Mirad Grammar/Lesson 5

100% Lesson 5: How old are you? In this lesson, you will learn how to count and deal with numbers. You will also learn to conjugate verbs in the perfect aspect. Dialog thumb| {| class="wikitable" style="background:lightyellow;; font-size:smaller;" |+ Dialog 4 between Bob and Mary: How old are you? |- ! SPEAKER !! MIRAD !! ENGLISH |- !row=1!row=1| M |Duhojaga et se? || How old are you? |- !row=1| B |At se ulo (jabi jaga). || I&apos;m forty (years old). |- !row=1| M |Hwiy! Et se elo jabi gajaga vyel at. || Wow! You are twenty years older than I. |- !row=1| B |At te, oy et gay agso ig. || I know, but you too will grow quickly. |- !row=1| M |Hus se vyaa. Et tambesaye hia dom ji duhogla jabi? || That is true. For how many years have you been living (= you have lived) in this city? |- !row=1| B |At voy te vyavay, oy at saye him ji gla jabi. || I don't know exactly, but I've been here for many years. |- !row=1| M |Et bayse hogla tudi? || How many children do you have? |- !row=1| B |At bayse iwa twudi ay awa tuyd. Yit se eb iwa ay yowa jabi jaga.|| I have three sons and one daughter. They are between three and five years old. |- !row=1| M |Av hus, et sayo tadxwa gwoy ji yawa jabi, vao? || So, you will have been married for at least six years, right? |- !row=1| B |Vay, yewa. Yata aa tud taja ewa jabi jo ha tadien || Actually, seven. Our first child was born two years after the marriage. |- !row=1| M. |Hyay! At ozfasaye. Sa fia daler bay et. Hoy. || Great! I have gotten tired. It was good talking with you. Bye. |} Grammar Notes Perfect Aspect Verbs In the past lessons, you learned the simple and progressive aspect tenses of the verb. Here you will learn the perfect aspect, which act just as the perfect aspect tenses in English (I have studied, I had studied, I will have studied, and I would have studied). The sign of the perfect aspect is the infix ay (as opposed to ey, the infix for the progressive aspect tenses). Here is a chart showing the new set of tenses (active voice only): {| class="wikitable" style="background:lightyellow;; font-size:smaller;" |+ Perfect Aspect Tenses |- ! ASPECT / VOICE / MOOD / TENSE !! INFINITIVE = ser...to beSTEM+INFIX = s+ay- |- !row=1| Perfect Active Indicative Present | at saye....I have been |- !row=1| Perfect Active Indicative Past | at saya....I had been |- !row=1| Perfect Active Indicative Future | at sayo....I will have been |- !row=1| Perfect Active Hypothetical (Conditional) | at sayu....I would have been |} Examples: At tambesaye him ji glaj.....I have lived here for a long time. Et saye fua.....You have been bad. At voy tayu hus.....I would not have known that. At jay tajayu hoj van et pyuxa ela jabi jaga.....I had been born already when you reached twenty-one years of age. Be ata tajjub, at tejayo ilyo jabi.....On my birthday, I will have lived thirty-five years. Counting and Telling One's Age A full explanation of numbers and counting can be found in the chapter on Numbers. The units, when counting, end in -wa. The teens end in -lo, -la, -le, -li, etc. The hundreds in so, -sa, -se, etc. The question for asking someone's age is usually Duhojaga et se?....How old are you? The answer is usually phrased as At se x-number (jabi) (jaga).....I am x-number (years) (old) where the words in parentheses can be omitted. The Mirad word jabi means years and jaga means old or of age. So, to say I am forty-two years old, you would say At se ule jabi jaga or just At se ule., or At se ule jaga. The word jaga can just be the adjective old, the opposite being joga....young. Jag as a noun means age. An old person is jagat, while a youth is jogat. The "dimension" jag (age) can be prefixed with all the h- deictic prefixes and all the quantitative prefixes like ga, go, or gla. For example: duhojaga?....how old? hijaga....this old hujaga....that old hejaga....somewhat old gajaga (vyel)....older (than) gejaga (vyel)....as old (as) gojaga (vyel)....less old (than) gwajaga....eldest grajaga....too old grojaga....minor glajaga....very old All of the above terms and others can be pronominalized animately or inanimately: Grojagati voy upo.....Minors (=too young persons) will not come. Hujagasi se vua.....Things that old are ugly. The word joga, when referring to things can be translated as new: At ayse jogas av et.....I have something new for you. When joga applies to people, it means young: Hijuba jogati te glos.....Today's youth know little. Adding Gender to Nouns Nouns do not have inherent gender in Mirad. For example, tad simply means spouse (husband or wife). To make a gender-neutral noun masculine or male, insert a w just before the stem vowel. tad....spouse becomes twad....husband Similarly, to make a gender-neutral noun feminine or female, insert a y just after the stem vowel or vowel cluster: tad....spouse becomes tayd....wife (tayd is pronounced exactly like Am. Eng. tide) Other examples: tud....child