Chapter 1. The sentence particle waa
1.1. The functions of the particle waa
As was pointed out in 0.4.1, the SP waa predicatises the sentence and places the logical accent on the predicate. In other words it turns the verb-predicate into the logical predicate (rheme) underlining the new information about the logical subject (theme) which it contains.
(42) Cabdi waa soo jeedaa – Abdi is awake;
(43) Inammadii waa yimaaddeen – The boys came.
1.2. The subject in a sentence with the SP waa
The logical subject (theme) in a Somali sentence is not obligatorily marked out. In a construction with the SP waa, the word which plays the role of the logical subject gravitates towards the beginning of the phrase. If it is a noun, as a rule it has a definite article (the usage of waa assumes a previous acquaintance with the subject). The subject is in the nominative case, which “marks” subjects which are not logical predicates (rhemes)[10] and almost always adjoins the morphological markers -u, -i (in Present and Future Tenses) or -ii.[11]
(44) Geedkanu/i waa weyn yahay – This tree is big;
(45) Awrkii waa dhintay – The camel [i.e. the camel about which something is already known] has died.
For comparison:
46) *Awr waa dhintay – (A certain) camel has died, although this sentence can be correct in, for example, such a “quantifier” context (Bell, 1953, p.26) as:
(47) Xoolaha, awr waa dhintay, saddex waa lumeen, inta kalese waa nabad qabtaa – Of the stock, a camel has died, three are lost and the rest are healthy.
The definite article here marks the word xoolaha – ‘stock’ about which something is known. But awr also does not mean ‘a certain (that is indefinite) camel’, it means ‘one camel’. As has been rightly observed by Zholkovsky (1971, pp.131-32), when quantities are meant, ‘one’ as well as ‘three’ are quite definite things.
The definite article in the waa structures is not joined to subjects represented by proper names (being in fact nouns, they sometimes join articles: Ibraahimkii kale – another Ibrahim; Peterkii kowaad – Peter the First):
(48) Ibraahim waa ku jecel yahay – Ibrahim loves you.
As for the morphological subject markers, they are joined to the article of the subject, the short form of the possessive pronoun (if it is the last part of the subject), or the last word of the subject group (even if it is a verb of the subordinate clause):
(49) Ninka iyo naagtu waa dirireen – The husband and wife have quarrelled;
(50) Ninka iyo naagtiisu waa kala tegeen – The husband and [lit.: his] wife have divorced [lit.: have gone in different directions];
(51) Hashaad raadsaneysaani waa joogtaa – The she-camel you are looking for is here.
1.3. The particle waa with short subjective pronouns
Like the other sentence particles waa can be used with short subjective pronouns. They are joined to the particle waa, often merging with it and creating the following series of forms:
Singular:
1st pers. waa + aan = waan
2nd pers. waa + aad = waad
3rd pers. masc. waa + uu = wuu
3rd pers. fem. waa + ay = way
Plural:
1st pers. (excl.) waa + aan(nu)= waan(nu)
1st pers. (incl.) waa + aynu = waynu
2nd pers. waa + aydin = waydin
waa + aad = waad
3rd pers. waa + ay = way
The short subjective pronouns mainly serve to clarify the relations between subject and predicate, for example:
(52) Waa tegey may mean either ‘I went’ or ‘He went’, while
(53) Waa tegeysaa may be understood as ‘You (sing.) are leaving’ or as ‘She is leaving’, because in waa structures in all tenses the regular verbs in Somali have homonymic forms in the 1st person singular and 3rd person masculine singular, and both regular and irregular verbs in the 2nd person singular and 3rd person feminine singular. At the same time each of the following examples:
(54) Waan tegey,
(55) Wuu tegey,
(56) Waad tegeysaa,
(57) Way tegeysaa
has only one precise meaning, namely: I went, He went, You (sing.) are leaving and She is leaving, respectively.
For example, in such a sentence as
(58) Cali waa arkay, it is not clear whether Cali (Ali) is the subject or object, and therefore this sentence may mean ‘I/He saw Ali, or Ali saw (it)’, while
(59) Cali waan arkay and Cali wuu arkay can be understood only as ‘I saw Ali’ and ‘Ali saw (it)’.
In the presence of a substantive subject a short subjective pronoun duplicates it, acting as if it were a “surplus structure”:
(60) Sayid Maxamed taas wuu diidey – Said Mohamed refused it [lit.: Said Mohamed he refused it].
In such cases a short subjective pronoun is usually omitted:
(61) Sayid Maxamed taas waa diidey.
However, the usage of the SP waa with a short subjective pronoun is almost always optional.
1.3.1. The SP waa without a short subjective pronoun is used in the constructions with the indefinite personal pronoun (subject) la (see 0.3.8):
(62) Wax kasta oo uu doonaba waa la siin jirey – He used to be given everything he wanted.
