Appearance
Questions
This page teaches how to ask a question and how to answer one.
You can ask for yes or no, or you can leave a blank for who / what (a fill-ask). After a yes / no question, you can answer with a short yes / no / sure word (polar stance). The same words answer a command or a request.
On this page
Beginner
Ask (yol / yom)
A question asks for a reply instead of stating a fact. English marks it by moving words around (Azawan walks → Does Azawan walk?). Agazan marks it with the act word yol at the start of the turn, followed by the body (subject, verb, and so on). Every word keeps the form it would have in a statement. Only the usual order changes: the verb comes second, right after the subject.
Soft yom asks the same question more gently (wondering rather than pressing). End a written question with a period, like any sentence.
When every person and action in the clause is already named, the expected reply is yes or no. (cue: o ≈ one: a menu you pick from.)
yol zazawan vowogal.y-question | z-Azawan | v-walk
"Does Azawan walk?"
yom zalahen vezebal.y-soft-question | z-Alahen | v-sleep
"Is Alahen sleeping, I wonder?"
yol zazawan vahahal dagadul.y-question | z-Azawan | v-see | d-cat
"Does Azawan see a cat?"
With no body at all, the question asks about what was just said: Huh? / What? Soft yom. is gentler (Hm?).
yol.y-question
"Huh?"
A question whose subject is nobody (zal), or whose whole clause is nothing happened (xal), still asks for yes or no, not who.
yol zal vowogal.y-question | z-none | v-walk
"Does nobody walk?"
Fill-ask
Sometimes you do not want yes or no. You want the other person to name someone or something: who?, what?, do what?, what happened? That kind of question is a fill-ask.
Keep yol or yom at the start. In the slot you want filled, use a join word that ends in -r (zar, var, xar, …). That -r is the blank (unspecified-member -r). (cue: -r names this member; a ≈ add for who/what, u ≈ undo for who/what else.)
yol zar vowogal.y-question | z-wh | v-walk
"Who walks?"
Put the blank first in the body, and the other words in their statement order after it. The listener hears what you are asking before anything else, and the blank itself marks the turn as a question even if yol is missed.
yol dar zazawan vahahal.y-question | d-wh | z-Azawan | v-see
"What does Azawan see?"
A blank that completes another word comes first together with that word: like whom? is humum bar, so yol humum bar zazawan vowogal. asks Whom does Azawan walk like?
In the word-by-word line under an example, a fill-ask blank shows as wh, short for whichever question word fits the slot (who, what, where, and so on).
If the reply is just the fill, not a full sentence, write it as a citation: root + ending, no role letter. Leave no join -r in the answer; that -r was the blank. A full-sentence answer uses ordinary role letters.
azawan."Azawan."
| Agazan | Use | English | Cue |
|---|---|---|---|
a (zar · var · xar) | ask for who or what | Who/what? / What happened? | a ≈ add |
u (zur · vur · xur) | ask for who or what else | Who else? / What else? | u ≈ undo |
yol zur vezebal.y-question | z-wh-else | v-sleep
"Who else sleeps?"
alahen."Alahen."
Compare with: pointing back at someone already named uses resume -r on a whole stem or a role pointer (pronouns). A fill-ask uses only join -r. Length tells them apart: a resume spells a whole stem, and a role pointer has a role vowel, x, and a pointer vowel, so both have at least five letters. A join word always has fewer than five.
To ask how many?, the blank is a number word instead: see numbers.
Question tone (?)
The act word yol / yom already makes the sentence a question, so the tone mark ? is never required. It is still recommended, because it shows the rising voice in writing:
- Yes/no question: write a free-standing
?right after the/y/words, so it applies to the whole rest of the sentence. - Fill-ask: attach
?to the front of each fill-ask word (the join -r blank), so the rise falls on what you want filled.
yol ? zazawan vowogal.y-question | ? | z-Azawan | v-walk
"Does Azawan walk?"
yol ?zar vowogal.y-question | ?z-wh | v-walk
"Who walks?"
