נאָך פּרטים

Relative Clauses

Relative Clauses Introduced by װאָס

A relative clause gives more details about a person or thing (the “antecedent”) that is mentioned in the main clause or a previous subordinate clause. One way of connecting a relative clause with the antecedent is with the word װאָס. In this role, װאָס serves as a relative pronoun.

The relative pronoun װאָס can always be paired with a personal or possessive pronoun that refers to the antecedent. In some cases the personal pronoun is optional, in others it is obligatory. The use of these pronouns depends on their role in the relative clause, as demonstrated by the examples in the following table.

Note:

The personal pronoun is optional –

In these two cases, the personal pronoun is often omitted. In all other cases, the relative pronoun װאָס must be accompanied by a personal or possessive pronoun.

Word Order with the Relative Pronoun װאָס

When the word װאָס introduces a relative clause it is a connecting word and not a sentence unit. As can be seen in the examples in the table above, a relative clause has the usual word order: the verb is the second sentence unit and various sentence units can come before it (see ‏5.3 נאָך פּרטים). Note that when the antecedent is the subject of the relative clause and the personal pronoun is omitted, the first sentence unit is implied.

More Relative Pronouns

In the movie for this lesson we hear relative clauses with װאָס. Other question words can also serve as relative pronouns. In the following we will discuss how relative clauses are formed with װעמען/װעמענס, preposition + װעלכ–‏, and װוּ and‎ װען. Note that:

• Unlike װאָס, other question words in the role of relative pronoun are not paired with a personal or possessive pronoun.
• Like װאָס, other question words in the role of relative pronoun also serve as connecting words; that is, they are not sentence units.

װעמען / װעמענס

The question words װעמען and װעמענס are frequently used as relative pronouns.

Note:

• װעמען and װעמענס always refer to a person.
• The subject form of the question word װער is never used to introduce a relative clause.
• As already mentioned, װעמען/װעמענס in the role of a relative pronoun is not a sentence unit.
  • When a preposition is added, the whole prepositional phrase (for example: מיט װעמען) serves a connecting role and is not a sentence unit.
  • װעמענס is always followed by a noun; the two together (װעמענס + noun) are not a sentence unit.

See the word order in the examples in the following table that shows the various roles װעמען and װעמענס can play in a relative clause:

Preposition + װעלכ–‏

When the role of the antecedent in a relative clause is “object of a preposition”, it is not uncommon for the relative clause to be introduced by preposition + װעלכ–‏. For example:

Note:

• װעלכ–‏ declines like a substantivized adjective. In the construction with a preposition, the ending is in the dative and has the gender and number of the antecedent.
• The phrase preposition + װעלכע/װעלער/װעלכן serves a connecting role and thus is not a sentence unit.
• Relative clauses can also be introduced by preposition + װאָס. Unlike relative clauses introduced by װאָס + preposition, no personal pronoun is added. Compare:

Other Question Words

‎װען‏‏ ,װוּ, and other question words can also serve as relative pronouns:

The Superlative

Adjectives

The superlative is formed by adding the suffix ‏–‏סט to the base form of the adjective. If there is a vowel change in the comparative, the same vowel change is in the superlative. The comparative and superlative forms of several adjectives are listed in the following table:

Note the following two irregular comparative/superlative forms:

Superlative adjectives have the usual endings. Here are several more example sentences:

See also below on the superlative with verbs like זײַן, ‎‎‎‎‎‎װערן, and אױסזען.

Adverbs

In ‏5.5 נאָך פּרטים and ‏6.3 נאָך פּרטים we noted that the short form of an adjective, including a comparative, can serve as an adverb. In the superlative this is not possible because the short form of the superlative is never used.

To use a superlative as an adverb, the preposition צו is added to it in the construction:

For example:

אױסזען / װערן / זײַן + adjective

In ‏5.5 נאָך פּרטים we noted that the base form of the adjective is used (that is, the adjective with no ending) when the verb זײַן links the noun and the adjective, for example:

In this lesson we learn two more verbs that play the same linking role: װערן and אױסזען, for example:

Comparative adjectives are also in the base form with these linking verbs, but superlative adjectives must be substantivized, for example:

Note: a substantivized adjective after the verbs װערן ,זײַן and אױסזען is declined in the nominative.

Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers are adjectives that indicate order. They are formed by adding the suffixes ‏–‏ט‏ and ‏–⁠סט‏ to the cardinal numbers as shown in the following table:

For example:

Note that the ordinal form of אַכט does not have a second ‏–⁠ט:

The following four ordinal numbers do not follow the usual pattern:

Ordinal numbers come with the usual adjective endings, for example:

Unlike many adjectives, the base form of an ordinal number cannot be used as an adverb or uninflected with a linking verb (see above אױסזען / װערן / זײַן + adjective); rather, it must be substantivized. For example:

עפּעס ...ס

A substantivized adjective after the indefinite pronoun עפּעס has the ending ‏ .–⁠סThe meaning of this combination is “a thing that is…”.

(See also in ‏6.3 נאָך פּרטים on substantivized adjectives that do not correspond to a specific noun.)

Note: Sometimes the pronoun עפּעס happens to appear right before an adverb. In such a case, where there is no substantivized adjective, there is no ending ‏.–⁠ס The following sentence contains the adverb גלײַך meaning “right now, straight away”:

Contrast:

In lesson 1.3 we learned the construction זײַנען דאָ / איז דאָ that indicates existence or presence. The word דאָ is included in this construction only with the simple conjugation of the verb זײַן in the present tense: איז/זײַנען דאָ. The word דאָ is absent when the verb has a compound form:

• helping verb + infinitive (זײַן)
• modal verb + infinitive (זײַן)
• helping verb + participle (געװען),

For example:

Example sentences containing the construction איז דאָ with a compound verb can be found in the table below.

In the movie of lesson 5.2 Nomi says the following as she looks for the esreg:

In this sentence, דאָ does not belong to the construction איז דאָ that appears in compound form with the modal verb מוז. Rather, דאָ is the adverb “here”.

The same rules apply to negative sentences with the construction איז דאָ / זײַנען דאָ. In the simple present tense, the negative נישט is contracted with the word דאָ (see ‏5.2 נאָך פּרטים):

With a compound verb the word דאָ is omitted; thus the contraction נישטאָ is not relevant and the negative is simply נישט:

The Helping Verb זאָל in Questions

We learned the helping verb זאָל in lesson 6.2 in sentences with the verb װעלן/װיל, for example:

In this lesson we hear the helping verb זאָל in questions. Nomi asks Moby:

And in her poem about robot poetry she asks:

The helping verb זאָל in a question conveys that one is considering something, seeking advice, or that the question can’t easily be answered.

Note: these questions can be translated into English with “should”, e.g. “What should we read?” However, since there is considerable difference between the use of Yiddish זאָל and English “should”, we have avoided implying a general equivalence between the two by translating the sense of זאָל in this context.

Here are some more examples:

• In lesson 3.3 when Nomi and Moby are getting ready to cook together, Nomi could have asked Moby:

• Looking at all the good things she has to put in Perl’s shalakh-mones (lesson 4.4), Nomi could have asked herself:

• In lesson 4.3 Nomi could have expressed her curiosity about the watch even more strongly with the question:

The Diminutive

In YiddishPOP we have learned the diminutive form of several nouns. Here are some diminutives we have learned together with the regular (non-diminutive) form of each noun:

Up until now we have taught diminutives as separate vocabulary words. Here we will describe the form and meaning of the diminutive in general terms.

Form

The diminutive is formed with two suffixes, ‏ –‏לand ‏–⁠עלע. There are:

1. Nouns that have only the diminutive form ending ‏ –‏ל
2. Nouns that have only the diminutive form ending ‏ –‏עלע
3. Nouns that have both the diminutive forms ending ‏‏ –‏לand ‏ –‏עלע
4. Nouns that do not have a diminutive form.

To determine the diminutive form of a particular noun, one must look at the number of syllables it has, where the stress falls, and what letter it ends with. All this is described in detail below, but first a few words about the meaning and function of the diminutive.

Meaning and Function

The diminutive has two functions:

Whether a diminutive indicates small size, affect, or both must be inferred from the context. Here is an example of each:

When both forms of the diminutive are possible, the form ending ‏ –‏עלעconveys a greater degree of small size or affect than the form ending ‏ –‏ל. This means that a בילדעלע is generally smaller than a בילדל, or that a בילדעלע evokes more feeling than a בילדל. Context is, of course, a guide to the meaning in any particular case.