1.4. The order of words in a sentence with the particle waa
The order of words in a sentence with the SP waa conforms in general to the scheme designated in 0.3.10, with the peculiarity that waa, as a rule, immediately precedes the verb:
(63) Dhul nin dhintey iyo nin noolba waa deeqaa – The earth is enough for the dead and the living. (Proverb)
1.4.1. Between waa and the verb, short subjective pronouns (which usually merge with it) can be placed, as well as the following:
1) The indefinite personal pronoun la and the preverbs (otherwise called the markers of the prepositional government or – see 0.3.5), which cover only the most general prepositional meanings (more concrete ones, for example ‘near’, ‘after’, ‘between’ etc. are expressed by possessive constructions combined with the corresponding adverbial nouns):
(64) Waan u dhiibey – I handed (it) over (to him);
(65) Isaga way ku qososhaa – She laughs at him;
(66) Halkan way ka shaqeeyaan – They work here;
(67) Waannu la nimid – We (excl.) brought (it) [lit.: came with it].
2) Short objective pronouns:
(68) Waad i taqaannaan – You (pl.) know me;
(69) Wuu ku dhowraa – He respects you (sing.);
(70) Way na aragtay – She saw us (excl.);
(71) Way ina qabsadeen – They caught us (incl.);
(72) Waannu idin toosiney – We (excl.) woke you up;
(73) Waad is barateen – You got to know each other.
3) Possessive (or the second objective) pronouns kay – my, kaa – your (sing.), kaya – our (excl.), keen – our (incl.) and kiin – your (pl.):
(74) Wuu kuu kay ammaanay – He praised me [lit.: my] to you (sing.);
(75) Wuu ii kaa ammaanay – He praised you (sing.) [lit.: your] to me;
(76) Wuu kuu kaya ammaanay – He praised us (excl.– lit.: our) to you (sing.);
(77) Wuu kuu keen ammaanay – He praised us (incl. – lit.: our) to you (sing.);
(78) Wuu ii kiin ammaanay – He praised you (pl.) [lit.: your] to me;
(79) Wuu idiin kay ammaanay – He praised me [lit.: my] to you (pl).[12]
4) The adverbial particles soo – in this direction, sii – in that direction, wada – together, kala – separately:
(80) Way soo gashay guriga – She entered the house [in which the speaker was];
(81) Way sii gashay guriga – She entered the house [the speaker stayed outside];
(82) Ergooyinkii way wada hadleen – The delegations negotiated (something) [lit.: talked together];
(83) Geelu way kala dideen – The camels scattered.
5) Nouns with adverbial meaning without an article, i.e. ag – ‘near’, ‘beside’; hoos – ‘under’; hor – ‘in front of’, ‘before’; dhex – ‘inside’, ‘between’ and others:
(84) Wuu i ag fadhiyaa – He is sitting beside me;
(85) Bahalku wuu ku hoos jirey dhulka – The animal was sitting under the earth;
(86) Way iga hor martay – She passed ahead of [lit.: in front of] me.
6) Nouns without an article which form stable combinations with a verb, practically merging with it[13], which is confirmed by the fact that it is impossible to insert between them and the verb the conjunction na (or se), and by their incapacity, in contrast to usual objects, to occupy other positions in a sentence:
(87) Waan ka qayb galay bannaanbaxii – I participated [lit.: entered part] in the demonstration;
(88) Wuu na marti qaaday – He invited us (excl.) [lit.: took (as) guests];
(89) Way aqal gashay – She got married [lit.: entered a house].
7) Attributive combinations (subordinate constructions) which consist of nouns and irregular verbs ahaan – ‘to be’, lahaan – ‘to have’ and la’aan – ‘not to have’: hodon ahaan – to be wealthy, maskax lahaan – to be clever [lit.: to have brain], lacag la’aan – not to have money etc. Bell interprets these constructions as adjectives (attributive verbs, according to my terminology). But their double structure is a syntactic feature; when these verb-adjectives are transferred from the attributive role (as nin hodon ah – a wealthy man) to the predicative one (90-92), the verbal part behaves as an independent verb and the nominal part as a noun:
(90) Wuu hodon yahay – He is wealthy [lit.: he is a wealthy man];
(91) Wuu maskax leeyahay – He is clever [lit.: he has brain];
(92) Wuu lacag la’yahay – He has no money.
All the other variants are not correct:
(90a) *Hodon wuu yahay;
(90b) *Wuu yahay hodon;
(91a) *Maskax wuu leeyehay;
(91b) *Wuu leeyahay maskax;
(92a) *Lacag wuu la'yahay;
(92b) *Wuu la' yahay lacag.
