In the early stages of language learning, it is always practical to know some basic phrases to elicit more language data. In this lesson you will learn some useful phrases to help you learn and practice Rohingya, such as “What is this?” and “What is that?” To learn how to correctly use these phrases, you will need to be acquainted with the Rohingya noun class system.
Some languages in the Bengali-Assamese branch of Eastern Indo-Aryan language family classify all nouns on the basis of shared common properties. Rohingya also groups all nouns, by the use of classifiers, in two noun classes:
hiba /ˈçibʌ/– “that (NC1)“
iyan /ʌˈijʌn/ – “this (NC2)“
hiyan /ˈçijʌn/ – “that (NC2)“
iin /iːn/ – “these”
uin /uⁱn/ – “those”
goru /ˈgɔɾu/ – “cow”
gor- /gɔɾ/ – “to do”
- Noun Class One (NC1): When noun refers to everything animate, including humans, animals, plants, and some objects which are manipulated by humans, such as book, pen, glass, etc .
- Noun Class Two (NC2): Everything else that is inanimate, and abstract nouns, such as justice, freedom, etc.
Almost all nouns, with the exception of non-referential nouns, such as time words, are designated a noun classifier suffix to express which noun class they belong to. If you want to learn more about Rohingya noun class system, read more here.
When you point to something and ask “What is this?” and “What is that?” did you know that the demonstrative pronouns this and that should also reflect the class of the noun they refer to? Following is a chart for Rohingya demonstrative pronouns:
| Classifiers | Near | Far | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SG | NC1 | iba "this" | hiba "that" |
| SG | NC2 | iyan "this" | hiyan "that" |
| PL | iin "these" | uin "those" |
| Useful questions | Answers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SG | NC1 | near | Iba ki? | Iba uggwa kitab. |
| "What is this? (pointing to an item (NC1) near to the speaker)" | "This is a book." | |||
| far | Hiba ki? | Hiba uggwa fúl. | ||
| "What is that? (pointing to an item (NC1) far from the speaker)" | "That is a flower." | |||
| NC2 | near | Iyan ki? | Iyan ekkan gari. | |
| "What is this? (pointing to an item, which belongs to NC2, near to the speaker)" | "This is a car." | |||
| far | Hiyan ki? | Hiyan ekkan gór. | ||
| "What is that? (pointing to an item, which belongs to NC2, distant from the speaker)" | "That is a house." | |||
| PL | near | Iin ki? | Iin hana. | |
| "What are these? (pointing to items near to the speaker)" | "These are food." | |||
| far | Uin ki? | Uin goru okkol. | ||
| "What are those? (pointing to items near to the speaker)" | "Those are cows." | |||
| Useful questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| Tũi ki goror? | Ãi lekir. |
| "What are you doing?" | "I'm writing." |
| Hiba ki gorer? | Hibaye leker. |
| "What is she doing?" | "She is writing." |
| Ãi ki gorir? | Tũi lekor. |
| What am I doing?" | "You are writing." |
| Tũwara ki goror? | Ãra forir. |
| "What are you (PL) doing?" | "We are reading." |
| Hitara ki gorer? | Hitara forer. |
| "What are they doing?" | "They are reading." |
| Ãra ki gorir? | Tũwara foror. |
| "What are those? (pointing to items near to the speaker)" | "You are reading." |
| Present Continuous | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | gor- | lek- | for- | |
| 1p | ãi / ãra | gorir | lekir | forir |
| "I am/ we are doing" | "I am/ we are writing" | "I am/ we are reading" | ||
| 2p | tũi / tũwara | goror | lekor | foror |
| "you (SG)/ you (PL) are doing" | "you (SG)/ you (PL) are doing" | "you (SG)/ you (PL) are doing" | ||
| 3p | hiba / hite/ hitara | gorer | leker | forer |
| "he is / she is / they are doing" | "he is / she is / they are doing" | "he is / she is / they are doing" | ||