# Lesson 5: How old are you?

    In this lesson, you will learn how to count and deal with numbers. You will also learn to conjugate verbs in the perfect aspect.

## Dialog

    Dialog 4 between Bob and Mary: How old are you? SPEAKERMIRADENGLISH M Et se duhojaga?How old are you? B At se ulo (jabi) jaga.I'm forty years old. M Hwiy! Et se elo jabi gajaga vyel at.Wow! You are twenty years older than I. B At te, oy et gay agso ig.I know, but you too will grow quickly. M Hus se vyaa. Et tambesaye hia dom ji duhogla jabi?That is true. For how many years have you been living (= you have lived) in this city? B At voy te vyavay, oy at saye him ji gla jabi.I don't know exactly, but I've been here for many years. M Et ayse hogla tudi?How many children do you have? B At ayse iwa twudi ay awa tuyd. Yit se eb iwa ay yowa jabi jaga.I have three sons and one daughter. They are between three and five years old. M Av hus, et sayo tadxwa gwoy ji yawa jabi, vao?So, you will have been married for at least six years, right? B Vay, yewa. Yata aa tud taja ewa jabi jo ha tadienActually, seven. Our first child was born two years after the marriage. M. Hyay. At oztasaye. Sa fia daler bay et. Hoy.Great. I have gotten tired. It was good talking with you. Bye.

## Grammar Notes
### Perfect Aspect Verbs

    In the past lessons, you learned the simple and progressive aspect tenses of the verb. Here you will learn the perfect aspect, which act just as the perfect tenses in English (I have studied, I had studied, I will have studied, and I would have studied). The sign of the perfect aspect is the infix ay (as opposed to ey, the infix for the progressive aspect tenses).
    Here is a chart showing the new set of tenses (active voice only):
       Perfect Aspect Tenses ASPECT / VOICE / MOOD / TENSEINFINITIVE = ser...to be STEM+INFIX = s+ay- Perfect Active Indicative Present at saye....I have been Perfect Active Indicative Past at saya....I had been Perfect Active Indicative Future at sayo....I will have been Perfect Active Hypothetical (Conditional) at sayu....I would have been
    Examples:
      * At tambesaye him ji glaj.....I have lived here for a long time.
      * Et saye fua.....You have been bad.
      * At voy tayu hus.....I would not have known that.
      * At jay tajayu haj hu et pyua ela jabi jaga.....I had been born already when you reached twenty-one years of age.
      * Be ata tajjub, at tejayo ilyo jabi.....On my birthday, I will have lived thirty-five years.

### Counting and Telling One's Age

    A full explanation of numbers and counting can be found in the chapter on Numbers. The units, when counting, end in -wa. The teens end in -lo, -la, -le, -li, etc. The hundreds in so, -sa, -se, etc.
    The question for asking someone's age is usually Duhojaga et se?....How old are you?
    The answer is usually phrased as At se x-number (jabi) (jaga).....I am x-number (years) (old) where either word in the parentheses can be omitted. The Mirad word jabi means years and jaga means old or of age. So, to say I am forty-two years old, you would say At se ule jabi jaga or just At se ule., or At se ule jaga.
    The word jaga can just be the adjective old, the opposite being joga....young. Jag as a noun means age. An old person is jagat, while a youth is jogat.
    The "dimension" jag (age) can be prefixed with all the h- deictic prefixes and all the quantitative prefixes like ga, go, or gla. For example:
      * duhojaga?....how old?
      * hijaga....this old
      * hujaga....that old
      * hejaga....somewhat old
      * gajaga (vyel)....older (than)
      * gejaga (vyel)....as old (as)
      * gojaga (vyel)....less old (than)
      * gwajaga....eldest
      * grajaga....too old
      * grojaga....minor
      * glajaga....very old
    All of the above terms and others can be pronominalized animately or inanimately:
      * Grojagati voy upo.....Minors (=too young persons) will not come.
      * Hujagasi se vua.....Things that old are ugly.
    The word joga, when referring to things can be translated as new:
      * At ayse jogas av et.....I have something new for you.
    When joga applies to people, it means young:
      * Hijuba jogati te glos.....The youth of today know little.

