WW #40: Getting Inquisitive

A few weeks ago I looked at negation in Kharulian. This week, it’s yes/no questions!

Shel tsamzo shezh chichiit igui?

Kharulian marks yes/no questions by putting the question word ik after the verb. If the verb has aspect/mood suffixes, these get applied to ik instead. The normal verb form meaning “you were born” is chichiidui, with -ui marking the perfective aspect, so when ik is added, it becomes chichiit igui.

Kharulian doesn’t have specific words for “yes” and “no”. To answer a yes/no question, either repeat the verb to answer “yes” or use the negative verb ar to answer “no”. So the response to this week’s question could be either Mejiidui (literally “I was born”) for “yes”, or Muee (literally “I didn’t”) for “no”.