#Yes-no questions, Tag questions, short answers


#This document is organised into two sections:

#Yes-no questions
#Tag questions



#Yes-No Questions

#There several ways to change a declarative sentence into a yes-no 
#question.

#First, a declarative sentence can be altered into a yes-no question
#by marking the end of the declarative sentence with a question mark.


#1

Mereka mahasiswa

#3PL student
#They are student


#2

Mereka mahasiswa?

#3PL student?
#Are they student?


#Second, a declarative sentence can be altered into a yes-no question
#by adding the question marker apakah before the declarative sentence.


#3

Kamu haus

#2SG thirsty
#You are thirsty


#4

Apakah kamu haus?

#Quest 2SG thirsty?
#Are you thirsty?


#Question marker apa can be distinguished from question word apa. 
#Observe the following examples:


#Question marker:


#5

Mereka sudah makan 

#3PL already eat 
#They have eaten 


#6

Apa mereka sudah makan? 

#Quest 3PL already eat 
#Have they eaten?


#Question mark apa cannot be placed at the end of the sentence.


#Ungrammatical:


#7

Mereka sudah makan apa? (0! 0 0 0)

#3PL already eat Quest?
#Have they eaten?


#Apa can be omitted.


#8

Mereka sudah makan? 

#3PL already eat 
#Have they eaten?


#Question word:

#Question word apa must be placed at the end of the sentence.


#9

Mereka sudah makan apa?  

#3PL already eat what?
#What have they eaten?


#Ungrammatical:


#10

Apa mereka sudah makan? (0! 0 0 0)

#What 3PL already eat Quest?
#What have they eaten?


#Apa cannot be omitted.


#Ungrammatical:


#11

Mereka sudah makan? (0! 0 0 0)

#3PL already eat?
#What have they eaten?


#Apa can be placed at the beginning of the sentence with the addition
#of relative marker yang 'who, that'.  


#12

#Colloquial:

Apa yang mereka sudah makan? 

#What REL 3PL already eat?
#What have they eaten?


#In standard writing the word-order is usually reversed.


#13

Apa yang sudah mereka makan? 

#What REL already 3PL eat?
#What have they eaten?



#Third, a declarative sentence can be changed into a yes-no question
#by adding suffix -kah to the final word of a phrase.

#The following sentences show that suffix -kah can attach to subject 
#kamu '2SG'or to predicate haus 'be thirsty'.


#14

Colloquial:

Kamu hauskah?

#2SG thirsty-Quest?
#Are you thirsty?


#15

Hauskah kamu?

#thirsty-Quest 2SG?
#Are you thirsty?


#Example 14 shows that suffix -kah is attached to the predicate haus 
#'be thirsty'. The position of the word-order is not reversed.

#Example 15 shows that suffix -kah is attached to the predicate haus
#'be thirsty' but the word-order is reversed.

#A relative marker yang 'who, that' is required when suffix -kah is
#attached to the subject kamu '2SG'.


#16

Kamukah yang haus?

#2SG-Quest REL thirsty?
#Are you the one who is thirsty?


#Ungrammatical:

#17

Kamukah haus? (0! 0 0 0)

#2SG-Quest thirsty?
#Are you the one who is thirsty?



#The answer to yes-no question is ya 'yes' or tidak 'no'.


#18

Kamu lapar?

#2SG hungry?
#Are you hungry?


#19

Apakah kamu lapar?

#Quest 2SG hungry?
#Are you hungry?


#20

Laparkah kamu?

#hungry-Quest 2SG?
#Are you hungry?


#Responses to questions (18) to (20):


#Positive:


#21

Ya!

#Yes!
#Yes!


#22

Ya, saya lapar

#yes, 1SG hungry
#Yes, I am hungry


#Negative:


#23

Tidak!

#NEG!
#No!


#24

Tidak, saya tidak lapar

#NEG, 1SG NEG hungry
#No, I am not hungry


#If a yes-no question has an aspect or a modal
#a positive response is with the aspect or the modal which 
#occured in the question.

#Aspect - sudah

#25

Ibu Mofu sudah pergi ke pasar?

