Lesson 8 — "what" forms with al– and third-person verbs

All the examples of "what" forms that you've seen so far have used the first and second person markers k– and p–. Third-person forms are more complicated; they're not what you'd expect.
The third-person "what" form
	drops the  s– that you would expect — in an expression like  s–skuti  "he/she sees"
	merges the  al– merges with  ha.
So all you hear with third-person "what" forms is a verb introduced by  al–. Since these elements are so compressed, you'll see them written together as one word here:
	kune ha al–expe? >	kun alexpe?	"who's singing?"
	kune ha al–ip–wa? >	kun alipwa?	"who said?"
	suku ha al–it? >	suk alit?	"what does he/she find?"	kun alexpe?
	suku ha al–uw? >	suk aluw?	"what is he/she/it eating"
	taka ha al–lkin? >	tak allkn?	"where is he/she sitting?"
	taka ha al–icumu? >	tak alicumu?	"where is he/she pointing?"	tak alicumu?
When  al– comes before a consonant other than glottal stop, it loses its  l  and runs together with  ha.  The result sounds just like a verb with no person marker, but the structure behind it is still complex. Here are several examples to help familiarize you with this pattern.
	kune ha al–tap? >	kun atap?	"who's coming in?"
	kune ha al–ykt? >	kun aykt?	"who's awake?
	suku ha al–nukum >	suk anukum?	"what is he/she bringing?"
	suku ha al–o >	suk alo?	"what's good?"	suk anukum?
	suku ha al–kot–wa >	suk akotwa	"what broke?"
	taka ha al–nan >	tak anan	"where is he/she/it going?"

"what" forms with the dual and plural in the third person

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The dual and plural versions of third-person "what" forms add  i– and  iy– just as you'd expect.
However, there's no  s– with third-person "what" forms, so the  ma  or  ha  comes right before  i– and  iy– and the number markers lose their vowels. Again, the result is very compressed:
i–:	ma i–al–expe >	maalexpe	"what the two of them sing"
	ma i–al–wn >	maalwn	"what the two of them cut"
iy–:	ma iy–al–itaq >	mayalitaq	"what they hear"
	ma iy–al–ip >	mayalip	"what they say"	mayalip
And of course the  l  of  al– drops out when it comes before a consonant other than glottal stop. But here, even though the  l  is gone, the sequence  aa– or  aya– gives you a clear indication that you're hearing a "what" form.
i–:	ma i–al–kuti >	maakuti	"what the two of them see"
	ma i–al–amn >	maaamn	"what the two of them know"
iy–:	ma iy–al–mes >	mayames	"what they cross, what they go across"
	ma iy–al–tiik >	mayatiik	"what they know, what they recognize"	maakuti

With the question words

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When you use these expressions with the question words, they're no longer the first element of the phrase and so they start with  ha — which is usually shortened to  a  here because it comes right after a consonant.
		shortened form
	kune ha iy–al–esqen >
	kune hayalesqen?	kun ayalesqen	"who do they ask?"	suk ayalitaq?
	suku ha iy–al itaq >
	suku hayalitaq?	suk ayalitaq?	"what do they hear?"
	taka ha i–al-alpat? >
	taka haalalpat?	tak aalalpat?	"where are they two running?"	tak aalalpat?
In the dual and plural, the verb still looks like a "what" form even when the  l  of  al– is gone, but you don't get very many clues:
	suku ha i–al–kuti >
	suku haakuti?	suk aakuti?	"what are they two watching?"
	taka ha iy–al–nan? >
	taka hayanan?	tak ayanan?	"where are they going?"	tak ayanan?

With verbs that look like English adjectives

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Many verbs in Samala look like English adjectives; they describe conditions rather than actions, such as
	s–aqawan	“it's dry”
	s–tasn	“it's red”
	–i–oyin > ioyin	“the two of them are black”
	s–iy– ukal	“they're strong”		ioyin
	–tow–o ha n	“the fire is smokey”
	–nuy–i ha k–ap	“my house is dirty”
There's a slightly different translation for the “what” forms of these verbs that describe conditions rather than actions. The easiest way to think of “what” forms here is something like "one that is ____" or "ones that are ____."
	ma–al–aqawan		“one that's dry”
	ma–al–tasn >	matasn	“one that's red”
	ma–i–al–oyin >	maaoyin	“two that are black”
	ma–iy–al– ukal		“ones that are strong”
	ma–al–towo >	matowo	“one that's smokey”	matowo
	ma–al–nuy–i >	manuyi	“one that's dirty”
The next page explains how you can use these "what" forms that look so much like English adjectives.

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