23.1. Today, tomorrow, and yesterday
Models
| 1) | ĆEN¸TÁṈ ¸E TI¸Á ȺNEȻ? | ‘What day is it today?’ |
| 2) | YÁ¸ LE¸ SEN ¸E TI¸Á ȺNEȻ. | ‘I went today.’ |
| 3) | YÁ¸ SEN SE¸ ¸E TI¸Á ȺNEȻ. | ‘I will go today.’ |
| 4) | SĆEL¸ȻȽNÁT TI¸Á ȺNEȻ. | ‘Today is Monday.’ |
| 5) | YÁ¸ SEN ¸E ȻSE ĆELAḴEȽ. | ‘I went yesterday.’ |
| 6) | YÁ¸ ¸E ȻSI¸Á ĆELAḴEȽ. | ‘I went yesterday.’ |
| 7) | YÁ¸ LE¸ ¸E ȻSI¸Á ĆELAḴEȽ. | ‘I went yesterday.’ |
| 8) | YA¸ SEN SE¸ ȻE ȻÁĆELES. | ‘I will go tomorrow.’ |
| 9) | ȻÁĆEL I, SLIȻEL. | ‘It was the next day and it was calm.’ |
| 10) | ȻÁĆEL, I¸ ȻÁĆEL. | ‘It was day after day’ |
| 11) | ȻÁĆEL I¸ NÁT; ȻÁĆEL I¸ NÁT. | ‘It was day and night, day and night.’ |
‣ 1 The word meaning ‘today’ is ȺNEȻ (also spelled and pronounced ÁÁNEȻ). The word ȺNEȻ is always preceded by the word TI¸Á, which means ‘this.’
‣ 2 Models 1, 2, and 3 show the noun phrase TI¸Á ȺNEȻ as the object of the preposition. Most time expressions that correspond to English time adverbs begin with the preposition ¸E.
‣ 3 Basically, adverbs are words used to modify or specify events. So in English ‘I went today,’ ‘today’ is an adverb that specifies when the event happened. SENĆOŦEN does not really have class of adverbs like English, but it does have adverb-like expressions we call ‘adverbial,’ which achieve the same effect is various ways. One way that SENĆOŦEN expresses adverbials is by using the prepositional phrase as in the models. Much more will be said about adverbial constructions in §29 and §56.
‣ 4 In model 4, the noun phrase TI¸Á ȺNEȻ is not the object of the preposition. This is because TI¸Á ȺNEȻ is the subject of the sentence here and not acting as an adverb.
‣ 5 Models 5, 6, and 7 illustrate how ĆELAḴEȽ ‘yesterday’ is used. Just as for ȺNEȻ, ĆELAḴEȽ is used as the object of the preposition ¸E when it is adverbial. When ĆELAḴEȽ is used as the subject of a sentence, as in SĆEL¸ȻȽNÁT ȻSI¸Á ĆELAḴEȽ, the preposition is not used. This is the same pattern as shown in model 4 for ‘today.’
‣ 6 To express the idea of ‘tomorrow,’ a different construction is used. Unlike ȺNEȻ ‘today’ and ĆELAḴEȽ ‘yesterday,’ there is no specific word for ‘tomorrow’ in SENĆOŦEN.
‣ 7 The phrase that translates as ‘tomorrow’ is a subordinate ȻE clause. This type of subordinate clause is different from the Ȼ subordinate clauses mentioned in §12.6, §20.1, and described in detail in §46. The ȻE in this type of clause usually can be translated ‘when’ or ‘if.’ The ȻE clause always takes a subordinate subject suffix (§17). The subject in the construction meaning ‘tomorrow’ is always ‑ES, the third person subordinate subject. This type of subordinate clause is covered in detail in §30.1.
‣ 8 The verb of this ‘tomorrow’ ȻE clause is ȻÁĆEL, which basically means ‘to be a day / to be the next day.’ Model 8 can be translated literally as ‘I will go when it is the next day.’
‣ 9 You may already know the word SȻÁĆEL ‘day.’ It is used in the greeting ÍY¸ SȻÁĆEL ‘Good day.’ The word SȻÁĆEL is ȻÁĆEL with the S- noun-forming prefix.
‣ 10 Models 9, 10, and 11 show how ȻÁĆEL can be used outside of the ȻE subordinate clause. The translation given with model 9 is a literal translation. Model 10 comes from a story where someone was waiting a long time. This is literally ‘It was the next day and it was the next day.’ Model 11 comes from a story about someone adrift out on the water. Both model 10 and model 11 can be used to express a long time of days and days.
‣ 11 The construction ȻE ȻÁĆELES so regularly means ‘tomorrow,’ some speakers consider it one word— ȻEȻÁĆELES meaning ‘tomorrow.’ Some have used just ȻÁĆELES as a noun meaning ‘tomorrow’ on the analogy of ȺNEȻ ‘today’ and ĆELAḴEȽ ‘yesterday.’
‣ 12 New vocabulary (with the stressed vowel in red):
ȺNEȻ ‘today’
ĆELAḴEȽ ‘yesterday’
ȻÁĆEL ‘to be next day’
SȻÁĆEL ‘day’
SLIȻEL ‘to be calm’
‣ 13 Model 4 gives one day of the week. Here are all of the days of the week as more new vocabulary:
XÁ¸EL¸SNÁT ‘Sunday’ (based on XÁ¸EL¸S ‘Creator’)
XÁ¸XE¸ȽNÁT ‘Sunday’ (based on XÁ¸XE¸ ‘sacred’)
SĆEL¸ȻȽNÁT ‘Monday’
SŦEṈNÁTS ‘Tuesday’
SȽIW̱S ‘Wednesday’
SṈOSS ‘Thursday’
SȽKÁĆESS ‘Friday’
KEM¸ETEṈ ‘Saturday’
 | YÁ¸ LE¸ SEN ¸E TI¸Á ȺNEȻ. | ‘I went today.’ |
 | YÁ¸ E SW̱ ¸E ȻSE ĆELAḴEȽ? | ‘Did you go yesterday?’ |
| HÁE. ṮÁ¸ SEN SE¸ YÁ¸ ȻE ȻÁĆELES. | ‘Yes. I’ll go again tomorrow.’ |
| QIN¸ SE¸ OĆE I¸ YÁ¸ SW̱? | ‘What time will you go?’ |
| 23.1A. Answer each of these questions in SENĆOŦEN using ‘today,’ ‘tomorrow,’ or ‘yesterday.’ 1. ĆEN¸TÁṈ I¸ ȽÁU¸ TŦE SḴAXE¸? 2. ĆEN¸TÁṈ I¸ IȾEṈ SW̱ HÁLE? 3. ĆEN¸TÁṈ SE¸ I¸ IȽEN SEN? 4. ĆEN¸TÁṈ I¸ ȽÁU¸ TŦE SḴAXE¸? 5. ĆEN¸TÁṈ I¸ IȾEṈ SW̱ HÁLE? | 23.1B. Answer the SENĆOŦEN translation of each of these questions in SENĆOŦEN using ‘today,’ ‘tomorrow,’ or ‘yesterday.’ 1. When did you see it? 2. When will he jump? 3. When do you folks sleep? 4. When will we walk? 5. When did they fly? |