Ilathid'hi/Grammar

Overall Word Order

Simple word order is Verb Subject Object. However, if there is an auxiliary verb in use, the Auxiliary verb is at the beginning of the sentence, followed by the Subject, then the verb and object, in that order.

Verbs

Simple verb conjugations

Verbs take a suffix for simple tense conjugations. If the verb ends in a vowel, that vowel is replaced with the suffix vowel.

Simple tenses

• present - root verb
• past - -or
• future - -og

Complex tenses

• gnomic - ee
• present progressive - odo
• present perfect - ele
• present perf. prog. - ede

Examples:

present	b'lah ehn	I write (right now)
past	b'lor ehn	I wrote
future	b'log ehn	I will write
present progressive	b'lodo ehn	I am writing
present perfect	b'lehleh ehn	I have written
present perf. prog.	b'lehdeh ehn	I have been writing
gnomic	b'lee ehn	I write (in general)

Auxiliary verbs

The auxiliary verb can serve a number of functions. In many cases, it provides an additional frame of reference, like have/had in English. In these cases, it uses a set of tensed forms to indicate the time of the reference point. When a present form is combined with one of these tensed auxiliaries changes it to a past form. For example, the past auxilary with the present progressive changes it to a past progressive.

Additionally, if an auxiliary verb is already modified somehow, ko and bo are used as a separate auxiliary (see question words below for an example).

• ko - past
• bo - future

ko ehn b'lodo	I was writing
ko ehn b'lele	I had written
ko ehn b'lede	I had been writing

Questions Auxiliaries

The Auxiliary verb can also be used for a few different functions. There is a question auxiliary verb, which has a few tensed forms.

These are used like the regular tensed auxilaries, except there is an present form.

• quee - present interrogative
• koquee - past interrogative
• boquee - future interrogative

Examples:

.b'lah ehn	I write.
?quee ehn b'lah	Do I write?
?quee ehn b'lodo	Am I writing?
?koquee ehn b'lah	Did I write?
?boquee ehn b'lah	Will I write?
?boquee ehn b'lehleh	Will I have written?

Note that to say "Did I write?" you say ?koquee ehn b'lah and not ?quee ehm b'lor. For simple tenses, you tense the question auxiliary.

Question words can also be as auxiliary verbs, though how they are used depends on the question word being used.

• who = pahg
• what = pug

Who and what are used like a noun when used as a subject:

?b'lah pahg	Who writes?
?kaplo pug	What invades?

However, they become an auxiliary when referring to an object:

?pahg ehn kaplo	Who do I invade?
?pug ehn b'lah	What do I write?

• when = pog
• where = peeg
• why = peig
• how = p'gi
• how many/much = ipahg

These are always auxiliary verbs, as there always is another subject.

?ipahg calei kahr	How many trees are there?
?peig enei kahree	Why do we exist? (note the aorist tense on the verb - this is a general question)
?peeg ehn kahr	Where am I?

Question words can also take the 'ko' and 'bo' tense prefixes like quee can to give a reference point. Examples:

?pog ehn b'lah	When do I write?
?bopog ehn b'lah	When will I write?
?kopog ehn b'lodo	When was I writing?

Additionally, they can take prefixes to indicate oblique references:

?hugpahg eem kahr	With whom are you?/Who are you with?
?quotpeeg emei kaplo	From where do they invade?

For the more complex constructions, the auxiliaries can get involved, as ko and bo

?ko quotpeeg emei kaplo	From where did they invade?
?bo hugpahg eem kahrehleh	With whom will you have been?

Command Auxiliaries

Also, an auxiliary verb ah can be used to make an imperative. You can leave out the subject for a generic 'you' of indeterminate number. Or you can add it for emphasis. Generally you use the present tense for this, but you can use other simple tenses to add some variation.

!ah b'lah	Write!
!ah b'log	Write (in the future)!
!ah b'lodo	Be writing!

Negating Verbs

To negate a verb, add the v'le- prefix to it. Even if there is an auxiliary verb, the negating prefix goes on the main noun.

.v'leb'lor ehn	I did not write.
!ah v'leblah	Do not write!
?koquee v'leblah	Did I not write?

