Hand-book of Volapük/19
THE INTEROGATIV FORM
[edit]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 ?