Lavôrs di restaur: lis puartis de glesie di Sante Marie in Cjistiel a tornin a vierzi

Today in La Vôs dai Furlans, we read that a twelfth-century church in Udin will open again, after much restoration work had been performed:

Lis puartis de glesie di Sante Marie in Cjistiel a tornaràn a vierzi domenie ai cinc. I lavôrs di restaur a son stâts luncs e complicâts. La glesie che si viôt in dì di vuê e je dal decim secont secul, ma prime di chê al jere un edifici plui antîc, forsit dal otâf secul. / Riferiment: La Vôs dai Furlans.

The doors of the Church of Saint Mary of the Castle (lis puartis de glesie di Sante Marie in Cjistiel) will open again (a tornaràn a vierzi) on Sunday the fifth (domenie ai cinc). The restoration work (i lavôrs di restaur) was long and complicated (a son stâts luncs e complicâts). The church that we see today (la glesie che si viôt in dì di vuê) is from the twelfth century (e je dal decim secont secul), but before that (ma prime di chê), there was an older building (al jere un edifici plui antîc), perhaps from the eighth century (forsit dal otâf secul).

La glesie di Sante Marie in Cjistiel:

Friulian vocabulary

• tornâ a vierzi, to reopen
• i lavôrs di restaur, restoration work
• in dì di vuê, today, at present
• decim secont, twelfth
• otâf, eighth
• un edifici, a building
  
• un secul, a century

Friulian usages

Tornâ a vierzi: to reopen, to open again. Repetition is conveyed in Friulian through the use of: tornâ a. Tornâ a fâ: to redo. Tornâ a tacâ: to restart. Tornâ a cjapâ: to retake. Tornâ a partî: to leave again. Tornâ a colâ: to fall again. In the imperative of the second-person singular, the preposition between the two verbs is dropped, and both verbs are set in the imperative; so we say: tornâ a scrivi la frase (to rewrite the sentence), but: torne scrîf la frase! (rewrite the sentence!); we say: tornâ a clamâlu (to call him again), but: torne clamilu! (call him again!). In the composed tenses, we use the auxiliary vê, for instance: o ài tornât a fâ il stes sium (I have had the same dream again); al à tornât a pecjâ (he has sinned again).

Vierzi: to open. Some Friulians will pronounce this as vièr-zi, whereas others will say vièr-gi. In the first case, we have what sounds like English z; in the second, we have what sounds like English j. The past participle is either viert or vierzût; for instance: o ài viert il barcon; o ài vierzût il barcon (I have opened the window).

Antîc: old, ancient. Its four forms are: antîc (masculine singular); antîcs (masculine plural); antighe (feminine singular); antighis (feminine plural). Tonic stress is on the second syllable in all four.

Un soldât furlan al è sparît in bataie

A Friulian soldier is missing in action in Ukraine. According to La Vôs dai Furlans:

Un soldât furlan al è sparît in bataie. Al è lât a combati in Ucraine e di lui no si sa plui nuie dai undis di Setembar. Il soldât al jere jentrât te brigade Azov, une des unitâts dal esercit ucrain. / Riferiment: La Vôs dai Furlans.

A Friulian soldier is missing in action (un soldât furlan al è sparît in bataie). He went to battle in Ukraine (al è lât a combati in Ucraine) and his whereabouts have been unknown (e di lui no si sa plui nuie) since the eleventh of September (dai undis di Setembar). The soldier had joined the Azov brigade (il soldât al jere jentrât te brigade Azov), one of the units of the Ukrainian army (une des unitâts dal esercit ucrain).

A çampe, la bandiere ucraine / A drete, la bandiere russe:

Friulian vocabulary

• un soldât, a soldier
• sparît, disappeared
• une bataie, battle
• combati, to battle
• une brigade, a brigade
  
• un esercit, an army
  

Friulian expressions

Di lui no si sa plui nuie: nothing more is known of him, which is to say, his whereabouts are unknown, he is missing. Learn also this formulation: il soldât che no si sa plui nuie di lui, which is to say, the soldier whose whereabouts are unknown, the soldier who is missing.

Sparît in bataie: disappeared in battle, which is to say, missing in action. The verb is sparî, meaning: to disappear. Al è sparît: he has disappeared.

