The use of the verb [Index] [Top]The time frames Auxiliary Adverbs The conditional Derived forms Reflexive verbs Minor points
[Verbal Morphology]
[Morphology] [Index]
The use of the verb The use of the noun The noun phrase Pronouns Prepositions Sentences
The use of the verb [Index] [Top]
The time frames Auxiliary Adverbs The conditional Derived forms Reflexive verbs Minor points
[Verbal Morphology]
| kitām | habitual |
| alor | continual, progressive |
| sirā | perfective |
| telri | indeed |
| colas | just, now |
| pro- | begin to (inceptive) |
The simple verb contains all of these (excluding the perfective, which can be implied with the past tenses) within itself already. For instance, norinel can mean "I eat", "I am eating", "I do eat", "I begin to eat." The adverbs simply add precision.
Kitām (habitual)
Kitām emphasizes the habitual or continual nature of an action.
Norin hotehru lār pola Itero Dalar.
We eat our cakes at The Moon.
Kitām norin hotehru lār pola Itero Dalar.
We always eat our cakes at The Moon.
Alor (continual)
Alor emphasizes the durative or uncompleted nature of an action.
Id somilus! Alor norinel lopanar casar!
Don't enter! I am still eating my soup!
Sirā (perfective)
Sirā emphasizes the perfective, or completed, nature of an action.
Vernisus iteta lambdar!
I read the book!
Sirā vernisus iteta lambdar!
I already read the book!
When comparing two actions in the past, either hte past anterior or hte past with sirā can be used. The latter is more common in spoken Galdurian, but the former is more common in written Galdurian.
Prosce somilisus, norinirar.
Prosce somilisus, sirā norinir.
When you arrived, we had eaten.
Sirā must be used when you've already used the past anterior.
Prosce norinirar, sirā tirithitar itāku bozūr.
When we had eaten, we had already drunk the beer.
Telri (indeed)
Telri emphasizes that something is true or happening. Telri is generally only used when answering a question.
-- Itā dunas eri as gilthonelor vesar?
Cal, itā dunas telri eri as gilthonelor vesar.
-- Is the king in his castle?
Yes, the king is indeed in his castle.
Colas (just, now)
Colas puts the action in question very close to the present. If it is being used with a past verb, it means "just." The regular past is the only past tense that colas has any meaningful effect on. Putting it on the past anterior simply dulls the tense down to the regular past.
Contirisus Minverlire Falasor.
I ran from Minverli to Falas.
Colas contirisus Minverlire Falasor.
I just ran between Minverli and Falas.
If it is being used with a present verb, it means "right now."
Vernus iteta lambdar.
I am reading the book.
Colas vernus iteta lambdar.
I am reading the book right now.
If it is being used with a future verb, it means "about to." Generally, colas is only put with the near future. Putting it with the future, simply dulls the tense back to the near future.
Hāportenel item nāvar.
We are going to jump from the ship.
Colas hāportenel item nāvar.
We are about to jump from the ship.
Pro- (inceptive)
Pro- indicates the beginning stages of an action.
Mamus cullini as itāli Calangor Verlif Teranise.
I am learning science in the School of Galduria
Promamus devi cullini as itāli Calangor tat Verlif Teranise.
I began learning science in the School of Galduria yesterday.
The conditional
The conditonal is used chiefly to express a state of affairs that depends on some other event. This is often expressed using an "if clause."
If the condition is certain, the entire sentence is in the indicative.
Ece relanil itero cotar, nolenos itāl blenar.
If there is more doubt in the statement, the main clause is put into the conditional, and the "if clause" is kept in the idicative.
Ece vernot lambdis ethar, eceri valinuler.
Finally, if the statement is not possible at all, both the "if clause" and the main clause are put into the conditional.
Ece mihilin henot clara, ecartal lenes.
In some cases, the "if clause" might not be present. The conditional must then be used int he mian clause. This construction does not infer any judgement on likelihood.
Ecer ecru dunasar
Id ecolel as tencoror ethar.
If you go to the party, you will see the clown.
