4.4. Not particular article: ȻS
Models
| 1) | YÁ¸ ȻS SMÍEŦ. | ‘A deer goes’ or ‘Some deer goes’ or |
| 2) | YÁ¸ LE¸ ȻS SMÍEŦ. | ‘A/Some deer went’ or ‘Deer went.’ |
| 3) | YÁ¸ SE¸ ȻS SMÍEŦ. | ‘A/Some deer will go’ or ‘Deer will go.’ |
| 4) | YÁ¸ E ȻS SMÍEŦ? | ‘Did a/some deer go?’ or ‘Did deer go?’ |
| 5) | ȻENET LE¸ SEN ȻS SMÍEŦ. | ‘I took a/some deer.’ |
‣ 1 This article ȻS is also very common and useful. It often can be translated with ‘a’ or ‘some’ in English, but it can also be used sometimes when English has no article before the noun. Compare these two sentences—the first has ȻSE and the second has the ȻS ‘not particular’ article:
NESṮI¸ ȻSE TÁLE. ‘I need that money.’
NESṮI¸ ȻS TÁLE. ‘I need money.’
‣ 2 Note that the article ȻS article is not equivalent to the English ‘a/an’ indefinite article. In English we use ‘a/an’ to introduce a new element to the discussion. The article ‘the’ is used for an element that has previously been mentioned. When we say, for example,
‘I saw a deer. The deer was really big.’
we are talking about a particular deer. In SENĆOŦEN, we could not use the nonparticular ȻS in this context. We would have to say
QENNEW̱ SEN ȻSE SMÍEŦ. ÁN¸ U¸ ĆEḴ ȻSE SMÍEŦ.
because, from the start, the speaker is thinking of a particular deer.
‣ 3 The article ȻS article has the same Ȼ as ȻSE, indicating something that is not visible. It lacks the final E. That final E marks an item as particular.
 | YÁ¸ E SE¸ SW̱? | ‘Will you go?’ |
 | YÁ¸ SEN. | ‘I’ll go.’ |
| ȻENET E LE¸ SW̱ ȻS ḰO¸? | ‘Did you take water?’ |
| EWE. ȻENET LE¸ SEN ȻS TÁLE. | ‘No. I took money.’ |
| ȻENET ĆE ȻS ḰO¸. | ‘Take water!’ |
| ÍY¸. | ‘Okay.’ |
| 4.4A. Translate each into English. 1. W̱ITEṈ E ȻS SMÍYEŦ? 2. NEḴEṈ ȻS KÁ¸ṈI¸. 3. QENNEW̱ E SW̱ ȻS SḴAXE¸? 4. ȻENET SEN SE¸ ȻS ḰO¸. | 4.4B. Translate into SENĆOŦEN. 1. I’ll take a friend. 2. Did a cat jump? 3. Do you see a deer? 4. Will you take water? |
| 4.4C. Write four new SENĆOŦEN sentences with noun phrases using ȻS. | |