The CBB

Ossicone wrote:
Śiskra:

He is a fisherman.
Usi ama nima hu'am.
usi ama ni-m-a huʔam
DSL one 3A-be-NPST fisherman

He is strong.
Usi ama sko upun.
usi ama sko upun
DSL one with strong

He is my husband.
Usi ama nima ikiriki.
usi ama ni-m-a ikir-ki
DSL one 3A-be-NPST husband-1PSS

He is in my house.
Usi ama nima nai ati'uki.
usi ama ni-m-a nai atiʔu-ki
DSL one 3A-be-NPST in house-1PSS

All the sentences use the verb 'to be' with the exception of the second which uses 'with' instead.

'Scuse me for asking so late, Ossicone; but:
What's "DSL" stand for?
My first guess was "Data Service Line" (or "Digital Signal Line"), but something tells me that's not what it means here after all.

Swahili:

Yeye ni mvuvi.
yeye ni mvuvi
3s COP fisherman(1)
S/he's a fisherman.

Ana nguvu.
a-na nguvu
3s-COM strength(9/10)
S/he's strong.
(Literally: S/he has strength)

Yeye ni mume wangu.
yeye ni mume w-angu
3s COP husband(1) 1-GEN.1s
S/he's my husband.

Yumo nyumbani mwangu.
yu-mo nyumba-ni mw-angu
3s-LOC.18 house-LOC 18-GEN.1s
S/he's in my house.

Wenthish:

He’s visharmąnn
He's a fisherman

The 'indefinite' article isn't needed here.

Lieg mayt an hem
He is strong [lit. "Strength lies on him"]

Here, mayt indicates strength in the sense of a power or force - he can lift a lot; merely resistive strength (less likely with a human subject, but common when talking about, say, an alloy) is instead either strength or (particularly of bonds, ropes, glue, and things holding together in general) fast.

He’s weremąnn ta mi
He's my husband [lit. "He's (a) man to/for me"]

Several different translations for 'husband' are available. This is probably the most neutral, available in both colloquial and formal contexts.
However, in colloquial contexts, it would perhaps be more common to say simply he's mack ta mi ("he's my partner/spouse"), or, if his gender needed to be emphasised (or in slightly more formal contexts), he's mack were ta mi ("he's my male partner", though much more commonly heard in heterosexual partnerships than that suggests in English). In addition to small differences in formality, mack perhaps suggests more a sustained partnership, while weremąnn might be more common coming from a romantic newlywed, and would certainly sound odd coming from someone who was separated from their husband.

More formal contexts are likely to employ the words gumma and/or áfgumma. Legally, these correspond to, broadly, "common-law husband" and "legally-solemnized husband". However, in modern practice this distinction is no longer relevant, and the former is simply used as a variation on the latter - it is sometimes even spelled with an apostrophe, indicating that it is commonly (if incorrectly) viewed as an abbreviated form. Áfgumma is likely to be found in court documents, obituries, and similarly formal contexts, and as a romantic or whimsical variation in ordinary speech; weremąnn may be found in, say, government information brochures, sombre news articles, conversations with strangers and so forth, as well as swoony things written by teenagers; mack is more likely to be found in conversations with friends, lighthearted news articles* and the like.

*so, for example, in a newspaper one might expect:
Lieg she ybhydwąld av an áfgumma ay ann sune - she is survived by a husband and one son
Ląy she uð head tha twáda stuwa fąsht ay tha weremąnn - she and her husband lay trapped for two hours
She nu stá ay tha mack afta ybhywenna ta an rollovaprize! - she and her husband have now won a rollover prize!



Stá he in tha huas menn
He is in my house

Htoleiþe

Tilyis lye çeddin.
/ˈtiʎiʃ ʎe ˈçedːin/
tily-is lye çeddin
work-3SG.AN1 PREP.ESS fisherperson
He works as a fisherman.

Pahtis.
/pɑˈˀtiʃ/
paht-is
be.strong-3SG.AN1
He is strong.

