On Thu, Apr 4, 2019 at 1:47 PM mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun@gmail.com> wrote:

SuStel:
> Is it a question of understanding, or is it a question of how
> it is correctly done?

hmm.. Good question..

So, lets deal with the "how it is correctly done".

For vay'pu' I would choose 'op nuv, and for vay'mey I would choose 'op Doch (if I was referring to things).

Would you agree with these choices ?

Those are fine. (I wouldn't quite say they're necessarily more correct than vay'pu' or vay'mey, but rather that they're simply more certain to be correct. There are any number of uncertain phrases and sentences that might be correct but that can be rephrased into things that we know are fine.)

If there were any difference at all, I'd probably interpret vay'pu' as being even less specific than 'op nuv. The latter is just unspecific about the number of people, while vay'pu' doesn't even bother explicitly referring to "people". Same with 'op Doch vs. vay'mey (although Doch isn't very specific in the first place.)

Possibly relevantly, there is an instance in the paq'batlh of vay' being used with a number:

ghu' Dachupbogh vIlaj
    'ach wa' vay' vIpoQ
    'e' Dachaw'chugh neH
I will accept your proposal,
    But only if you grant me
    One condition:

Or, more literally: "I accept the situation you suggest / but only if you permit that / I demand one something."

(paq'raD, Canto 16, lines 19-21, page 144-145)