Chechen and English/Contrastive Grammar

Gender of Pronouns

In Chechen, there is no distinction of male/female gender in pronouns but this distinction exists in English

• (che) Ас → (eng) I

(che) ас<prn><pers><p1><sg><erg> → (eng) I<prn><pers><p1><mf><sg>

• (che) иза → (eng) he

(che) иза<prn><pers><p3><sg><abs> → (eng) he<prn><pers><p3><m><sg>

Copular Verb

In Chechen, copular verb has noun-class distinctions, and no plurality distinction. But in English it's the opposite: plurality distinction exists but not non-class distinction.

• (che) сан цӀе Иван ю. → (eng) My name is Ivan.

(che) сан цӀе<n><cl_j><abs><sg> Иван ю<v><cpl><cl_j> → (eng) my name<n><sg> is<vbser><pres><p3><sg> Ivan

Word Order

English is a SVO language and Chechen is a SOV language, which means both lexical verbs and copular verbs occur sentence-finally.

• (che) сан цӀе Иван ю. → (eng) My name is Ivan.

(che) сан<prn><pers><p1><sg><gen> цӀе<n><cl_j><abs><sg> Иван<np><ant><abs><sg> ю<v><cpl><cl_j> → (eng) my<det><p1><mf><sg><pos> name<n><sg> is<vbser><pres><p3><sg> Ivan<np><ant><m><sg>

• (che) Ас бепиг дина. → (eng) I made bread.

(che) Ас<prn><pers><p1><sg><erg> бепиг<n><cl_j><abs><sg> дина<v><tv><pres><pf> → (eng) I<prn><pers><p1><mf><sg> made<vblex><past> bread<n><sg>