ᴹQ. matwa adj. and pron. “whether, which of two” (Category: What)
An adjectival correlative meaning “whether, which of two” appearing in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 (PE23/107), a combination of interrogative ᴹQ. ma and ᴹQ. atwa “either”. Presumably like atta “two”, the noun modified by matwa remains in the singular, such as: matwa nér i elda cenne “which (of two) men did the Elf see”. It can can also be used (instead of ma) to introduce any question where there are only two possible answers. In such cases atwa “either” is used separate the alternatives: matwa i elda lende formen atwa hyarmen “did the Elf travel north or south”.
References ✧ PE23/107
Glosses
Elements
ma | “interrogative particle” |
atwa | “double; either/or” |
Element In