15.1....OMITTING SOME SUBJECTS: In non-future and non-imperative sentences, Goesk's complete verb conjugation makes it possible to omit some subjects without confusion. In writing, such an omission is indicated with an apostrophe.
a) In formal or polite usage, it is customury to use first and second person subjects at least once before omitting them in subsequent clauses.
| 15.1-1 |
Ik I |
drinkeut drank |
koolaza cola |
Und and |
'lefeut. left. |
| 15.1-2 |
U vitoet nama meen. Y'all know my name. |
'Vitoet mik. You know me. |
b) Since verbs are not inflected for gender, using "hu" and "hetre" may be necessary when their antecedents' genders are not clear from context. Otherwise, generic third person singular pronouns are optional as subjects.
| 15.1-3 |
Dus camu The man |
lieceus lay |
doot hoo himself |
fuer need down |
Und and |
'droleus. slept. |
| 15.1-4 |
De rost faleus. The rock fell. |
'Bazeus mik. (It) hit me. |
c) Subjects are frequently dropped in informal usage, particularly in responses.
| 15.1-5 | ||||
| QUESTION: |
Op ? |
augoos see |
jeu you |
za? that? |
| correctly: Did you see that? | ||||
| . | ||||
| RESPONSE |
'Augeut see-1st-person-plural-past |
za. that. |
||
| correctly: (I) saw that. | ||||
| 15.1-6 | ||||
| COMMENT: |
Hue They |
nik not |
vendoom. went. |
|
| correctly: They didn't go. | ||||
| . | ||||
| RESPONSE: |
'Vendoom. go-past-3rd person plural. |
|||
| correctly: (They) went. | ||||
15.2....GERUND CLAUSES: These lack subjects, but are otherwise just like nominalizations. Do not use an apostrophe in writing to indicate the absent subject.
| 15.2-1 |
Mis To me |
telenetre telling-nom. |
loesyl will solve |
narna. nothing. |
| correctly: Telling me will solve nothing. | ||||
| 15.2-2 |
Kriec Get |
cleetyluen tools |
fuer hausa buezenai. for a house building-dat. |
| correctly: Get tools for building a house. | |||
| 15.2-3 |
Op ? |
'vitist know-2nd-person-singular-present |
oovyr brauta macenas? about bread making-gen. |
| correctly: Do you know about making bread? | |||
a) In gerund clauses with object complements, the object complement is always the second of the two major constituents before the gerund.
| 15.2-4a |
camo man |
lerujozoo student |
andryenetre making-nom. |
| correctly: making a man a student | |||
| 15.2-4b |
frauzoo woman |
zoor angry |
andyrenetre making-nom. |
| correctly: making the woman angry | |||
b) Do not confuse infinitive verb complements with accusative gerund clauses. The former have the same subjects as their associated finite verbs; the latter do not, and convey action by unspecified parties if they do not have subjects.
| 15.2-5a |
Ik I |
veulo want |
eeta food |
jees to you |
geben. to give |
| correctly: I want to give food to you. | |||||
| 15.2-5b |
Ik I |
veulo want |
eeta food |
jees to you |
gebena. giving-acc. |
| correctly: I want (someone) giving food to you. | |||||
c) Prepositional phrases each comprising "in" and an accusative gerund clause do the work of English infinitive object complements in sentences with verbs of influence like these:
| beuden | biden | coozen | helfen |
| to command | to ask (X to do Y) | to beg | to help |
| lasen | meeken | mieten | oovyrteugen |
| to let | to make/cause (X to do Y) | to avoid | to persuade |
| raden | skamen | srienen | traiben |
| to advise | to trick (X into doing Y) | to force | to prompt |
| 15.2-6 |
Ik I |
bideut asked |
johanoo Johan |
in helenoo inkumena. in Helen visiting-acc. |
| correctly: I asked Johan to visit Helen. | ||||
| 15.2-7 |
Hue They |
beudyl will command |
jeuv you |
in mod sienena. in brave being-acc. |
| correctly They will command you to be brave. | ||||
d) In the Goesk equivalent of an English gerund + infinitive combination, the gerund comes last.
| 15.2-8 |
fleemen alesenetre. to fly learning |
| correctly learning to fly |
15.3....SHORTENING PREDICATES:
a) The Goesk verb pro-form is "nolen," meaning "to do so."