The sentence still ends in a period.
Fill-all
To ask who sees what?, put join -r in every slot you want filled, and put all the blanks first. Each of those -r words is a blank, and the answer is expected to fill all of them, in the order the question gave them.
yol zar dar vahahal.y-question | z-wh | d-wh | v-see
"Who sees what?"
azawan odogal.Azawan | dog
"Azawan, a dog."
If only one slot is unknown, put join -r only there. Write the known thing as an ordinary word (-l / -m).
yol zar vahahal dodogal.y-question | z-wh | v-see | d-dog
"Who sees a dog?"
azawan."Azawan."
Polar stance (yes / no / sure)
After a yes / no question, you often answer with a short word that means yes, no, or I’ll take that. That answer is a polar stance. It can stand alone as a whole turn, or it can sit at the start of a turn before a sentence body.
Write y, then two vowels, then -l (firm) or -m (softer).
yael means yes / true: the claim matches. Soft twin yaem: I think so / yeah.
yuel means no / false: the claim does not match. Soft twin yuem: I don’t think so / nah.
yaol means sure / I’ll take that: you take up the offer. Soft twin yaom: okay / sure, I guess.
When a sentence body follows yes, write yael then the body. You do not also write the statement word yal.
A turn holds one polar word. Do not stack two, and do not put one before an act word: an answer followed by a question is two turns.
| Agazan | Use | English | Cue |
|--------|-----|---------|-----| | yael / soft yaem | the claim matches, or got it | yes / true · I think so | a ≈ add + e ≈ order (the claim lines up) | | yuel / soft yuem | mismatch | no / false · I don’t think so | u ≈ undo + e ≈ order (the claim does not line up) | | yaol / soft yaom | take up an offered option | sure / I’ll take that · okay | a ≈ add + o ≈ one |
yael."Yes." / "True." / "Got it."
yaem.y-yes-soft
"I think so." / "Yeah."
yuel."No." / "False."
yuem.y-no-soft
"I don’t think so." / "Nah."
yaol."Sure." / "I’ll take that."
yaom.y-sure-soft
"Okay." / "Sure, I guess."
To back up your own statement with yes, give yael a turn of its own: finish the statement with a period, then write yael.
zazawan vowogal. yael.z-Azawan | v-walk . y-yes
"Azawan walks. Yes."
To ask the listener to confirm instead (…, right?), put the question word yol before it: yol yael. A short question like this after a statement is a tag. Soft yom yael. is …, isn't it?
zazawan vowogal. yol yael.z-Azawan | v-walk . y-question | y-yes
"Azawan walks, right?"
Compare with: a command Don’t walk uses yul. yuel answers whether a claim is true.
Inside the clause, not X is the join zul / vul, not a polar word.
Embedded whether
English whether reports a yes/no question inside a statement (Azawan sees whether Alahen walks). Write the stand-in dorl in the object slot, with the inner question right after it. The whole sentence is still a statement, so do not write yol at its start.
zazawan vahahal dorl zalahen vowogal.z-Azawan | v-see | d-whether-clause | z-Alahen | v-walk
"Azawan sees whether Alahen walks."
Compare with: a direct question (Does Azawan walk?) puts yol at the start of the turn. If Alahen walks is a condition, not an inner question; it uses its own condition word.
Practice
Short drills for Beginner. Try each item before opening Show answer.
Setting: a lost-and-found
New words:
| English | Agazan | Cue |
|---|---|---|
| umbrella | amebel | ☂️ |
| coat | ogodul | 🧥 |
| key | egehul | 🔑 |
| write | varadal | ✍️ |
| lie | valahal | 🤥 |
Review:
| English | Agazan |
|---|---|
| Azawan | azawan |
| Alahen | alahen |
| Ahaben | ahaben |
| find | vamagal |
| see | vahahal |
| pencil | ebeyol |
| book | ugul |
English → Agazan
1. Does Azawan find the key? (with the rising tone)
Show answer
yol ? zazawan vamagal degehul.
y-question | ? | z-Azawan | v-find | d-key
Also correct: yol zazawan vamagal degehul.