If he reads your book, he would be inspired.
If tress have eyes, they would be able to see.
I would be a great king.
I would not scream in you situation.
| sing. I | tā bedenos | I wake myself |
| sing. II | tā bedenus | you wake yourself |
| sing. III | tā bedenot tā bedrem | he wakes himself she wakes herself |
| pl. I | rā beden | we wake ourselves |
| pl. II | rā bedenor | you wake yourselves |
| pl. III | rā bedenom rā bedenul | they (masc.) wakes themselves they (fem.) wake themselves |
The reflexive pronoun is an integral part of the verb in Galdurian. Compare: "I woke up this moning" with Tā bedenisos cel utoria.
Reflexive verbs always have non-reflexive counterparts. Bedenes means "to wash [soemthing]" whereas tā bedenes means "to wash oneself."
Minor Points
Transivity
In English, verbs can be either transitive or intransitive. Galdurian verbs however are generally either transitive or intransitive, but never both.
An intransitive verb can be made transitive through the use of the verb soleles "to cause/make." This verb should not be confused with the verb pratumes "to make." The latter implies creation while the former simply implies causality.
Ite sipina goritez.
The water boiled.
Solelisus goret iteta sipinis.
I boiled the water (lit: I made to boil the water).
Verbs that are already transitive can take on an intransitive meaning by using a reflexive pronoun.
Hāvendel veri famrar lār.
I will seel our furniture tomorrow.
Famron rā vendal ner.
Furniture is sold (lit: sells itself) here.
Impersonal Verbs
An impersonal verb is one with no real subject. In English, we use "it" as the subject. Galdurian uses the third person masculine singular with the only neuter word in the entire lexicon, lende.
Lende plutez.
It's raining.
Causative
A sentence such as "X makes Y do Z" is called a causative. Galdurian expresses this with the verb soleles. Y is generally placed in the accusative.
Hela solelisot Bendar cureles curelesūv.
Helen made Ben dance a dance.
As stated above, soleles can also make intransitive verbs transitive.
The use of the noun [Index] [Top]
Nominative Genitive Accusative Dative
Nominative
The nominitive's chief usage is for the subject of a sentence. It is also used for vocatives (direct address). The nominitve singular is the form in which a word is listed in the dictionary.
/Ite nāve somilisot itāl vargar Linoresase/ sesitat casum.
Genitive
Simple Possession
The genitive's chief use is to indicated possession.
/Ite nāve somilisot itāl vargar Linoresase/ sesitat casum.
English normally expresses possession by adding "'s" to the noun that is doing the possessing. The translation here is somewhat drawn out, saying "of Linores" rather that "Linores'", but the meaning is still possession. The harbor belongs to the city of Linores.
English places the possessive noun in front of the thing that is being possessed. Galdurian does things the other way around, and puts the possessive noun after the noun that is being possessed.
Relationships
The genitive is used to express realtionships between you and someone of lower rank than you. Thus, you would have valā casar for "my son", but amrāze casum (the dative) for "my teacher" (lit: teacher to me).
Partitive
The genitive is also used to express composition: forlo kirari meat sandwich. The genitive can also express the partitive, where English uses "some" or "any."
Id velir sanise! Velir bozūse.
If there is an explicit quantity stated, the nominative should be used.
Linotante Father-name
The pseudo-middle-name that Galdurians call the linotante is expressed by declining the father's name into the genitive case. Lorel Genise Lorel of Geno.
Ablative Usage
The genitive is used with motion verbs to indicate movement away from.
Contirisus Minverlire Falasor.
Accusative
The accusative's purpose is to indicate a direct object. Accusative nouns are placed after the verb, while accusative pronouns are placed before.
/Ite nāve somilisot itāl vargar Linoresase/ sesitat casum.
We have "the harbor" underlined in both sentences because the definite article itā has case declension as well, and is here declined into the accusative becasue it is describing an accusative noun. But that's beside the point. Here, "harbor" answers the question of "what?" and is thus a direct object. English has no accusative case, but if it did, "harbor" would likely have been declined into it. The Galdurian vargar is accusative for vargā.
