53 Indirect Quotes
He told me to go.
He told me that I’d go.
He told me what he wanted.
He asked me to go.
He asked me if I’d go.
He asked me what I wanted.
He said to go.
He said that I’d go.
He said what he wanted.
Compare these examples with those at the beginning of §52. Just as with the direct quotes in §52, in each case the speaker is reporting on what someone else said. Each sentence reports on what someone said but does so indirectly. Just as in the direct quotes, each of these sentences in English uses a reporting verb in the main clause. Unlike the direct quotes, each event that is reported in these examples is in a subordinate clause. Refresh your understanding of subordinate clauses by reviewing §30 and §46.
Indirect quotes are more common and more important than direct quotes in SENĆOŦEN, as in English. In this section we describe how to do indirect quotes in SENĆOŦEN to report commands, questions, and statements.
Models
| 1) | AXEṈ ȻE EWÁ¸EN S YȺ¸. | ‘They said for me not to go.’ |
| 2) | XENEṈ SEN ȻE YȺ¸ES. | ‘I said for him to go.’ |
| 3) | SÁT SEN ȻE YÁ¸ES. | ‘I told him to go.’ |
| 4) | SÁTEṈ SEN ȻE YÁ¸EN. | ‘I was told to go.’ |
| 5) | ĆTÁT SEN ȻE YÁ¸ES. | ‘I asked him if he went.’ |
| 6) | ĆTÁTEṈ ȻE YÁ¸ES. | ‘He was asked if he went.’ |
| 7) | YEŦOST SEN ȻE YÁ¸ES. | ‘I told them to go.’ |
| 8) | YEŦOSSE SEN ȻE YEŦOSTEW̱ | ‘I told you to tell |
| ȻE YÁ¸ES. | them to go.’ | |
| 9) | AXEṈ SEN Ȼ NE SYÁ¸. | ‘I said that I left.’ |
| 10) | XENEṈ SEN Ȼ NE SYÁ¸. | ‘I said that I left.’ |
| 11) | ĆTÁT SEN Ȼ YÁ¸S. | ‘I asked them to go.’ |
‣ 1 Two constructions are used in forming indirect quotes in SENĆOŦEN. The quote can be in a ȻE subordinate clause (models 1 to 8) or it can be in a Ȼ clause (models 9 and 10).
‣ 2 The ȻE clauses were covered in §30.1, where it was shown to introduce conditional clauses (‘if/when’), and §30.4, where it introduces alternative expressions (’or’). Review those sections now to refresh your memory of how those work.
‣ 3 Notice that most of the models here cannot be translated with ‘if,’ ‘when,’ or ‘or.’ Here the ȻE is used to introduce the indirect quote.
‣ 4 Just as with the other uses of ȻE clauses, the subject is marked by the subordinate subject suffixes (§17).
‣ 5 In models 1 to 4, the subordinate clause introduced by ȻE is an indirect command. In models 5 and 6, the subordinate clause introduced by ȻE is an indirect question. Indirect commands and indirect questions always appear in a ȻE clause, as the first six models show.
‣ 6 In models 7 and 8 are also indirect commands using a ȻE subordinate clause. Model 8 shows a subordinate clause within a subordinate clause. In the following, the embedded clauses are bracketed for model 8:
YEŦOS-SE SEN [ȻE YEŦOST-EW̱ [ȻE YÁ¸-ES]].
tell-you(obj) I [sub tell-you(subj) [sub go-they]]
‣ 7 Models 9, 10, and 11 show indirect statements rather than indirect commands or indirect questions.
‣ 8 In models 9, 10, and 11 the indirect quote appears in a Ȼ clause. This construction is covered in §46.
‣ 9 Note that the most common reporting verb for direct quotes, ḰÁL, is missing from the models here for indirect quotes. When used as a reporting verb, ḰÁL cannot be used with indirect quotes—only with direct quotes, as in §52.
 | SÁTEṈ SEN ȻE DOQEN. | ‘I was told to go home.’ |
 | X̱ENIṈ ȻEĆÁ? | ‘Why?’ |
| ÁN¸ SEN U¸ SXÁȽEȽ. | ‘I’m really sick.’ |
| TQISSE SEN SE¸. | ‘I’ll take you home.’ |
| 53A. Translate into English. 1. AXEṈ E SW̱ Ȼ EN¸ S¸IȽEN? 2. ĆTÁTES ȻE IȽENES. 3. ĆTÁTEṈ SEN ȻE IȽENEN. 4. CTÁT SEN Ȼ S¸IȽENS. | 53B. Translate into SENĆOŦEN 1. They said they are leaving. 2. My mother told me to come home. 3. So then I said that I want water. 4. So I asked him if he got home. |