8.1. The preposition ¸E in the passive
Models
| 1) | ȻENÁṈETEṈ TŦE SWIU¸LES ¸E TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸. | ‘The boy was helped by the girl.’ |
| 2) | ȻENÁṈETEṈ SEN ¸E TŦE SWIU¸LES. | ‘I was helped by the boy.’ |
‣ 1 The verb in these models is ȻENÁṈET ‘help someone’ followed by the passive suffix -EṈ. The passive suffix makes the word ȻENÁṈETEṈ mean ‘be helped.’
‣ 2 The first thing to notice is that the preposition is spelled with the glottal stop in front of it: ¸E. This keeps it distinct from the E yes/no question marker covered in §3.2. These two are grammatically distinct, and they sound different. Take a look at these two sentences:
ȻENÁṈETEṈ ¸E TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸. ‘He/she/they were helped by the girl.’
ȻENÁṈETEṈ E TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸? ‘Was the girl helped?’
The only difference in sound between these two sentences is the glottal stop <¸> of the ¸E preposition in the first one.
‣ 3 In these examples the preposition ¸E is translated ‘by.’ In §8.2, we will see the preposition ¸E translated other ways.
‣ 4 A preposition followed by a noun phrase is called a prepositional phrase. The two SENĆOŦEN prepositional phrases in the models are ¸E TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ and ¸E TŦE SWIU¸LES.
‣ 5 In these models, the subject of the sentence is colored blue. The noun phrase following the preposition ¸E is called the object of the preposition, and marked here by the color red.
‣ 6 Note that, as usual, the verb comes first in the SENĆOŦEN sentence.
‣ 7 A more detailed explanation of the passive can be found in §33. We will just say here that in a passive sentence the subject is acted upon. For every active sentence, there is a passive sentence that means basically the same thing. For example, in the following sentences with the subject shaded, the first one is active and the second is passive:
ȻENÁṈETES TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ TŦE SWIU¸LES. ‘The girl helped the boy.’
ȻENÁṈETEṈ TŦE SWIU¸LES ¸E TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸. ‘The boy was helped by the girl.’
‣ 8 Look at the noun phrases in the two examples given in note 7. The two in the first sentence, TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ and TŦE SWIU¸LES, have no preposition. Only the first noun phrase in the second sentence has no preposition. Let’s call these direct noun phrases. A direct noun phrase is a noun phrase with no preposition.
‣ 9 The passive -EṈ suffix turns the transitive verb (ȻENÁṈET in this case) into an intransitive verb. Since ȻENÁṈETEṈ is intransitive, its noun phrases must follow what we will call the Intransitive Rule:
An intransitive verb may have no more than one direct noun phrase. If it does have one direct noun phrase, then that noun phrase is the subject.
‣ 10 We can also state a similar rule for transitive verbs—the Transitive Rule: A transitive verb may have no more than two direct noun phrases. If it does have two direct noun phrases, then one is the subject and one is the direct object.
‣ 11 The Intransitive Rule and the Transitive Rule lead us directly to the Preposition Rule: Every noun phrase in a sentence that is not a direct noun phrase must be the object of the preposition ¸E.
‣ 12 A passive in SENĆOŦEN can usually be identified by the ‑TEṈ or ‑NEṈ at the end of the verb. The ‑TEṈ form is the ‘control’ form and the ‑NEṈ form is the ‘noncontrol’ form. Basically, the ‘noncontrol’ forms add the idea of ‘manage to’ or ‘finally succeed.’ There will be much more about the notions of ‘control’ and ‘noncontrol’ in later chapters. Here is a list of passive verbs to use in this and further sections. The stressed vowel in each word is underlined here to help you remember the correct pronunciation.| Control | Noncontrol | |
| QENETEṈ | QENNEṈ | ‘is looked at/seen’ |
| SE¸ÁTEṈ | SÁ¸NEṈ | ‘is lifted’ |
| ȽEȾITEṈ | ȽIȾNEṈ | ‘is cut’ |
| ŚJETEṈ | SEJNOṈ | ‘is hit’ |
| TEȻTEṈ | TEȻNOṈ | ‘is broken’ |
| W̱EĆETEṈ | W̱INOṈ | 'is wakened’ |
| ȻENETEṈ | ȻENNEṈ | ‘is taken’ |
| XÁĆETEṈ | XÁĆNEṈ | ‘is dried’ |
‣ 14 Read the first sentence of note number 12 again. Notice that it states ‘usually.’ Some intransitive verbs that end in TEṈ or NEṈ are not passive. In these cases, the T and N are not suffixes—they are part of the root. Two examples are W̱ITEṈ ‘jump’ and ȾONEṈ ‘cold (thing).’
8.1A. Each of these sentences is ungrammatical. Explain why it is ungrammatical, fix the error, and translate the sentence.
1. ȻENETEṈ TŦE TÁLE TŦE NE SĆÁ¸ĆE¸.
2. W̱EĆETES TŦE SȽÁNI¸ ¸E TŦE ṈENE¸S.
3. XĆIT TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ TŦE SWIU¸LES.
4. MESITEṈ TŦE SW͸ḴE¸ TŦE Á¸LEṈ.
5. QENNEW̱ SEN ¸E TŦE NE SĆÁ¸ĆE¸.
6. QENNEṈ SEN TŦE NE SĆÁ¸ĆE¸.
7. ȻENÁṈETEṈ TŦE SWIU¸LES TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸.
8. NEḴEṈ TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ TŦE ḰO¸.
9. QENETES TŦE SWIU¸LES TŦE SḴAXE¸ TŦE SOȽ.
10. ȻENÁṈETEṈ ¸E TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ SEN.