Dative
Indirect Objects
The dative's main use is for indirect objects. Indirect objects answer the question "to or for whom?" adn are generally preceeded by the prepositions "to" or "for" in English.
/Ite nāve somilisot itāl vargar Linoresase/ sesitat casum.
Perhaps this is a bad example because we have a pronoun in the dative here rather than a normal noun, but it shall suffice. The phrase "to me" answers the question "to whom?" Indirect objects generally go before the direct objects in Galdurian.
After Prepositions
The object of any prepositional phrase is always put into the dative: as itāli shādor in the fire.
Realtionships
As stated before, the genitive is used for relationships with someone of lower rank. The dative, then, is used for relationships with someone of a higher rank. amrāze casum my teacher (lit: teacher to me).
With Motion Verbs
Again, as the converse of the genitive's ablative usage, the dative describes movement towards.
Contirisus Minverlire Falasor.
Position of Modifiers
itā + quantifier + noun + adverb + adjective + genitive + prep. phrases
kir animal
Adjective Agreement
All adjectives must agree with the nouns that they modify in case, number, and gender.
Ite dunas mithren [s. nom.] donal itemer bozila galadrul [pl. acc.] animar rāzerā [s. dat] monire polile [s. gen.]
This agreement is mandatory regardless of the adjective's place in the sentence. Predicate adjectives, adjectives that describe the subject but are after the verb, must agree with the subject. Adjectives that modify direct or indirect objects must agree with the object, and adjectives that modify a genitive must agree with the genitive.
Adjectives as Substantitives
Adjectives can be used as substnatitives: the meek shall inherit the earth. When an adjective is used as a substantitive, it must be declined like a noun.
The case declension whose singular nominative matches the masculine singular nominative form of the adjective should be used. -u adjectives are the only peculiarity, because they decline like -ū nouns. Thus, adjectives in -en are always masculine substantitives, as are adjectives in -u, but adjectives in -i are always feminine substantitives.
Comparatives and Superlatives
The comparative words nil less, riso as much, and benga more are used to form the comparatives. Adding itā before the comparative forms the superlative. As always, itā must agree with the noun that the adjective is modifying. These words are invariable and appear before the adjective.
nimcaren proud
These words can also be used with nouns.
Henus itāku benga himam
Comparative expressions use the word si to introduce the item used as the basis of comparison. This word is put in the nominative.
Cel granā rizu telri eri benga rizu si ken ortha.
Superlative expressions can use the word uso to inroduce the item used for comparison, but it is more common to see the genitive used instead. Therefore, both of these sentences are correct, but the second is more common:
Cel mont telri eri itāku benga rizu uso ca-boson.
"The ship entered the harbor of Linores," she said to me.
"The ship entered the harbor of Linores," she said to me.
I don't want any water! I want some beer.
I ran from Minverli to Falas.
"The ship entered the harbor of Linores," she said to me.
"The ship entered the harbor of Linores," she said to me.
I ran from Minverli to Falas. The use of the noun [Index] [Top]
Position of Modifiers Adjective agreement Adjectives as Substantitives Comparatives and Superlatives Nouns as Modifiers Articles Quantifiers
itā granā the chariot
sela linoril a beautiful flower
himo oren inar her long book
itāri rominapon methel as iten crinan the evil westerners in the fields
ite filinerāze astimenu filinermis the quickly learning student
itāri bodenelā nāvin luriā the many red boats
The benevolent king gave the golden coins to the beautiful queen's young sister.
nil nimcaren less proud
itā nil nimcaren the least proud
riso nimcaren as proud
benga nimcaren more proud
itā benga nimcaren the most proud
I have the most books.
This gray chariot is indeed more gray than that horse.
Cel mont telri eri itāku benga rizu ca-bosari.
