Gilo Grammar 12

Interrogatives/Questions

12 Interrogatives/Questions

12.1 General Rules

All questions start with the symbol 'k' pronounced ke (as in kettle), which serves as an initial question mark, denoting the sentence following is a question. In English the matter being enquired about may follow words such as what, when, where etc. In Gilo these question words are formed by 'k' plus a noun.

12.2 Main Question Words

· Which/What?	k
· Who (what person)?	k pe
· Whose (what person's)?	k ovpe
· What (what thing)?	k ti
· Which (what kind of)?	k ki
· Where (what place)?	k as
· How (which way)?	k ru
· Why (for what reason)?	k re
· When (what time)?	k te
· How much (what quantity of)?	k je

k pe	Who (what person)?
	· Who is that?	k pe bez ce
	· Who is the father?	k pe bez pãril
	· That person is the father.	ce pe bez pãril
k ovpe	Whose (what person's)?
	· Whose is that book? Mary's	k ovpe bez ce buk. ov Meri (Meriva)
k ti	What (what thing)?
	· What is that?	k ti bez ce
	· That is a table	cefi bez tab
k ki	Which (what kind of)?
	· Which houses are those?	k ki husi bez ce
	· What kind of book is he reading?	k ki buk il ridez
Note :
	· Which book is he reading?	k buk il ridez
k as	Where (what place)?
	· Where do you live? I live there.	k as yu xez. me xez de
	· Where are you going?	k as yu ujez.
k ru	How (which way)?/ What method?
	· How did he arrive?	k ru il finjoz
k re	Why (for what reason)?
	· Why did he write a letter?	k re il ritoz let
	· Why did you do it?	k re yu doz fi (not 'ol')
k te	When (what time)?
	· When did he arrive?	k te il finjoz
k je	How much (what quantity)?
	· How much do I owe	k je me detez
	· How much paper do you want	k je pap yu wixez

12.3 Other Common Question Forms

For questions which can be answered by Yes/No, then use a positive statement preceded by 'k'.

· Has it got a park?	k ol vez pãk
or, Is it 'parked'	k ol pãkez
· Do you have a car?	k yu vez kãr
or, Are you 'car'ed	k yu kãrez
· Shall we dance?	k wi dansuz

12.4 Alternative Question Forms

In some case the matter being enquired about may vary depending upon the position of the word in the sentence. If necessary put the query word immediately after 'k'. The word order is important to avoid confusion. eg

· What beer do you like?

(eg what kind)

k ki bir yu fez

· Do you like beer?

k yu fez bir

· Do you like beer?

k adfez yu bir

Alternatively, the question word may be repeated in front of the specific word being inquired about eg:

· You like what beer?

(eg what kind)

k yu fez k bir

If the context is quite clear then the initial 'k' may be omitted eg

You like what beer?

yu fez k bir

For spoken questions the emphasis may be on one particular word eg :

· Do you like beer?	k yu fez bir
· Do you like beer?	k yu fez bir
· Do you like beer?	k yu fez bir

12.5 Interrogative Verb Forms

Many European languages use a reversal of the normal subject-verb order to denote a question e.g.:

That is a car. Is that a car?

Peter is here. Is Peter here?

This form is grammatically possible in Gilo e.g.:

· What beer do you like?	k bir adfez yu
· What (thing) did they eat?	k ti aditoz li
· Did they eat?	k aditoz li

Top	Last revised: 14 October 2006

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