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).