Question and Negation


Question in Lakhota is indicated by the enclitic he (used by women) and hwo (used by men) at the end of a sentence. Some men use he too, especially in informal situations.

Hé nitĥáwa hwo? = Is that yours? (a man speaking)
Tuktél thí he? = Where does he live? (a woman speaking, exceptionally a man)

Note: the melody of voice does not rise up on he / who as it does at the end of question in English.

Negation in Lakhota is indicated by the enclitic šni following the word that is to be negated:

Lúta šni. = It is not red.
Sápe šni he? = Isn't it black?
Wašté kte šni. = It won't be good.

Notice that šni triggers a change of the final changeable a/aŋ into e, as above with sápa - sápe šni. The final a in lúta (red) is not changeable.

In the following drill choose the proper ending for each sentence. For this drill, you will also need know that the enclitic kte indicates future action.





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