Pang san

This is the order of a Ba kom sentence:

(topic) — subject — verb — object

For example:

• Pen ha taum.
  [child (subject)] [eat] [peach (object)]
  "The child eats a peach."

• Kin lei lan miu.
  [dog (subject)] [run] [follow] [cat (object)]
  "The dog chases the cat."

• Miu lei lan kin.
  [cat (subject)] [run] [follow] [dog (object)]
  "The cat chases the dog."

Subjects and objects may be left out if they're obvious from context, so the only thing a sentence needs is a verb.

• Bo.
  "It is good."

• Pen ha.
  [child (subject)] [eat]
  "The child eats it."

• Yon pau yen kau din.
  [go] [get] [come] [return] [give]
  "(I/you/he/etc.) went and got (it) and came back and gave (it to someone)."

• Com da xou.
  [excessive] [big] [pay]
  "It is too expensive."

Noun phrases

This is the order of the words in a noun phrase:

noun — pronoun — attributive verb — prepositional phrase

Descriptive phrases come after the nouns that they describe. This is the opposite of English.

• kin mi
  [dog] [I]
  "my dog"

• taum sip
  [peach] [unripe]
  "an unripe peach"

• pen ta wa
  [child] [at] [here]
  "this child"

Predicates

The "predicate" is the part of the sentence that says something about the subject and object.

This is the order of words in a predicate:

(preverb) — verb — (adverb) — (object) — (prepositional phrase)

A predicate can contain many verbs that all have the same subject. These are called "serial verb constructions".

Adverbs

There are two kinds of adverbs: words that are adverbs in themselves, and adverbs that are formed with sa.

Adverbs can be stacked one after another, so that each adverb describes the adverb that comes before it.
For example, li "ever" + na "not" = li na "never, not ever".

Sometimes, a word can be either a stative verb or an adverb. Sometimes, it can only be an adverb.
Some examples of these are: na "not"; xa "already, yet"; ci "now"; le "later"; xon "yesterday"; xen "tomorrow"; li "ever".

Here are some examples of stative verbs that are used as adverbs:

• Kin yau da mai.
  [dog] [yell] [big] [much]
  "The dog barked really loudly."

• Mel xiu ming.
  [moon] [shine] [clear]
  "The moon shines clearly."

• O mei nuk mi.
  [he/she] [look at] [strange] [I]
  "He/she gave me a strange look."

• Mi kain kang cit.
  [I] [forge] [easy] [blade]
  "I forged the blade easily."

Adverbs that use the particle sa come at the end of a sentence.
These adverbs usually come from active verbs, or from whole phrases.
Sa can be translated as "while [verb]ing" or "by [verb]ing".

Topic-comment sentences

A noun can be moved to the front of a sentence to show that it is the topic. This can be translated as: "As for [noun], …".

• Ya a mi ca na.
  [that] [topic] [I] [know] [not]
  "As for that, I don't know."

• Pakam si a ya yam bo na.
  [prospect] [you] [topic] [that] [appear] [good] [not]
  "As for your prospects, they don't look good."

The word order of topic-comment sentences is:

topic — a — (subject, if the topic is the object) — predicate

Topic-comment sentences can be used when answering questions. The thing that was asked about is the topic. The topic can be dropped, so that the answer begins with a.

Here are some examples of topic-comment sentences:

• Bam yem mi ben.
  [parent] [woman] [I] [be well]
  "My mother is well."

  • Bam yem mi a ben.
    [parent] [woman] [you] [topic] [be well]
    "As for my mother, she is well."

• Pok tai ya lo pa pik.
  [cup] [tea] [that] [aspect] [passive] [break]
  “That teacup is cracked.”

  • Pok tai ya a lo pa pik.
    [cup] [tea] [that] [topic] [aspect] [passive] [crack]
    “As for that teacup, it’s cracked.”

• Mim kan xa sain wa.
  [we] [watch] [already] [film] [this]
  "We already watched this film."

  • Sain wa a mim kan xa.
    [film] [this] [topic] [we] [watch] [already]
    "As for this film, we already watched it."

• O xan na bul, xe mi a xan mai.
  [he/she] [enjoy] [not] [swimming]
  [but] [I] [topic] [enjoy] [much]
  "He/she doesn't like to swim, but as for me, I like it a lot."

• Mi yen on si nal tum dong mi.
  [I] [come] [see] [you] [discuss] [judge] [learning] [I]
  "I'm coming to see you to discuss my grades."

  • —Si yen on mi yu mo?
    [you] [come] [see] [I] [because of] [what]
    "Why are you coming to see me?"
    A nal tum dong mi.
    [topic] [discuss] [judge] [learning] [I]
    "(Me coming to see you), it's to discuss my grades."

