Chapter 60: Chapter 3

Subtitle: Early B1: First Steps Part 1?

Subtitle: 〜が〜ら: A wondering guesswork questionative particles.

Hiさい! Time for more questionative particles. This is probably the first new one. It is no longer a review of parts of Lower-Intermediate 2, but now fully part of Intermediate 1!

Translate the following from English to Okinawan (informal = 1/5 formal).

English:

Okinawan:

Explanation:

が and ら are a set when using this format.

The first question can be used using standard variants of なー、み、い(ぃ), but by using this format, it ponders on the question. The speaker is not asking for a concrete definition of autumn. Rather, they are looking for a confirmation to ask if you think it already feels like autumn.

The second question is also pondering and trying to guess where that child is going and is asking you for where you think that child is going because you do not know for sure and it cannot be explained by concrete facts.

Side Note:

Assume you are in your house and someone knocks on your door. When you ask who's there, you can ask "誰（たー）がやら", though of course the standard "誰やが" (see next lesson) is also fine.

Homework (Answers in Answer Key Chapter A, Answer Key A-5):

Translate the following from English to Okinawan using the format in the lesson.

Subtitle: やが and がや shenanigans (More Questionative Particles!)

〜やが is more straightforward. It is a combination of やん and が. 誰やが、何やが... wait that reminds me...

How do you translate: "What IS that?" using the 〜がや (surprised questionative particle) in Okinawan.

Answer: 何やがや? It's also a name of a YouTube quiz show using Japanese and Okinawan (see example below):

何やがや is broken down into 何 + やん + がや. Of course formally, you can also use 何 + やいびーん + がや to get: 何やいびーがや.

Another example is メーロー、来（ち）ょーがや. = Did a(n) (e-)mail come? (1/5 formal = informal).

In some dialects, がや is がやー.

〜がや is more euphemistic compared to 〜が〜ら.

Homework (Answers in Answer Key Chapter A, Answer Key A-8):

Translate the following from English to Okinawan. (1/5 formal = informal). Use ましぇー for good/better (Itoman dialect, まし + modified や).

Subtitle: 〜くとぅ (〜事) butt-frying questionative particle

Okay... I may have made this lesson title catchy.

Japanese speakers learn it as the "尻揚げ疑問" particle, which literally translates to "butt-frying question" particle.

It is actually a pun between "尻上げ" (butt-raise; shiri-a-ge) and "揚げる" (to fry; a-ge-ru) to get "尻揚げ". This is because the concept is about "尻上がり抑揚" (lit. butt-raising intonation; metaphorically, end raising intonation) and the questionative particle associated with that.

Anyways, back on topic. In previous lessons (Lower Intermediate 2 or before), we learned 〜(や)くとぅ meaning "because". This time, we are going to use it in this context.

Translate the following from English to Okinawan (formal = 3/5 formal).

English:

1a. Where are you going?

1b. Towards (my) home.

2a. Do you eat snacks/sweets? [In the context of handing a snack to someone else, most of Shuri]

2b. No, I'm fine.

Okinawan:

1a. まーんかい、やいびー事（くとぅ）？

1b. 家（やー）んかい、やいびいん。

2a. 菓子（くゎーし）、食（か）なびーん？

2b. 済（し）まびーさ。

Explanation:

1a. We use 事（くとぅ）to ask for either 1. motive for action OR 2. cause of the situation/condition. There is a similar concept for Dutch speakers with the word "daarom". Also, note that this grammar concept has been utilized into Okinawa-ben/dialect Japanese. (e.g., for where are you from: 「あんた、どこにだから？」、「どこにだからが？」 both are acceptable ways to ask where someone is from in Okinawa-ben/dialect Japanese.)

1b. If you want to make it into an informal variation, remove the やいびいん for informal variations, or conjugate it to informal, similar to Japanese.

2a. Some of you may ask, isn't it 食まびーん and not 食なびーん? To this, I have to unfortunately say that for most of the Shuri region (the de facto standard), it is not 食むん but 食ぬん and has been conjugated accordingly (See Advanced Okinawan course for a more detailed explanation. I do not know what lesson number it will be on that course, but it will be subtitled: "Changes (m to n) -- Mixed m and n words in Okinawan").

2b. Straight forward as is if you have learned well so far. (済むん = "fine"/"done"/"finish" as a verb)

Homework (Answers in Answer Key Chapter B, Chapter B-11):

Translate the following from Okinawan to English: