Asking Questions (Pangasubu)

               Bismillah. This is the 1st Bonus lesson for “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

               The very basic way of learning something is by asking questions. And learning “how to ask questions” is what we will discuss today, in shaa Allah. The following are terms used in asking question (Pangasubu = interrogatives):

English	Tausug Questions (Pangasubu)
	Regular Form	*past	*future
What	Unu	---	---
Who	Hisiyu	---	---
Whom	Kansiyu	---	---
Why	Mayta’	---	---
When	Ka’nu	Ka’nu (Kahnu)	Ku’nu (Kuhnu)
Where	Hain	Piyakain, Daing hain	Pakain
How (functional, “how it works”)	Biyariin or Biya’diin	---	---
How (Conditional or situation)	Maunu-unu or Maunu	---	---

Examples of these in regular forms:

Unu in ngan mu?	What is your name?
Hisiyu in usug yaun?	Who is that guy?
Kansiyu in badju ini?	Who own this shirt? (whom)
Hain hi Inah?	Where is mother?
Ka’nu kaw piyag-anak?	When was your birth date?
Mayta’ kaw timangis?	Why are you crying?
Biyariin kaw magtuwg?	How do you sleep?
Maunu-unu na hi Jamal?	How is Jamal doing?

               

 

* THE PAST AND FUTURE FORMS

               One might wonder why we have the columns *past and *future in the table above. It is yet another unique feature we have in Bahasa Sug: a way of differentiating questions that are affected by time. This feature only applies on Hain (where) and Ka’nu (when).


For Hain:
               Hain is a question of place or location. When the location asked is attributed with an action or condition in the past (like “been to, gone to, went to…”) we use the past form of the question: “Piyakain” (went to) or “Daing Hain” (from where). Examples are:

                Piyakain kaw, Omar?                    Where did you go, Omar?
               Daing hain in kappal?                   Where did the boat come from?

When used to refer to a place or locaton attributed with an action or condition in the future (to go to, etc.) we use the future form of the question: “Pakain”. Here are some examples:

                Pakain kamu manaw?                                  Where are you going?
               Harap pakain in kappal?                              (To) where is the boat going?


For Ka’nu:
               Ka’nu or Kahnu is a question of time which is always attributed with past and future. When referring to actions or conditions in the past we use the regular form, Ka’nu. As in:

               Ka’nu kamu dimatung?                                When did you arrive?
               Ka’nu sila kimaun?                                       When did they eat?
             
               And when asking about an action or condition that is only about to happen (in the future) we use the future form of the question which is “Ku’nu” or “Kuhnu”:

                Ku’nu in pagtiyaun?                       When will be the wedding?
               Ku’nu kaw pa iskul?                        When are going to school?

(To listen to the proper pronunciation of each example, please listen to the audio file provided in the download link below.)

               I hope you enjoyed learning the different forms of questions in Bahasa Sug. Keep practicing by using them once in a while, every day. If you have further questions, or suggestions and ideas, or for more translations, pls visit our FB page at Tausug101 or see our contact form #LINK#.

We will continue posting more useful and fun lessons in the Bonus Sections every Mondays.

Salam kasilasa!
-Anak Iluh