2. Who sees the umbrella?
Show answer
yol ?zar damebel vahahal.
y-question | ?z-wh | d-umbrella | v-see
Also correct: yol ?zar vahahal damebel.
3. Is Alahen lying, I wonder?
Show answer
yom zalahen valahal.
y-soft-question | z-Alahen | v-lie
4. Who finds what?
Show answer
yol zar dar vamagal.
y-question | z-wh | d-wh | v-find
Also correct: yol zar vamagal dar.
5. Ahaben writes, right?
Show answer
zahaben varadal. yol yael.
z-Ahaben | v-write . y-question | y-yes
6. No. / False. (the claim does not match)
Show answer
yuel.
y-no
Agazan → English
1. yom zahaben vahahal dogodul.
Show answer
y-soft-question | z-Ahaben | v-see | d-coat
Is Ahaben seeing the coat, I wonder?
2. yol zur debeyol vamagal.
Show answer
y-question | z-wh-else | d-pencil | v-find
Who else finds a pencil?
3. yol zal vamagal dugul.
Show answer
y-question | z-none | v-find | d-book
Does nobody find a book?
4. zazawan vahahal dorl zalahen degehul vamagal.
Show answer
z-Azawan | v-see | d-whether-clause | z-Alahen | d-key | v-find
Azawan sees whether Alahen finds the key.
5. yaom.
Show answer
y-sure-soft
Okay. / Sure, I guess.
6. alahen.
Show answer
Alahen
Alahen. (just the fill)
Pick one
1. Who writes? yol ?zar varadal. or yol ?zur varadal.
Show answer
yol ?zar varadal.
y-question | ?z-wh | v-write
zar asks who; zur asks who else.
2. No. (answering Does Alahen lie?) yuel. or yul.
Show answer
yuel.
y-no
yuel says the claim does not match; yul forbids, don't.
Fix it
1. Azawan finds the coat, right? yol zazawan vamagal dogodul. yael.
Show answer
zazawan dogodul vamagal. yol yael.
z-Azawan | d-coat | v-find . y-question | y-yes
The statement stays a statement; the tag yol yael. is its own short question after it.
Intermediate
Polar stance: fuller inventory
Beginner already used yes / true (yael), no / false (yuel), and sure (yaol). The rest of the map is reject this option, reject the question itself, and decline to answer. The first vowel gives the family (a add: accept, u undo, o one). The second vowel says what you are answering (e the claim or the order, o this option, a the question's own premise).
| Agazan | Use | English | Cue |
|---|---|---|---|
ae (yael) | the claim matches, or got it; comply with an order | true · will do | a ≈ add + e ≈ order (judged in line) |
ue (yuel) | flip / mismatch; refuse an order | false · I won't | u ≈ undo + e ≈ order (judged out of line) |
ao (yaol) | take up an offered option | sure | a ≈ add + o ≈ one |
uo (yuol) | reject this option | not that | u ≈ undo + o ≈ one |
ua (yual) | reject the question's premise | neither: the question doesn't apply | u ≈ undo + a ≈ add (undo what the question added) |
oe (yoel) | decline to answer | I won't answer | o ≈ one + e ≈ order (pass to the next one in line) |
yual answers a question that assumes something false. Have you stopped lying? has no honest yes or no if you never lied. yual. says so in one word, without accepting the frame. It judges the question, not the speaker's willingness: for a refusal to answer, use yoel (below).
yol zazawan vowogal ul bahazal. yual.y-question | z-Azawan | v-walk | [from | b-house] . y-reject-frame
"Did Azawan walk away from the house? That doesn't apply (Azawan was never at the house)."
