Author Topic: Pronoun fin related to object and meaning "which"  (Read 4235 times)

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Nhizo

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Pronoun fin related to object and meaning "which"
« on: August 15, 2013, 09:45:22 am »
Hi there
Recently, I've been trying to figure out the way the questions work in dothraki. It's clear for the yes/no questions, but those with the interrogative pronoun fin related to object are a bit problematic. For example the sentence "What do you see?" Since the verb tihat is transitive, I suppose that the pronoun will be in accusative case and will be using the inanimate form (for we expect the guy to see a thing, not a person) so something lake "finis". And now the word order. In the wiki it says that the word order can be OSV when the pronoun question words denotes the object, so I guess it comes at the very beginning of the sentence. Also the result would be something like "Finis yer tihi?" Is that right?

And another problem. According to the wiki, the word "fin" can also mean "which". Does it then declinate as the noun it specificates does? I mean, if I ask "which rabbit did he eat," would that be "Finis mawizze ma addakh" or just "Fin mawizze blah blah" ? (I presume the OSV word order)

The last thing, how do I express "how much" or "how old" or "how far" and stuff like that? Thanks for any help on that :)

Qvaak

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Re: Pronoun fin related to object and meaning "which"
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2013, 07:11:41 am »
You have found our wiki's learning hub, http://wiki.dothraki.org/Learning_Dothraki, have you? Questions are one of the less well known area of Dothraki. We have had no blog post about it. Most of what we know are from passing notions and examples. Questions like "how much" and so forth are beyond my knowledge. There might be some kifinsomething word or perhaps hash has some way of extending there. It's not likely that all that kind of questions should be reworded.

Inanimate interregotive pronoun in accusative should be fin. Finis is plural animate accusative, see http://wiki.dothraki.org/Pronouns#Relative_Pronoun_and_Interrogative_Pronoun. I'm pretty sure question words are, by rule, fronted, yes. I'm still kinda expecting the verb final word order to pop up somewhere in questions, but we haven't seen that happen, so maybe not. Fin yer tihi? should be right for "What do you see?" Compare to relative clauses, http://wiki.dothraki.org/Syntax#Relative_clauses. They have a few extra tricks like word order and different inflections for fin, but they are pretty well understood, at least.

If you use fin as a modifier for an argument, like "which rabbit", it should not decline, I'm pretty sure. Compare to http://wiki.dothraki.org/Pronouns#Demonstratives. Used independently: declines; used as a modifier: always just fin, no matter the declination, animacy or number of the modified word.
Game of Thrones is not The Song of Ice and Fire, sweetling. You'll learn that one day to your sorrow.

Nhizo

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Re: Pronoun fin related to object and meaning "which"
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2013, 11:03:59 am »
thanks a lot, it really helped! :D