kurmanji_complete

Wî hîs kir ku tenê ye. He felt he was alone. (i.e., at the time, he would
have verbalized his feelings
as “I am alone”)
Ez têgihîştim ku zimanekî
min yê taybetî heye.
Min dîtim ku mamoste
ne tê ye.
Em difikirîn ku ev roj ê
neyê.
Mîna ku dizanibû wê
polîs destê wî kelemçe
bikin, herdu destên xwe
dirêjî polîs kirin.
Min zanîbû wê saetê ava
germ peyda nabe.
I came to the realization
that I had a special language.
I saw that the teacher was
not there.
We used to think that this
day wouldn’t come.
As though he knew the
police were going to
handcuff him, he extended
both his hands
toward the policemen.
I realized that at that hour
there was no hot water to
be found.
(i.e. what I said to myself
at the moment of realization
was, “I have a special
language”)
(i.e. what I would have
said to myself at that
moment was, “The
teacher is not here”)
(i.e. what we used to think
was, “That day will not
come”)
(i.e., at the time, he would
have said to himself, “the
policemen are going to
handcuff me”)
(i.e., at the time, I would
have said to myself,
“there is no hot water”)
§ 34. Questions with Ma. The particle ma, which is the equivalent of the
Persian ﺮ ـﮕﻣ ـ , introduces an affirmative question to which a negative answer is
expected (English, “you don’t know, do you?”).
Ma rast e? That’s not right, is it?
Ma ez ê karibim careke din rûyê dinyê
bibînim?
Ma ji bo me tu derên bê tehlîke, bê
tirs hene?
OTHER SYNTACTICAL FEATURES
I won’t ever be able to see the face of the
earth again, will I?
For us there aren’t any places without
danger, without fear, are there?
It also introduces a negative question to which an affimative answer is expected
(English, “it rained last night, didn’t it?”).
Ma em jî eynî tişt nakin? We do the same thing, don’t we?
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