Three endings
Each stance word takes one of three endings, on the same settled-to-passing scale as time horizon. -l holds the stance firmly. -m is the soft twin. -r marks a stance you hold only for now: provisional, and you expect to revisit it.
| -l firm | -m soft | -r for now | |
|---|---|---|---|
ae | yael true | yaem I think so | yaer true, for now / I'll take that on board for now |
ue | yuel false | yuem I don't think so | yuer not so, for now (I'm holding off, and may reconsider) |
ao | yaol sure | yaom okay | yaor fine, for now / let's try it |
uo | yuol not that | yuom nah | yuor not that, for now / not right now |
ua | yual the question doesn't apply | yuam it's more complicated than that | yuar it doesn't apply, for now (the premise fails at the moment) |
oe | yoel I won't answer | yoem I'd rather not say | yoer pass, for now |
yaer takes a claim on board without committing to it. English oh, I see often sounds like agreement; yaer says only that you hold the claim for now. You can restate the claim after the stance word:
yaer zazawan vowogal.y-yes-for-now | z-Azawan | v-walk
"All right, so Azawan walks, for now."
yuar says the question's premise fails at the moment, though it may hold later (cue: a door that is not there yet). yuer holds off on the claim; yuar holds off on what the question took for granted.
yol zazawan vowogal ul bahazal. yuar.y-question | z-Azawan | v-walk | [from | b-house] . y-reject-frame-for-now
"Did Azawan walk away from the house? Not as things stand: Azawan isn't at the house."
yoel, yoem and yoer decline to answer without saying no and without judging the question. Nobody should hear them as a denial or as a rejected frame.
yol zalahen vezebal. yoer.y-question | z-Alahen | v-sleep . y-decline-for-now
"Is Alahen asleep? I'll pass for now."
Answering a command or request
A command (yel) or request (yem) is not a claim, so true and false do not fit it. The same stance words answer it, but now they say whether you will do what was asked. The e in yael / yuel is the order vowel of yel itself.
| Stance | -l firm | -m soft | -r for now |
|---|---|---|---|
ae accept the order | yael will do | yaem okay, I'll try | yaer will do, for now |
ue refuse the order | yuel I won't | yuem I'd rather not | yuer I won't, for now |
ao take it up as an offer | yaol sure, I'll take that on | yaom okay, fine | yaor fine, for now |
uo reject this option | yuol not that | yuom nah | yuor not that, for now |
ua reject the premise | yual that can't be done | yuam it's more complicated than that | yuar it doesn't apply, for now |
oe decline to answer | yoel I won't say | yoem I'd rather not say | yoer pass, for now |
After a flat command, yael / yuel are the plain comply / refuse. After a request (yem), the o words fit better, because you are choosing whether to take it on.
yel vowogal zehon. yael.y-command | v-walk | z-listener . y-yes
"Walk." "Will do."
yem vowogal zehon. yuor.y-request | v-walk | z-listener . y-refuse-option-for-now
"Please walk." "Not right now."
For a stronger stance, use the tone mark !!, not a different word. !!yaol is Absolutely! / Yes, please!, and !!yuol is Hell no!
!!yaol.!!y-sure
"Absolutely!"
!!yuol.!!y-refuse-option
"Hell no!"
| Ask flavor | Firm (-l) | Soft (-m) |
|---|---|---|
| Is it so? / confirm the claim | yael, deny with yuel | yaem, deny with yuem |
| Want this? / offer | yaol, reject-this with yuol | yaom, reject-this with yuom |
Command (yel) | yael, refuse with yuel | yaem, refuse with yuem |
| Loaded question | yual | yuam |
| Declined question | yoel | yoem |
A stance word can stand alone (yael.), sit before a body (yael zazawan vowogal.), or come as a confirm tag in the next turn after .. After a stance word plus a body, continue with /x/; write a second polar word only in a new turn. When you think aloud on your own, yuel can mark a correction, yaol the next step, and yael a point you settle.
Compare with: not inside the clause uses zul / vul. Polar yuel / yuol answer a yes / no or an offer.
Tags: asking for an answer
Beginner closed a claim with the tag yol yael. (…, right?). Every polar word works as a tag the same way: after your sentence, write yol and the polar word as a turn of their own. The tag asks the listener for that answer. Naming an answer makes it easy to give, so pick the one you want to make easy.
