19.1. ‘Every,’ ‘all,’ and ‘any’
Models
| 1) | ÍY¸ TŦE MEQ SÁN. | ‘Everybody is good.’ |
| 2) | MEQ SÁN ÍY¸. | ‘Everybody is good.’ |
| 3) | MEQ LE¸ SÁN ÍY¸. | ‘Everybody was good.’ |
| 4) | MEQ SÁN ȻENET | ‘Everybody took it.’ |
| 5) | ȻENET TŦE MEQ SÁN. | ‘Take everybody.’ |
| 6) | ÍY¸ TŦE MEQ STÁṈ. | ‘Everything is good.’ |
| 7) | MEQ STÁṈ ÍY¸. | ‘Everything is good.’ |
| 8) | MEQ LE¸ STÁṈ ÍY¸. | ‘Everything was good.’ |
| 9) | ȻENET TŦE MEQ STÁṈ. | ‘Take everything.’ |
| 10) | MEQ TŦE PIPE. | ‘It’s all the paper.’ |
| 11) | MEQ TŦE PIPE U¸ PEK. | ‘All the papers are white’ / |
| ‘The paper is all white.’ |
‣ 1 The word to focus on here is MEQ ‘all, every.’ When it is followed by SÁN ‘who, somebody,’ the combination means ‘everybody,’ as in the first five models (1-5). When it is followed by STÁṈ ‘what, something,’ the combination means ‘everything,’ as in the next five model sentences (6-10).
‣ 2 As with the question words and focus pronouns (§15.2, §15.3), an item moved to the front of the sentence indicates that it is in focus. The English translations with ‘everybody’ or ‘everything’ in italics indicates that that word is in focus. In English, the word is pronounced with a little more emphasis.
‣ 3 In English, ‘everybody’ and ‘everything’ are treated as single compound words, not two each. In SENĆOŦEN, MEQ SÁN and MEQ STÁṈ also often seem to function like compound words. However, models 4 and 8 (MEQ LE¸ SÁN YÁ¸ and MEQ LE¸ STÁṈ ÍY¸) have the past tense LE¸ between the two parts. This shows that these are grammatically two separate words.
‣ 4 To express quality, such as ‘good,’ about everybody or everything, put MEQ SÁN into a noun phrase and make it the subject of the quality. Here the quality, ÍY¸, is the verb of the sentence ‘to be good.’ Any intransitive verb could substitute here. For example,
YÁ¸ TŦE MEQ SÁN. ‘Everybody went.’
The same goes for the other two intransitive models where the first verb is MEQ ‘to be all’
MEQ SÁN YÁ¸. ‘Everybody went.’
MEQ LE¸ SÁN YÁ¸. ‘Everybody did go.’
‣ 5 The interpretation is somewhat different with a transitive verb. Study models 4, 5, and 9, which have the transitive verb ȻENET ‘take it’. Notice how these differ:
YÁ¸ TŦE MEQ SÁN. ‘Everybody went.’
ȻENET TŦE MEQ SÁN. ‘Take everybody.’
With YÁ¸, an intransitive verb, ‘everybody,’ TŦE MEQ SÁN, is the subject of the verb. With ȻENET, a transitive verb, ‘everybody,’ TŦE MEQ SÁN, is the object of the verb. This is typical of SENĆOŦEN. Intransitive subjects and transitive objects share a lot of grammar; see §4.2, §11.1, §37.1 for other examples of this.
‣ 6 The interpretation of MEQ STÁṈ is also somewhat different when it is followed by a noun rather than a transitive or intransitive verb. When a noun follows, it usually is translated ‘any,’ but it could also still be translated ‘all’ or ‘every.’ Consider this: MEQ STÁṈ SḴÁXE¸. This could mean ‘all kinds of dogs’ or ‘every kind of dog,’ but usually this is translated ‘any kind of dog.’
‣ 7 The last two models (10 and 11) show the use of MEQ without the SÁN or STÁṈ. In the last model, we have a common construction that can have two meanings. In this construction, MEQ can apply to ‘the paper’ or to the quality ‘white.’
‣ 8 Often MEQ has the U¸ ‘in contrast’ prefix (§11.2, §56.1) as in YÁ¸ TŦE U¸ MEQ SÁN ‘Everybody went.’ The U¸ prefix serves to highlight the contrast between ‘everyone’ or ‘everything’ and ‘not quite all.’
 | TES E TŦE MEQ SÁN? | ‘Did everybody arrive?’ |
 | HÁE. I¸ ȻENET TŦE U¸ MEQ STÁṈ. | ‘Yes. And they took everything.’ |
| MEQ E STÁṈ ȻENET. | ‘Did they take everything?’ |
| ȻENETES TŦE U¸ MEQ TŦE S¸IȽEN. | ‘They took all the food.’ |
| 19.1A. Translate each of the following into English. 1. MEQ TŦE NE SĆÁ¸ĆE¸. 2. MEQ TŦE SḴÁXE¸ U¸ ĆEḴ. 3. QENNEW̱ E SW̱ TŦE MEQ STÁṈ? 4. EWE SEN S QENNEW̱ TŦE U¸ MEQ STÁṈ. 5. SÁN Ȼ S¸IȽEN ¸E TŦE MEQ STÁṈ? 6. QENNEW̱ E SW̱ TŦE U¸ MEQ STÁṈ SḴÁXE¸? | 19.1B. Translate each of the following into SENĆOŦEN. 1. All my friends went. 2. Did all the dogs run away? 3. Did they take everything? 4. They took all the dogs. 5. I ate everything. 6. Take any kind of food. |
| 19.1C. Make up four more sentences using MEQ. | |