### Adding Gender to Nouns

    Nouns do not have inherent gender in Mirad. For example, tad simply means spouse (husband or wife).
    To make a gender-neutral noun masculine or male, insert a w just before the stem vowel.
      * tad....spouse becomes twad....husband
    Similarly, to make a gender-neutral noun feminine or female, insert a y just after the stem vowel or vowel cluster:
      * tad....spouse becomes tayd....wife (tayd is pronounced exactly like Am. Eng. tide)
    Other examples:
      * tud....child
         * twud....son
         * tuyd....daughter
      * tob....person, human being
         * twob....man
         * toyb....woman
    Singular personal pronouns can be genderized similarly:
      * it....he or she, him or her
         * wit....he or him
         * iyt....she or her
      * at....I or me (gender unspoken)
         * wat....I or me, being a male
         * ayt....I or me, being a female
      * et....you
         * wet....you, being a male
         * eyt....you, being a female
    The plural personal pronouns yat, yet, and yit stay gender-neutral.
    Deictic pronouns can be genderized unless the deictic prefix begins in hy-:
      * hut....that person, he or she, him or her
      * hwut*....that guy, he or him
      * huyti....those gals, they (being females)
    * The hw is pronounced as Am. Eng. wh in where.

### Quantitative Deictic Determiners

    Determiners specifying quantity and answering the question duhogla (how much) are show in the following chart:
       Quantitative Deictic Determiners CATEGORYADVERBIAL / ADJECTIVAL DETERMINERINANIMATE SINGULAR PRONOUNINANIMATE PLURAL PRONOUNANIMATE PLURAL PRONOUN Interrogative duhogla? how?/how much?/how many?duhoglas? how much?duhoglasi? how manyduhoglati? how many (people)? Relative hogla how...as/as much...as/as many...ashoglas as much ashoglasi as many ashaglati as many (people) as Definite hagla how/as much/as manyhaglas as muchhaglasi as manyhaglati as many (people) Indefinite hegla somewhat/some/someheglas someheglasi someheglati some (people) Proximal higla this/this much/this manyhiglas this muchhiglasi this manyhiglati this many (people) Distal hugla that/that much/that manyhuglas that muchhuglasi that many huyglasi so manyhuglati that many (people) Intensive huugla so very, so much, so manyhuuglas so muchhuuglasi so manyhuuglati so many (people) Distributive hyagla totally/all/allhyaglas all of ithyaglasi all of themhyaglati all of them Indeterminate hyegla however/any/anyhyeglas any of ithyeglasi any of themhyeglati any number of them Negative hyogla nonehyoglas none of ithyoglasi none of themhyoglati none of them Identical hyigla as/as much/as many, equallyhyiglas the same amounthyiglasi the same numberhyiglati as many (people) Non-Identical hyugla not as much/not as much/not as manyhyuglas a different amounthyuglasi a different number of thingshyuglati a different number of people
    Examples:
      * At se huugla iva van et upa.....I am so happy that you came.
      * Hyagla ata tixuti se fia. Hyoglati se fua.....All of my students are good. None of them are bad.
      * Yat ayse higla drari.....We have this many pencils.
      * At ta hyigla dudi vyel et.....I knew as many answers as you.
      * Duhoglati te eta tajjub?....How many people know your birthday?

## Vocabulary

    Nouns:
      * jag....age
      * taj....birth (tej....life, toj....death)
         * tajjub....birthday
      * tadien....marriage ( < tad....spouse, twad....husband, tayd....wife)
      * tud....child (twud....son, tuyd....daughter)
    Adjectives:
      * iva....happy (vs. uva....sad
      * jaga....old (vs. joga....young
    Verbs:
      * ter....know (a fact)
      * tajer....to be born (tejer....live, tojer....die)
      * ayser....to have (vs. oyser....to lack)
    Determiners/Adverbs:
      * duhogla?....how (many/much) ( du....say + ho-....which + gla....much, many, very )
      * duhojaga?....how old (du....say + ho-....which + jag....age
      * jay....already
      * gay....also (gey....even)
      * glaj....a long time (vs. gloj....a short while)
      * gaj....more, further, still (vs. goj....no longer)
      * gway....mostly (vs. gwoy....at least)
    Prepositions:
      * ji....since ( ju....until)
      * ja....before ( je....during, jo....after)
    Pronouns:
      * jogat....youth
      * jogas....something new
      * jagat....old person
    Interjections:
      * hwiy.......wow! (hwuy.......woe!, yikes! )

## Quiz

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