Recognising Linguistic Structures - Example 2

(A) novot suvosir hidamo

(B) namidu hidamopu suvavot

(C) novot hidamopo suvasir

(D) ramodo hidamopo suvavot

Answer (D) is correct since:

1. If one looks for the word "greeted" in the foreign language, one comes across "suvavot", for the word "kavino" in the second sentence must mean "teacher" (cf. the similar word in the third sentence) and “namidu” must mean "saleswoman". The latter becomes clear from this word’s position in the sentence, compare the first and the third sentences.

2. "The caretaker" must hence be "hidamo". From the transition from "kavino" ("the teacher") to "kavinopu" ("her teacher") and from the ending of "ramodopo" ("his uncle") it follows that "his caretaker" must be "hidamopo".

3.What remains is the task of transforming the already identified word "ramodopo", meaning "his uncle", into a corresponding word for "the uncle". This is done by leaving off the ending "po".

4. Hence the sentence sought in the foreign language must be "ramodo hidamopo suvavot".