The eleventh text, written for one rule. The rules are all exercised somewhere, but the adverb — an adjective straight after the verb, describing the verb — appeared in one text out of ten. It is also the rule the lessons used from Lesson 10 and did not introduce until Lesson 12, so it has been the least examined thing in the language twice over.
Manner is what a lesson about learning to write is made of. This is that lesson, told rather than taught.
Written at 300 roots, with no grammar beyond Lesson 23.
Mualim katab hao. Anak lihat.
Anak proba katab. Anak katab mal.
Mualim sema asan: "Yu proba tena."
Anak katab tena. Mano ta no kuat.
Anak studi kuat. Anak proba daima.
Anak katab hao sasa.
Anak kara hao libro ta.
Mualim lihat kertas. Mualim senang.
Mualim sema: "Yu suda studi hao."
Anak kanta hayai. Anak kimbia dari skola.
Anak katab nama ta in kertas baru.
Line by line
| Amadunia | English |
|---|---|
| Mualim katab hao. | The teacher writes well. |
| Anak lihat. | The child watches. |
| Anak proba katab. | The child tries to write. |
| Anak katab mal. | The child writes badly. |
| Mualim sema asan: | The teacher says simply: |
| “Yu proba tena.” | “You try again.” |
| Anak katab tena. | The child writes again. |
| Mano ta no kuat. | His hand is not strong. |
| Anak studi kuat. | The child studies hard. |
| Anak proba daima. | The child keeps trying. |
| Anak katab hao sasa. | The child writes well now. |
| Anak kara hao libro ta. | He reads his book well. |
| Mualim lihat kertas. | The teacher looks at the paper. |
| Mualim senang. | The teacher is happy. |
| Mualim sema: “Yu suda studi hao.” | The teacher says: “You have learned well.” |
| Anak kanta hayai. | The child sings fast. |
| Anak kimbia dari skola. | The child runs from the school. |
| Anak katab nama ta in kertas baru. | He writes his name on new paper. |
What the text found
One rule carries the whole story — eleven times in seventeen sentences. katab hao, katab mal, katab tena, studi kuat, kanta hayai, kara hao libro — the same adjective-after-verb in every one, and the story is the difference between mal and hao. Nothing is added to make an adjective describe a verb: the position does it, and the word does not change.
The extension earns its keep in one line. Anak kara hao libro ta — the adverb comes before the object, which is the part Lesson 18 adds to the rule. Without it, kara libro hao would read as a good book rather than reading well, and the sentence would be about the book.
Gaps
There is no word for slowly. (the list.) The child writing badly is the point of the first half, and the natural sentence is that the child writes slowly rather than badly, which is not the same thing and not unkind in the same way. hayai is fast and has no opposite. The text used mal, bad, which says more than it means to.
It cannot say “better than before”. (comparison.md grants comparing with dari; what is missing is a word for the earlier moment.) lebi hao is better, and comparing it to an earlier state needs dari with something to point at — a moment rather than a thing. The text says Anak katab hao sasa, the child writes well now, and lets sasa carry the change.
Roots used
31 of 300.