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Very short notes on
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Piedmontese syntax - Second part
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Just underlining some differences with Italian
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| Syntax of the speech's parts |
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The article In classical piedmontese the article is not allowed in front of person's name, as it happens, istead, with italian and with some italian dialects. With the manes of the rivers The Po is the longest river in Italy = Ël Po a l'é 'l pì longh fium d'Italia. I go to the Po for a bit of fresh air = I vado a Po për un pòch d'ària frësca. In piedmontese the two rivers Dora have two possible names: Dòra and Dòjra. With the first name the article is used, with the second it is not used. The word "dòjra" is used also, in general, for torrent, stream. Then we notice that the article is often required for distinguishing the number of masculine names and adjectives. These are, in fact, usually invariant at plural. In the Grammar we have seen that possessive pronouns reject the article (this is also in english), but not at the plural masculine. The reason is this possibility of distinguishing the number. If we look at the words: My dog = mè can ; my dogs = Ij mè can. The difference is in the article. The noun With collective noun, that have singular form, in piedmontese is possible (not mandatory) to use the verb at the plural person. For example the english word people has in piedmontese the correspondent gent. While in english people is plural, in piedmontese gent is singular (even if the plural wuold have the same writing). Nevertheless it is possible to write. la gent a capisso nen përchè = People do not understand why, as well as la gent a capiss nen përchè. We have already seen the particolar use of the nouns madama, madamin, tòta, mossù, sgnor, sgnora, sor, sora and we do not repeat here this item. Another particularity is the way of indicating the hours of the day. First hours are from 1 to 12 in the night or in the morning (ëd neuit, ëd matin) and in the afternon or evening (dòpmesdì, ëd sèira). Then for one and two (sometimes also three), the hour is called bòt, for all the others is called ore (plural of ora, pron. \ ur& , ure \). So we have for example: It is 1 a.m. = a l'é un bòt (ëd neuit) It is 2,15 a.m. = a son doi bòt e 'n quàrt (ëd neuit) It is 1,30 p.m. = a son doi bòt e més (ëd dòpmesdì). Note that més is half at masculine (bòt is masculine). At 7 a.m. = a set ore ('d matin) At 7,30 p.m. = a set e mesa ('d sèira). Note that mesa is half at feminine (ore is feminine). If the time is not a complete hour, the word ore is suppressed, while the word bòt is not suppressed.: from 1,25 up to 5.20 = da un bòt e vintesinch fin-a a sinch e vint. Noon is mesdì, and midnight is For indicating a time interval the word bòt is not used. It will take one hour and half = A-i andrà n'ora e mesa. The adjective Something has been seen in the Grammar, and here we want just to add something on superlative and adjectival locutions. We noted that in piedmontese the absolute superlative making use of the desinence -issim, that corresponds to the italian -issimo, is not nuch used, even if grammatically correct. There are expressions havin value of superlative that can be obtained, for example, by doubling the adjective, or by associating two different adjectives, or using comparisons some times as a paradox, but anyway of common use. So they sound absolutely normal. For example: A l'é fol fol = He is very stupid A l'é cascà longh e tirà = He fell down "completely" literally: He fell down long and stretched. Esse anfreidà com un can = To have a bad cold literally: To have a cold like a dog. Esse borgno com un pom = To be completely blind literally: To be blind like an apple. These examples are not something to joke, but expressions commonly used by everybody An adjective that is very used for producing superlatives is bél, bela, béj, bele literally meaning fine (in the forms of masculine and feminine, singular and plural), also in the form pì bél, etc... (more fine), according the following examples: A l'é bél véj = He is very old literally he is fine old Na pì bela fija = A very fine girl literally A nore fine girl And still in the form dij béj = of the fine (plural). That means many. Example: A-i na son dij béj = There are many literally There are of them of the fine. This also is a common way of saying, understood by everybody. That means it is an idiomatic expression. And we will see in the section "Idiomatic phrases" some other examples. For the relative superlative we remember the two possible ways of doing it. One has a construction similar to italian, the other one a construction similar to fench: The most clever person = La pì inteligenta person-a or la person-a la pì inteligenta There are two particular adjectives that can be also propouns and adverbs. They are