CHAPTER 3
THE SENTENCE, 34–78
34. The major sentences of Burmese fall into three types. These will be called narrative, imperative, and equational. All three types have special negative forms. Narrative and equational sentences, both affirmative and negative, have special interrogative forms. The various types will be illustrated as follows: narrative statements (36–40); imperative (41); equational statements (42); interrogative (43–45); negative (46–49).
35. In the three types of sentence there occur particles which fall into five classes. Three of these classes will appear in our discussion as follows: final particles (36–40); interrogative particles (43–35); negative particles (46–49). The other two classes will be illustrated as follows: subordinating particles (50–60); general particles (61–76). As in the case of all particles, the juncture is close between these particles and the forms to which they are attached.
Narrative Statements, 36–40
36. A narrative statement consists of a verb expression (79) which has as its final particle one of the group ‑té, ‑yè, ‑kè, ‑mé, ‑pí. For ‑léi see 72.
37. The final particle ‑té following a verb makes a statement without reference to time, which may be present or past:
θwâdé ‘goes, went’; pyándé ‘returns, returned’; pyán θwâdé ‘goes, went back’; nèidâin nèidâin ŋânáyí Ɂachéin Ɂéiŋgóu pyán θwâdé ‘(he) goes home every day at five o’clock’; mahnikkà yáŋgóun myòugà mândalêi myòugòu θîmbônè khayî θwâdé ‘last year (he) made a trip from Rangoon to Mandalay by steamer’.
38. ‑yè and ‑kè are variants of -té. They are more literary; in normal speech they occur only in a limited number of phrases:
mábáyè ‘(I) am well’; pyóbáyè ‘(I) am happy’; houkkè ‘(it) is so’. The forms mábádé, pyóbádé, houtté also occur.
39. The final particle ‑mé refere to future time:
θwâmé ‘(he) will go’; manepphán θwâmé ‘(he) will go tomorrow’.
40. The final particle ‑pí indicates that the action or condition denoted by the verb to which it is attached has already begun:
θwâbí ‘(he) has gone’; yauppí ‘(he) has arrived’; yauthlùbí ‘(he) will soon arrive; (he) is on the point of arriving’; lá néibí ‘(he) is (already) coming’.
Imperative Sentences, 41
41. The imperative sentence consists of a verb expression without final particle (36):
θwâ ‘go’; Ɂéiŋgóu pyán θwâ ‘go back home’; θwâbayàzéi ‘let me go’, θwâbázéi ‘let him go’; θwâjàbázéi ‘let them go’; θwâjàzòu ‘let us go’.
Equational Sentences, 42
42. The equational sentence consists of two noun expressions which are equated. Often, especially when the sentence is long, the two expressions are separated by comma pause (26):
