From 'Spraek and Skryf Amerysk' by Paal Filssunu.
Amerysk is similar to its European
brethren languages in that it uses a case system to denote the place of the
nouns within a sentence or phrase. The articles, as in German, are similarly declined
as are the adjectives which describe the nouns.
The verbs are very simple,
as most are regularly conjugated with a few irregular exceptions. Two voices are
used to denote the current and immediate actions of the person(s) using the verb.
The
language is not difficult to master as its relation to English is seen quite clearly.
Many words will not be all all foreign to the speaker. The grammar will seem
familiar to those who have studied northern languages previously, and are themselves
at home with German, Dutch, or any Scandinavian tongue.
This grammar, while
by no means exhaustive, is presented as a key to the Amerykan speech so that it can
be appreciated for what it is, as opposed to what a lesser tract could do in disservice
to the interested individual who seeks to know the language.
INDEFINITE ARTICLE: A, AN
AEN
(a, an, one) is the Amerykan indefinite article, and it is declined according
to case modifying the noun which it proceeds:
nominative: aen aen
høll a hill
accusative: aen ik sy aen høll I see a hill
genitive:
aens syde aens høll side of a hill
dative: aenum faerung aenum
høll journey to the hill
DEFINITE ARTICLE: THE
THE (the)
is the Amerykan definite article singular form.
THE (the) is
the Amerykan definite article plural form
As with the indefinite article,
the definite article is declined in the manner below:
singular plural
nominative
the tha
accusative thaen tha
genitive thaes
thara
dative thaem thaem
EXAMPLES:
the mann the man
tha menn the men
syst thu thaen mann? do you see the man? syst
thu tha menn? do you see the men?
the nama thaes mann is... the name
of the man is... the naman thara menn the names of the men
ik gaa (til)
thaem hus I'm going (to) to the house. wy gaan (til) thaem huse We're
going (to) to the houses.
PRONOUNS AND DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES
PERSONAL
PRONOUNS
I you he she it we you they
nominative ik thu hy
hje hit wy jy hje
accusative myg thyg hine haar hit us ju hjen
genitive
myn thyn his haar his wur jur hjera
dative my thy him haar
him us ju hjem
DUAL FORMS
We Two You Two
nominative wyt
jyt
accusative wyt jyt
genitive unser inser
dative
uns ins
CASE FUNCTION WITH PRONOUNS
ik gaa I am going
syst
thu myg? do you see me?
myn hus my house
gyf't* my! give
it to me!
* gyf't is a contraction of gyf hit (give it)
RELATIVE
PRONOUN: SIK (self)
ik waske sik I wash myself
hje syth sik
she sees herself
wy yrren sik we're angering ourselves
DEMONSTRATIVE
PRONOUN: THE (that, which, who)
ik haebbe aen hund the bjarkath
I have a dog that barks/ which barks/ who barks
wy
finden thaen fynd the haeth this gedøn we're finding the fiend who did
this
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS HWA (who) HWELK (which)
nominative
hwa hwelk hwa aert thu? who are you? hwelk is this? which
is this?
accusative hwaen hwelk ik sy hwaen is hjaer I see who
is here
genitive hwaes hwelkes hwaes hus is this? whose house
is this?
dative hwaem hwelke hwelke staed skul ik gaan? to which city
should I go?
DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES
this that these those
nominative
this thaet thaas thaa
accusative this thaet thaas thaa
genitive
thisse thaes thaasa thaara
dative thisse thaem thaase thaem
VERBS
All verbs have an infinitive
form which normally ends in -n, -an, or (i)jan
GAAN to go FINDAN
to find MAAKJAN to make OFFRIJAN to offer
In order to get the
stem for conjugation, merely drop the infinitive ending:
Stems:
GAA FIND MAAK OFFR
PERSONAL ENDINGS: different personal endings are attached
to the verb stem according to what person is using the verb, and there are
two essential verb forms.
