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Asking and answering
Recipes for English question shapes beyond plain yes/no and who / what. Every form here is taught on a grammar page; each recipe links what it needs.
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Echo and reported questions
Echo questions
Needs: Ask · tone marks
An echo question repeats what someone just said, because you doubt it or did not catch it (You saw WHAT?). Repeat the sentence under yol. Put the doubting tone mark ?! on the blank or on the word you doubt.
yol zehodon vahahal ?!dar.y-question | z-listener | v-see | ?!d-who
"You saw WHAT?"
yol ?!zazawan vowogal.y-question | ?!z-Azawan | v-walk
"AZAWAN walked?"
Really?, Is that so?
Needs: Polar stance · tone marks
English Really? asks the speaker to confirm what they just said. Write the confirm tag as your own turn: yol yael. (Is that so?). Put the doubting mark ?! on it for disbelief.
zazawan vowogal. yol ?!yael.z-Azawan | v-walk . y-question | ?!y-yes
"Azawan walks." "Really?!"
Compare with: yol. (Huh?) asks the speaker to say it again. yaer. (I see) takes the news in without asking anything.
Reported questions
To report a who / what question inside a claim (Azawan asks who walks), put the same blank you would use in a direct question inside dorl. To quote the question as wording, keep yol inside a cite. To ask someone else whether they know such an answer (Do you know who walks?), see a blank inside a dependent.
zazawan vezebel dorl zar vowogal.z-Azawan | v-tell | d-whether-clause | z-something | v-walk
"Azawan asks who walks."
Listening and hedged replies
Mm-hm while someone talks
Needs: Three endings
While someone tells you something, English keeps them going with mm-hm or I see, without agreeing or disagreeing. Reply yaer. after each point: it says only that the news reached you.
zazawan vowogal. yaer.z-Azawan | v-walk . y-yes-fresh
"Azawan walked." "Mm-hm."
Compare with: yom. (Hm?) asks about what was just said, so the speaker stops to explain. yaem. (yeah) agrees with the claim.
Well… before an unwelcome answer
Needs: Three endings
English well… warns that the answer is not the plain yes the question hoped for. Start the reply with yuam (it's more complicated than that), then give the answer.
yol zazawan vowogal. yuam zazawan vehahel.y-question | z-Azawan | v-walk . y-reject-frame-soft | z-Azawan | v-sit
"Did Azawan walk?" "Well… Azawan sat."
Compare with: yuel says the claim is false. yuam says the question does not quite fit, and the body says what happened instead.
It sounds like…, I hear that you…
Needs: Whose view · Evidentiality · Feeling with no object · Emotion compose
English it sounds like you're anxious and I hear that you're upset give the speaker's feeling back to them. You cannot state someone else's feeling outright, so name the listener as the holder on INFERRED (thunem): you worked it out from what they said.
thulothuruor thunemehodon.th-competence-unmet-passing-UNPLACED-SURGING | th-INFERRED-listener
"It sounds like you're anxious."
To say the feeling makes sense, put your own stance in the main sentence and theirs in a dependent, with what the feeling is about:
wadotham gobum zarl zezebel wanathumam gobum thunemehodon.[w-understanding-met-any-term | g-stimulus] | z-that-clause | [z-speech | [w-relatedness-unmet-modifiable-INTERNAL-FLOWING | g-stimulus]] | th-INFERRED-listener
"It makes sense to me that the talk weighs on you."
Compare with: TOLD (thewamehodon) says they told you so in as many words. I hear that in a reflection is your reading of them, not hearsay.
Admittedly, granted before a but
Needs: Polar stance · Sentence linkers
English admittedly, granted and that's true, but concede a point before pushing back. Open with yael (true): before a body it concedes that body, and alone it concedes what was just said. Then push back with xagezam (but).
yael zazawan vowogal. xagezam zalahen vehahel.y-yes | z-Azawan | v-walk . x-but | z-Alahen | v-sit
"Admittedly, Azawan walks. But Alahen sits."
zazawan vowogal. yael. xagezam zalahen vehahel.z-Azawan | v-walk . y-yes . x-but | z-Alahen | v-sit
"Azawan walks." "That's true, but Alahen sits."
Compare with: even so after the concession is despite that, hezom barth (pointing back). yaem (I think so) agrees only softly.
Exclamations and side remarks
What a big dog!
Needs: tone marks · extra detail on an adjective · interjections
English What a big dog! and How big the dog is! say the dog is very big and that you feel strongly about it. Say the degree with very welavam and the feeling with the tone mark ! before the sentence. Use !! for more.
