Lesson 9: Conjunctions I

          Bismillah. This is the 9th lesson on “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons. There is a short quiz at the end of this lesson.

          In the previous lesson, we have learned the three noun markers “in”, “hi” and “hinda”. We have differentiated the three markers on how they are used as indicators of nouns (“in” for proper nouns and “hi/hinda” for common nouns). These three noun markers actually have their other form: they can also exist and function as conjunctions! In this lesson, we will discuss the conjunction forms of these three articles and their usage. Apparently, all of the three conjunctions we are about to tackle, are forms equivalent of the same, common term: the conjunction “of”.

The Conjunction “sin”

          The Tausug conjunction “sin” corresponds to the English conjunction “of” and the Tagalog “ng” which basically denotes possession. And just like the article “in”, “sin” is only used with common (improper) nouns or objects. Maybe we can say, “sin” is the conjunction form of “in”. Let us study the examples below:

Format: <Noun 1> + sin + <Noun 2>

Langguage	Example 1	Example 2
Tausug	Lawang sin báy.	Taumpa’ sin bagay ku.
Tagalog	Pintuan ng bahay.	Sapatos ng kaibigan ko.
English	(The) door of the house.	(The) shoe of my friend.

*NOTE: There are other forms and usage of the word “sin” in a sentence, but for now, we will only focus on this form.

          In Example 1, the first noun Lawang (Door) is followed by our conjunction “sin”; then by the second common noun Báy (House, which is a common noun). When this kind of word order happens (that is, “sin” is in between two nouns), the first noun or object <Noun 1> will basically become a part or property of the second noun or object <Noun 2>. This is what we mean by “possession”; Noun 1 is possessed by Noun 2. So in the example “Lawang sin báy”, we are informed that the object Lawang is indeed part of the common noun, Báy. 

          Same principles govern the second example, but in here we are now using a common, personal noun Bagay (Friend) instead of an object. The first noun Taumpa’ (Shoe) is a ‘possession’ of the second noun, Bagay.

Conjunctions “hi” and “hinda”

          Remember in lesson 8, we have discussed the primary forms of “hi” and “hinda” as noun markers. This time we will meet their other forms (although without changing spellings) as equivalents of the possessive conjunction “of”.  

          Also following their Noun-marker forms, the conjunctions “hi” and “hinda” are both used with proper nouns (esp. names of persons) or identified objects only. And because they also function as equivalents of the conjunction “of”, they also denote possession. These two are the same as the Tagalog conjunctions “ni” and “nina”. Here are a few examples:

Also following the same format:

<Noun 1> + hi + <Name 2> for singular n.

<Noun 1> + hinda + <Name 2> for plural n.

Langguage	Singular	Plural
Tausug	Báy hi Omar.	Bagay hinda Sandra.
Tagalog	Bahay ni Omar.	Kaibigan nina Sandra.
English	(The) house of Omar.	(A) Friend of Sandra (and others).

The Noun Markers “in”, “hi” and “hinda”

Bismillah. This is the 9th lesson on “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

In constructing simple sentences in Bahasa Sug (which we will be discussing soon, in sha Allah), we need to know how NOUNS in a sentence are identified. There are, in fact, a number of noun markers that exists in Bahasa Sug. These are articles that let us know whether the one being identified as a subject or a direct object in a conversation is indeed a noun. In this lesson, we will introduce the first three Noun Markers: In, Hi and Hinda (as the name suggests, any words following these 3 markers are always considered to be “nouns”).

The Article “In”

The Tausug article “In” is the equivalent of the English articles “The” and “a/an”. It is almost always used before the “object” it is identifying (the noun). Article “In” is usually followed by improper nouns—nouns that are not absolutely identified or named—and can be used both for subjects and objects of the verb. Let’s see the sentence construction below:

As indicator of subject:

Báy	House
In báy	The House
In báy malingkat.	The House is beautiful.

                

As indicator of direct object:

In báy	The house
Kiyta’ ku in báy.	I saw the house.

The Tausug article “In” can also be used as the verb-to-be “is” in a sentence, such as:

Mastal	Teacher
In mastal	The teacher
Siya in mastal.	He is the teacher.

And even as indicator of the “doer” of the verb:

Nagbayta’	Told; (p.t. of bayta’, “tell”)
…in nagbayta’ káku’…	…the one who told me...
Hi Ahmad in nagbayta’ káku’.	Ahmad is the one who told me.
(An exception: in this example, the article “In” follows a verb instead of a noun)

It will be observed, that the role of the article “In” is greatly affected by the kind of VERBS that are being used in a sentence. We will be discussing this in our upcoming Lessons in Tausug Verbs (Lesson 12 onwards) in sha Allah.

Articles “Hi” and “Hinda”

Another pair of Tausug articles important to be learned is the two Personal Noun Markers: “Hi” and its plural form, “Hinda”. They have almost the same function as the article “In”—identifying nouns either as subjects, objects or doers of the verb. But these two articles are used only with Proper names, particularly names of people (including the ‘people-callings’ like mother, father, uncle, etc.).