🚀 go-pugleaf

Do any other languages have estar/ser-type distinctions in the verb "to be"?
In the present tense, the Nepali verb "to be" breaks into three forms (no
other verb in the language does this): chha, ho, and hunchha.

The distinction is very similar to estar/ser, but not quite.  "chha" is
used as a connector between noun phrases and adjectives and so is used for
description.  "ho" matches noun phrases with noun phrases and so is used
for identification.  "hunchha" is a variation that can replace either
and indicates habituality or general truth.

"aakaash nilo chha"  the sky is blue (today only, maybe)
"aakaash nilo hunchha"  the sky is blue (always, as a universal fact)
"aakaash nilo ho"  the sky is the blue one (as opposed to the green
    one you get on another planet)

"pagal chha/pagal ho" (he is crazy) matches up with "est'a loco/es loco".

There are a couple of examples where chha /= est'a and ho /= es, which is
to be expected, since it is a functional difference, but for the most part
they (coincidentally or not) correspond.

--Eric