(1) Superlative ni-…na “the most…”
The superlative prefix ni- attaches directly to a root and is followed
by the 3rd person Genitive pronoun na to form a noun phrase, as in (1)–(2).
1. ikongo a vehavehan ni-apia na yai do irala a ipilingalingay?
What month is the best month to visit Orchid Island?
2. ni-apia na o rayon saon am.
The best month is the flying-fish season, of course.
(2) tey- “very, too”
The prefix tey- “very, too” may attach directly to a root (3), or to an
already derived stem (4).
For instance, macimocimóyin ‘rain often' is derived by reduplicating
cimoy ‘rain' → cimocimoy, then adding
ma- and -en.
Finally, adding tey- yields teymácimocimoyin.
3. tarek pa o apia na a tey-apia yakan.
“Flying-fish eggs are especially tasty.”
4. tey-mácimocimoyin pa a.
“And it rains too often.”
(3) Negation / emphasis of stative ma- verbs
The negative form of stative ma- verbs is ji a-.
For example: marékmeh “very cold” → ji árekmeh
“not cold”, mánnget “very hot” → ji ánnget “not hot”.
Depending on context, ji can also express emphasis (“very”), as in (6).
5. ji árekmeh a ji ánnget, manao o kakawan.
It is neither too hot nor too cold; the weather is just right.
6. ji árekmeh, tey-mácimocimoyin pa a.
It is very cold, and it rains too often.
(4) i- “the reason/time of…” and ika- “feeling due to…”
The prefix i- attaches to dynamic verbs to mean “is the reason/time of”;
the agent is Genitive, as in (8).
The prefix ika- attaches to stative verbs to express “a feeling because
of…”, as in (9).
7. ikongo a vehavehan ni-apia na y-ai do irala a ipilingalingay?
What month should a tourist come to Orchid Island?
8. ikongo o i-yan no libangbang sio?
In what season are there flying fish?
9. ta i-ka-rahet na?
Pretty good.
(5) ka- verbs
The prefix ka- may attach to derived stems to mean “just now; only”, as
shown in (10)–(11). The agent appears in Genitive case.
10. ta ikarahet na, ka-teymánnget na am, ka-teyáro no angin am.
It isn't that it's bad—it's just too hot and there are too many typhoons.
11. ori i, na, sipisa am, mai ko do rayon, ka-piakan ko so apia no libangbang.
Really? Then I'll come during flying-fish season next time so I can eat flying-fish eggs.
(6) Final particles sio & ang “isn't it?”
The sentence-final particles sio and ang mean “isn't it?”
but differ in temporal distance.
sio refers to events “before yesterday / long ago”, while
ang refers to “today / recently / just now”.
12. ikongo o iyan no libangbang sio?
In what season are there flying fish (you've heard this before, right)?
13. nipanci ko rana jimo nokakyab sio?
I told you yesterday, didn't I?
14. nimai ka rana nokakoa sio?
You came here long ago, didn't you?
15. ka rana nikoman ang?
You just ate, didn't you?
16. sia rana nimangay nokapnezak ang?
They left this morning, didn't they?
(7) Conjunction ta “contrary to expectation”
The conjunction ta at the beginning of a sentence expresses the speaker's
expectation contrary to the addressee's belief, as in (17)–(19).
17. ta ikong?
Why is that? (Contrary to what I thought.)
18. ta ikarahet na, kateymánnget na, kateyáro no angin am.
It isn't that it's bad (your assumption is wrong); it's just too hot and there are many typhoons.
19. ta ikarahet na, tarek pa o apia na a tey-apia yakan.
Of course it's good—flying-fish eggs are especially delicious!
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