| Auen ne ? / Tshekuen ne ? | Who is it? |
| Tshekuan ne ? | What is it? |
The interrogative pronouns auen, tshekuen and tshekuan are used to ask questions. Auen and tshekuen are used for people and animate objects, while tshekuan is used for inanimate objects. They agree in gender and number, and can be obviative:
| Proximate | Obviative | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| ANIMATE | auen tshekuen |
auenitshenat tshekuenitshenat |
auenńua tshekuenńua |
|
| INANIMATE | tshekuan | tshekuani tshekuana |
tshekuanńu | tshekuanńua |
Interrogative pronouns can be used alone, with a demonstrative, or in a complete sentence:
| Tshekuan ? | What? | |
| Tshekuan ne ? | What is it? | |
| Tshekuan matshin ? | What are you eating? |
The interrogative pronoun tshekuan can also be used with uet, ma, or ma uet to form the interrogative why:
| Tshekuanńu ma eka tat ? | Why isn’t he there? | |
| Tshekuan ma uet shetshishin ? | Why are you afraid? |