Existentials

Whit dey caa da 'existential clause' spaeks aboot somethin at exists, or at's present, laek "De'r paece", "De'r lochs", "De'r a dratsi inna da gairden", "De'r tammi nories at Sumburgh Heid". In Standirt English dis is expressed wi da "dummy" there, at wirks laek an emty plaess holder fir a form o da verb BE (is/was, are/were). In Shaetlan existentials ir expressed wi da invariant form de, plus eider ir fir da present tense or wir fir da past:

▪︎Look, de'r/de ir a dratsi inna da gairden.

▪︎De wir a dratsi inna da gairden dastreen.

Da forms ging back tae Norn de, fae Aald Norse þat 'it', alang wi Norn er 'is' and vera/vesa 'be'. Dis wyes o sayin dem soond braaly seemlar tae da Scots wyes ir 'are' an wir 'were'. Troo analogy an hypercorrection da existential wis spelt as "dey ir/wir" an anglified even as "they are/were". But da original wye wis nivver da wird fir "they" an da original verb wis nivver idda plural. Da Shaetlan existential marker is in fact come straicht fae a Norn grammatical marker.