It is worth noting that Zholkovsky (1971, p.205) speaks of the undesirability of the usage of these compound forms with the SP waa which combines mainly with intransitive verbs, turning them into the rheme. I agree that in the construction with the SP baa these forms are more productive:
(93) Hodon buu yahay – He is a wealthy man.
But the examples given to confirm the thesis about the undesirability of the usage of the attributive constructions (which the forms under observation in fact are) with the SP waa, impose a ban on their usage in general. Thus in concert with others the syntagm described in (77-79) is regarded as a mistake:
(94) Wuu gadh leeyahay – He has a beard.
This contradicts the data received from my informants and taken from the published sources (see in particular Bell, 1953, p.81).
8) Attributive constructions consisting of a noun and an attributive verb (usually wanaagsan/fiican – to be good, xun – to be bad, badan – to be numerous, yar – to be small, dheer – to be long, gaaban – to be short etc.):
(95) Way maskax fiican tahay – She is clever [lit.: good brained];
(96) Wuu hadal xun yahay – He has a wicked tongue [lit.: is bad in speech];
(97) Faadumo way hadal badan tahay – Faduma is garrulous [lit.: of much talk];
(98) Wuu gacan yar yahay – He is greedy [lit.: small in hand];
(99) Haramcadku wuu orod dheer yahay – Cheetah runs quickly [lit.: is long in running];
(100) Diinku wuu socod gaaban yahay – Turtle walks slowly [lit.: is short in walking].
9) The conjunctions na and se, with the meaning ‘and’, ‘but’, whose place in the sentence is not fixed. Being used with a sentence particle, they merge with it:
(101) Amarkii wuu heley, wuuse yeeli waayay – He received the order but could not fulfil it.
10) Subordinate clauses in constructions with the SP waa and the conjunctive substantive in, which is used for conveying the meaning of necessity. The verb of the subordinate clause may be in either the indicative or conjunctive mood:
(102) Waa in aan iska tagaa (or tago) – I have to go.
Zholkovsky (1971, p.183) justly sees in the link waa in… the presence of the impersonal subject (the pronoun) ay (see 0.3.9) and the verb ahaan – ‘to be’, which reveal themselves when the situation is transferred into the past tense and the SP baa or waxaa is introduced:
(103) Inaan iska tago bay ahayd (= Waxay ahayd inaan iska tago) – I had to go.
1.4.2. In the framework of the above-mentioned limitation (the SP waa precedes the verb) the disposition of words can be different. For example, such a sentence as
(104) Meel walba magaciisu waa gaari jirey – His name used to be known everywhere, which has a subject, a predicate and an adverbial modifier of place, can have the following variants:
(105) Magaciisu waa gaari jirey meel walba;
(106) Magaciisu meel walba waa gaari jirey;
(107) Meel walba waa gaari jirey magaciisu;
(108) Waa gaari jirey meel walba magaciisu;
(109) Waa gaari jirey magaciisu meel walba.
It must be noted that in all these versions the SP waa can join the short subjective pronoun of the 3rd person masculine singular uu, and the subject retains the morphological marker of the subject irrespective of where that subject is situated.
1.5. The particle waa and the agreement of the predicate with the subject
It has been noted in in 0.3.11 that if in a sentence there is the SP waa, the predicate agrees with the subject according to the “complete” type I which is characterized by the maximum distinction between all categories in all forms (person, gender and number). Let us illustrate this with the example of the conjugations of the verbs of the three main classes (keen – bring, samee – make and qabo – take), the attributive verb baahan – ‘be hungry’ and the irregular verb lahaan – ‘to have’ in the Present General and Past General tenses, using full (emphatic) pronouns as the subjects:
Present General Tense
Anigu waan keenaa/ sameeyaa/ qabtaa – I bring/ make/ take
Adigu waad keentaa/ sameysaa/ qabataa – You (sing.) bring/ make/ take
Isagu wuu keenaa/ sameeyaa/ qabtaa – He brings/ makes/ takes
Iyadu way keentaa/ sameysaa/ qabataa – She brings/ makes/ takes
Annagu waannu keennaa/ sameynaa/ qabannaa – We (excl.) bring/ make/ take
Innagu waynu keennaa/ sameynaa/ qabannaa – We (incl.) bring/ make/ take
Idinku waad keentaan/ sameysaan/ qabataan – You (pl.) bring/ make/ take
Iyagu way keenaan/ sameeyaan/ qabtaan – They bring/ make/ take
Anigu waan baahan ahay/ leeyahay – I am hungry/ have
Adigu waad baahan tahay/ leedahay – You (sing.) are hungry/ have
Isagu wuu baahan yahay/ leeyahay – He is hungry / has
Iyadu way baahan tahay/ leedahay – She is hungry/ has
Annagu waannu baahan nahay/ leenahay – We (excl.) are hungry/ have
Innagu waynu baahan nahay/ leenahay – We (incl.) are hungry /have