motobin (very) and pòch (little, few, not very, etc.). We have already seen the use of motobin as an adverb for doing an absolute superlative. In this way also pòch has the same behaviour. He is very clever = chièl a l'é motobin furb, he is not very clever = chièl a l'é pòch furb. In italian, and in english as well, they are often used as indefinite adjectives. In many of these cases, in piedmontese, they support a partitive complement, as it happens also in french. They are not similar since motobin behaves as an adverb and is invariant, while we have pòch, pòchi, pòca, pòche according the use. We note the following examples: much bread = motobin ëd pan (literally: very (much) of bread) you got many enemies = It ses fàte motobin ëd nemis The word pòch has a behaviour a bit more complex. If the following partitive is plural, then pòch maintains the indeterminative singular article un, but it agrees in gender and number with partitive: few sheeps = un pòche ëd fèje (fèje is feminine) few appless = un pòchi ëd pom (pom is masculine) Il the following partitive is singular, pòch is singular, of course, and if the partitive is masculine, pòch is masculine. If the partitive is feminine, then both pòch and pòca are allowed, i.e. it can be used either mascoline or feminine. a bit of bread = un pòch ëd pan (pan is masculine) a bit of cheese = un pòch ëd toma or un pòca ëd toma (toma is feminine). The short form po' is invariant, and therefore there aren't these problems. The pronoun In piedmontese, in many cases, pleonastic repetition of pronouns at the dative is a rule (not always mandatory), even if when the indirect object is explicit.: I tell it to my father = I-j lo diso a mè pare or I lo diso a mè pare. In the first translation there is a pleonastic -j (to him) that is not present in the second translation. Both are correct, but the first is "more naturally piedmontese". We have already spoken about the position of personal pronouns when complements. (previous page). Then we spoke about verbal personal pronouns and interrogative personal pronouns, that are not present in italian and in english (and not even in french). We also spoke about all the composite particles produced by associating personal pronouns. Finally, also in the previous page, we noticed the particulatities of the pronoun che. We do still some considerations about this last point: This pronoun, used without prepositions for different kinds of complement, could produce confusion. At the same time the use of the pronouns qual. quala, quai, quale with the prepositions, is very limited, since it does not sound like a good piedmontese. In piedmontese style, along the centuries, the problems was differently solved. We have seen above that in piedmontese there exist the trend of adding pleonastic pronouns. By adding some pronominal or adverbial particle in sentences using che, we can avoid indetermination and maintain the piedmontese style. The sentence becomes clear and natural. For example: The person to whom we spoke = The person whom we spoke to = La person-a che i l'oma parlaje (this construction is not so different from the english second one). As a last thing we note a form of stressing the adfirmation "yes" or the negation " not", when the meaning is: it's yes for mi, it's yes for you, etc. as in the example; do you like cheese? - Yes I do (for me is certainly yes) the piedmontese anwer is: mi sì mi where the pronoun mi is doubled. This is valid also for the possible negation mi nò mi. The verb First of all we refer to what has been told about the predicate (previous page). We underlined already the absence of the perfect tense, even if it is better to consider that this tense exists, but it is not used (sometimes in poetry is still used, anyway). The meaning of the piedmontese tenses and the continuous tenses are depicted in grammar (Generality on Verbs). We recall here something about continuous tenses, underlining a particular and very used piedmontese form.: (engl.) I am doing, I was doing ; (ital.) Io sto facendo, io stavo facendo ; (piedm.) I son an camin che i faso, I j'era an camin che i fasìa literally the piedmontese form is I am on the way (in path) that i do ; I was on the way that i did. It exists, anyway, also in piedmontese, a form similar to the italian one: I stago fasend ; i stasìa fasend. this last is not the most common form. The optative form is expressed with the subjunctive tenses, making use of the interrogative personal pronoun (this is another use of it, not for questions). (how fine) if he really went away! = andèiss-lo via dabon!. (since there is the interrogative pronoun, the verbal pronoun is not necessary). A similar form is used in sentences like: Even if she were the best .... = fuss-la pura la pì bon-a..... (also in this case there is the interrogative pronoun intead of the verbal one). Actions that are immediately consecutive, are expressed in a form that recalls the latine absolute ablative. This form is also used sometimes in italian, but in piedmontese is