The word ke, like hin and den, must always be followed by either a noun or pronoun.
ke medisyen?
which physician?
kete?
who? or which one?
ke kitabu?
what book? or which book?
keto?
what? or which one?
The words ete and oto, the plural counterparts of te and to, may also be attached to hin, den and ke in order to form the words hinete/hinoto (these; these ones), denete/denoto (those; those ones), keete (who; which people; which ones), keoto (what; what things; which ones). However, since te and to may be used with words denoting plurality, -te/-to may also be used when number is unknown, such as when asking who and what. For this reason, keete and keoto are rarely used.
Questions with ke have the same word order as their counterpart declarative sentences.
Medisyen yam keto?
“The doctor eats what?”
What does the doctor eat?
Yu xa doxo ke kitabu?
“You will read which/what book?”
What/which book will you read?
The word cel is used only for denoting movement _, _destination, target or purpose, never as the recipient (commonly known as the indirect object) marker. In a subsequent lesson, you will learn the word that marks the recipient.
The phrase cel na means in order to. Much like in English, since na (seen in Lesson 4) marks verb phrases, it may be used alone to introduce purpose.
Polisiyen le idi cel kitabudom (cel) na doxo kitabu.
The police officer went to the library (in order) to read a book.
The word cel may be paired with other prepositions: cel in (into) and cel ex (out from, out of).
Polisiyen le pawbu cel in kitabudom.
The police officer ran into the library.
The word yen typically refers to people, although it may technically denote any life form. It is often used to create compounds with nouns, verbs and adjectives.
With noun/verb words:
With adj/adv words:
The words man and woman can also be expressed as manyen and femyen. Technically, manyen refers to any male (whether boy or man) and femyen refers to any female (whether girl or woman). However, since we would typically use nini for an underage human, manyen and femyen may be used not only when we’re unsure of the person’s age, but when we’re referring specifically to an adult or a teenager (a young man/lady). By extension, yen may be used by itself to mean gal or guy.
Den femyen sen medisyen.
That lady is a doctor.
Alimyen idi cel eskol.
The teacher goes to the school.
Polisiyen hare keto?
What does the police officer have?
Multi ixu idi cel day eskol. Multi te ata cel na xwexi na bon koki. Eskol hare juni alimyen.
Xwexiyen loga, “Imi xa koki keto?”
Alimyen loga, “Uyu xa koki neo yam.”
Xwexiyen loga, “Ke yam? Yam hare keto?”
Alimyen loga, “Patato, bwaw ji uma.”
Gao xwexiyen sen polisiyen. Te no sen hox: “Keto?! Dento no sen yam! Bwaw ji uma sen meli! Ete sen doste!”
Alimyen loga, “Fe lutuf, multi te suki na yam xosu bwaw ji uma. Kam yu aham?”
Polisiyen loga, “No! Ete no sen yam! Yu xa idi cel polisidom.”
Create your own sentences using the examples above, and examples from previous lessons, as sentence patterns. Tell a story.