Questions
Kaitag has two main question types: polar and content. From them also rhetoric questions are made. The question particles follow the predicative logic.
| Cheatsheet | ||
| ✔️ | атта ҡил у? is father at home? | е / акку yes / no |
| ❓ | ҡил ча йа? who is at home? | атта це father is |
| 🤔 | атта ҡил у ра? I wonder if father's home? | е / вейкку yes / he isn't |
Glossary
| ча, чила | who, whose |
| ци | what |
| коцци/кон | where |
| чун | how many |
| дила | my |
| и, ила | you, your |
| атта | father |
| машин | car |
| ҡил | at home |
| вярун | [he] went |
| чьвел | two |
1 Polar
The polar questions are formed by particle y. Such question can be given simple yes/no asnwer.
- и ҡил де у? е.
are you at home? yes. - машин ила у? акку.
is the car yours? no. - машин бел у? е, бел.
is the car still there? yes, it is still.
Note
When preceeded by a vowel the particle у is often pronounced as в:
- ила у ➡️ ила'в.
And when preceeded by a consonant it can also be pronounced as ев:
- ҡил у ➡️ ҡил'ев.
1.1 Tag Questions
Using the negative copula акку we form the common phrase акку у "isn't it".
- машин ила це, акку у?
the car is yours, isn't it? - и ҡил де, аккотте у?
you are home, aren't you?
1.2 Placement
As the examples above show, the particle is usually placed at the very end of a sentence, though free order is also possible:
- бел у машин?
is the car still there?
Like with the other predicative particles, placement affects the emphasis:
- и ҡил де у?
are you home? (i.e. where are you?) - и де у ҡил?
are you home? (i.e. is that you?)
2 Content
The content questions that need full asnwer are marked by particle йа. They always require preceeding question word.
- коцци де йа? ҡил да.
where are you? I'm home. - машин чила йа? дила це.
whose car is [this]? mine. - машин чун ди йа? чьвел ди.
how many cars are there? there are two.
Note
After a vowel the particle is often reduced to й:
- коцци йа ➡️ коцци'й;
- ча де йа ➡️ ча де'й.
After consonants (except for й) the particle reverses to ей:
- коцци вярун ей? ҡил.
where did [he] go? home. - ци машин ей? Жип це.
what car is [that]? Jeep.
Note
After a consonant the particle can be pronounced as ай or а/е:
- вярун ей ➡️ вярун'ай;
- кон ей ➡️ кон'а.
3 Rhetoric
The rhetoric questions convey broad meaning like "hmm, I wonder...". Both polar and content questions become rhetoric when followed by particle ра.
- атта ҡил у ра?
[I wonder if] father is at home? - кон вярун ей ра?
[interesting,] where did he go? - чун машин ди йа ра?
[hmm,] how many car are there?
Note
In rhetoric questions we can always replace the polar particle у with йа:
- ҡил у ра ➡️ ҡил ей ра.