When
they function as subject in equational sentences, and some
nouns occur in the predicate slot, some definitive generally
occur in between the repeated occurrence of the demonstrative
pronouns in the subject slot. For example:
/hí
(và) h pén ánìh/
‘this
is a pen’
/h
thí
kù
hì á nìh/
‘this
is the tree’
/híe-hài-hì
pén ánnìh/
‘these
are pens’
/híe-hài-hì
lèkhàbú án nìh/
‘these
are books’
/sháis
dr
án nìh/
‘those
are shops’
/sháis
thíán
nìh/
‘those
are trees’
The
demonstrative pronouns do not show any gender distinction
nor do they mark any case manifestation.
3.2.3.3
Interrogative
and Relative Pronouns
The
principal interrogative pronouns in Hmar could be listed as
under :
/íem,
ièám/
‘what’
/tú:m,
tù:ám/
‘who’
/khó:m,
khò:ám/
‘which’
/khò:lá:m/
‘where’
/ìetìká:m/
‘when’
/ìeléiá,
ìeléiám/
‘why’
Plural
marker, if required, could be added to the first two interrogative
pronouns, i.e.
/ìe
lèkhàbú-hài ám/
‘which
books’
/ìe
naupa
am/
‘which
boys’
The
above interrogative pronouns can also function as relative
pronouns.
/mihríem
í zòpá:
khà/
‘the
man whom you wanted’
/lekhabú
ìmí pèk khà/
‘the
book which you had given me’
/kà
hú
thèin:
ná sa$n cù/
‘the
reason why I could not come’
The
relative and interrogative pronouns for all practical purposes
function like third person personal pronouns. They make no
gender reference.
3.2.4
Adjectives
Adjectives
in Hmar are a close class of words that occur after nouns
and describe some quality or characteristics or them. They
are limited in number and one can’t go on adding new words
to the list of adjectives. Given below are few examples:
/náupáhá/
‘good
child’
/nùhmèi
ílnéi/
‘kind
woman’
/pàsáltè
mìtdél mìtìndél/
'blind
boy’
/árkh
sèn/
‘red
cock’
/dí:l
ìnthù:k/
‘deep
lake’
/lámpùi
sèi/
‘long
road’
/vádú
líen/
‘big
river’
/pà:r
vá:r/
‘white
flower’
When
a noun is used as an adjective it precedes the noun it qualifies.
For example:
:
dó:r s
/
s
háis
r
án nìh/
há/
