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Lesson 12

Determination



     1. A noun can either be indeterminate or determined. The indeterminate
        form has no special marker. In English the indefinite articles "a"
 	and "an" are used, but in Tigre there is no such marker:

Example 12.1:

           feres       a horse
           adg         a donkey
           Telit       a goat
           dmu         a cat
           kelb        a dog
           Hayet       a lion
           biet        a house
           qelem       a pen


Examples 12.2:  
		 male feres zabeko  	Yesterday I bought a horse
                 male Hayet re'eko  	Yesterday I saw a lion

       2. The determined form of the noun denoted in English by the
          definite article "the" is expressed in Tigre by a prefix
          element "le" attached to the noun

Example 12.3:

           leferes      the horse
           le'nas       the man
           lebiet       the house

Examples 12.4:

       leferes beda              The horse is lost
       lebiet zebet              The house is sold
       lekelb nebHa              The dog barked
       le'nas giesa              The man went ( left )

       le feres lemale zabekuwu beda 	The horse that I bought yesterday
        	                      	is lost
       le melehayka men ta smu?  	What is the name of your friend?
       le qeyaH mekinet nay men ta? 	Whose is the red car.


      3. The marker of determination is gender independent and is the
         same for female and male. eg.

Example 12.5 :

           lewelet         the girl
           le'nas          the man
           leHSan          the child

       4. The marker "le" is also used for singular and plural. 

Example 12.6:

           lewelet        the girl
           le'awald       the girls
           leAd           the village
           leAdotat       the villages

         *******************************************

       In this lesson we have learned the following new words:

        feres   	horse
        adg     	donkey
        Telit   	goat
        dmu     	cat
        Hayet   	lion
        zabeko  	I bought
        zabet   	she bought
        HSan    	child
        beda    	lost
        qelem   	pen
        qeyeH   	red (m)
        qeyaH   	red (f)
        mekinet 	car
        Ad      	village
************************************************************
End of Lesson 12
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