61.1. ‘Please’
Models
| 1) | ȾIW̱EṈ I¸ QENSISEṈ SW̱. | ‘Please look at it for me.’ |
| 2) | ȾIW̱EṈ I¸ EȽENISTOṈES SW̱. | ‘Please feed me.’ |
| 3) | ȾIW̱EṈ ¸E TŦE ŚUȻE. | ‘Please pass the sugar.’ |
| 3) | X̱EṈ E SW̱ I¸ EN¸Á ȾIW̱EṈ ¸E TŦE ŚUȻE? | ‘Can you please pass the sugar?’ |
| 5) | ȾW̱IṈ¸ES I¸ EȽENISTOṈES. | ‘Please feed me.’ |
| 6) | ȾW̱IṈ¸ES I¸ OṈES ¸E TŦÁ¸E ŚXEL¸ÁL¸S. | ‘Please give me that pen.’ |
| 7) | EN¸Á ȾW̱IṈ¸ES ¸E TŦE SXÁĆ. | ‘Please give me some dried fish.’ |
| 8) | TU¸ YEŦO¸STOṈES ĆEȽ HO¸. | ‘Kind of tell me about it please.’ |
‣ 1 As the models show, there are several ways of making a polite request in SENĆOŦEN. The key word in models 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 is ȾIW̱EṈ, which has the basic meaning of ‘feel pity, feel sorry for.’
‣ 2 Models 1 and 2 show the most common way of making a polite request. The ‘please’ construction in these first two models is a compound sentence—two sentences conjoined with I¸ (§11.1). The first sentence in the compound is just ȾIW̱EṈ, which makes it an imperative (§3.1). The second sentence states the request. So, model 1 is literally ‘Feel pity and look at it for me.’
‣ 3 Model 3 shows a common short way of making a casual polite request. Here it is just ȾIW̱EṈ followed by the thing being requested in a prepositional phrase. This is a bit harder to provide a literal translation for—something like ‘Feel pity of/by/for/to the sugar.’ But this is certainly an idiom and speakers do not think of ‘pity’ when they use the expression shown in model 3. This is simply a short way of expressing ‘please’ similar to the way in English ‘thanks’ is a short way of saying ‘thank you.’
‣ 4 Note that model 4 ends with the same words as model 3. Model 4 is an even more polite way of making the request. It adds an explicit yes/no question (§3.2) with X̱EṈ, the I¸-class auxiliary (§10.2) meaning ‘can, could.’
‣ 5 The word EN¸Á ‘come’ occurs often in requests that an item be given, as in model 4. This model can be literally translated ‘Can you come feel pity of/by/for/to the sugar.’ Again, this is an idiom, and speakers do not think of ‘pity’ when making this kind of request.
‣ 6 Models 5 and 6 are similar to models 1 and 2—two conjoined sentences. In these two models the word ȾIWEṈ has been made transitive with the ‘me’ first-person object suffix -S (§32.1). So, model 5 means literally ‘Pity me and feed me.’
‣ 7 Model 7 is a shortened form similar to model 3. This has the EN¸Á ‘come’ mentioned in point 5, above. It also has the transitive ȾW̱IṈ¸ES ‘pity me.’
‣ 8 The patterns with ȾW̱IṈ¸ES ‘pity me,’ as in models 5, 6, and 7, are more often used by an older person asking a younger person for help.
‣ 9 The pattern in model 8 is completely different. Here the politeness in the request is indicated by what are called ‘hedges,’ which soften the request. The hedges here are the little words you add when concerned that the person you are asking a favor of may feel imposed upon. Model 8 uses the TU¸ ‘kind of’ prefix (§56), the ĆEȽ ‘suggest’ (§48.2), and ends with HO¸ ‘if.’ Each of these soften the request and amount to ‘please.’
 | ȾIWEṈ I¸ ȺYEL¸TOṈES TŦE EN¸ PUC. | ‘Please lend me your book.’ |
 | EWENE NE PUK. MEL¸EḴT SEN. | ‘I have no book. I forgot it.’ |
| ĆOȻES ĆEȽ TŦE NE PUC. | ‘Use my book.’ |
| X̱ENIṈ KE ȻEĆÁ EN¸ ŚW̱ṮI¸ TŦE NE SȻÁ¸? | ‘Why did you want mine?!’ |
61.1A. Make up four new polite requests using different patterns from the models. 61.2B. Write your own original dialogue using polite requests |