NEGATION

English forms negative sentences by putting a negative word, such as not (or its contraction n’t), between a form of do and the verb.  For example, I didn’t go.  Rotuman uses a two part negative, which wraps around the verb or the thing being negated.  If the event described is in the present or the past tense, the two parts are kat + ra.  If the event is in the future, the two parts are kal + ra.  These words have no meaning alone, though sometimes the ra is dropped at the end of a sentence.  Look at the examples below:
          Ia kat fäeag hoiʽȧk ra se irisa.         
          ‘He did not speak again to them.’

          Ia kal fäeag hoiʽȧk ra se irisa.         
          ‘ He will not speak again to them.’

In the first sentence, what didn’t happen is “speaking again”.  So both words are surrounded by the negative words.  Aʽmou ‘used to’ also is put inside the negative words:
         Fā fisi kat aʽmou puer ra ʽe ʽatmot teʽis.   
          ‘The white people didn’t used to rule on this island.’

When pa ‘want’ is used in a sentence, however, it is in front of the negative words, which is different from how it is done in English:
        Gou pa kat rak ra.         ‘I don’t want to study.’

Now practice what you have learned by negating the sentences below.  The answers are given on the next page.

a. Gou laʽ se taunȧʽ ta ʽe kā.              ‘I will go to the meeting tomorrow.’

b. Gou laʽ se taunȧʽ ta ‘e asa.            ‘I went to the meeting yesterday.’

c. Gou laʽ se taunȧʽ ta ʽe ʽī.               (two possible answers; ʽe ʽī means                                                             ‘today’)                

d. Selina aʽmou garue ʽe ofes ta.      ‘Selina used to work at the office.’

e. Iris pa leum se ʽoto rī ta.               ‘They want to come to my house.’

f. Le‛ fā ta mak hoi‛ȧk .                     ‘The boy danced again.’

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