20.5. Superlative construction
Models
| 1) | NIȽ U¸ HÍ OL¸ XEM TŦE NE SȻÁ¸ NE MO͸. | ‘My basket is the heaviest.’ |
| 2) | NIȽ U¸ HÍ OL¸ ĆEḴ TI¸Á PUS. | ‘This cat is the biggest.’ |
‣ 1 The superlative in SENĆOŦEN is basically the same as the Focus Comparative. The difference is that in the superlative U¸ HÍ OL¸ follows the focus pronoun. U¸ HÍ OL¸ means something like ‘the only one.’ The other difference is, of course, there is only one thing being compared. Here is the basic formula for the superlative:
NIȽ U¸ HÍ OL¸ QUALITY X
‣ 2 The question words SÁN and STÁṈ count as focus pronouns. So the following are models for superlative questions:
SÁN OĆE U¸ HÍ OL¸ ĆEḴ? ‘Who is the biggest?’
STÁṈ OĆE U¸ HÍ OL¸ ĆEḴ? ‘What is the biggest?’
‣ 3 A useful article appears in the second model: TI¸Á ‘this’
 | SÁN U¸ HÍ OL¸ QOMQEM? | ‘Who is the strongest?’ |
 | ESE U¸ HÍ OL¸ QOMQEM. | ‘I am the strongest.’ |
| SQȺ Ȼ NE SSÁ¸ET TI,Á SNEW̱EȽ. | ‘I can’t lift this canoe.’ |
| ȻENÁṈESE SEN SE¸. | ‘I’ll help you.’ |
| 20.5A. Translate each of the following into English. 1. NIȽ U¸ HÍ OL¸ X̱EṈ TŦE SȻÁ¸ ȽTE. 2. NIȽ U¸ HÍ OL¸ XEU¸ES TI¸Á SNEW̱EȽ. 3. NIȽ E U¸ HÍ OL¸ QOMQEM TŦE EN¸ SĆÁ¸ĆE¸? 4. STÁṈ OĆE U¸ HÍ OL¸ ÍY¸? 5. NIȽ U¸ HÍ OL¸ ÍY¸ NE SȻÁ¸. | 20.5B. Translate each of the following into SENĆOŦEN 1. Your canoe is the fastest. 2. Was your cat the smallest? 3. You are the best. 4. That boy is the strongest. 5. My dog is the worst. |
| 20.5C. Make four more SENĆOŦEN superlative sentences. | |