Hutänlye çe däneiðlye.
/ˈʔutɒnʎe çe dɒneɪ̯ðʎe/
hut-än-lye çe dän-eið-lye
be.married-1PL.AN1-REFL PREP.COM PRO.1PL.AN1-DEF.INS-REFL
We are married to each other.

Þodisþo ɛaleim si dateim.
/ˈθodiʃθo ˈʕɑleɪ̯m ʃi ˈdɑteɪ̯m/
þod[is]þo ɛal-eim si dat-eim
be.located[3SG.AN1] house-DEF.LOC PREP.GEN PRO.1SG.AN1-DEF.LOC
He is in my house.

Süm jaroz

Sath söpsei.
[sɑθ ˈsøpsɛi̯]
be-3SG.AOR fisherman
"He is a fisherman."

Sath tür.
[sɑθ tyr]
be-3SG.AOR strong
"He is strong."

Sath öldserem.
[sɑθ ˈølsɛrɛm]
be-3SG.AOR husband-1SG.POSS
"He is my husband."

Meth öldömörös.
[mɛθ ˈøldømørøs]
be-3SG.AOR house-1SG.POSS-INES
"He is in my house."

Hyriska hunga

Ier ist ien fiskar.
[jɛr ɪst jɛn ˈfiskar]
3SG be-3SG.PRS INDEF fisherman
"He is a fisherman."

Ier ist stoarh.
[jɛr ɪst stwarχ]
3SG be-3SG.PRS strong
"He is strong."

Ier ist mion wier.
[jɛr ɪst mjɔn wɛr]
3SG be-3SG.PRS 1SG.POSS husband
"He is my husband."

Ier ist in mionam hiusie.
[jɛr ɪst ˈmjɔnam ˈçuɕɛ]
3SG be-3SG.PRS in 1SG.POSS-DAT house-DAT
"He is in my house."

Vēazo Ēmten
fisherman-ATR be-3SG.PRES.IND
[ve:azo:il e:mten]
A male fisherman is (he)

Note: Atributes are marked with the nominative case. These phrases usually omit the pronoun "he". Instead, it is marked in the verb.

Arāki-Tāizo Ēmten
strong-ADJ he-3SG.PR be-3SG.PRES.IND
[ara:ki ta:izo e:mten]
Strong he is

Note: Adjectives only agree in numbre and do not have a declension. The same goes with pronouns, but the latter also agrees in number.

Sēpiz-Vôlro Ēmten
[kise:piz vo:lro e:mten]
my-1SG.DET.POS husband-GEN be-3SG.PRES.IND
My husband (he) is

Tāizo Sēpiz-Brāsil Ēmten
[kise:piz ta:izo bra:sil e:mten]
he-3SG.PR my-1SG.DET.POS house-ACC LOC be-3SG.PRES.IND
He in my house is

Note: Personal ronouns are used when the person referred to is not important or one does not want to specify who that person is. If one wants to specify who "he" is, one can use "ēzo", "ēza", "ēzi" (man, woman, animal), a name or a what they call a "social title": husband, wife, son, but also knight, priest, worker, etc. These "social titles" can be combined together as necessary.

Ðeneydabus

Rūlyūj lye çetarūllyūn.
/ɾuːˈʎuːɟ ʎe çetɑɾuːˈʎːuːn/
rūly-ūj lye çet-arūllyūn
work-3SG.AN1 PREP.ESS fish-ist
He works as a fisherman.

Patūj.
/pɑˈtuːɟ/
pat-ūj
be.strong-3SG.AN1
He is strong.

Huraynya sū gordyuneym.
/ˈhuɾɑɪ̯njɑ ʃuː ˈgoɾdjuneɪ̯m/
hur-aynya sū gor-dyun-eym
marry-1DU.AN1 PREP.COM DEM-PRO.1DU.AN1-DEF.ADV
We are married to each other.

