Cumulative grammatical notes to Dec. 24, 2004 Includes through end of Volume 1 Section 3 Sentence 98 Articles Articles carry the case marking for the nouns they apply to. In old Tazhu most articles appeared as prefixes to the noun or to an adjective that preceeds the noun. During the transition to Early Middle Tazhu the articles separated from the nous to behave more like particles. Ex: Viziro tepalu. Viziro telozhe palu. -- Old Tazhu. EX: Viziro te palu. Viziro te lozhe palu. -- Early Middle Tazhu. Definite article "the" dasa - nominative (stands apart from the noun) te- - accusative to- - dative The definite article in the nominative is usually optional but almost always used before an adjective. Indefinite article "a" se- - accusative Null article used to carry case when no other article is appropriate he- - accusative ho- - dative Numbers as articles When a number stands as an article it retains its normal ending. EX: Ona ladu govizeno kua. One boy saw me. Articles on proper nouns. When a proper noun needs a case marking the article stands alone before it. EX: Vizo he John. I see John. Exceptions are when a preposition preceeds the noun. No article is used then. EX: Dokeoko sechasku he John. is the same as Dokeoko sechasku elar John. Nouns Normally end in -u in the singular and form plurals by ending in -i. Nouns that end in -iu change to -ui for plural. Daliu -> dalui. Possesives referencing another noun use the particle na - of. EX: ... palu na John. -> John's ball. Possesives are formed with the null article and a possesive word naku - of mine (modern usage often uses -ku as a suffix to the noun) "Vizo hepalu naku." or "Vizo hepaluku." navu - of yours, belonging to you natsu - of his, belonging to him nasela - of hers, belonging to her - of it, belonging to it - of us, belonging to us - of you plural - of them, belonging to them Adjectives as nouns When an adjective stands in for a noun it takes the normal noun ending. EX: Lozhe = red - Lozhu fuleso. = The red one is flying. Adjectives Adjective preceed the noun they modify. Some adjectives can be used adverbially, but they retain their adjectival ending. When used adverbially they follow the adverb they modify. EX: "Much" can stand for "very" as in "Vileo rendy uche." Literally "To run slowly much", or properly "To run very slowly." Pronouns Pronouns are not often used as they are implied by verb conjugation in most cases. The are used for emphasis, and when needed to clarity. Recent usage is tending to drop the 'S' on the front of the feminine pronouns. Pronouns in the Nominative ku - I, me ki - we vu - you vi - you plural tsu - he ti - they (s)elu - she tu - it Pronouns in the Accusative kua - I, me kia - us vua - you via - you plural tsua - him tia - them (s)ela - her eta - it Pronouns in the Dative kuan - I, me kian - us vuan - you vian - you plural tsuan - him tian - them (s)elan - her etan - it Numbers as pronouns When a number is used to stand for a noun it takes a noun/pronoun ending. EX: Onu vizeno kua, kirsu vizendo sela. Vizo tekwanu. One of them sees me, three of them see her. I see four of them. This - these sha - this shi - these Nominiative tesha teshi Accusative tosha toshin Dative That - those ya - that yi - those Nominative teya teyir Accusative toya toyin Dative Phrases like "this one" and "that one" in English are translated by adding the noun ending: sha -> shau, yan -> yanu, and so on. Verbs Verbs fall into three classes and follow these patterns: CLASS I numio - infinitive numiako - imperative numo - I take numomo - we take numero - you take numeromo - you pl take numeso - he/she/it takes numesto - they take CLASS II doneo - infinitive doneoko - imperative dono - I give donoyo - we give donelo - you give donelo - you pl give donito - he/she/it gives donento - they give CLASS III viziro - infinitive viziko - imperative vizo - I see vizomo - we see vizinyo - you see vizinko - you plural see vizeno - he/she/it sees vizendo - they see Other tenses follow the same pattern with the tense marked by a prefix. The verb endings remain unchanged through all the tneses. na- navizo - I see, I am seeing ha- havizo - I have seen havizomo - we have seen le- levizo - I will see levizomo - we will see go- goviso - I saw govizomo - we saw anji- anjiviso - I would see anjivizomo - we would see Modern usage tends to leave the prefix off verbs in the past tense when it is clear from context that the past tense is meant. Thus "vizo" can be taken to imply "I saw", and "udo" is "I said." Verbs tend to be more specialized in their application than English verbs. Concepts like "run from", "run to", "run with" all tend to be separate verbs. Verbs often take the place of prepositions in English. Phrases using the verb "to be" accompanied by a preposition usually have their own verb in Tazhu. For example "lentreo" is "to be within" where the function of the verb "to be" is incorporated into the verb. Ex: Lentro domu. I am inside the house. Questions A statement can be preceeded by "kwa" to ask if the statement is true. The questioning tone of voice can sometimes take the place of Kwa. In a question asking "may I ..." or "can he ..." or similar uses of "meteo", the infinitive of the referenced verb is often placed before "meteo" to emphasize which action the speaker is requesting permission for. This never happens in a simple statement, only in a question. The above example is literally "To-have he-is-permitted baby the-ball?" Two infinitives connected by "en" may preceed meteo. Pronunciation notes Vowels are pronounced individually, often with a hint of a glottal stop between them. Sa+akleadu -> saakleadu with each 'a' pronounced separately. In general paired vowels are pronounced separately with a slight glottal stop between them. Q is pronounced as the ch in the Scotish "loch". Word order notes Word order is quite flexible. When the personal pronoun is used is usually falls either at the end or the beginning of the sentence. Idiomatic usages Time Idioms Kirsa shadari soprento tebaraku. (Three birds are-upon the tree) Kirsa shadari lentrento teboshlu. (Three birds are-within the bush) veste verale chori - by and by, some day, in a while, after a while, eventually. Delay measured in days or weeks. vesta kronu - after a time, in a while. delay measured in minutes or hours. Sente choru - one day (some unspecificed day in the past) Sente kronu - once upon a time tizne kronu - a little while, soon, a short time. Veste kronu - soon, after a while veste pena - after that time More than one noun as the subject EX: Ruku ena karu paludito. Notice that when the subjects are multiple the verb is still in 3rd person singular rather than the plural as might be expected. Morning, evening and night The ordinal numbers are used to indicate days in the past. First morning is this morning. Second morning is yesterday morning, and so on. EX: Onate sabu - this morning. pena - during, at the time of is used to indicate action at that time. EX: Govizo sela pena onate sabu. - I saw her this morning. Greetings Good morning - Emiseoko tesabu, or informally emisabu. Exclamations Ho yin! - Oh yeah!, Oh yes!, Alright!