Hand-book of Volapük/19

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130338Hand-book of Volapük — 191887Charles E. Sprague

THE INTEROGATIV FORM

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In English we change an assertion into a question by changing the order of the words,

I have. Have I ?
He will go. Will he go ?
You have seen. Have you seen ?

But we seldom put a verb, unless an auxiliary, before the subject. We use, instead, the emphatic form with do.

You go. Do you go ? instead of Go you ? He speaks. Does he speak ?

In Volapük the sign of the question is the syllable li, generally placed either before or after the verb and united to it by a hyphen. The accent of the verb is unchanged. Li should not be placed after the verb, when this would bring two l's or three consonants together, as li-binoms ? not binoms-li?

Man binom gudik, Man binom-li gudik ?
Labob, Labob-li ?
Ogoloms, Li-ogoloms ?
Elogols, Li-egolols ?

If the sentence contains an interrogativ word, such as, who ? which ? what ? how ? when ? where ? li is unnecessary.

Kim binom man at ? Who is this man ? Man kiom binom at ? What man is this ? Kipladi man at golom ? Where (whither) is this man going ?