After a request or a suggestion, yol yaol. asks okay?: will they take it up? yol yuol. asks or would you rather not?, so they can turn it down without having to push back. After a claim, yol yuel. asks or am I wrong?: it invites a correction, where yol yael. leans toward agreement.
yem vowogal zahan. yol yaol.y-request | v-walk | z-interlocutors . y-question | y-sure
"Let's walk, okay?"
yem vowogal zehon. yol yuol.y-request | v-walk | z-listener . y-question | y-refuse-option
"Please walk, or would you rather not?"
zazawan vowogal. yol yuel.z-Azawan | v-walk . y-question | y-no
"Azawan walked, or am I wrong?"
| Agazan | Use | English |
|--------|-----|---------| | yol yael. | ask them to confirm a claim | …, right? | | yol yuel. | invite a correction | …, or am I wrong? | | yol yaol. | ask them to take up a request or an offer | …, okay? / …, deal? | | yol yuol. | offer them the refusal | …, or would you rather not? | | yol yaer. | ask them to accept it for now | …, can we go with that for now? | | yol yoem. | after a question, offer them a pass | …, or would you rather not say? |
Soft yom asks more gently (yom yaol. …, if that's okay?), and the other polar words and endings make tags the same way.
Compare with: the answer itself is the polar word alone (yaol. sure). The tag puts yol first, so it asks for that answer instead of giving it.
Confirming a negative
When the question already contains not (Didn’t Azawan run?), yes and no still say whether that claim matches. yael confirms the denial (true: they didn’t). yuel says the denial is false (they did). Restate the body after the stance word to make the answer unmistakable. Offer words (yaol / yuol) still answer take this?, not true/false.
yol zazawan varahal vul. yael.y-question | z-Azawan | [v-run | v-not] . y-yes
"Didn’t Azawan run? True, Azawan didn’t."
yael varahal vul.y-yes | [v-run | v-not]
"True: (they) didn’t run."
Fill-ask arity
Beginner already used who/what (…ar) and what else (…ur). Two more vowels (…or, …er) and the number of items listed before the blank (none, one, or several) complete the map, which matches single-item / standalone.
| Items listed | …ar | …or | …er | …ur |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Who/what? | Anything? | What’s the priority? | What else? |
| 1 | What/which (unknown) X? | Any X? | Which X is first? | What else (besides X)? |
| 2+ | Which of these? | Any of these? | Which ranks highest? | What else? / Other than these? |
With nothing listed, -r in the asked-about slot is an open who / what. Bare var / xar is what did they do? / what happened?. Bare har is when?.
What kind?
To ask what something is like (What color is it?, What kind of dog?), put the blank on an adjective: gar. Answer with the adjective as a citation.
yol gar zodogal.y-question | g-wh | z-dog
"What is the dog like?"
gelavam."Big."
| Agazan | English |
|--------|---------| | gar | What is it like? / What kind? | | gor | Like anything in particular? | | gur | What else is it like? |
Compare with: like what? is the similative blank, humum bar (how): it asks for a model to resemble, not a property. How many? is grar (numbers).
When?
To ask when? / in what case?, put the blank har in the /h/ slot (or war on /w/).
yol har zahaben vowogal.y-question | h-when | z-Ahaben | v-walk
"When does Ahaben walk?"
| Agazan | English (statement, bare) | English (under question, bare) |
|---|---|---|
har / war | sometimes | When? / In what case? |
Related forms: for anytime?, when else?, when's best?, and what these words mean in a statement, see restrictors.
Where?
To ask where?, write an extra-noun hook (a short word like at, in, or from that brings in a /b/ noun), then the blank bar in the /b/ slot after it. The hook picks which where you mean.
yol ol bar zahaben vowogal.y-question | [at | b-wh] | z-Ahaben | v-walk
"Where does Ahaben walk?"
yol al bar zodogal vezebal.y-question | [in | b-wh] | z-dog | v-sleep
"What does the dog sleep in?"
| Agazan | English |
|--------|---------| | ol bar | Where (at)? | | al bar | In what? | | ul bar | Where from? | | el bar | For what? | | ol bor | Anywhere? | | ol bur | Where else? |
Answer with the hook and the landmark, as a citation: ol bahazal. ("At the house.").