This rock is indeed the grayest of all (things).
| Masculine | Feminine | |
| s. nom. | itā | ite |
| s. gen. | itāv | item |
| s. acc | itāl | iteta |
| s. dat. | itāli | itero |
| pl. nom. | itāri | itela |
| pl. gen. | itāken | iteru |
| pl. acc. | itāku | itemer |
| pl. dat. | itāla | iten |
| sul | none |
| tut | all |
| sero | any |
| nish | few |
| soro | some |
| biro | many |
| sid | several |
| cenda | most |
| garo | each |
| chire | every |
All of these are invariable words and do not decline for case, number, or gender according to the noun that they modify. These can also be used as substantitives like adjectives are.
Pronouns [Index] [Top]
Personal Pronouns Correlatives Anaphora
Personal Pronouns
There are eight personal pronouns, plus two reflexive pronouns.
| person | singular | plural |
| I | cas I | lā we |
| II | eth you | tenā you |
| III | ves him | hāl they (m./mixed pl.) |
| in she | muli they (f. pl.) | |
| reflex. | tā | rā |
Subject Pronouns
Because Galdurian verbs inflect for person and for number, these pronouns are generally not needed. They are only inserted in written Galdurian and for emphasis in spoken Galdurian.
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns such as "my, mine." The same idea can be expressed in Galdurian through the use of the genitive: avo casar my grandfather, eri casar it is mine.
Object Pronouns
Object pronouns are placed before the verb, accusatives before datives.
Inim [acc] halum [dat] misonir.
I mentioned her to them.
He, she, it
When referring to anything, only ves or in should be used and never the genderless prounoun lende.
If the antecedent of the pronoun is a particular person, or an animal that has different terms for different sexes, then the pronoun matches the antecedent's gender.
If there is no specific antecedent, then the pronoun matches the antecdent's grammatical gender.
If the antecedent is a group of mixed gender, then hal is used. Similarly, if there is no specific referrent, then ves is used.
Lende is used to represent ideas or clauses. Infinitives and propositions should be replaced by lende as well.
The reflexive pronoun
The reflexive pronouns tā and rā are used mainly to indicate objects (direct or indirect) that are the same as the subject. Tā is used for all singular subjects and rā is used for all plural subjects.
The reflexive genitives are used to indicate possession by the subject. The same rules of using tār for singular subjects and rār for plural subjects apply.
In subordinate clauses, the reflexives, of course, refer only to the subordinate subject. Any reference to the independent subject must be made using the normal pronouns.
The formal you
Galdurians, like the French and Spanish, distinguish between formal and informal "you." Much like in the Romance languages, the plural you tenā is also the formal you. The idea was that the person you were talking was so important that you would refer to them as if they were many people.
| adjective | zi which | cel this | sil that | soro some | sulen none | sero any | chire every | vozi whichever |
| person | zon who | elo this one | alo that one | sorizon someone | sulizon no one | serizon anyone | chirizon everyone | vozon whoever |
| thing | zer what | ela this one | alo that one | sorizer something | sulizer nothing | serizer anything | chirizer everything | vozer whatever |
| time | zel when | colas now | morwe then | sorizel sometime | sulizel never | serizel anytime | chirizel everytime | vozel whenever |
| place | zan where | ner here | ler there | sorizan somewhere | sulizan nowhere | serizan anywhere | chirizan everywhere | vozan wherever |
| way | zen how | sodher thus | sorizen somehow | vozen however | ||||
| amount | zil how much | sulizil none | vozil however much | |||||
| reason | zum why | vozum whyever | ||||||
Interrogative and relative pronouns
The interrogative adjective zi is invariable. It cannot be used as a substantitive however. You must supply a noun to translate the English "which one".
The interrogative pronoun for amount, zil, can be used alone (Zil vendez? "How much does it cost?) or with a noun (zil selenon "how many men").
The other interrogative pronouns are inflected as normal nouns. They also serve as relative pronouns.
A relative clause is considered a single unit and can serve as a constituent in a sentence. This is much more common in Galdurian than in English.
Demonstrative pronouns
The demonstratives cel, sil are invariable. They are placed in front of the first item in the noun phrase, not necessarily the noun itself.