Diminutives with a Distinct Meaning

In some words, the diminutive suffix is not a marker of smaller size or affect, but rather gives a word its own distinct meaning. A few examples are listed in the table below:

More about the Form of the Diminutive

Gender of Diminutives

All diminutives ending ‏‏ –‏ל or ‏ –‏עלעare of the neutral gender (that is, דאָס-words). The gender of a diminutive is thus often different from the gender of the base form of the noun, for example:

Note that not every noun that ends consonant + ל is a diminutive. Nouns with base form ending consonant + ל are usually masculine. We have learned several such nouns in YiddishPOP, for example:

Plural Form of Diminutives

The plural suffix for diminutives ending ‏ –‏לis ‏ –‏עך, and for diminutives ending ‏ –⁠עלעis ‏ –‏ך, for example:

Words with the plural suffix ‏ –⁠יםhave a special plural suffix in the diminutive: ‏ –⁠ימלעך; in the singular the diminutive is formed according to the usual rules. For example:

Vowel Change

Some diminutives have a vowel change; if there is a vowel change, it usually follows a predictable pattern. However, one cannot predict whether there will be a vowel change, and for this reason diminutives with a vowel change are listed in many dictionaries. Note that the vowel change is often the same as in the plural form of the noun (for example גלאָז, plural: גלעזער, diminutive: גלעזל).

The table below lists nouns with a vowel change in the diminutive that we have learned in YiddishPOP. Bold letters indicate plural forms that do not have the vowel change.

Diminutives ending only ‏–⁠ל

When a noun is accented on the penultimate syllable and does not end with a vowel sound or with consonant + ל, only the diminutive ending ‏–⁠ל is possible, for example:

Diminutives ending only ‏–⁠עלע

When a noun is accented on the penultimate syllable and ends with a vowel sound, only the diminutive ending ‏–⁠עלע is possible. Note the spelling: only ‏–⁠לע needs to be added because the word already ends with the sound /e/. For example:

Nomi’s name also belongs in this category:

When a noun is accented on the penultimate syllable and ends with consonant + ל, only the diminutive ending ‏–⁠עלע is possible. Note that the suffix ‏–⁠עלע replaces ‏–⁠ל. For example:

When a noun ends in an accented vowel or diphthong, only the diminutive ending ‏–⁠עלע is possible, for example:

Nouns that have no diminutive form

When a noun is accented on the third to last syllable, no diminutive form is possible. Nouns with a suffix also do not have a diminutive form. For example, there is no diminutive for the following nouns:

Diminutives ending both ‏–⁠ל and ‏–⁠עלע

Nouns ending in a consonant that are one syllable long or that are accented on the last syllable usually have both diminutive forms, ending both ‏–⁠ל and ‏–⁠עלע, for example:

As explained above, when both forms are possible, the form ending ‏–⁠עלע conveys a greater degree of small size or affect than the form ending ‏ –‏ל.

Diminutives with an Extra Consonant

The letter –⁠כ– is added before the diminutive ending when a noun ends vowel + ל, for example:

The letter –⁠ד– is added before the diminutive ending when the noun ends in ‏–⁠ן, for example:

In a small number of nouns ending in consonant + ‏–⁠ן, the ‏–⁠ן is omitted in the diminutive. We have seen one example of such a noun in YiddishPOP:

Suffixes Indicating Affect on People’s Names and Family Terms

We mentioned above how Nomi’s grandparents use the diminutive form of her name נעמילע in order to express their love. Beside the diminutive endings ‏‏ –‏לand ‏ –‏עלע, several other suffixes are used with people’s names to show warm feeling. These suffixes are also used with family terms. We have heard three such suffixes in YiddishPOP: ‏–⁠שי ,–⁠ניו, and ‏–⁠קע.

In lesson 4.3 when Nomi thanks her grandparents for the watch, she says:

Nomi chooses the suffix ‏ –⁠ניוwhen she wants to express a warm feeling towards Moby, for example when he appears at her apartment in bandages in lesson 5.3:

Nomi’s friend Meyerke has the name מאיר with the suffix ‏–⁠קע. Sometimes a name with a suffix becomes a nickname and is used both with warm feeling and simply as the ordinary name of the person.

More details about suffixes on people’s names indicating affect can be found in 4.3 Culture.