Using Bee in the interrogative

In the previous lessons you learned how to conjugate the verb bee (ta = to be) in the present tense. With this you can make simple sentences such as: Ta mee ayns thie (“I am at home”) or Cha nel shiu skee (“You [plural] are not tired”).

But a language really comes alive when you can not only tell, but also ask. In Manx this is done with a special question word: vel.

You can think of vel as the question form of ta. It always comes at the beginning of the sentence and automatically turns it into a question:

• Ta shiu mie = You (plural) are well.
• Vel shiu mie? = Are you (plural) well?

In this way you can quickly and easily use vel to ask questions about yourself, others, or a group. Note that the personal pronoun (mee, oo, eh, ee, shin, shiu, ad) always comes after vel.

With this lesson you will learn:

• How to use vel to form questions in the present tense.
• How to ask yes/no questions such as “Are you tired?” or “Are we ready?”
• How to turn an ordinary statement into a question simply by adding vel.