Topic + ket
Setting a Topic Apart
Ti balay ket napintas. — The house is beautiful.
How It Works
A predicate-first clause can instead begin with its topic, followed by ket and the comment. Preserve the topic's marking: ti for singular common-noun reference, dagiti for plural reference, or ni before a singular personal name. An independent pronoun can also introduce the topic.
Compare Napintas ti balay with Ti balay ket napintas: both describe the house, but the second presents it first. Ti balay ti napintas instead identifies the house as what is beautiful. A pause can also separate inverted constituents. Comments can be verbal or nonverbal; ket does not change with number or mark tense. In the existential example, the fronted children are the participants whose location is stated. Modern attached-pronoun spelling gives balaymi, “our house,” with exclusive reference.
Examples (3)
- Ti balay ket napintas.
The house is beautiful.
A common-noun topic precedes an adjective comment.
- Ni Teresa ket nagsurat.
Teresa wrote.
A named topic precedes a completed actor-focus predicate.
- Dagiti ubbing ket adda idiay balaymi.
The children are in our house.
The plural topic precedes its location comment; mi excludes the addressee.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Put the topic before ket and its comment afterward.
Related Patterns
- Highlighting a Person
Independent pronouns identify or introduce participants.
Level 3 - Connecting With ketConnecting Events with Ket
Distinguishes connecting clauses from framing a topic.
Level 3 - ti damag / ti bilin + ket + ClauseA Report Framed as a Noun
Extends the frame to possessed report nouns.
Level 5
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice Topic + ket in Bubblegum
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