kurmanji_complete

In a series coordinated by the conjunction û, only the last noun shows the
construct ending.
gelek serok û birêvebirên partiyên
siyasî
many heads and leaders of political
parties
şexsiyet û rewşenbîrên kurdan personalities and intellectuals of the
Kurds
§ 5. The Secondary Construct: The Construct Extender. The primary
construct is used, as has been seen, to connect noun to noun (to noun, indefinitely)
or noun to a single attributive adjective. These two categories
cannot be mixed: the first noun in a noun-noun construct cannot be modified
by an adjective, and a noun cannot be modified by more than one adjective
with the construct. In cases other than these two, the secondary construct
with a “construct extender” is used. The extenders are as follows:
MASC. SING.
yê
SUBSTANTIVES
FEM. SING.
ya
COMMON PLURAL
yên
The extenders are used (1) to add a modifying noun to a noun-adjective
construct, (2) to link an adjective modifying the first noun in a noun-noun
construct, and (3) to add an additional adjective to a noun-adjective construct.
As examples, (1) a phrase like hejmareke nû ‘a new issue’ is a normal
noun-adjective construct, but since this type of construct is closed, in order
to modify the construct further in any way, such as ‘a new issue of the
journal,’ the construct extender is used: hejmareke nû ya kovarê, where
the feminine extender ya agrees with the feminine head noun in the construct,
hejmarek.
destê rastê yê Cengî Jengi’s right hand
Cumhûriyeta Kurdî ya Mehabadê The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad
navên din yên vê ekolê other names of this school
(2) In a noun-noun construct string like navê wî mirovî ‘that man’s
name,’ the extender is used to modify the first noun in the string: navê wî
mirovî yê rastîn ‘that man’s real name.’
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