PRESENT TENSE VERB ENDINGS
ik gaa
(no ending necessary) I go, am going ik gaa I am going
thu gaast
(+st) you go thu gaa you are going
hy gaath (+th) he goes hy
gaa he is going
wy gaath (+th) we go wy gaan we are going (+n)
ik
finde (+e) I find, am finding ik finde I am finding (+e)
thu findest
(+est) you find thu finde you are finding (+e)
hy finde (+e)
he finds hy finde he is finding (+e)
wy findath (+ath) we find wy
finden we are finding (+en)
maak is conjugated in the same manner
above: maake, maakest, maakath/maake, maaken
ik offre (+e) I offer,
am offering ik offre I am offering (+e)
thu offrest (+est) you offer
thu offre you are offering (+e)
hy offrath (+ath) he offers hy
offre he is offering (+e)
wy offrath (+ath) we offer wy offren we
are offering (+en)
THE PAST TENSE
Using the helper verb HAE, combined
with the prefix GE+ on the infinitive form of the verb, the past can be constructed:
ik
hae ge/gaan I went, have gone
ik hae ge/findan I found, have found
ik
hae ge/maakjan I made, have made HAEST is used with thu
ik hae ge/offrijan
I offered, have offered HAETH is used with hy, hje, hit, wy, jy, hje
thu
haest gegaan you went wy haeth gegaan we went
thu haest gemaakjan
you made wy haeth gemaakjan we made
thu haest geoffrijan you
offered we haeth geoffrijan we offered
Do not use prefix GE+ in
front of verbs which already have BE+ or GE+!
e.g. ik hae beginnan
(I began, have begun) ik hae gelyfan (I believed, have believed)
THE
FUTURE TENSE The present tense form -e/-en serves as basic future tense, although
the future form for be, SJE can be used with the infinitive form as
HAE is with the past tense: ik sje gaan (I shall go) thu sje gaan
(you shall go) and so forth.
NEGATIVES: Use nyt (not) after the
verb: ik gaa nyt! I'm not going
ik sje gaan nyt I shall not go
ik hae gegaan nyt I haven't gone
QUESTIONS: invert the pronoun/verb
order: gaath hy? does he go/is he going?
hwaet maakest thu? what
do you make?
NOUNS
Nouns come with a variety
of forms, and their plural forms are just as varied. Unlike English, which uses -s
on is plural in the most general sense, Amerykan nouns use three basic endings, -as,
-an, and -e. There are of course other forms as well, but these three
are the major forms:
baat boat baatas boats
bøm tree
bømas trees
daeg day daegas days -AS plural
fugl
bird fuglas birds
skøg shoe skøgas shoes
knapa
boy knapan boys
nama name naman names
tunge tongue
tungan tongues -AN plural
wyke warrior wykan warriors
tyma
time tyman times
As * deity Ase deities (*Aesir---
Sky Gods)
Waen ** deity Waene deities (**Vanir---- Earth Gods)
Asen***
Goddess Asynje Goddesses -E plural (***Aesir Sky Goddesses)
fjørth
fjord fjørthe fjords
skild shield skilde shields
haelf
half haelfe halves
mann man menn men
baern
child baern child
ey island eyjar islands irregular
plurals
faar sheep faar sheep
bø village bør villages
GENERAL:
Most nouns have the same genitive plural form, +A:
bømafjeld "field
of trees"
wyjaholm "warriors' isle"
Asagaerd Asgard/"Gods'
Home"
Mennahaam "Men-Home"
Faaraeyjar "Sheep's
Isles: Faeroe Islands"
(Note the single word constructions above in the formation
of words and names!)
ADJECTIVES
Adjectives modify nouns and are
declined just like nouns in order to agree in case and number (singular
or plural):
GRØT large LØTT little
nominative grøt løtt grøte
løtte
accusative grøt løtt singular grøte løtte plural
genitive
grøte løtte grøta løtta
dative grøte løtte grøta løtta
EXAMPLES:
the grøt hus the large house tha grøte huse the large houses
ik sy aen grøt hus I see a large house ik sy grøte huse
I see large houses
the toft thaes grøte hus the
roof of the large house
tha tofte thara grøta huse the
rooves of the large houses
ik gaa til thaem løtte hus
I'm going to the little house
COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES: high
high/er high/est
Adjectives generally take on suffixes -ra
and -ast
høg high høgra higher høgast
highest
laaw low laawra lower laawast
lowest
gød good betra better betst
best --- irregular form
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