Malagasy

  Words: Enjehin-dRabe ny mpangalatra
  Gloss: chase.TT-GEN.Rabe DET thief
  Translation: Rabe chases/is chasing the thief
  Comment: Traditional grammars would call 'ny mpangalatra' the subject here, and say the verb is in the passive voice. However, 'Rabe' here does have some significant subject-like properties. Note: TT stands for 'Theme Topic', which is the voice morphology on the verb indicating that the subject is the theme.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Manenjika ny mpangalatra Rabe
  Gloss: PRES.AT.chase DET thief Rabe
  Translation: Rabe chases/is chasing the thief.
  Comment: Note: AT stands for 'Actor Topic', which is the voice morphology on the verb indicating that the subject is the agent. Also, in AT, the m- prefix on the verb alternates with n- (for past) and h- (for future).
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Enjehi+ny izy
  Gloss: chase.TT+3.GEN 3.NOM
  Translation: He/she/they chase(s) him/her/them
  Comment: See note for VS property setting.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Manenjika azy izy
  Gloss: PRES.AT.chase 3.ACC 3.NOM
  Translation: He/she/they chase(s) him/her/them
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: ambonin'ny latabatra
  Gloss: on.top.of'DET table
  Translation: on top of the table
  Comment: The apostrophe is standard Malagasy orthography.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: ny zaza marary
  Gloss: DET child sick
  Translation: the sick child
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Tsy miteny ny zaza telo
  Gloss: NEG PRES.AT.speak DET child three
  Translation: The three children are not speaking
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: io trano io
  Gloss: DEM house DEM
  Translation: that house
  Comment: Each of the seven demonstratives in Malagasy must frame the noun phrase it is qualifying. As seen here, the demonstrative 'ity' appears both before the noun phrase and after. Very occasionally, the second demonstrative is absent.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: io trano io
  Gloss: DEM house DEM
  Translation: this house
  Comment: Each of the seven demonstratives in Malagasy must frame the noun phrase it is qualifying. As seen here, the demonstrative 'ity' appears both before the noun phrase and after. Very occasionally, the second demonstrative is absent.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: ny tranon-dRasoa
  Gloss: DET house-GEN.Rasoa
  Translation: Rasoa's house
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: ny trano.ko
  Gloss: DET house.1SG.GEN
  Translation: ’My house’
  Contributor: Hilda Koopman

  Words: ny trano.ny
  Gloss: Det house.3SG
  Translation: His/her house
  Comment: 3rd sg poss is homophonous with the determiner
  Contributor: Hilda Koopman

  Words: io trano lehibe io
  Gloss: DEM house big DEM
  Translation: this big house
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Tena lava Rabe
  Gloss: very tall Rabe
  Translation: Rabe is very tall
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Lava be Rabe
  Gloss: tall much Rabe
  Translation: Rabe is very tall
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: ireo trano lehibe ireo
  Gloss: DEM.PL house big DEM.PL
  Translation: these big houses
  Comment: The demonstrative here forces a plural interpretation of the noun phrase, and as can be seen, the adjective does not change to agree with the plural noun.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: ny lehilahy izay nampian-dRabe tany an-tsena
  Gloss: DET man COMP PST.help.TT-GEN.Rabe PST.LOC at-market
  Translation: the man that Rabe helped at the market
  Comment: Note: TT stands for 'Theme Topic', which is the voice morphology on the verb indicating that the subject is the theme.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Mihevitra aho fa mbola marary Rasoa
  Gloss: PRES.AT.think 1SG.NOM COMP still sick Rasoa
  Translation: I think that Rasoa is still sick.
  Comment: Note: AT stands for 'Actor Topic', which is the voice morphology on the verb indicating that the subject is the agent.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Tsy nanatrika ny fety Rabe satria marary (izy)
  Gloss: NEG PST.AT.attend DET party Rabe because sick 3.NOM
  Translation: Rabe didn't attend the party because he was sick.
  Comment: Note: AT stands for 'Actor Topic', which is the voice morphology on the verb indicating that the subject is the agent.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Misy zazakely betsaka ao an-trano
  Gloss: PRES.AT.exist child many THERE LOC-house
  Translation: There are many children in the house
  Comment: This is an example of an existential.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: ity boky mena ity
  Gloss: DEM.close book red DEM.close
  Translation: this red book
  Comment: Each of the seven demonstratives in Malagasy must frame the noun phrase it is qualifying. As seen here, the demonstrative 'ity' appears both before the noun phrase and after. Very occasionally, the second demonstrative is absent.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: ity boky mena ity
  Gloss: DEM.close book red DEM.close
  Translation: this red book
  Comment: Each of the seven demonstratives in Malagasy must frame the noun phrase it is qualifying. As seen here, the demonstrative 'ity' appears both before the noun phrase and after. Very occasionally, the second demonstrative is absent.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: ...ka moa va tsy tokony ho tantaraina amin'ny taranaka rehetra
  Gloss: Q Q not should FUT be.told.TT to'the descendants all
  Translation: Should (this story) be told to all the future generations?
  Comment: Although the main strategy for forming polar questions is using the 've/va' particle, there is a secondary way to form these questions which is illustrated here. This involves an initial 'moa', which is an emphatic, normally accompanied by another question marker or negation (when it's used for polar questions). We do not think that moa is an independent question word in the way that ve/va is.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: m-i-tady an'i Lalao any Antsirabe ve Rabe
  Gloss: AT.PRES-AT-seek ACC'DET Lalao there Antsirabe Q Rabe
  Translation: Is Rabe looking for Lalao in Antsirabe?
  Comment: The polar question marker 've/va' appears following the entire predicate and preceding the subject/topic.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Rabe ve no n-an-ao izany?
  Gloss: Rabe Q FOC PST-AT-do that
  Translation: Was it Rabe who did that?
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Ho avy ve ny orana? Eny.
  Gloss: FUT come Q the rain yes
  Translation: Is it going to rain? Yes.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Ho avy ve ny orana? Tsia.
  Gloss: FUT come Q the rain no
  Translation: Is it going to rain? No.
  Comment: 'Tsia' is clearly related to the regular sentential negation, 'tsy'.
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin

  Words: Tsy tonga ve Rakoto? Eny.
  Gloss: NEG arrive Q Rakoto yes
  Translation: Did Rakoto not arrive? Yes (Rakoto didn't arrive). / Didn't Rakoto arrive? Yes (Rakoto didn't arrive).
  Contributor: Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin