What are Mando'a grammar rules? By this I mean:
- Is there a commonly used copula (verb "to be", English present tense being "is", "am", "are"), and what are its conjugations?
- Word inflections, called conjugation for verbs
- Word order, and where do other words like adjectives fit in to it?
I know this isn't grammar, but what are consistent pronunciation rules? Is it just memorization, like with English, or are there consistent pronunciation rules for letters based on their context?
Mando'a grammar?
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Vlet Hansen
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Re: Mando'a grammar?
"To be" is "cuyir" with "is" being just "cuy." However, this is dropped in most cases, only included for clarity or emphasis.
The only real inflection is dropping the -r or -[vowel]r from the end of a verb to transfer from the infinitive form. However, as a matter of personal habit, I usually include the vowel if I'm indicating a gerund. This isn't an official rule, just a personal habit. For example, "to run" is "viniir" and "run!" would be "ke'viin," but I'll generally use "kaysh viini" if I want to say "he/she's running."
Word order is commonly SVO, but this is more a matter of popular convention than necessity. You can use any order you like as long as your meaning is clear, including whether you place your adjectives before or after their nouns.
Pronunciation is a bit thornier a subject. I'd say the biggest thing to watch out for is c can be k or s depending on the word, a is usually a short vowel, while the long a is how most occurrences of e gets pronounced.
Also I will NEVER pronounce gi with a hard g, no matter what KT says. I reserve that sound for jii. But that's just me.
The only real inflection is dropping the -r or -[vowel]r from the end of a verb to transfer from the infinitive form. However, as a matter of personal habit, I usually include the vowel if I'm indicating a gerund. This isn't an official rule, just a personal habit. For example, "to run" is "viniir" and "run!" would be "ke'viin," but I'll generally use "kaysh viini" if I want to say "he/she's running."
Word order is commonly SVO, but this is more a matter of popular convention than necessity. You can use any order you like as long as your meaning is clear, including whether you place your adjectives before or after their nouns.
Pronunciation is a bit thornier a subject. I'd say the biggest thing to watch out for is c can be k or s depending on the word, a is usually a short vowel, while the long a is how most occurrences of e gets pronounced.
Also I will NEVER pronounce gi with a hard g, no matter what KT says. I reserve that sound for jii. But that's just me.
Shi adate kotep luubid...
