Osu petá:metes

So he asks her…

In this context, Osu petá:metes… means ‘So he asks her…’

Literally it just means ‘So asks…’.  You have to figure out who is talking to who from the context.

Vocabulary and Pronunciation

• osu– so
• petá:met – to ask
• –es – in this case, the -es ending marks that a third person (not ‘me’ or ‘you’) is acting on another person.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

Structure

The structure of this phrase is as follows:

As noted above, the -es ending in this case marks that a ‘third person’ (not me or you) is the subject (‘doer’) in the sentence.

This subject and object (i.e. the people talking) are not explicitly stated:  you have to figure out who is acting on who from the context.

In other contexts, Petá:metes could mean He asks him, She asks him, She asks her, or other possibilities depending on who you are talking about.