Mea gotcha

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The mea gotcha refers to the fact that mea can look inside plural constants, but not inside words that mean a group.

If you are referring to plural somethings, or to stuff that's róı-ed together, mea is correct. But if you are talking about a singular word ending in me, it's probably wrong.

For example: muaome means "forest", so múaome means "the forest(s)", and tú mea múaome means "every (forest) of/among the forest(s)". It can not refer to one tree.

This may seem obvious, but the same applies to words like póqme "the group of people", where it's a far easier mistake to make. The phrase tú mea póqme means "some (group) among the groups of people"; it does not mean "every person in the group."

  • If you want a word like mea that looks "inside" aggregates, there's mem — you can say mem póqme.
  • To actually say "every person among the people", you say mea póq.
  • If you don't want to think too hard about it, you can always just say po.

See also