car is there

Ill car es-ys llâ?, is the car there?

Brithenig has a set of question words similar to English:

Ki?, who?

Di ghi?, whose?

Ke?, which?

Ke gos?, what?

K'log?, where?

A g'log?, to where?

Di g'log?, from where?

Co?, how, what kind of?

Cant?, how much, how many?

Ke sig?, how?

Ke dem?, when?

Perch?, why?

Question words come at the beginning of sentences, except for di ghi:

Ke gar es-o?, Which car is that?

Ill car di ghi es-o?, Whose car is that?

Co and ke replace the article and cause softening. Other question words which act adverbially cause following verbs to soften.

Ke sig? is used with adjectives:

Ke si wirdd er gwstr cum?, How green was your valley?

In answering the word order is retained with the question word replaced:

Ke gos es gwstr nôn? - Rhaifun eo aphell, `What is your name? - I am called Ray'.

Brithenig speakers can put the interrogative tag es-sa rhen, isn't it? at the end of sentences. The tense of the verb and the number and gender of the pronoun may change, but, unlike English, the negative rhen is not dropped:

Gw h-aphellath Padrig, es-ys rhen?, Your name is Patrick, is it not?

Ty fi nglafaf rhen, er-ty rhen?, You didn't call me, did you?