Asking questions in Konkani

ayk aamcigalaw

2021-06-02 18:07 (updated 2021-06-17 22:41)

In this post, we'll look at how questions are asked in Konkani – using the words for who, what, why, where, when, how, how many and which, as well as a quick way of making questions out of statements.

Who?

The word for who is kawNa [1]. It sometimes changes to follow gender, as seen in the following examples:

English	Konkani
Who are you?	toonh kawNa?
Who is that?	tAnh kawNa?
Who is he?	taw koNu?
Who is she?	tee koNi?
Whose is this?	hAnh kaawNaagalAnh?
Who is that for?	tAnh kawNaagalAnh khatira?
Whom did you tell?	toonhAnh kawNaaka saanglenh?

What?

There are two words for what – kallAnh and kaslAnh , used more or less interchangeably. Here are some example questions:

English	Konkani
What is that?	tAnh kallAnh?
What’s your name?	tugalAnh naanhvanh kallAnh?
What food do y'all like?	tumgalAnh preeti khaaNa kaslAnh?

Note that the question What time is it? isn't asked using these words – rather, the word for how many is used.

Why?

You can use the forms kallAka , kaslAka or kallAnh khatira to ask this question.

English	Konkani
Why did you call me?	toonhAnh kallAka maakkaa aappailAnh?
Why say that?	kallAnh khatira tashshi mhoNcAnh?
Why did that happen?	tAnh tashshi kallAka zaallAnh?

Where?

The word kha-yeenh is used to ask this question. Examples:

English	Konkani
Where are you going?	toonh kha-yeenh vattasa?
Where did that come from?	tAnh kha-yeenh thaaunu aailAnh?
Where is your house?	tugalAnh ghara kha-yeenh aassa?

When?

The word kednaa is used to ask this question. Examples:

English	Konkani
When shall we meet?	aammi kednaa meLyaanh?
When did y'all come?	tummi kednaa aaileenh?
When is your birthday?	tugalaw zaaideesu kednaa?

How?

The word kashshi is used to ask this question. Examples:

English	Konkani
How is that done?	tAnh kashshi korcAnh?
How are you?	toonh kashshi aassa?
How can this be?	ashshi kashshi?

How much / how many?

The word kitlAnh is used to ask these questions. Examples:

English	Konkani
How much is that? [2]	tAnh kitlAnh?
How much does that cost?	taakkaa kitlAnh mawla?
What time is it? [3]	kitlAnh ghanTA zaallA?
How many are those birds?	tyaw pakshyaw kitleenh aassati?
How tall he has become!	taw kitlaw deegu zaallaa!
What’s his height?	taagali diggaai kitlee?

Note that in some of the examples, the exact form follows gender.

Which?

The word khancAnh is used to ask the question. Examples:

English	Konkani
Which book do you like?	khancAnh pustaka preeti tukkaa?
Which ladle is that?	taw khantsaw doulaw?
Which chair is that?	tee khanci khurci?
Which book is that?	tAnh khancAnh pustaka?

Note that the precise form follows gender.

Another way of asking questions

Another way of asking questions involves making a statement and then appending vA? , which makes the statement into a question. Examples:

English	Konkani
Do you like spaghetti?	tukkaa spageTTi preeti vA?
Is this correct?	hAnh sama aassa vA?
Does she live in London?	tee landan raabtaa vA?
Does he play tennis?	taw Tennis kheLtaa vA?
Do they talk a lot?	teenh massta ullaitaati vA?
Does she drink coffee?	tee kaapi pittaa vA?

In all of these cases, removing the vA? gives the statements from which the questions are made:

English	Konkani
You like spaghetti.	tukkaa spageTTi preeti.
This is correct.	hAnh sama aassa.
She lives in London.	tee landan raabtaa.
He plays tennis.	taw Tennis kheLtaa.
They talk a lot.	teenh massta ullaitaati.
She drinks coffee.	tee kaapi pittaa.

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