Part 5 · complex — Chapter 19 · subordinate clauses

Adverbial clauses

Adverbial clauses provide context for the main clause: when something happened, why, for what purpose, or despite what obstacle. Phi handles all of these with the same pattern: a subordinating word introduces the dependent clause, which precedes the main clause.

[subordinator] [dependent clause] [main clause]

The subordinator announces the relationship, the dependent clause fills it in, and the main clause delivers the primary thought.

Time: pheo and phoe

The temporal pair pheo (after) and phoe (before) frame events in sequence. They are a minimal pair, distinguished only by vowel order:

pheo mia to theo mia shea phaelo.
POST 1SG PST read 1SG peace feel.
(After I read I feel peace.)

phoe mia sheluo mia thilonu.
ANT 1SG listen 1SG prepare.
(Before I listen I prepare.)

pheo sorae to kamo lo peloru thuroa.
POST sun PST arrive PL flower grow.
(After the sun arrived the flowers grow.)

The dependent clause follows immediately after the subordinator. The main clause comes after, without any punctuation between them. The verb-final structure of each clause makes the boundaries clear: when one verb ends, the next clause begins.

Time: tei

The preposition tei (until) marks the endpoint of an action or state:

mia tei kelua sheluo.
1SG UNTIL morning listen.
(I listen until morning.)

lo lopia tei howai wile.
PL child UNTIL evening play.
(The children play until evening.)

Cause: lao

The causal subordinator lao (because) announces a reason:

lao pheralu to nai lo peloru thuroa.
BECAUSE rain PST be PL flower grow.
(Because it rained the flowers grow.)

lao shia welao thumela lo lopia shonela.
BECAUSE 3SG good teach PL child learn.
(Because they teach well the children learn.)

lao mia to ma sheluo mia to ma shelomui.
BECAUSE 1SG PST NEG listen 1SG PST NEG understand.
(Because I did not listen I did not understand.)

lao can also take a simple noun phrase rather than a full clause:

lao pheralu lo peloru thuroa.
BECAUSE rain PL flower grow.
(Because of rain the flowers grow.)

Purpose: lila

The purpose subordinator lila (in order to) announces an intention. Unlike lao, which looks backward to a cause, lila looks forward to a goal:

mia theo lila mia shonela.
1SG read PURP 1SG learn.
(I read in order to learn.)

shia haolu lila lo miona shelomui.
3SG speak PURP PL person understand.
(They speak in order for the people to understand.)

lo lopia shonela lila lo thumela.
PL child learn PURP PL teach.
(The children learn in order to teach.)

Note that lila marks conscious intention. It cannot be used for unintended consequences. If the flowers grow because of rain, that's lao (cause), not lila (purpose), because rain doesn't intend anything.

Concession: shai

The concessive subordinator shai (although, despite) announces a circumstance that might be expected to prevent the main clause but doesn't:

shai pheralu to ma nai lo peloru thuroa.
CONC rain PST NEG be PL flower grow.
(Although it did not rain the flowers grow.)

shai shelira thiku nai phelora nai.
CONC forest small be beautiful be.
(Although the forest is small, [it] is beautiful.)

shai mia to ma shelomui to shonela.
CONC 1SG PST NEG understand PST learn.
(Although I did not understand, [I] learned.)

Like lao, shai can also take a noun phrase:

shai pheralu lo peloru thuroa.
CONC rain PL flower grow.
(Despite the rain the flowers grow.)

The adverbial clause system at a glance

All follow the same syntactic pattern: subordinator introduces the dependent clause, which precedes the main clause. The system is regular and predictable. Once you learn one adverbial clause type, you've learned the structure for all of them.