7pheralu to lepa
Yesterday
Part II begins with time. Phi keeps time in small words that stand immediately before the verb: announce the when, then deliver the doing. The first is to: the event is over; you are looking back at it. An unmarked verb is now; a to verb is then. Yesterday there was a storm.
SceneI
kurisha to shua.pheralu to lepa.howeli to shua.lo neparu to shua.lopia mua womu to nulae.lohau mua womu to nulae.misheko to nulae.
| new word | say it | it means |
|---|---|---|
| to | to | (before the verb: it already happened) |
| pheralu | phe · ra · lu | rain |
| kurisha | ku · ri · sha | storm |
| lepa | le · pa | fall |
| howeli | ho · we · li | wind |
| neparu | ne · pa · ru | cloud |
A storm came: rain fell, wind and clouds followed, and the household slept through all of it. Read the last line twice: for one member of the household, to changes nothing that was ever going to be different.
SceneII
phao sulopa to pharelo.lopia sulopa to nuola.thero keru to loa.misheko phialu to milau.
| new word | say it | it means |
|---|---|---|
| thero | the · ro | fire |
| pharelo | pha · re · lo | cook |
Soup was cooked and eaten while the storm worked. The third line deserves a close look: the fire gave light (keru to loa). In this sentence, to touches the verb even when another word arrives first, so time is the modifier closest to the doing.
SceneIII
And today:
sileta rihe.sileta keru loa.waero welao nai.lopia mua thepalu thalo.lohau mua thepalu thalo.misheko nulae.
The past particle is absent: the sun rises now, and the sky is good now. Yesterday and today use the same words in the same order; one small to moves the whole scene into the past.
SceneIV
The friend arrives, and yesterday becomes conversation:
melukia. wa pheralu to lepa.phaolia. pheralu to lepa. howeli to shua.meluwa thia mua womu to nulae.phaolia. mia mua womu to nulae. lohau to nulae. misheko to nulae.lopiamisheko nulae.
Did rain fall? It fell. Did you sleep? We all slept. The child's last line drops the to: the cat slept, the cat sleeps, and the tense hardly seems worth marking. Some truths sit outside of time.