| 15.3-1 |
Vier We |
veulud wanted |
venden to go |
Und and |
vier we |
nolud. did so. |
b) "Nolen" can take auxiliaries and modifiers.
| 15.3-2 |
Vier We |
kanud can-past |
nolen. do so. |
| correctly: We could have done so. | |||
| 15.3-3 |
Vier We |
nolud did so |
nik. not. |
| correctly: We did not (do so). | |||
c) Linking verbs can occur without redundant complements.
| 15.3-4 | ||||
| QUESTION: |
Op ? |
sienoom were |
hue they |
rad? red? |
| correctly: Were they red? | ||||
| . | ||||
| RESPONSE |
Hue They |
sienoom. were. |
||
| correctly: They were. | ||||
d) Linking verbs other than "sienen" that occur without redundant complements translate with the English verb pro-form "do."
| 15.3-5 | ||||
| QUESTION: |
Op ? |
verdoom because |
hue they |
breet? noisy? |
| correctly: Did they become noisy? | ||||
| . | ||||
| RESPONSE |
Hue They |
verdoom. became. |
||
| correctly: They did. | ||||
| 15.3-6 | ||||
| QUESTION: |
Op ? |
caineus seemed |
hetre it |
lon? long? |
| correctly: Did it seem long? | ||||
| . | ||||
| RESPONSE |
Hetre It |
caineus. seemed. |
||
| correctly: It did. | ||||
e) Sentences with shortened predicates can occur as questions. These short questions are often used to cast doubt on previous statements.
| 15.3-7 |
Hue verdoom breet. They became noisy. |
Op verdoom hue? Did they? |
| 15.3-8 |
Dues mencue yrnoom. The people ran. |
Op noloom hue? Did they? |
f) In the present and past tenses, clauses with shortened predicates can have their subjects omitted just as full clauses can.
| 15.3-9 |
'Noloom. (They) did so. |
| 15.3-10 |
'Cainoom. (They) did (seem that way). |
15.4....ELIPTICAL SENTENCES AND ONE-WORD UTTERANCES:
a) Almost any word or phrase can function as an eliptical sentence in Goesk.
| 15.4-1 |
Eet fuer arnum? Food, anyone? |
| 15.4-2 |
Camue! Men! |
| 15.4-3 |
Frauzue! Women! |
| 15.4-4 |
Vetre? What? |
b) However, a handful of single words function only as one-word utterances, called "one-worders" for short.
c) The following one-worders can be used to answer to questions.
|
Eebyl. I doubt it. |
Hain. No comment. |
Ifin. I don't know. |
Ja. Yes. |
Kroi. Maybe. |
|
Nee. No. |
Proo. That depends. |
Viedyr? Come again? |
Zeclu. That's not true. | |
NOTE: "Zeclu" can be rendered more colloquially into English with expressions such as "Oh no he isn't," "Oh no they won't," "Oh yes she will," and so on, ad infinitum, depending on the type of statement it is used to contradict.
d) The following one-worders express emotions.
| word | emotion | approximate English version |
| Boo. | disapproval | Shame, shame. |
| Ele. | approval | Right on. |
| Fene. | contentment | Ahhh. |
| Hople. | surprise | I'll be darned. Well, well. |
| Nau. | anticipation of good | Oh boy! |
| Ox. | annoyance | Oh, brother. |
| Pauzu. | anticipation of bad | Oh no. |
| Zee. | disappointment | Oh, darn. |
e) One-worders can be coordinated paratactically with eliptical sentences and just about any other utterance. In writing, a coordinated one-worder is set off with a dash.
| 15.4-5 |
Pauzu--hue! Oh, no--them! |
| 15.4-6 |
Ja--vorlaik. Yes, truly. |
| 15.4-7 |
Fene--detre sienit good. Ahh, this is good. |
f) The particle "fook" premodifies one-worders, and intensifies their meanings. The most common phrases with "fook" are as follows:
|
Fook ja. Absolutely. |
Fook nee. Absolutely not. |
Fook vidyr? What the devil? |
Fook zeclu. Absolute nonsense. |
Fook boo. Yecch! |
|
Fook ele. Right ON! Yay! |
Fook nau. All RIGHT! |
Fook zee. Gosh darn it. |
Fook ox. Dammit all! |
Fook pauzu. Oh f---! |