Idinku waad baahan tihiin/ leedihiin – You (pl.) are hungry/ have
Iyagu way baahan yihiin/ leeyihiin – They are hungry/have
Past General Tense[14]
Anigu waan keenay/ sameeyey/ qabtay – I brought/ made/ took
Adigu waad keentay/ sameysey/ qabatay – You (sing.) brought/ made/ took
Isagu wuu keenay/ sameeyey/ qabtay – He brought/ made/ took
Iyadu way keentay/ sameysey/ qabatay – She brought/ made/ took
Annagu waannu keennay/sameynay/qabannay – We (excl.) brought/made/took
Innagu waynu keennay/ sameynay/ qabannay – We (incl.) brought/ made/ took
Idinku waad keenteen/ sameyseen/ qabateen – You (pl.) brought/ made/ took
Iyagu way keeneen/ sameeyeen/ qabteen – They brought/ made/ took
Anigu waan baahnaa/ lahaa – I was hungry/ had
Adigu waad baahnayd/ lahayd – You (sing.) was hungry/ had
Isagu wuu baahnaa/ lahaa – He was hungry/ had
Iyadu way baahnayd/ lahayd – She was hungry/ had
Annagu waannu baahnayn/ lahayn – We (excl.) were hungry/ had
Innagu waynu baahnayn/ lahayn – We (incl.) were hungry/ had
Idinku waad baahnaadeen/ lahaydeen – You (pl.) were hungry/ had
Iyagu way baahnaayeen/ lahaayeen – They were hungry/ had
It is easy to see that in sentences with the SP waa the pronouns agree in accordance with their person, number and gender. In present and past tenses (as well as in all others) the forms of the verbs distinguish five of the eight persons, with the coincidence of the forms of the 1st person singular and the 3rd person masculine singular, the 2nd person singular and the 3rd person feminine singular, and the 1st person plural both exclusive and inclusive. As has already been said, in the absence of the subjects expressed by substantives, short subjective pronouns are used to distinguish them. Verbs in the form of the 3rd person singular are distinguished by gender.
In connection with the description in subsequent chapters of the “clipped” II type of agreement between predicate and subject in sentences with the particles baa and waxaa, it is necessary to pay attention to the ending -aa (a long vowel) of the usual verbs; to their suffixes in the 2nd person singular; to the expanding into a construction with the verb ahaan – ‘to be’ of the attributive verb in the Present General, and to the personal forms of the verb lahaan – ‘to be’ in present and past tenses.
1.6. Waa as a particle introducing a nominal predicate
The SP waa can introduce a nominal predicate, usually preceding it immediately:
(110) Waa faras – This (is) a horse;
(111) Tani waa geenyo – This (is) a mare;
(112) Ninkaasu waa beerale – That man (is) a farmer;
(113) Waa inoo berri – See you tomorrow [lit.: Here (is) tomorrow for us (incl.)].
1.6.1. A noun in the function of a predicate can adjoin a definite article (it is usually followed by a relative clause):
(114) Waa ardaygii uu ammaanay – This (is) the student he praised.
1.6.2. In such constructions with waa the short subjective pronoun is not used, even if it is the only manifestation of the subject. The following, for example, is not correct:
(115) *Wuu xiddigiye – He (is) an astrologer (despite the fact that the correct construction, waa xiddigiye, may also mean that an astrologer is in the lst person singular or the 3rd person masculine singular).
1.6.3. Zholkovsky (1971, p.186) regards waa in this role as a special word homonymic to the SP waa, being one of the realizations of the Somali verb ahaan – to be. The advantage of such an approach lies in the fact that it does not need a special description of the forms weeye and weeyaan considered as variants of waa and fulfilling the same functions. But if this approach is accepted, it becomes necessary to introduce a special particle homonymic to the SP baa which can also be used to form constructions with a nominal predicate, a fact not mentioned by Zholkovsky in his work on the Somali syntax.
It should be noted that one of the variants of weeye or weeyey is the form waaye, which could be acknowledged as a link in the chain of the evolution of waa yahay – yes, fine [lit.: here it is] → waaye → waa (Sayeed, 1984).
1.6.4. In contrast to waa, the particle weeye (and its variants waaye and weeyaan) always follows the nominal part of the compound predicate:
(116) Doqon weeye (waaye, weeyaan) – He (is) a fool.
1.7. Sentences without the particle waa
The SP waa is omitted:
1) In the rather rare cases where the subjective pronoun immediately follows the verb:
(117) Waa aan soo noqday = Soo noqday aan – I returned here.
2) When a predicate is in the form of the archaic Past Independent Tense:[15]
(118) Ninkii xoolihii laga xad – The stock of this man was stolen.
More details about the absence of the SP waa (as well as baa) in sentences can be found in the chapter on proverbial clichés.