The demonstratives elo, alo can stand for an entire noun phrase. They take singular verbs and masculine adjectives.
Indefinite pronouns
The indefinite pronouns are the remaining items in the place and time rows. These are treated just as other pronouns. They are declined for case and are placed before the verb when being used as objects.
Place and time pronouns
The pronouns in the place row are declined for case. This generally means that the nominative is for locations, the genitive for points of origin, and the dative for destinations.
The correlatives for time are invariable.
Anaphora
Adjectival anaphora
The adjectival anaphor rev is used to refer to a previously mentioned quality.
Verbal anaphora
The verbal anaphor is the verb zinet which can be translated as "to do what" or "to do things". It is used to refer to a indefinite, or unknown action.
The verb fasser can be considered a demonstrative verbal anaphor and can be translated as "to do that". It is used to refer to a previously mentioned action.
In parallel construction where English uses "do" to refer to an earlier verb, Galdurian simply repeats the verb and may also add talo "also" to emphasize the parallelism.
Galdurian also repeats the verb in occassions where English would use "do" to respond to a question.
Zhon pratumiral elar?
The chart below maps many of the most common prepositions used in Galdurian. This is only for reference, as the dictionary is more reliable.
-- Cal, pratumiral elar.
Did John make this?
-- Yes, he did [make] this. Prepositions [Index] [Top]
General usage Abuse of prepositons
| Location |
The object of all prepositional phrases in put into the dative.
The objects of the locative prepositions, however, are in the dative when they imply a simple location, but are in the accusative when they imply movement.
Abuse of prepositions
The English speaker may be inclined to use prepositions in cases when they may not be needed or even allowed in Galdurian. Some of the more common cases are listed below:
Constituent order
Having retained a full case system, Galdurian has relatively free word order and sentences can be rearranged randomly. Generally, the elements of a noun phrase are kept together to avoid any possible ambiguity and are only spearated in poetry or rhetoric.
The typical, unmarked sentence order is SVO, that is subject-verb-object. The components of a sentence are arranged like this:
Topic and comment
In spoken Galdurian, sentences are generally arranged by topic and comment. That is, the topic, identifying what the sentence is talking about, is stated first, and then the comment, new information about the topic. However, such reordering of sentences is considered unacceptable in written Galdurian, except in informal letters and such.
Radur ethar nisisot sorizonam.
Raduram ethar vesim nisisot sorizon.
In both of these sentences, "your brother" is the topic of the sentence and is thus stated first. However, in the first, it is the subject, and in the second it is the object.
Other orderings
OSV is used to emphasize the relationship between the subject and the object, or to emphasize the verb itself. Aluris bevo lūval "The cat the dog loves."
OVS is used in place of the English passive. It is also used when the object rather than the subject conveys the new information in the sentence. Often an object pronoun will be inserted before the verb to make the syntax clear.
Negatives
The typical wasy to negate a sentence in Galdurian is to insert the negative particle id before the verb. Id is an integral part of the verb and should not be separated from the verb.
Id can also be placed in front of any item in the sentence that one wishes to negate.
Other negative expressions can be formed with the following words. Each of these methods also requires the insertion of id before the verb. Therefore, the "double-negative" is still correct in Galdurian.
1. sulizon "no one, nobody": pronoun
Sulizon id alot .
2. sulizer "nothing": pronoun
Id eri sulizerar
3. sulen "no, not any, none": adjective
Sulen san id velez lurinerāpila shriftacari.
4. su...su... "neither...nor...": particle
Su itā margil su mila id trūvom iteta aluris
5. sulizel "never": adverb
Pensel ke id lenus sulizel alar!
6. sulizan "nowhere": adverb
Id vesim lenus sulizan
Sentences [Index] [Top]
Constituent order Negatives Questions Subclauses
Your brother killed someone.
Someone killed your brother.
Nobody likes insect bites.
It's nothing.
No man wants insect bites.
Neither the farmer nor the maid found the cat.
I thought that I would never see that!
I see him nowhere.