#mother Mofu PERF go to market?
#Has Madame Mofu gone to the market?


#Responses:


#Positive:

#26

Sudah! 

#already
#Yes 


#Negative:

#27

Belum!

#not.yet!
#No!


#Ungrammatical:


#28

Tidak sudah! (0! 0 0 0)

#NEG already!
#NO!



#Aspect - masih


#29

Apakah mereka masih kuliah?

#Quest 3PL still study?
#Are they still studying?


#Responses:

#Positive:

#30

Masih! 

#still!
#Yes! 


#Negative:

#31

Tidak!

#NEG!
#No!


#Ungrammatical:

#32

Tidak masih! (0! 0 0 0)

#NEG still!
#NO!


#Aspect - pernah


#33

Pernahkah dia tinggal di Jayapura?

#ever-Quest 3SG live in Jayapura?
#Has he ever lived in Jayapura


#Responses:

#Positive:


#34

Pernah! 

#ever!
#Yes! 


#Negative:


#35

Tidak pernah!

#NEG ever!
#No!



#Modals:


#Boleh 'may'

#36

Bolehkah saya masuk?

#may-Quest 1SG enter?
#May I come in?


#Responses:

#Positive:

#37

Boleh! 

#May!
#Yes! 


#Negative:

#38

Tidak boleh!

#NEG may!
#No!


#Bisa 'can'


#39

Apakah dia bisa datang?

#Quest 3SG  can come?
#Can he come?


#Responses:

#Positive:

#40

Bisa! 

#Can!
#Yes! 


#Negative:

#41

Tidak bisa!

#NEG can!
#No!


#Harus 'must'

#42

Haruskah kamu pergi ke sekolah?

#must-Quest 2SG go  to school
#Must you go to school?


#Responses:

#Positive:

#43

Harus! 

#Must!
#Yes! 

#Negative:

#44

Tidak harus!

#NEG must!
#No!



#A yes-no question that has a negative stament is usually responded
#with a positive response such as ya 'yes' or betul 'right,correct'.
#English will respond with no.


#45


Kamu tidak terlambat ke sekolah pagi ini?


#2SG NEG late to School morning this?
#Are you not late to school this morning?


#Responses:


#46

Ya!

#Yes!
#No!


#47


Ya, saya tidak terlambat.

#Yes, 1SG NEG late.
#No, I am not late.



#48

Mereka belum terlambat, bukan?

#3PL NEG late, NEG?
#They are not late, are they?



#Responses:  


#49

Ya!

#Yes!
#No!


#50


Ya, mereka belum terlambat.

#Yes, 3PL NEG late.
#No, They are not late.





#Tag questions:


#Bukan 'not'

#Bukan can form a tag question  when it is attached to a statement.
#It usually appears after a statement and turn the statement into a question.


#51

Anda guru bahasa Inggris, bukan?

#2SG teacher English, NEG?
#You are an English teacher, aren't you?


#Response: ya 'yes' or bukan 'not'.


#52

Dia baru kembali dari Jayapura, bukan?

#3SG just return from Jayapura, NEG?
#He has just returned from Jayapura, hasn't he?


#Response: ya 'yes' or tidak 'not'.


#Sentence (51) and (52) are affirmative sentences. However, bukan also
#occurs with negative sentences:


#53

Mereka belum terlambat, bukan?

#3PL NEG late, NEG?
#They are not late, are they?


#Response: ya 'yes' or belum 'not'.


#54

Kamu tidak punya ijazah universitas, bukan?

#2SG NEG have certificate university, NEG?
#You do not have a university certificate, do you?


#Response: ya 'yes' or tidak 'not'.



#Tag question ya 'yes'

#Ya 'yes' is usually used to answer an interrogative question.
#However, when ya is placed at the end of a statement, it changed 
#the statement into a tag question.


#55

Anak itu pintar sekali, ya?

#child that clever very, yes?
#That child is very clever, isn't he?

#Response: ya 'yes' or tidak 'not'.


Reference:

#Sneddon, James, N. INDONESIAN: A Comprehensive Grammar, Roudledge, London,
#1966 (pp. 310-314)