A Grammar of Madurese

(singke) #1

270 Chapter 9 VPs and verbal marking


(81) Marlena kera entar dha' Jakarta minggu adha'.
Marlena will go to Jakarta week front
‘Marlena will go to Jakarta next week.’


(82) Lo' kera kala bi' bangsa-na gondorowo, bi'ibi ban en-laen-na.
not will defeated by group-DEF devil demon and RED-other-DEF
‘They would not be defeated by a bunch of demons, devils, and so on.’



  1. kodu ‘must, should’


Obligation is denoted by the auxiliary kodu ‘must, should’, as illustrated in (83)
and (84).


(83) Tanto-na lo' bisa kan a-langngoy, kodu nompa' prao.
certain-DEF not able EMPH AV-swim must AV.ride boat
‘Of course, they were not able to swim but had to take a boat.’


(84) Hasan kodu a-lako pole sateya.
Hasan should AV-work again now
‘Hasan should go back to work now.’



  1. (el)la ‘already’


The adverb ella ‘already’, most frequently used in the truncated form la, de-
notes perfectivity, that is, the state of affairs expressed in the clause has ob-
tained, a state has been reached or an action completed.


(85) Sengko' la ngakan.
I already AV.eat
‘I have eaten.’


(86) Ke' Lesap bi' tentara-na la dhateng, nyambi gaman-na,
Ke' Lesap with troops-DEF already come AV.bring weapon-DEF
nyerbu Bangkalan.
AV.invade Bangkalan.
‘Ke' Lesap and his army arrived, bringing their weapons, and invaded
Bangkalan.’



  1. mare ‘finish’


Perfectivity can also be denoted by the verb mare ‘finish’ when it precedes the
principal predicate of the clause. The nature of mare makes it most compatible
with active verbs. And so it typically denotes the completion of an action.

Free download pdf