Ti vuei ben [3] / Nô o volìn ben parcè che lui nus à volût ben par prin

Here now is part 3 in a series of entries about the Friulian expression ti vuei ben, which means I love you. You are encouraged to go back to the first two parts if you have not already read them, to set the stage now for a look at Friulian grammar. You will find the links to the previous two parts at the very end of this entry.

To say I love you in Friulian, we must be familiar with the conjugation of the verb volê. Only the present indicative will be discussed below to avoid overwhelm, but you can consult the entire conjugation here by typing volê into the search box; and should that link ever break, know that, at the time of writing, the link is also available through the Dizionari de lenghe furlane: look for Formari e cuadris flessionâi.

We begin with the present indicative. The singular forms are: o vuei (first person), tu vuelis/vûs (second person), al vûl (third person, masculine), e vûl (third person, feminine). The plural forms are: o volìn (first person), o volês (second person), a vuelin (third person).

When using the expression volê ben, remember that we must not use a direct object when speaking of the receiver of the love; we must instead use an indirect object. This is because the love is given UNTO the other person. As an example, to say I love him, we say: i vuei ben, using i not lu. The indirect objects in the singular are: mi (first person), ti (second person), i (third person). In the plural, the indirect objects are: nus (first person), us (second person), ur (third person).

To say I love you to just one person, we use: ti vuei ben. But if I love you is said to more than one person, a group of loved ones, then we use: us vuei ben. To say I love him or I love her, we use: i vuei ben, but if we want to say I love John or I love Mary, then we say: i vuei ben a Zuan, i vuei ben a Marie. To say I love them, we use: ur vuei ben; but to say I love John and Mary, we say: ur vuei ben a Zuan e Marie.

More examples: mummy, I love you (mame, ti vuei ben); daddy, I love you (pai, ti vuei ben); I love you, brother, but you are wrong to do that (ti vuei ben, fradi, ma tu âs tuart di fâ cussì); do you love someone? (i vuelistu/vûstu ben a cualchidun?); Mary loves her grandfather (Marie i vûl ben a so nono); I love my grandparents (ur vuei ben ai miei nonos); I love you all (us vuei ben a ducj vualtris); I love my son (i vuei ben a gno fi); I love my daughter with all my heart (i vuei ben a mê fie cun dut il cûr); I love my children (ur vuei ben ai miei fîs); we love our daughter (i volìn ben a nestre fie); I love my wife dearly (i vuei un ben di vite a la mê femine); she loves her husband dearly (i vuei un grant ben al so om).

The following mean the same thing: i vuei un ben di vite a Zuan; a Zuan i vuei un ben di vite, which is to say, I love John dearly. Similarly: i vuei un grant ben a la mê femine; a la mê femine i vuei un grant ben, which is to say, I love my wife dearly. Perhaps you are wondering how to tell if i vuei ben means I love him or I love her. Normally, the context will make this amply clear, with names having most likely already been mentioned in the conversation; however, if there truly were ambiguity, then the following can be said: i vuei ben a lui (I love him, it is him that I love), i vuei ben a jê (I love her, it is her that I love).

Below, Montreal. From 1 John 4.19: we love because he loved us first (nô o volìn ben parcè che lui nus à volût ben par prin).

Other good examples: John is my brother, whom I love dearly (Zuan al è gno fradi, che i vuei un ben di vite); Mary is my wife, whom I love dearly (Marie e je la mê femine, che i vuei un grant ben); you are my wife, whom I love with all my heart (tu tu sês la mê femine, che ti vuei ben cun dut il cûr); the Lord reproves whom he loves (il Signôr al rimprovere chel che i vûl ben); the Lord reproves us, whom he loves to the uttermost (il Signôr nus rimprovere, che nus vûl ben fin al colm); they love Friûl to no end (i vuelin ben al Friûl cence fin); you Friulians love the Friulian language (vualtris furlans i volês ben a la lenghe furlane).

To drive home the point in case there was any lingering doubt: you can use ti vuei ben with anyone to whom you would likewise say I love you in English. For now, this concludes the series about ti vuei ben. If any new material is created about it, links will be provided here. Thank you very much to Cole for his suggestion about exploring this question. 

I leave you with the Friulian wording of psalm 18, verse 1:

Tu vuei ben, Signôr, che tu sês la mê fuarce.
I love thee, Lord, for thou art my strength.

Continue reading:

« Ti vuei ben [1]
« Ti vuei ben [2]