Post XmuWDfJvr2v

Tamas Ferencz Jan 16, 2013 (11:42)

From elsewhere on G+:

Ual pole intya ma polil tenna rikuvalye.

Björn Fromén Jan 17, 2013 (16:59)

Is there an omitted relative pronoun in ...ma polil... ( = _ma ya polil_ 'a thing/something [that] you can')?

Tamas Ferencz Jan 17, 2013 (17:04)

I'm not sure there ought to be: "You cannot imagine what you are capable of until you try." I put ma as the object of intya - or rather the whole clause ma polil is the object of intya.

Björn Fromén Jan 17, 2013 (22:32)

I see; but there "what" is used as a relative pronoun = "that which". Could really ma "neuter personal pronoun 'something, a thing'" be its ready counterpart?

Tamas Ferencz Jan 18, 2013 (08:56)

I was rather thinking of ma as an interrogative here and 'ma polil' being sort of an indirect question, but my reasoning could be wrong.

Tamas Ferencz Jan 18, 2013 (08:57)

Maybe it could work like Ua polil intya tai polil tenna rikuvalye.

Björn Fromén Jan 18, 2013 (16:07)

tai would certainly work (as in care tai mo nave mára 'to do what [= that which] one judges good').  ma-  is called an interrogative stem, but seemingly it never occurs on its own, only as a word element (man, mana, manen, maquet-).