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Lesson:Qafesona/3. My name is...
Dialogue
In the following text Mikheil and Zurab meet, introduce one another and have a short conversation.
Михе́ил: До́бры динь!
Зура́б: До́бры динь! Рого́р вы йимену́йетесь?
Михе́ил: Йа йимену́йусь Михе́ил, и вы?
Зура́б: Йа йимену́йусь Зура́б, рого́р вы йима́те?
Михе́ил: До́бше, џеку́йу. И вы?
Зура́б: Йо, до́бше теж, џеку́йу. Куде́ вы жи́вете? В Тбили́сийе?
Михе́ил: Не, йа жи́ву в Кутати́сийе, але́ мой ма́тка жи́вет сде.
Зура́б: Да, йа жи́ву сде, але́ роди́лси в Йерева́не.
Михе́ил: Вы е́сте ӽа́йкски?
Зура́б: Йо, и мо́йа роди́тели йечье́ жи́вут в Ӽа́йкие. Ва́ша роди́тели сеть картве́лска?
Михе́ил: Мой ма́тка есть картве́лски и мой оти́чь был ӽа́йкски.
Зура́б: Зайи́маве!
[show]Карт Ковкаса (Map of the Caucasus) |
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[show]Vocabulary |
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[show]Useful phrases |
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Language points
Articles
In Qafesona there are no articles, that is "the" or "a(n)" - this is typical of Slavic languages. Thus "йа есмь оти́чь" can mean "I am a father" or "I am the father", in order to translate this into English context is needed otherwise it is unclear which is meant.
Personal pronouns
Number → | Singular | Plural | |||||
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Case ↓ | 1st p (I) | 2nd p (you) | 3rd p (he, it) | 3rd p (she) | 1st p (we) | 2nd p (you) | 3rd p (they) |
Nominative | йа | ты | он | она | мы | вы | оны |
- Personal pronouns only have singular and plural number, but no paucal.
- "Он" is used as a masculine personal pronoun ("he") for people and "она" is used as a feminine personal pronoun ("she") for people.
- "Он" is also used as a personal pronoun for non-human objects ("it").
- "Вы" can be used as either a singular formal pronoun or as a plural pronoun; cf. "vous" in French.
Possessive pronouns
Person → | 1st (my) | 2nd (your) | 3rd (his, her, its) | ||||||
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Case ↓ | Singular | Paucal | Plural | Singular | Paucal | Plural | Singular | Paucal | Plural |
Nominative | мой | мойа | мойи | твой | твойа | твойи | йейи | йейа | йейе |
Person → | 1st (our) | 2nd (your) | 3rd (their) | ||||||
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Case ↓ | Singular | Paucal | Plural | Singular | Paucal | Plural | Singular | Paucal | Plural |
Nominative | наш | наша | наши | ваш | ваша | ваши | йихи | йиха | йихе |
Paucal number
The paucal number is a concept that will be foreign to many learners. Dictionary.com defines this as "a grammatical number occurring in some languages for words in contexts where a few of their referents are described or referred to." Amongst the Slavic languages the paucal is unique to Qafesona, however its origin is in the Common Slavic dual number and is often used in the same way, i.e. for pairs. Another language that uses the paucal is Arabic, with which Qafesona has had significant contact.
Verb "to be"
The verb "to be" in Qafesona is "быть". As in most languages, this is a key verb and is also irregular. The conjugation for the present tense is given below. Note that despite the Qafesona's paucal number, verbs only conjugation according to the singular and plural numbers and paucal subjects take plural verb conjugations.
Number → | Singular | Plural | ||||
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Tense ↓ | 1st p | 2nd p | 3rd p | 1st p | 2nd p | 3rd p |
Present | есмь | еси | есть | есми | есте | сеть |
Exercises
[show]Extra vocabulary |
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True or false?
Using the short text above, decide whether or not the statements below are "правдивы" ("true") or "неправдивы" ("false").
- Михе́ил жи́вет в Тбили́сийе.
- Ма́тка Михе́ила нежи́вет в Руси́е.
- Зура́б есть картве́лски.
- Зура́б роди́лси в Кутати́сийе.
- Роди́тели живут в Ӽа́йкие.
- Ма́тка Михе́ила есть картве́лски.
- Оти́чь Михе́ила йечье́ есть жи́ви.
Questions
Answer the following questions in Qafesona:
- Рого́р ты йимену́йешьси?
- Рого́р ты йима́шь?
- Ку́де ты роди́лси?
- Ку́де ты жи́вешь?
- Ты еси́ картве́лски?
Translation
Translate the following sentences into Qafesona:
- Hello, what's your name?
- My name is Vladimir.
- How are you?
- Well, thank you!
- My parents live in Armenia.
[hide]Qafesona lessons | |||
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Part I | 1. Introduction • 2. Reading practice | ||
Part II | 3. My name is... • 4. My family • 5. Myself • 6. Travel • 7. On holiday |