Apple sentences (Moyashi)

This content pertains to version 9c of Ŋarâþ Crîþ.
It is now outdated as the current version differs from this version.

A translation of 「リンゴを食べ足りない57文」 (“57 ‘not enough apples to eat’ sentences”) by Moyashi, used to help develop grammar.

1. こんにちは。

In Necarasso Cryssesa, the standard greeting was nadenva, from nade good and enva day.

In Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7, the standard greeting was cem’pe, the emphatic first-person pronoun, as in I am here.

Both of these greetings have cognates in ŊCv9.

2. 私はXXX（あなたの名前を入れて下さい）です。

Not all independent clauses need verbs. In this case, there are two nominative noun phrases, implying that their referents are equal to each other.

Note that ⟨cenþ’pe⟩ is pronounced as /kenθe/ because of complex coda simplification.

3. これは何ですか？

A clause with no verb and a nominative and accusative argument states that the referent of the nominative argument belongs to the class of objects described by the accusative argument. Note that both nominative+nominative and nominative+accusative verbless clauses can be translated using be in English.

4. これはリンゴです。

The same deal as Example #3.

5. これは大きなリンゴです。

Now with a verb participle.

6. これはあなたのリンゴですか？

Possessive clitics are not distinguished by number.

7. これは私のリンゴです。

The same deal as the last four sentences.

8. （私から近いところを指して）このリンゴは小さい。

We finally have a (finite) verb.

9. （あなたから近いところを指して）そのリンゴは大きい。

Japanese has a three-way demonstrative distinction, but Ŋarâþ Crîþ has only a two-way distinction.

10. （私からもあなたからも遠いところを指して）あのリンゴはとても大きい。

This translation is identical to Example #9 for this reason.

11. リンゴは果実である。

⟨mjena⟩ can refer to fruits as well as nuts.

12. とあるリンゴは大きい。

The determiner ⟨nemen⟩ (the genitive singular form of ⟨nema⟩) is used here to indicate a known but unnamed object.

13. 一般的にリンゴは甘い。

A textbook example of the generic number.

14. 風が吹く。

⟨avona⟩ can mean either air or wind, although the latter has a specific term, ⟨velšavona⟩.

15. リンゴが落ちる。

We use the perfective tense here, as opposed to the imperfective as in Example #14.

16. リンゴが私の前にある。

The relational ⟨etor⟩ in front of is used in a finite form.

17. 私はリンゴを掴む。

We assume that the apple was moving (in the air) before it was caught.

18. 私はあなたにリンゴを渡す。

⟨morteþoc rjas cemat⟩ translates to give between hands or, more idiomatically, hand over. ⟨cemat⟩ is what was called a twisted verb in the Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 grammar: the recipient takes the accusative case and the theme takes the dative case, instead of the other way around as expected.

19. 私が渡すリンゴをあなたは食べる。

Since ⟨pecirmeþan⟩, by having a dative rcase, has a head that is the dative argument of ⟨cemat⟩, the object prefix can refer to either the nominative or accusative argument. In this case, the context makes it clear which is the case, but in case it did not, the following would also be acceptable:

Note that ⟨cemat⟩ has impersonator stems to avoid ambiguity with certain forms of ⟨cenþ⟩.

20. （あなたは含まない）我々は（習慣として）リンゴを食べる。

Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 had a set of first-person pronouns with clusivity distinctions, but the rest of the language did not distinguish clusivity. Version 9, on the other hand, adds a clusivity distinction in the verb subject and object affixes, as well as on relational object affixes. The cognates to the v7 first-person dual and plural affixes are now exclusive, with the inclusive counterparts being derived by inverting the tone of the vowel.

21. あなたがたは（習慣として）リンゴを食べる。

The same deal as in Example #20.

22. （あなたを含む）我々は（習慣として）リンゴを食べる。

And now for the inclusive.

23. 彼は（かつての習慣として）リンゴを食べていた。

Note that ⟨nespat⟩ undergoes a vowel affection in the past tense.

24. 彼女はリンゴを（習慣的に）食べるだろう。

There are several possible English translations, so I picked one arbitrarily.

25. あなたはリンゴを食べ始める。

The inchoative or inceptive aspect is marked with the prefix ⟨es-⟩. Either the perfective or the imperfective aspect could be used here.

26. あなたはリンゴを食べている。

If we wanted to distinguish the progressive aspect from other senses of the imperfective, we can use the following:

27. あなたはリンゴを食べ終える。

⟨ermênčat⟩ means finish eating. In contrast, ⟨carmênčat⟩ means stop eating.

28. 彼はリンゴを食べ始めるだろう。

Ŋarâþ Crîþ often uses the present tense for future events, but it is possible to make it clear that the action is predicted to occur in the future.

