These four consecutive sentences from the Syntax Test Cases are phrased quite differently in English:
- Let’s go!
- You should go.
- I will be happy to go.
- He will arrive soon.
But their Muipidan translations all use a structure called the optative:
Kanda u-hube!
ka-nda
OPT–1p
u=hube
ACC=go
Ka u-hube.
ka-Ø
OPT–2s
u=hube
ACC=go
Kan u-hube ï-hmulla.
ka-n
OPT–1s
u=hube
ACC=go
ï=hmulla
INS=smile
Imis mï-sindide w-ode.
imi-s
OPT–3s
mï=si-ndi-de
LOC=soon-FLEX–DEF
w=ode
ACC=come
The optative is used for future statements that one views positively (as in “I will be happy to go” and “He will arrive soon”) and for polite requests (as in “You should go” and “Let’s go!”).
Note that the even though the last sentence uses a different auxiliary verb (imis rather than kas), this is still an example of the optative. Different main verbs use different optative auxiliaries: hubïs “go” uses kas, while odïs “come” uses imis. While there’s a tendency for kas to be used with verbs describing prolonged actions or states (like “sleep”, “build”, and “grow”) and imis to be used with abrupt actions (like “fall”, “die”, and “slap”), sometimes the difference is arbitrary and just has to be memorized.
There’s one new word in these sentences: hmulla “smile”, also “happiness, joy”. The existing word for “happy”, muy, doesn’t work in this context because it refers to a generally happy disposition, rather than being happy in the moment.