Compare with: when? is har on /h/. Occasions are times or cases, so a place never goes there.
Whose?
To ask whose?, write the hook em (used by) after the thing, then the blank bar: the same shape as where?. Because em says the /b/ noun uses the thing, the question asks who uses it?
yol zodogal em bar vowogal.y-question | [z-dog | [used-by | b-wh]] | v-walk
"Whose dog walks?"
Answer with the hook and the user, as a citation: em bazawan. ("Azawan's."). For ownership rather than use, see gegabem.
How?
To ask how?, use the same shape as where?: a word that says how the answer relates to the event, then the blank bar. For manner (in what way?), that word is humum like, so the question asks like what?
yol humum bar zazawan vowogal.y-question | h-like | b-wh | z-Azawan | v-walk
"How does Azawan walk?" (like what?)
To ask about means (with what?), use the using hook with the blank (stacked-vowel hooks).
Why?
To ask why?, write a condition word (because, so that, in case), then the blank bar. Pick the word for the kind of reason you want.
yol thavem bar zazawan vowogal.y-question | th-because | b-wh | z-Azawan | v-walk
"Why does Azawan walk?" (because of what?)
yol hogom bar zazawan vowogal.y-question | h-so-that | b-wh | z-Azawan | v-walk
"What does Azawan walk for?"
| Agazan | English |
|--------|---------| | thavem bar | Why? (because of what?) | | hogom bar | What for? (for what purpose?) | | thoyem bar | Under what condition? / In what case? |
Compare with: thar asks for the speaker's grounds (Why do you say so?), not what caused the event. Use thavem bar for the cause.
A blank inside a dependent
English puts who in different places in Do you know who walks? and Who do you think walks?. In the first, the inner clause asks; in the second, the main question asks. In Agazan the blank stays in the inner clause both times (it never moves to the front of the outer sentence), and the stand-in's vowel says which question it belongs to. dorl (whether) is itself question-like, so its blank belongs to it, and the outer yol is yes/no. darl (that) is statement-like and cannot ask, so its blank belongs to the outer yol.
yol zehon vugum dorl zar vowogal.y-question | z-listener | v-knowledge | d-whether-clause | z-wh | v-walk
"Do you know who walks?"
yol zehon vevegal darl zar vowogal.y-question | z-listener | v-think | d-that-clause | z-wh | v-walk
"Who do you think walks?"
If the outer sentence has a blank of its own, that blank is the main question and the inner one stays with dorl: yol zar vugum dorl zar vowogal. is Who knows who walks? Under a statement, dorl plus a blank is a reported question.
Yes/no with single-item / standalone
A yes/no question can also check a named item: put a single-item join after it instead of a fill-ask blank. Single-item -l (or usual -n) asks the listener to confirm that this one item alone is meant (Just Azawan?, Has to be Azawan?). Single-item -m offers it (How about Ahaben?). …ul / …um / …un confirm or offer a denial (Not Azawan?). Standalone -l / -m check emptiness (Nothing?, Got nothing?). Fill-ask still uses …ar / …or / …er / …ur.
yol zazawan zal.y-question | [z-Azawan | z-and]
"Just Azawan?"
yol zahaben zam.y-question | [z-Ahaben | z-and.open]
"How about Ahaben?"
Compare with: who / which still uses join -r (fill-ask).
Rhetorical question
A rhetorical question is shaped like a question, but you are not waiting for a reply: you think the answer is obvious. Write statement yal right before yol. The statement word says you already hold the answer; the question word gives the body its question shape. The body is an ordinary yes/no question or fill-ask.
yal yol zar vegehel.y-statement | y-question | z-wh | v-care
"Who cares? (Nobody.)"
yal yol zazawan vowogal.y-statement | y-question | z-Azawan | v-walk
"Doesn't Azawan walk? (Of course Azawan does.)"