29. 彼はリンゴを食べ始めた。

Now for the perfective.

30. 彼はリンゴを食べている。

Same deal as Example #26.

31. 彼はリンゴを食べ終えるだろう。

Same deal as Example #27.

32. 彼はリンゴを食べ終えていた。

We use the imperfective aspect here.

33. このリンゴは小さかった。

Also the imperfective aspect.

34. このリンゴは小さくない。

⟨iširit⟩ can be translated as not un-.

35. このリンゴはもっと大きくなるだろう。

The calculus affix ⟦-mitra-⟧, indicating the derivative with respect to time, turns ⟨mervit⟩ large into ⟨memitravit⟩ grow larger.

36. 「彼はリンゴを食べていた。」とあなたは言う。

Note that a final period inside a quotation embedded within another sentence is omitted.

37. 彼はリンゴを食べていたとあなたは言った。

We now have an indirect quotation. We need to change the particle, but the paraphrased sentence is still surrounded by quotation marks.

38. 彼はリンゴを食べているとあなたは言った。

The temporal deixis within an indirect quotation is not the same as that outside it. Instead, tenses inside the indirect quotation are relative to the time when its content is realized (that is, said, thought, &c.).

39. 彼はリンゴを食べるだろうとあなたは言うだろう。

Technically speaking, of course, you can’t read other peoples’ minds and find out their intentions.

40. 彼はリンゴを食べるだろうとあなたは言った。

This is slightly more straightforward than the last sentence.

41. 私はリンゴを食べられる可能性がある。

I interpreted the 可能性がある part as an epistemic possibility and the 食べられる part as a situational possibility.

42. もしリンゴが食べられるならば、嬉しい。

Here, ⟨nemiren o mênčat pentat⟩ acts as the stimulus or cause for the verb ⟨anhit⟩. The conditional mood is marked by the tailp ⟨viþca⟩.

43. 私がリンゴを食べられないのは必然である。

The verb chain in this sentence contains two modal auxiliaries of the same flavor: ⟨rjotat⟩ and ⟨marðat⟩, which are both situational.

44. リンゴが食べられたら良いのになぁ。

I’m not that good with dealing with Japanese tailps. Had to resort to DeepL to know what this sentence meant.

45. リンゴを食べなければならない。

The translation implies that the sentence describes a general obligation rather than an order to a particular person.

46. リンゴを食べたほうが良い。

Instead of an auxiliary verb meaning should, Ŋarâþ Crîþ use the verb ⟨triłit⟩ recommend, advise, suggest, which makes the advisor explicit.

47. リンゴを食べるか食べないか選択できる。

⟨visêrčit⟩ means (S) chooses (I) over (O), indicating a preference for one choice over the other. In order to describe a choice without indicating which choice is preferred, one can use ⟨visêrčige dolilcit⟩ (literally choose or invert (i.e. make the reverse choice)). If the second choice is absent, it is implied to be the absence of the first choice.

48. リンゴを食べない方が良い。

The same deal as Example #46, except with an extra negative verb.

49. リンゴを食べてはならない。

The same deal as Example #45, except with an extra negative verb.

50. 私は（能力的に）リンゴを食べられない。

Situational and dynamic possibility are conflated in the affirmative polarity (⟨pentat⟩) but distinguished in the negative (⟨rjotat⟩ vs. ⟨geðat⟩).

51. この大きくてかつ甘いリンゴを私は食べる。

It is common to move ⟨lê⟩ immediately before the noun in the noun phrase it modifies if the noun phrase contains a prosodically large modifier.

52. 私はこのリンゴまたはそのリンゴまたは、その両方を食べる。

Since ⟨šino⟩ is used to mean the whole or entirety, it is used in the singular number.

53. 彼は、大きいリンゴまたは甘いリンゴのどちらか一方のみを食べる。

Ŋarâþ Crîþ distinguishes between the inclusive and exclusive ors in coordination.

54. あなたがそのリンゴ食べるならば、またその時に限り、私はこのリンゴを食べる。

First, the entire sentence is rephrased to work around Ŋarâþ Crîþ’s lack of a morpheme meaning only. (Perhaps one will come eventually. This, however, is not the time.) In addition, if the nominative argument of a nominalized verb phrase is pronominal, then it appears as a possessive clitic on the infinitive.

55. 彼があのリンゴを食べるかどうかに関わらず、私はこのリンゴを食べる。

We use the noun ⟨len⟩ truth value in order to avoid presupposing that one of the apples was eaten and having the sentence be interpreted as ignoring the fact that he ate that apple, I will eat this one.

56. 残念なことに、ここにリンゴはない。

There’s an interjection but nothing too hard here.

57. さようなら。

Wasn’t this list fun to try out?