a-practical-kurdish-grammar

SYNTAX. 243
Sp^, sp (are hat-i ka gtie bi-gri) 'Did you(sing.) come to
hear?'
Adverbs
An adverb is placed before the verb, adjective, or other
adverb which it qualifies. Examples: p\a> ey a] (lamez-
a hat-(i)m) 'I came long ago'; 4>oj\r 333 oy U- jl
(aii khaniia. zor tarik-a) 'This house is very dark'; jjjl
y\A dXiji y^^ (aiirö kameki drang hat-i) 'You came
a little late to-day'.
Two negatives are usually employed in Kurdish, Examples:
y.p dXp>- ^A (hich chitek na-bin-(i)m) 'I see nothing'
(lit. 'I do not see nothing') ; 4J dXy 7j^a> (hich chitek ni¬
ya) 'There is nothing' (lit. 'There is not nothing').
Instead of simply answering 'yes' or 'no' in reply to a ques¬
tion, the Kurds often repeat the words of the interrogator, or
at least the verbal part. Examples : yy y\ t^jl (are atu
dei) 'Will you come?'; yy Jj (ball de-m) 'Yes, I will
come', or simply -ji (de-m) 'I will come'; (yy S^ (are
na-khösh-î) 'Are you sick?'; yy^ (na-khösh-(i)m) 'I am
sick', or ^ yy (na-khösh n-(i)m) 'I am not sick.'
Prepositions
The preposition (j (i) of the Genitive Case also indicates
genus, species, or material. Examples: S3^ y y. (hizin-i
kewi) 'a mountain goat', 'a wild goat'; Sy^ Lyy^
(hangiiin-i kewi) 'wild honey' (lit. 'mountain honey')
y I (zanjir-i asin) 'an iron chain'. The latter may also
be expressed by the ablative preposition 4] (la) 'from'.