UNIT 14
Case particles 3
㠦㍲ es9, 㠦Ợ ege, 䞲䎢 hant’e, ℮ kke,
㠦Ợ㍲ eges9, and 䞲䎢㍲ hant’es9
The particle 㠦㍲
The case particle 㠦㍲G is a one-form particle and is used to express two
things: (1) the dynamic location, or (2) the source of action. A dynamic
location refers to the place where an action takes place. Consider the
following sentence:
㫊㧊G 䞯ᾦG 㔳╏㠦㍲G 㩦㕂㦚G ⲏ㠊㣪 “John eats lunch at the school
cafeteria”
Notice that 䞯ᾦG㔳╏G“the school cafeteria” is a dynamic location, where
the action (e.g., eating lunch) takes place. In fact, the use of the particle
㠦㍲ is determined by the type of verb the sentence has. Whenever the
verb denotes an activity such as playing, doing, meeting, working, studying,
and so forth, 㠦㍲ must be used. Here are more examples:
㞺✲⮮ṖG䞯ᾦ㠦㍲GⰆ┺⯒GⰢ⋮㣪 “Andrew meets Susan at school”
OP 㞺✲⮮ṖG䞯ᾦ㠦GⰆ┺⯒GⰢ⋮㣪 “Andrew meets Susan at school”
In the first sentence above, the particle 㠦㍲ is used, since the school is the
dynamic location where the action (e.g., meeting Susan) is taking place.
The use of 㠦 in this context would be ungrammatical.
Second, the particle 㠦㍲ marks a source of action (e.g., starting location),
corresponding to “from” in English. Consider the following examples:
⽊㓺䏺㠦㍲GⓊ㣫㔲₢㰖GṖ㣪 “(I) go to New York City from Boston”
㡂₆㠦㍲G㩖₆₢㰖G㼃㏢䟊G㭒㎎㣪 “Please clean from here to there”
⋮㡺ↂṖG㧒⽎㠦㍲G㢖㣪 “Naoko comes from Japan”
Notice that the sources of action above are all inanimate entities (e.g.,
places such as Boston, here, and Japan). If the sources of actions are
animate such as persons and animals, different particles such as 䞲䎢㍲ or
㠦Ợ㍲ should be used.
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