ምዕራፍሰለስተ (me’raf Seleste) Lesson 3

Objective

ንኡስ-ምዕራፍሓደ (ne’us me’raf Hadde) | QUESTIONS/ሕቶታት

Introduction

In Tigrigna language “questions” can be made using at least more than two types.

Type 1: the first anticipate the answer “Yes-እወ” or “No ኣይኾነን” and is formed simply by using the question intonation; raising the pitch of your voice at the end of the sentences. This is in contrast to the simple statement intonation where the pitch drops towards the end of the sentence. Note that the order of the words is not altered in Tigrigna

English	ትግርኛ
He is a student	ተመሃራይ ኢዩ	Tem’haray iyu.
is he a student? No.	ተመሃራይ ኢዩ? ኣይኮነን:	Tem’haray iyu?
She is his mother	ኣዲኡ እያ	Adi’u iya.
is she his mother? Yes.	ኣዲኡ እያ? እወ:	Adi’u iya? እወ
He is a teacher	መምህር እዩ	Mem’h’r iyu.
Is he a teacher? No	መምህር እዩ? ኣይኮነን:	Mem’h’r iyu?

Lesson Vocabulary

Lesson Conversation:

Lesson Monologue

Lesson Note

Student Notes

Unit 2: QUESTIONS/ሕቶታት

Another way of forming this kind of questions is to add “diyu” “diya” so on, after the noun at the end and use the usual question intonation.

ካልእ መገዲ ናይ ሕቶታት ምውሳኽ “ዲዩ” “ዲያ” ድሕሪ ስም

English		ትግርኛ
Am I?	1^st person singular	ድየ	diye ?
Are you?	2^nd person singular	ዲኻ	dika (m) ?
Are you?	2^nd person singular	ዲኺ	diki (f) ?
Is he?	3^rd person singular	ድዩ	diyu ?
Is she?	3^rd person singular	ዲያ	diya ?
Are we?	1^st person plural	ዲና	dina ?
Are you?	2^nd person plural	ዲኹም	dikum (m)?
		ዲኽን	dikin (f)?

Are they?	3^rd person plural	ድዮም	diyom (m)?
Are they?	3^rd person plural	ድየን	diyen (f) ?

Example 2. /ምሳሌ 2

English	ትግርኛ
Am I a student?	ተመሃራይ ዲየ?	Tem’haraydiye?
Am I a student?	ኣነ ተመሃራይ ዲየ?	Ane temeharay diye?
Are you a teacher?	መምህር ዲካ?	mem’h’r dika?
is he an engineer	መሃንዲስ ዲዩ?	Mehandis diyu?
Is she a doctor?	ሓኪም ዲያ?	Hakim deya?
are you Americans	ኣመሪካውያን ዲኹም?	Amerikawiyan diku’m?
Are we Eritreans?	ኤርትራውያን ዲና?	Eritrawiyan dina?
Are they friends?	መሓዙት ዲዮም?	MeHazu’t diyom?

Grammar Notes

Unit 3: QUESTIONS/ ሕቶታት

Type 3: Other kind of question asks for specific information and uses a question word like “who”, “what”, “when” and so on. Here are some important question words in Tigrigna.

ካልእ ዓይነት ሕቶታት ንዝተወሰነ ሓብሬታ ዝሕተት ከም “መን” “እንታይ” “መዓስ”

Example 1. ምሳሌ 1

	ትግርኛ
How?	ከመይ?	Kemey?
Who?	መን?	Men?
What?	እንታይ?	Intay?
How much, how many?	ክንደይ?	K’ndey?
Where?	ኣበይ?	Abbey?
Where from?	ካበይ?	Kabey?
Why?	ስለምንታይ?	S’lem’n’tay?
When?	መኣስ?	MeAs?
How often?	ክንደይ ጊዜ?	Kindey gize?

Example 2./ ምሳሌ 2

	ትግርኛ
Who are you (m)?	ንስኻ መን ኢኻ?	Iska men ika?
How you (m) did spend the night?	ከመይ ሓዲርካ?	kemey Hadirka
How many money do you (m) have?	ክንደይ ገንዘብ ኣለካ?	K’ndey genzeb ale-ka?
Where did you (m) come from?	ካበይ መጺካ?	kabey meSi’Ka
Why did you (m) come?	ስለምንታይ መጺካ?	S’lem’ntay meSi’ka?
When did you (m) come?	መኣስ መጺኻ?	MeAs meSi’Ka?

Example 3. Question & Answer using question words.

ምሳሌ 3: ሕቶን መልስን ብናይ ሕቶ መልክዕ

Answer & Question	ትግርኛ	English
Question 1 ቀዳማይ ሕቶ	ንስኹም ክንደይ ኢኹም ?	How many are you?
Answer መልሲ	ንሕና ዓሰርተ ኢና ::	We are ten.

Question 2 ካልኣይ ሕቶ	እዚ መን እዩ ?	Who is this (m)?
Answer መልሲ	እዚ ኤርትራዊ እዩ ::	He is an Eritrean

Question 3 ሳልሳይ ሕቶ	እዚኣ መን ኢያ ?	Who is this (f)?
Answer መልሲ	እዚኣ ኤርትራዊት ኢያ::	She is Eritrean.

Question 4 ራብዓይ ሕቶ	እቲ እንታይ እዩ?	What is that?
Answer መልሲ	እቲ ገዛ እዩ::	It is a house.

ምዕራፍሰለስተ (me’raf Seleste) Lesson 3

Lesson Vocabulary

Lesson Vocabulary

Lesson Conversation:

Lesson Monologue

Lesson Note

Student Notes

Grammar Notes

Lesson Exercise