Rūjeyð ðodojz þo val daney.
/ˈɾuːɟeɪ̯ð ˈðodoʝ ˈθo vɑl ˈdɑneɪ̯/
rūj-eyð ðod<ojz>þo val dan-ey
PRO.3SG.AN1-DEF.ERG be.located.at<3SG.INAN> house PRO.1SG.AN1-DEF.GEN
He is in my house.

griuskant (without the conscript)

raes az haezhseje.
/'res azˤ 'heʒsədʒə/
3SG is fish.catch-N

raes az taki.
/'res azˤ 'taki/
3SG is strong-A

raes az aeskae thafjuisk.
/'res azˤ 'eske 'θafdʒuisk/
3SG is 1SG-POSS love.partner

raes az iuk aeskae raib.
/'res azˤ iuk 'eske 'raib/
3SG is in 1SG-POSS house

Modern Gotski

Es fiskaž.
3SG.MASC.NOM fisher
He is a fisherman (Lit. He fisher.

Es starks.
3SG.MASC.NOM strong-MASC.NOM.SG
He is strong. (Lit. He strong)

Es men trivagum.
3SG.MASC.NOM 1SG.GEN husband
He is my husband. (Lit. He my true-man.)

Es en menas has.
3SG.MASC.NOM in 3SG.GEN-NEUT.SG.GEN house.GEN
He is in my house (Lit. He in my house.)

xinda wrote: ↑10 Apr 2012 15:31 :roc: Mandarin

他是個漁。
tā shìgè yú
3s be COUNTER fisherman
He is a fisherman.

他很強。
tā hěn qiáng
3s very strong
He is strong

他是我的丈夫。
tā shì wǒ de zhàngfū
3s be 1s POS husband
He is my husband.

他在我家裡。
tā zài wǒ jiā lǐ
3s LOC 1s house within
He is in my house.

So 'fisherman' 渔 and 'fish' 鱼 are homophonous in Mandarin (yú). Oh, beautiful Chinese.

Iyionaku wrote: ↑13 Feb 2018 11:07

xinda wrote: ↑10 Apr 2012 15:31 Mandarin

他是個漁。
tā shìgè yú
3s be COUNTER fisherman
He is a fisherman.

So 'fisherman' 渔 and 'fish' 鱼 are homophonous in Mandarin (yú). Oh, beautiful Chinese.

I questioned this back on page 1, and I'll question it again.

渔 (yú) means "catch fish", whose homophony with 鱼 (yú) could provide for one an "Oh, beautiful Chinese!" moment, but let's not get carried away. As a verb, it ends up in modern Mandarin in compounds that make it feel positively adjectival/participial:

渔夫 - fisherman
渔民 - fisherfolk (people who make their living fishing)
渔村 - fishing village

are the ones I've heard, but I found some others at the following link:

http://www.iciba.com/%E6%B8%94 (you need to scroll down a wee bit for more compounds)

All that said, I looked it up in that dictionary of "old Chinese" that Des recommended and I bought, and found the definition "捕鱼的人", "one who catches fish" -- aka "fisherman"(okay, back to 'Oh, beautiful Chinese.'), but frankly, as a non-native speaker, it's hard to imagine anyone speaking this way today.

I don't know if xinda was channelling the dynasties or was in a dialect area where 他是個漁。still flies, but as it stands, that sentence sounds incredibly strange to me, and I just envision native speakers doing a .

Lao Kou wrote: ↑13 Feb 2018 12:27

Iyionaku wrote: ↑13 Feb 2018 11:07

xinda wrote: ↑10 Apr 2012 15:31 Mandarin

他是個漁。
tā shìgè yú
3s be COUNTER fisherman
He is a fisherman.

So 'fisherman' 渔 and 'fish' 鱼 are homophonous in Mandarin (yú). Oh, beautiful Chinese.

I questioned this back on page 1, and I'll question it again.