Soft yam yol muses rather than insists: you lean toward an answer but put it forward lightly, as if thinking aloud.
yam yol zar vegehel.y-soft-statement | y-question | z-wh | v-care
"Who really cares, though?"
The listener may still reply, but no reply is owed. Only yal or yam stacks before the question word yol / yom this way.
Compare with: a tag after the sentence (…. yol yael.) asks the listener to confirm. A rhetorical question asks for nothing.
Practice
Short drills for Intermediate. Try each item before opening Show answer.
Setting: a detective interview
New words:
| English | Agazan | Cue |
|---|---|---|
| phone | ovavol | 📱 |
| attest | vodol | 👁️🗨️ |
| dog | odogal | 🐕 |
Review:
| English | Agazan |
|---|---|
| Azawan | azawan |
| Alahen | alahen |
| Ahaben | ahaben |
| listener | ehon |
| key | egehul |
| tell | vezebel |
| sit | vehahel |
| find | vamagal |
| think | vevegal |
| knowledge | vugum |
| lie | valahal |
| walk | vowogal |
| sleep | vezebal |
English → Agazan
1. Didn’t Azawan tell? Then confirm: true, Azawan didn’t.
Show answer
yol zazawan vezebel vul. yael.
y-question | z-Azawan | [v-tell | v-not] . y-yes
2. When does Ahaben sit? Then: I'll pass for now.
Show answer
yol har zahaben vehahel. yoer.
y-question | h-when | z-Ahaben | v-sit . y-decline-for-now
3. What is the dog like?
Show answer
yol gar zodogal.
y-question | g-wh | z-dog
4. Whose key does Alahen find?
Show answer
yol degehul em bar zalahen vamagal.
y-question | [d-key | [used-by | b-wh]] | z-Alahen | v-find
5. Who do you think lies?
Show answer
yol zehon vevegal darl zar valahal.
y-question | z-listener | v-think | d-that-clause | z-wh | v-lie
6. Please attest, okay?
Show answer
yem vodol zehon. yol yaol.
y-request | v-attest | z-listener . y-question | y-sure
Agazan → English
1. yol thavem bar zazawan vowogal.
Show answer
y-question | th-because | b-wh | z-Azawan | v-walk
Why does Azawan walk?
2. yol humum bar zahaben vezebel.
Show answer
y-question | h-like | b-wh | z-Ahaben | v-tell
How does Ahaben tell it? (like what?)
3. yol dovavol dor.
Show answer
y-question | [d-phone | d-which]
Which phone?
4. yol zalahen zal.
Show answer
y-question | [z-Alahen | z-and]
Just Alahen?
5. yal yol zar vodol.
Show answer
y-statement | y-question | z-wh | v-attest
Who attests? (Nobody.)
6. yol ol bar zodogal vezebal.
Show answer
y-question | [at | b-wh] | z-dog | v-sleep
Where does the dog sleep?
Pick one
1. Didn’t Alahen lie? Answer: False, Alahen did lie. yuel. or yael.
Show answer
yuel.
y-no
The answer says whether the denial matches: yuel says it does not, so Alahen lied.
2. Did you stop lying? (you never lied) yual. or yuel.
Show answer
yual.
y-reject-frame
yual rejects the question's premise; yuel would accept it and say you still lie.
Fix it
1. Do you know who walks? yol zehon vugum darl zar vowogal.
Show answer
yol zehon vugum dorl zar vowogal.
y-question | z-listener | v-knowledge | d-whether-clause | z-wh | v-walk
Under darl the blank belongs to the outer question (who do you know walks?); dorl keeps it in the inner one.
See also
- Speech moves: turn; speech act
- dependents.md: continue
- dependents.md: that / whether after
darl/dorl - joins.md: join fences; statement readings of -r / single-item / standalone
- pronouns.md: content resume -r (fill-ask is join -r)