19.2. ‘Some’
Models
| 1) | YÁ¸ TŦE NI¸. | ‘Some went.’ |
| 2) | NI¸ TŦE YÁ¸. | ‘There are some that went.’ |
| 3) | NI¸ TŦE NE TÁLE. | ‘I have some money.’ |
| 4) | EWE S MEQ TŦE TÁLE. | ‘It’s some of the money.’ |
| 5) | EWE S MEQ NE SȻENET TŦE TÁLE. | ‘I took some of the money.’ |
‣ 1 The word ‘some’ in English has a number of meanings and uses. It can be used as an adjective or adverb as in ‘She is some swimmer!’ or ‘Some guy was here.’ or ‘I want some food.’ or ‘We’ve been working for some time.’ or ‘Some twenty people were there.’ It can also be used as a pronoun or adjective meaning ‘some, but not all.’ It is only this last meaning, ‘some, but not all,’ as shown in the models, that we are considering here.
‣ 2 The SENĆOŦEN word NI¸, translated as ‘some’ in the models, also has other meanings. In its most basic use, it is translated ‘exists,’ as in NI¸ SEN ‘I exist.’ It can also mean ‘be born,’ as in NI¸ TŦE NE ṈENE¸ ‘My child was born.’
‣ 3 The ‘exist’ translation can be roughly used in some of the models. For example, the third model could be translated ‘My money exists.’ Generally, when translated ‘some,’ NI¸ means ‘not all and not nothing.’
‣ 4 The word NI¸ can also be used to mean ‘there’s more’ or ‘there’s still some left,’ as in NI¸ TŦE S¸IȽEN ‘There’s more food’ or ‘There’s food left.’ It still can be literally translated ‘The food exists’ or ‘There’s some food.’
‣ 5 The root NI¸ ‘exist’ is also found in the common word EWENE ‘not exist, nothing’ (§12.5). The stress on EWENE is on the first E, taking away any stress on NI¸. As usual, unstressed vowels become E.
‣ 6 The last two models (4 and 5) show an entirely different way to express ‘some.’ The key phrase is EWE S MEQ. This literally means ‘not all.’ This usage is preferred by some elders to express ‘some’ meaning ‘not all and not nothing.’ Often MEQ is preceded by the U¸ ‘contrast’ prefix (§56.1), as in EWE S U¸ MEQ.
 | NI¸ E TŦE S¸IȽEN? | ‘Is there some food?’ |
 | EWE. IȽEN SEN TŦE U¸ MEQ STÁṈ. | ‘No. I ate everything.’ |
| NI¸ E TŦE EN¸ TÁLE? | ‘Do you have some money?’ |
| HÁE. ȻENET SW̱ NI¸ ¸E TŦE NE TÁLE. | ‘Yes. Take some of my money.’ |
| 19.2A. Translate each of the following into English. 1. IȽEN TŦE NI¸. 2. IȽEN SEN ¸E TŦE NI¸. 3. NI¸ E TŦE S¸IȽEN? 4. ȻENETEṈ ¸E TŦE NI¸. 5. ȻENETEṈ TŦE NI¸ ¸E ȻSE MEQ SÁN. 6. ȻENET TŦE NI¸. | 19.2B. Translate each of the following into SENĆOŦEN. 1. Some of them went. 2. Some of my friends went. 3. Did some go? 4. They took some food. 5. I ate some. 6. Take some food. |
| 19.2C. Make up four more sentences using NI¸. | |