Bodo to Kyrgyz: a respectful you must reach the predicate
Politeness is carried by more than an independent pronoun
Bodo distinguishes ordinary nɯŋ from honorific nɯŋthang. A source question directed politely to one person therefore contains information about the relationship between speaker and listener, even if both pronouns would receive the English gloss you. Kyrgyz has a corresponding practical contrast between sen and siz, but choosing an independent pronoun is only part of constructing the sentence.
The Peace Corps Kyrgyz lesson contrasts Сиз кайдан келдиңиз? with Сен кайдан келдиң? in questions about where someone comes from. The respectful and familiar versions differ at the end of the predicate as well as at the beginning. A Bodo honorific question translated with siz and a mismatched familiar predicate would not preserve a coherent target pattern.
This is particularly easy to miss when a copied translation starts with an apparently correct respectful pronoun. Read the complete Kyrgyz question. The form of you at the front is evidence about the intended register, but the ending still needs to fit that choice. A question addressed to one respected person should not be rewritten as an instruction to a group simply because respectful forms have plural connections.
A request to repeat is a useful test case
Bodo address choices matter when the listener is asked to do something, not only when a sentence describes them. The Kyrgyz course teaches кайталаңыз as a polite request to repeat. The request already carries listener-related information in the predicate; a separate word for you is not required merely to make the politeness visible.
If a Bodo message asks an elder to repeat an explanation, preserving the respect may involve the Kyrgyz request form rather than inserting an honorific source pronoun word for word. Conversely, a request aimed at a familiar companion need not be made ceremonious solely because the translator has memorised a polite tourist expression. Source relationship and intended action should jointly determine the target.
An experiencer can have a different grammatical shape
Basumatary distinguishes Bodo aŋ, I, from aŋ-nɯ, to or for me. Kyrgyz likewise offers different personal forms depending on their role, but the roles must be identified within the chosen expression rather than transferred mechanically from source suffixes.
The Peace Corps preference example begins Мага and ends жагат: its complete mountain sentence expresses liking mountains. Here the person experiencing the preference has a form different from the ordinary independent I. That is not evidence that the translation has introduced a new beneficiary instead of the speaker.
A Bodo message moving from a polite question about the listener to the writer’s preferences can consequently involve two separate changes: the respectful second-person pattern and the target construction for the experiencer. Neither is solved by substituting one list of pronouns for another. Track who is addressed, who experiences the liking, and whether the sentence asks for action; then check the particular Kyrgyz construction serving that function.
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