Karri-borlbme Kun-wok

Baleh yihdowen?

Baleh yihdowen?

Listen Yi-biddjuyme (Click play)

English Translation
(Kun-balandaken)
Where do you feel sick?
Pronunciation
(Bale ka-yime karri-ngeybun?)

Check the audio file. http://words.bininjgunwok.org.au/words/baleh-yihdowen

Morphology
(Karri-wokdjobdjobke)

Baleh is the word for 'where' (and sometimes 'what'). yi- is the second person singular prefix on verbs meaning 'you (one person)'. The -h- is the glottal stop which conveys immediacy or 'at this moment' and the verb stem is -dowen 'to be sick, to die'.

Notes
(Njalenjale)

Note that in the past perfective tense (a completive tense) the word doweng means 'he/she/it is dead'.

Usage
(Bale kabirri-yime?)

Obviously this is a useful phrase for health workers. Or maybe you are a school teacher and a child has fallen and is crying, then you could ask this question. Here are some other phrases based on the verb -dowen:

yirrowen 'you are sick'.
yirrowen? 'are you sick?'
Ngahdowen. 'I am sick'.
Minj birridowemeninj. 'They didn't get sick'.
Doweng. He/she/it is dead.
Kaluk karrowen. He/she/it will get sick. (or) He/she/it will die. Kaluk means 'soon, later, in the near future, after'

Date
(Balekeno)
01 Dec 2016