Proto-Mila Coursebook Chapter 14: view article

Chapter 14 to have

There is no direct verb ‘to have’. In English when we say I have a pen we could mean either that I own a pen, or that I currently have a pen with me. In Mila these need to be expressed in different ways.

The way that we express I own a pen in Mila is by translating At me I am a pen giving ‘Ilúba áɟmu’. By expressing the verb to be, this makes the pen have the meaning of being a part of the person speaking, thus making it belong to the person.

To express I have a pen with the meaning of having a pen with me, we need to translate With me is a pen. With is translated by ‘tína –l’, so with me is ‘tína lúbu’ which gives the full sentence ‘Tína lúbu cumál’.

Exercise ***

Exercise ***

There are many expressions using have in English where the meaning of the verb has nothing to do with possession or position relative to a person. To have lunch for example simply means to eat lunch and as such will be translated thus. I am having lunch becomes ‘Ámlic imijba’.
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