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Exercise 7.1: Practise the interrogative dummy su- « Greenlandic for Foreigners 2 « Learn Greenlandic

Exercise 7.1: Practise the interrogative dummy su-

Remember su- from chapter 5? su- is almost impossible to translate into idiomatic English because su- does not really mean anything. It is an interrogative dummy we use whenever we need to form questions about semantics contained in morphemes and endings as opposed to meaning contained in stems. In chapter 6 you met the sentence .. nalullugu suniarnerlunga ('not knowing what I wanted'). In the relative clause all meaning is contained in the morphemes +NIAR+NIR. That is a typical way to use su-. Translate the questions and negations hereunder. You need to use su- plus an ending and sometimes also a morphme. Push to play the audio, to check your answer, to play the solution, or to reveal the solution.

The most what?
What way?
They do not do the least
What do you have?
What on earth does he do? (Use su+TUQ plus clitic UNA as exclamation)
What shall we do?
Where is he now?
To where?
Where do I go?
What is your relation to him?
What does she normally do?
There is nothing
What has he begun to?
I have nothing
There is nothing!
What became of him?
Do you want a boy or a girl? (Use su+TAAR to expectant parents.)
What will they do in Denmark?
Was it a boy or a girl? (Use su+TAAR to a new parent.)
What will you do with that?
Where?
What does she want?
What does he do?
I do not want anything
What do you do?
We will do nothing!
What kind of work does he do in Greenland?
As what?
What will I work with?
I shall not do anything