If the topic is the object of a preposition or a subordinate clause, then it must be repeated with a pronoun in the main clause.

• Mim yon ta dom tegus.
  [we] [go] [to] [city] [Teguz]
  "We're going to Tegucigalpa."

  • Dom tegus a mim yon ta ya.
    [city] [Teguz] [be] [we] [go] [to] [there]
    "Tegucigalpa is where we're going." "As for Tegucigalpa, we're going there."

• Mi yen on si yu xi ya.
  [I] [come] [see] [you] [be because of] [matter] [that]

  • Xi ya a mi yen on si yu ya.
    [matter] [that] [be] [I] [come] [see] [you] [be because of] [that]
    "As for that matter, it's why I came to see you."

Time expressions

Nouns that refer to a time may be topicalized at the start of the sentence, instead of placed at the end as sa adverbs.

• Mi wal yon di dait sa yol xon.
  [I] [travel] [go to] [country] [German] [adverb] [year] [yester]
  "I traveled to Germany last year."

  • Yol xon a mi wal yon di dait.
    [year] [yester] [be] [I] [travel] [go] [to] [country] [German]
    "Last year I traveled to Germany."

Relative clauses

A relative clause is a clause (i.e. a verb with its subject or object) that describes a noun.
Relative clauses are formed with the particle i, which is used in almost all cases when a verb describes a noun.

• kin i yau na
  [dog] [relativizer] [yell] [not]
  "a dog that doesn't bark"

• in o i la but tai
  [person] [he/she] [relativizer] [aspect] [boil] [tea]
  "that person who is brewing tea"

• yanok i wom tik bu
  [farmer] [relativizer] [nurture] [tree] [fruit]
  "a farmer who grows fruit trees"

• tel i ye fon mai
  [house] [relativizer] [have] [secret] [many]
  "a house that has many secrets"

• mot i pat mong co
  [forest] [relativizer] [animal] [dangerous] [live]
  "a forest where dangerous beasts live"

Ba kom has no relative pronouns like "that" or "which".
Instead, if the head-noun is an object in the relative clause, then a gap is left. Optionally, the passive verb pa may be inserted.

• bu i tik yul
  [fruit] [relativizer] [tree] [bear]
  bu i pa tik yul
  [fruit] [relativizer] [passive] [tree] [bear]
  "the fruit that the trees bear"

• kai i si xan.
  [food] [relativizer] [you] [enjoy]
  kai i pa si xan.
  [food] [relativizer] [passive] [you] [enjoy]
  "the food that you like"

• kem i o con
  [cloth] [relativizer] [he/she] [wear]
  kem i pa o con
  [cloth] [relativizer] [passive] [he/she] [wear]
  "the clothes that he/she wears"

A serial-verb or preposition can be dropped:

• ka i si yon ta ya
  [place] [relativizer] [you] [go] [to] [there]
  ka i si yon
  [place] [relativizer] [you] [go]
  "the place that you go to"

• put i mi un pi xol
  [pen] [relativizer] [I] [use] [and] [write]
  put i mi xol
  [writing implement] [relativizer] [I] [write]
  "the pen that I write with"

If a verb follows a noun without i, then it can be safely understood as a finite verb, and not a verb that describes that noun.
This is useful because Ba kom tends to stack series of nouns and verbs with no intervening conjunctions, as in the following sentences:

• Ama lo dai paxan im yen kau din wo sim.
  [mama] [perfect] [carry] [treat] [some] [come] [return] [give] [to] [you]
  "Mama's brought back some treats for y'all."

• Xong un wit xom al so im.
  [wolf] [use] [tail] [replace] [hand] [do] [some things]
  "Wolf uses his tail instead of his hands to do some things."

Subjects with Relative Clauses

If the subject of a sentence is modified by a relative clause, then that subject becomes a topic. It must be followed by a comma, and if it is animate, it must be restated with a pronoun in the main clause.

• Go gai i o jam, ya bo.
  [egg] [chicken] [relativizer] [he/she] [gather], [that] [good]
  "The eggs that he/she gathered are good."

• Ji fon i pa si xol nun, niben.
  [sign] [secret] [relativizer] [passive] [you] [write] [in], [(it is) incorrect]
  "The password that you entered is incorrect."

• Cit wot i lo pa pik, wa lu pa kain nau.
  [blade] [war] [relativizer] [aspect] [passive] [break]
  [this] [aspect] [passive] [forge] [newly]
  "The sword that has been broken will be forged anew."

Clause Nominalization