! zodogal welavam gelavam.! | z-dog | [w-very | g-big]
"What a big dog!"
For a bare So big!, give the reaction as an interjection with !:
!yelavam.!y-big
"So big!"
By the way
Needs: asides
English by the way adds a side remark, then goes back to the main point. Put an aside th( … ) at the start of the sentence. The closing fence is the return to the main point.
th(zalahen vezebal) zazawan vowogal.th-ASIDE[z-Alahen | v-sleep] | z-Azawan | v-walk
"By the way, Alahen is asleep. Anyway, Azawan walks."
Offers and confirmations with joins
Single-item and standalone inventory
Needs: Ask · Fill-ask · How many items
Under question, the rest of the single-item and standalone join map is confirm / offer (and fill-ask -r). On a list of two or more (no -r): -l picks from that closed menu; -m allows another name (and for o, or none); u is none of the listed; ua / uo is the complement of the listed; ue reverse-ranks among the listed. Join -n here is stock/usual.
yol zazawan zel.y-question | [z-Azawan | z-rank/more]
"Is Azawan the only priority?"
Not the same job as: proper-name -n (word ending).
Related form: fill-ask length uses join -r.
Rank: single-item (under question)
| Agazan | English |
|---|---|
| …em | Is X the top priority? / Prefer X? (offer) |
| …el | Is X the only priority? |
| …oem | Maybe start with X? (offer) |
| …oel | Start with X? |
| …uem | X last? (offer) |
| …uel | X last only? |
| …en | X first, as usual? |
| …er | Which X is first? (fill-ask) |
Rank: standalone (under question)
| Agazan | English |
|---|---|
| …el | No favorite? |
| …em | Easy-going? / Whichever? |
| …ael | Tie? |
| …aem | Probably a tie? |
| …aen | Draw? (stock) |
| …oem | Not sure where to start? |
| …oel | Any order? |
| …uem | Don't mind? / No objection? |
| …uel | No least-favorite? / No one last? |
| …en | No favorite? (stock) |
| …er | What’s the priority? (fill-ask) |
Set: single-item (under question)
| Agazan | English |
|---|---|
| …al | Just X? / Only X? |
| …am | How about X? / Want X? (offer) |
| …ol | Has to be X? |
| …om | How about X? / X, or skip? (offer; empty-allowed) |
| …ual | Everything but X? |
| …uam | Everything but X (at least)? (offer) |
| …uol | Anything but X? |
| …uom | Anything but X? (offer) |
| …aol | Is X enough? |
| …aom | Would X do? (offer) |
| …ar | What/which (unknown) X? (fill-ask) |
| …or | Any X? (fill-ask) |
| …ul | Not X? |
| …um | Not X (at least)? (offer) |
| …un | Not X, as usual? |
| …ur | What else (besides X)? (fill-ask) |
Set: standalone (under question)
| Agazan | English |
|---|---|
| …al | Nothing? / Nobody? |
| …am | Got nothing? |
| …an | Null? / Void? |
| …ol | No options? |
| …om | No pick? / Skip OK? |
| …ual | Everything? / Everyone? |
| …uam | Everything you can think of? |
| …uol | Anything? |
| …uom | Anything? (offer) |
| …aol | All set? |
| …aom | Nothing you need? |
| …ul | No? |
| …um | Soft no? |
| …un | No? (stock) |
| …ar | Who/what? (fill-ask) |
| …or | Anything? (fill-ask) |
| …ur | What else? (fill-ask) |
Speech acts in everyday talk
Ask, interview, conversation
Needs: Ask · Reported questions · Stand-in vowels · Speech act: firm and soft · Conversation length · Call someone
English ask is four jobs. You can put a question to someone, ask them for something, ask them to do something, or report that a question was asked. A question is the act word yol. A request is yem. A reported question hangs on the telling (reported questions). Ask or tell someone to do something is a telling with the to-clause stand-in derl, and the person told is unhosted /b/; not to is durl. English picks ask or tell for politeness, which Agazan carries on the act word, not the verb. A conversation has no verb of its own: it is speech, with the abstract sense for the social practice.
| English | Agazan | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| ask (a question) | yol zazawan vowogal. | question |
| ask (for something, could you) | yem zehodon vowogal. | request |
| ask (report) | zazawan vezebel dorl zar vowogal. | telling + whether-clause |
| ask / tell someone to | zazawan balahen vezebel derl vehahel. | telling + to-clause |
| ask / tell someone not to | zazawan balahen vezebel durl varahal. | telling + lest-clause |
| please ask her to | yem zehodon balahen vezebel derl vehahel. | request: tell Alahen to sit |
| ask (one question, as a bid for time) | alahexon. | one slot |
| interview | yalahen. then a run of yol questions | call, then ask |
| conversation / chat / dialog | zezebem | discourse |
yem zehodon balahen vezebel derl vehahel.y-request | z-listener | b-Alahen | v-tell | d-to-clause | v-sit
"Please ask Alahen to sit."