twud....son tuyd....daughter tob....person, human being twob....man toyb....woman Singular personal pronouns can be genderized similarly: it....he or she, him or her wit....he or him iyt....she or her at....I or me (gender unspoken) wat....I or me, being a male ayt....I or me, being a female et....you wet....you, being a male eyt....you, being a female The plural personal pronouns yat, yet, and yit stay gender-neutral. Deictic pronouns can be genderized unless the deictic prefix begins in hy-: hut....that person, he or she, him or her hwut*....that guy, he or him huyti....those gals, they (being females) * The hw is pronounced as Am. Eng. wh in where. Quantitative Deictic Determiners Determiners specifying quantity and answering the question duhogla? (how much?) are show in the following chart: {| class="wikitable" style="background:lightyellow;; font-size:smaller;" |+ Quantitative Deictic Determiners |- valign=top ! CATEGORY !! ADVERBIAL / ADJECTIVALDETERMINER !! INANIMATE SINGULARPRONOUN !! INANIMATE PLURAL PRONOUN !! ANIMATE PLURALPRONOUN |- !row=1| Interrogative | duhogla?how?/how much?/how many? || duhoglas?how much? || duhoglasi?how many || duhoglati?how many (people)? |- !row=1| Relative | hoglahow...as/as much...as/as many...as || hoglasas much as || hoglasias many as || haglatias many (people) as |- !row=1| Definite | haglahow/as much/as many || haglasas much || haglasias many || haglatias many (people) |- !row=1| Indefinite | heglasomewhat/some/some || heglassome || heglasisome || heglatisome (people) |- !row=1| Proximal | higlathis/this much/this many || higlasthis much || higlasithis many || higlatithis many (people) |- !row=1| Distal | huglathat/that much/that many || huglasthat much || huglasithat manyhuyglasiso many || huglatithat many (people) |- !row=1| Intensive | huuglaso very, so much, so many || huuglasso much || huuglasiso many || huuglatiso many (people) |- !row=1| Distributive | hyaglatotally/all/all || hyaglasall of it || hyaglasiall of them || hyaglatiall of them |- !row=1| Indeterminate | hyeglahowever/any/any || hyeglasany of it || hyeglasiany of them || hyeglatiany number of them |- !row=1| Negative | hyoglanone || hyoglasnone of it || hyoglasinone of them || hyoglatinone of them |- !row=1| Identical | hyiglaas/as much/as many, equally || hyiglasthe same amount || hyiglasithe same number || hyiglatias many (people) |- !row=1| Non-Identical | hyuglanot as much/not as much/not as many || hyuglasa different amount || hyuglasia different number of things || hyuglatia different number of people |} Examples: At se huugla iva van et upa.....I am so happy that you came. Hyagla ata tixuti se fia. Hyoglati se fua.....All of my students are good. None of them are bad. Yat bayse higla drari.....We have this many pencils. At ta hyigla dudi vyel et.....I knew as many answers as you. Duhoglati te eta tajjub?....How many people know your birthday? Vocabulary Nouns: jag....age taj....birth    (tej....life, toj....death) tajjub....birthday tadien....marriage   ( < tad....spouse, twad....husband, tayd....wife) tud....child    (twud....son, tuyd....daughter) Adjectives: iva....happy    (vs. uva....sad jaga....old    (vs. joga....young azfa....peppy    (vs. ozfa....tired Verbs: ter....know    (a fact) tajer....to be born    (vs. tejer....live, tojer....die) ayser....to have/hold    (vs. oyser....to lack) Determiners/Adverbs: duhogla?....how (many/much)    ( du....say + ho-....which + gla....much, many, very ) duhojaga?....how old    (du....say + ho-....which + jag....age jay....already gay....also    (gey....even) glaj....a long time    (vs. gloj....a short while) gaj....more, further, still    (vs. goj....no longer) gway....mostly    (vs. gwoy....at least) Prepositions: ji....since    ( ju....until) ja....before   ( je....during, jo....after) Pronouns: jogat....youth jogas....something new jagat....old person Interjections: hwiy.......wow!    (hwuy.......woe!, yikes! ) Quiz {Fill in the following blanks with the Mirad equivalent of the underlined English: | type="{}"} 1 Yat { upaye _5 } him av ser bay yeta tudi.....We have come here to be with your children. 2 Et { tuxaye _6 } duhogla tixuti be hia tistam?....How many students have you taught at this school? 3 Duven et { xaye _4 } eta tamyex?....Have you done your homework? 4 Ha gwajaga tixut be ata tistam se { alyu jaga _9 }.....The oldest student at my school is nineteen years old. 5 Eta tuxut tuxaye be hia tistam { duhogla jabi _12 }?....How many years has your teacher taught at this school? 6 { duhoglati _9 } bi yet te ata dyun?....How many of you know my name? 7 Gla jagati { tejaya _6 } jabi ja van et taja.....Many old people had lived years before you were born. 8 Iva tajjub! Et se { duhojaga _8 } hij?....Happy Birthday! How old are you now? 9 Eta tuyd { tojaye _6 }. Se { huugla _6 } uva jub.....Your daughter has died. It is such a sad day. Lesson 4 Mirad-English Dictionary