the most common. For example: After having payed it, he broke it. = Pagà che a l'ha avùlo, a l'ha rompùlo (literally: payed that he had it, he broke it) We note some piedmontese constructions that are very close to french constructions. The following are very used in piedmontese. I am (the one) that.... = A l'é mì che.... (in french: c'est moi que ....) literally: It is me that.... What do you want? = lòn che a l'é che it veule? (literally: what that it is that you want? In french: qu'est ce que tu veux?. The forms it is necessary, it is required, to need, to matter (to care). We told about the first three while speaking of defective verbs. For the last, we sai that in piedmontese the verb fé (to do) is used, with a little modification, and associated to a partitive. The verbal locution is intransitive, and is used in an impersonal mode (3rd sing. pers.): It does not matter to me = am n'anfà nen = am na fà nen (literally: it to me of it does not). The verbal locution can be na fà (present.) ; na fasìa (past imperfect), etc. or n'anfà (present.) ; n'anfasìa (past imperfect), etc. Since things are no so clear (I have to admit), we do some examples: what I'm doing it doesen't matter to you = lòn che i faso at n'anfà nen. They didn't care what I said = a-j n'anfasìa gnente ëd lòn ch'i disìa. At this point we do not claim to have been complete and clear. (in some next release we will try to). The preposition Something about prepositions has been told while speaking of complements. Among what we did not seen, we note: 1) - The gerund (both present and past) is often preceded by the preposition an (in) so for example being gone can be tranlsted either essend andàit or an essend andàit; in the same way he doesn't come since he cannot. can be tranlsted either chèl a ven nen, pairand nen or chèl a ven nen, an pairanda nen (the gerund can finish by "a" or not, according the "sound" of the sentence). 2) - In complements of place that make use of the preposition "su" (on, over) and derived articled prepositions, very often, this preposition is preceded by the preposition "an" (in). For example: on the table = an sla tàula (literally: in on the table) 3) - Speaking about partitive, we noticed that the preposition "dë" (of) in piedmontese is very used. We have already seen cases if its use in complements of place (previous page). 4) - Similar to the above point, theuse of the preposition dë partitive with the direct object, as in the example: to play piano = soné dël piano 5) - The preposition an, that with article becomes ant, is used for indicaating about, more or less, when they are referred to time. For example I will come at about midday = I vnirai ant ël mesdì (literally: I will come in the midday). 6) - While in italian sometimes the expression assieme con--- = together with... is used, in piedmontese this is not allowed and the correct form is ansema a... = together to... The adverb From what we saw about adjectives, we can conclude that the word motobin = much, very, that logically can be adjective, pronoun, adverb, is used mainly as an adverb, and often holds a partitive. The word pì = more has a similar behaviour. For example: I want more bread = I veulo pì 'd pan Ve repeat something about affirmations, and negations. In piedmontese there are three affirmative particles which are sì, é, òi. The first two are equivalent, the third has a stressed value. The corresponding negative particle is no. Negative particles used in negative conjugations are the two: nen, pà. The second of them corresponds to a stressed negation, but it can also be used instead of the first. The use of these particles is different from the corresponding french particles ne ... pà. In piedmontese there are many adverbial locutions, and for them we refer to Piedmontese idiomatic expressions. Finally we remember that many piedmontese adverbs are made up by two words, usually a preposition (a) and a noun. For example: a malòch = abundantly The conjunction There is a particular use of the conjunction che = that in the following expressions: To say yes = Dì che 'd sì (literally: to say that of yes) and To say not = Dì che 'd nò (literally: to say that of not) We will see in idiomatic expressions some way of expressing some conjunction. Here we note that often, in piedmontese, two similar conjunctions are associated in the sentence. This is an error in italian, not in piedmontese. For example: I will go after = i andrai peui dòp (literally: i will go then after) Similarly it is used: siché donca = so then ; ma però = but but ; etc. The last remark is on the conjunction përchè that has value of because and of why. This is a composite conjunction made up by për and che. When in a negative sentences with the meaning of because ... not (like the latin ut non), usually in piedmontese it is broken into the two parts, with the negation in between the two: I tell you because you don't go (in order you not to go) = it lo diso për nen che ti it vade.  |
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