Offer, suggest, recommend, invite
Needs: Speech act: firm and soft · Prescription · Permission · Which noun
English offer, suggest, propose, recommend and advise all put something forward that the other person may take or leave. Agazan picks how firmly. A soft act word (-m) leaves the choice open. A soft request with we proposes a joint act. A prescription the on a sake says the act ought to serve it, and its ending says whether the person invited it (-l) or you are offering it unasked (-m).
| English | Agazan | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| offer (a thing) | yom + a giving | soft question: would you like…? |
| suggest / propose (a joint act) | yem zahan vowogal. | soft request with we |
| suggest (a view) | yam | soft statement: for what it's worth |
| recommend / advise (unasked) | thanathem | prescription, offered |
| recommend (you asked for it) | thanathel | prescription, invited |
| advice / suggestion / proposal | the suggestion as a sentence, then point back | which noun |
| invite / welcome (someone) | vabubam | hospitality |
| welcome (you may) | thegom | permission granted |
yem zahan vowogal.y-request | z-interlocutors | v-walk
"Let's walk." — a suggestion
zehodon vowogal thanathem.z-listener | v-walk | th-relatedness-ought-offered
"You should walk; I recommend it." — unasked advice
zazawan vabubam dalahen.z-Azawan | v-hospitality | d-Alahen
"Azawan invites Alahen."
Hello, sir, yeah, quote, mention
Needs: Greeting · Polar stance · Cite · Mention · Asides
| English | Agazan | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| hello / hi | n. | your own name, said with a period |
| sir / madam | yalahen. | call them by name |
| yeah / yep | yaem. / yael. | yes, soft / firm |
| nope / nah | yuel. / yuem. | no, firm / soft |
| yeah, sure | yaol. | take up the offer |
| quote (the exact words) | d[zalahen vezebel] | cite |
| quote (the gist) | d~[zalahen vezebel] | paraphrase cite |
| mention (a word) | glelel z<odoga> | mention |
| mention (in passing) | th(…) | aside |
| mention (acknowledge someone) | veweval | acknowledgment |
zazawan d[zalahen vezebel] vezebel.z-Azawan | d-CITE[z-Alahen | v-tell] | v-tell
"Azawan said “Alahen tells.”"
Practice
Offers and confirmations
Short drills for these recipes. Try each item before opening Show answer.
Setting: a quiz show
Roots used here:
| English | Agazan |
|---|---|
| Azawan | azawan |
| Alahen | alahen |
| Ahaben | ahaben |
| trophy | odovel |
| bell | ebehul |
English → Agazan
1. Is Azawan the only priority?
Show answer
yol zazawan zel.
y-question | [z-Azawan | z-rank/more]
2. Prefer Alahen? / Alahen first? (rank offer)
Show answer
yol zalahen zem.
y-question | [z-Alahen | z-rank/more.open]
3. Has to be Ahaben?
Show answer
yol zahaben zol.
y-question | [z-Ahaben | z-or-exactly-one]
4. Tie? (standalone rank)
Show answer
yol zael.
y-question | z-equal-rank
5. Is the trophy enough?
Show answer
yol zodovel zaol.
y-question | [z-trophy | z-and/or]
Agazan → English
1. yael. vs yaol.
Show answer
y-yes . y-sure yes / true (match). sure / I’ll take that (uptake).
2. yuel. vs yuol.
Show answer
y-no . y-refuse-option no / false (truth flip). not that (reject this option).
3. yol zebehul zual.
Show answer
y-question | [z-bell | z-everything-but]
Everything but the bell?
4. yol zoel.
Show answer
y-question | z-in-order
Any order? / In no particular order?
5. yol zalahen zahaben zel.
Show answer
y-question | [z-Alahen | z-Ahaben | z-rank/more]
Alahen ahead of Ahaben? (closed rank of those two)