Nouns

Nouns change only in reference to number. There are three numbers: singular, plural and dual. Dual is a special number, referring to a pair of things treated as a whole or with a close relationship, like a pair of socks, or a couple of lovers.

If the nouns ends in a consonant, we simply add a suffix to indicate number. If it ends in a vowel, the final vowel is removed an the ending is added.

• cal - tree
• calei - trees
• calan - pair of trees

Specifiers

Specifiers are special words that specify the nature of the noun. They appear before the noun they modify. These include articles, demonstratives, quantifiers and numbers.

There is only one article. There is no indefinite article (no 'a' or 'an')

• hu = the

Demonstratives must agree with the noun they modify (this could also be used as pronouns themselves):

• hee = this
• hei = these
• han = this pair
• heeb = that
• heebei = those
• heeban = that pair

Quantifiers indicate a number of some sort or portion of a whole. (Ex. gox = all)

You can stack many specifiers together as well to say things like 'all of these five trees'. The order is article/demonstrative quantifier then number:

hei gox kli calei

(lit. these all five trees)

Note that you cannot have an article and a demonstrative modify the same noun.

Possession

Possession can be shown buy adding making a 'possessive adjective' out of a noun by adding the d' prefix. Like all adjectives, it follows the noun it modifies. However, it does not change to agree with the number of the noun.

Examples:

sevei d'ilathid	the ages of the world, the world's ages
cal d'Klahs'tre	Klahs'tre's tree

Possessive pronouns are added as suffixes to the noun.

• my = 'ent
• our = 'eneit
• your = 'eemt
• you all's = 'eemeit
• his/hers/its = 'emt
• their = 'emeit

cal'ent	my tree
calei'ent	my trees
unaht'eneit	our war

Pronouns

Here are the pronouns. Note that as an object, they have the same form as a subject:

• I = en
• he/she/it = em
• you = eem
• they = emei
• you all = eemei
• we = enei

There is also a set of 'generic' pronouns.

• someone - umah
• something - unt
• someones - umei
• somethings - untei

You use these generic pronouns to simulate the passive voice.

Example:

kolupor umah hu huyuto.

The harbor was destroyed (lit. Someone destroyed the harbor)

Adjectives

Adjectives appear directly after the nouns they modify. They need to agree with the noun they modify, thus taken the same ending.

cal geene	tall tree
calei geenei	tall trees
calan geenan	pair of tall trees

Relative Clauses

Relative clauses are embedded sentences that modify nouns. In English, these are signalled with 'that' - i.e. The man that attacked me.

Relative clauses come after the noun they modify, following any adjectives that modify that noun and begin with a relative pronoun. The relative pronoun has to agree in number with the noun it modifies, like adjectives do.

If the subject of the embedded sentence is the noun being modfied, then the subject in the embedded sentence can be left out. If it is the object of the embedded sentence, a pronoun for the object need to be in the sentence.

The rest of the sentence is constructed as per a normal sentence

• singular - sah
• plural - sei
• dual - san

Examples:

hu tahm sah onehg	the place that suffers
hu tahmei sei kaplo em emei	the places that he invades (lit. the places that he invades them)

Prepositions can be added to the relative pronoun to indicate that the noun modified is an oblique object. For example:

hu tahm quasah kahr em

the place in which he is

Unfinished Notes

Do to:

• adverbs, adverbial phrases
• affixes (derivational, convertors)
• conjunctions
• reflexives
• comparatives and superlatives
• numbers
• existance marker?
• modals?

Verb suffixes

• -ahneh = verb to noun
• -ovahn = verb to actor
• -opah = verb to active adjective (-ing)
• -okhah = verb to passive adjective (-ed)

Noun Suffixes

• -onah = to change a noun to an adjective

Prepositions

• wi- = to/at when indicating a noun (I'm going to the store, I'm looking at you)
• yah- = in order to
• qua- = in location (we are in the house, I live in California), also from (suffered from the war, got sick from eating too many cookies)
• hug- = with
• kom- = and
• quot- = from (location)
• hiwi- - among, amongst
• dhee- - for

Possession

• d'hi (suffix) = "children of" or "people of" meaning member of a group usually country/culture/or ethnicity (the people of D'ni: dunee'hi)

Negative

v'leh - prefix goes before whatever it is modifying

Adverbs

• -nu