渔 (yú) means "catch fish", whose homophony with 鱼 (yú) could provide for one an "Oh, beautiful Chinese!" moment, but let's not get carried away. As a verb, it ends up in modern Mandarin in compounds that make it feel positively adjectival/participial:

渔夫 - fisherman
渔民 - fisherfolk (people who make their living fishing)
渔村 - fishing village

are the ones I've heard, but I found some others at the following link:

http://www.iciba.com/%E6%B8%94 (you need to scroll down a wee bit for more compounds)

All that said, I looked it up in that dictionary of "old Chinese" that Des recommended and I bought, and found the definition "捕鱼的人", "one who catches fish" -- aka "fisherman"(okay, back to 'Oh, beautiful Chinese.'), but frankly, as a non-native speaker, it's hard to imagine anyone speaking this way today.

I don't know if xinda was channelling the dynasties or was in a dialect area where 他是個漁。still flies, but as it stands, that sentence sounds incredibly strange to me, and I just envision native speakers doing a .

Ok, thanks for clarification, I'd have just accepted it otherwise, now I looked it up. My dictionary Pleco has indeed that meaning of 渔 as fisherman, but as you said, 渔民，渔夫，渔人 are all more prevalent. I'll just stick with 渔民 I think (although I am pretty sure that I'll never need it anyway).

Iyionaku wrote: ↑13 Feb 2018 13:17Ok, thanks for clarification, I'd have just accepted it otherwise, now I looked it up. My dictionary Pleco has indeed that meaning of 渔 as fisherman, but as you said, 渔民，渔夫，渔人 are all more prevalent. I'll just stick with 渔民 I think (although I am pretty sure that I'll never need it anyway).

I sometimes run these things past my native-speaker boyfriend to make sure I'm not just blowing smoke, and his reaction to 他是個漁。(and we just used IM, we did not speak) was "Surely, it's '它是条鱼'" -- which means, it sounds like "He/It is a fish." and you just got your measure words wrong.

Sarana

Saha söprözēlei.
[ˈsɑxɑ ˈsø̞prø̞ze̞ːle̞i̯]
be-3SG.GNO fisher
"He is a fisherman."

Saha krī.
[ˈsɑxɑ kriː]
be-3SG.GNO strong
"He is strong."

Saha ölserün.
[ˈsɑxɑ ˈø̞lse̞ryn]
be-3SG.PRS husband-1SG.POSS
"He is my husband."

Mā öldörsün.
[mɑː ˈø̞ldø̞rsyn]
be-3SG.PRS house-LOC=in-1SG.POSS
"He is in my house."

Iyionaku wrote: ↑13 Feb 2018 13:17My dictionary Pleco has indeed that meaning of 渔 as fisherman, but as you said, 渔民，渔夫，渔人 are all more prevalent.

Also worth mentioning that there are many characters that have meanings and represented distinct words in Classical Chinese but nowadays are only used in compound words, almost never as words on their own*. For example, the character 狮 means “lion”, but the word for “lion” is 狮子. If you look up 狮 in Pleco, it tells you that it means “lion” and gives some examples of words it’s used in, but doesn’t directly tell you that it can’t stand on its own as a word. It seems that many dictionaries are like this, so you have to be careful. I’m guessing 渔 is like this, too; as an element in compound words it does indeed mean “fisherman”, but that doesn’t mean you can simply translate “fisherman” as 渔.

*The one exception I can think of would be idioms, which are often in Classical Chinese.

Źilaa Ruńu

mig idveniś.
be.IPF-3SG.HU fisher.NOM
He/she is a fisherman/woman.

Fishing was considered women's work in this culture, so if a man was doing it they would need to specifically say something like:

ame al mig idveniś.
man here be.IPF-3SG.HU fisher.NOM
This man, he's a fisher.

mig eekla.
be.IPF-3SG.HU strong
He/she is strong.

mig ngieme em huun.
be.IPF-3SG.HU husband.NOM PREP 1SG.OBL
He is my husband.

liseg cra leenar huun.
be.at.IPF-3SG.HU inside home-OBL 1SG.OBL
He/she is in my house.

