Phi practice Nouns and classifiers in Phi

Reading 11 of 12

Part 10

Exercises

Answers follow at the end. Before checking any form, read the phrase left to right and say what each word narrows.

Part AParse the phrase

Name the job of every word.

  1. mia ha serao shelu
  2. ta shao themo kerou
  3. sheloi welao melu
  4. sila nophi
  5. lo shiro

Part BBuild the phrase

Render each English phrase or sentence in Phi.

  1. Friends, explicitly more than one.
  2. Exactly two trees, classified as living beings.
  3. Few trees.
  4. A tree house.
  5. My friend's book.
  6. I have two baskets, counted and classified.

Part CRepair or defend

Some items are ungrammatical, some claim the wrong thing for the stated intent, and some are fine. Judge each.

  1. *sheloi lo melu intended as "many friends."
  2. *ta himo shao melu intended as "exactly three friends, classified."
  3. shao wiru reported after counting the baskets one by one: three.
  4. *serao mia shelu intended as "my old book."
  5. ta nophe nophi intended as "one story."

Part DChoose the honest claim

Pick the phrase each situation supports, and say why.

  1. You counted the baskets: two.
  2. You looked over the meadow: flowers, contextually many.
  3. Bread for the table tonight, and there is sufficient.
  4. An audit records zero friends present; a sigh says there are none. Give both phrases.

Part ETranslate

  1. mia lo melu nila.
  2. ta shao mioru thepalu
  3. pukea ruela
  4. mia wi themo wiru phelu.

Check your workAnswer key

AnswersPart A

  1. mia possessor, ha pointer, serao descriptor, shelu the noun: this old book of mine.
  2. ta shao the exact count, themo the classifier after the whole number, kerou the noun: exactly three stones, as objects.
  3. sheloi the quantity judgment, welao the descriptor, melu the noun: many good friends.
  4. sila a noun modifying nophi: the community's story, the exact relation left open.
  5. lo unquantified plurality over shiro: trees, more than one, no count.

AnswersPart B

  1. lo melu.
  2. wi lipha shiro.
  3. phina shiro.
  4. shiro womu.
  5. mia melu shelu.
  6. mia wi themo wiru phelu.

AnswersPart C

  1. Ungrammatical: two quantity markers. sheloi melu.
  2. Ungrammatical: the classifier interrupted the number. The count completes first: ta shao himo melu.
  3. Wrong for the claim: the tally supports exactness, so say ta shao wiru. Bare shao claims a scale you did better than.
  4. Ungrammatical for the meaning: the possessor leads. mia serao shelu.
  5. Fine, defend it: the classifier is optional, correctly placed after the numeral, and ta nophi would be equally correct.

AnswersPart D

  1. wi wiru. The count happened; the phrase reports it.
  2. sheloi peloru. The judgment is many; lo peloru would claim only plurality and waste what the look told you.
  3. henoi napa. Sufficiency against tonight's purpose, which no exact count states better.
  4. mu melu for the audit's exact zero; mawha melu for the bench where no friends sit. Same absence, two claims, each true to what the moment knows.

AnswersPart E

  1. I see friends.
  2. Exactly three beautiful gardens.
  3. A dangerous path: the danger stands in front as the path's character, a noun doing an adjective's practical work.
  4. I have two baskets: the possessed phrase complete inside the clause, and phelu making the having a claim of its own.