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Copula

Hey, Lein, what's this?




A cat!
Meow, meow.
Cats are "ket" in Arka as I told you before.
"This is a cat" is "tu et ket."



Subjects come first in Arka, so "tu" means "this," while "et" means "is."



Yeah, "et" is a copula. "tu et oma" means "This is a dog."



Adjectives can come where "oma" is?



They can. "tu et kai" means "This is big."



You have to attach "-at" to make the past tense, right?
Then "This was big" is "tu etat kai"?



No, it's "tu at kai."
Copulas are used frequently, so we just say "at" instead of "etat."
This applies to "or" (the progressive form) and "ik" (the perfect form).
"tu or kai" means "this is growing," while "tu ik kai" means "this has grown up."



I don't have to remember past forms and past participles like "was" or "been," then.
The copula of Arka is "et." "tu et miik" means "This is an apple."
The word order of the sentece is the same as that of "xion axt arka" (Shion writes Arka). It's easy to remember.
By the way, how do you express "Shion doesn't write Arka" and "Does Shion write Arka?"?



You mean interrogative sentences and negative sentences?
OK, I'll teach them to you next time.