Bàsupan

Suc̱īvankan ḵic̱ankus̱.
fisher-NOM.MASC.SINGULATIVE 3RD.MASC.SING-ERG.MASC.SINGULATIVE
He is a fisherman.

Ḵic̱ankàn padannas ḵic̱ankus̱.
3RD.MASC.SING-ACC.MASC.SINGULATIVE strong-PRES.EXPE 3RD.MASC.SING-ERG.MASC.SINGULATIVE
He is strong.

Báṟánakan ḵic̱ankan sanans̱na.
husband-NOM.MASC.SINGULATIVE 3RD.MASC.SING-NOM.MASC.SINGULATIVE 1ST.FEM.SING-GEN.FEM.SINGULATIVE
He is my husband.

Susànamkokan ḵic̱ankan sanans̱na.
house-NOM.MASC.SINGULATIVE 3RD.MASC.SING-NOM.MASC.SINGULATIVE 1ST.FEM.SING-GEN.FEM.SINGULATIVE
He is in my house.

Cissian

Вон е рыбарь.
/ˈʋon je reˈbarʲ/
[ˈʋɔ.ɲe reˈbär]
von-∅ ye rebár'
3SG.M-NOM COP.3SG fisherman
“He is a fisherman.”

Вон е сільни.
/ˈʋon je ˈsʲilʲ.ni/
[ˈʋɔ.ɲe ˈs̪ʲiʎ.n̪i]
von-∅ ye syíl'n-i
3SG.M-NOM COP.3SG strong-SG.NOM.M
“He is strong.”

Вон е мой съпруг.
/ˈʋon je moj sɘˈpruɦ/
[ˈʋɔ.ɲe muj s̪ɘˈpru] ~ [... mɔj ...]
von-∅ ye moy-∅ syprúh-∅
3SG.M-NOM COP.3SG my-SG.NOM.M husband-SG.NOM
“He is my husband.”

Вон е в моім доме.
/ˈʋon je ʋ moˈjim ˈdo.mʲe/
[ˈʋɔ.ɲeu̯ muˈjim ˈd̪ɔ.mʲe]
von-∅ ye v moy-ím dóm-ye
3SG.M COP.3SG in my-SG.LOC.M house-SG.LOC
“He is in my house.”

1.
Han tłaalerá du.
[3.SG.PERS.PRON fisherman MASC-be]
[han t͡ɬaːlerá du]
He is (a) fisherman.

2.
Han tṣángag.
[3.SG.PERS.PRON MASC-become.strong-PASS]
[han t͡ʃáŋag]
He is strong.

3.
Han méra násto du.
[S.SG.PERS.PRON I-POSS husband MASC-be]
[han méra násto du]
He is my husband.

4.
Han méraḥ caánaḥ-so du.
[3.SG.PERS.PRON I-POSS-LOC house-LOC-in MASC-be]
[han mérax cáːnax so du]
He is at/in my house.

Updating Silvish. Each of the sentences uses the copula verb èttre. Note on the first sentence: In the object position of a copular expression, an indefinite noun takes no article. Note on the fourth sentence: The subject's gender is ambiguous; the third-person singular pronoun's gender marking gets neutralized by contraction in all four translations, but unlike the other sentences, this one contains no other agreement targets or lexical hints.


L' e ppehhérou.
[lɛp.pɛˈhe.ʁu]
3S be fisherman
He is a fisherman.

L' e ffor.
[lɛˈfɔʁ]
3S be strong.M
He is strong.

L' i mmon eùmou.
[lɛ̃m.mŋ̩ˈø.mu]
3S be 1SG.POSS husband
He is my husband.

L' e ddyun mê mêzwi.
[lɛˈdjœ̃ŋ mɛː.mɛˈzwi]
3S be in 1SG.POSS.OBL.F house.OBL
He/She is in my house.