User:DrukeTheFluke/Dradelian language

The guid to Dradelian grammar. Attributed to the "Sabimo rajämo cin Dradelsrutu" (Dradelian Thieves Guild).

Alphabet

 * † Ŝ is only used in some proper nouns, loan words and rendering of foreign proper nouns.
 * Bh and dh may be written as ḅ and ḍ, however bh and dh are standard.
 * J is pronounced ɟ when followed by a vowel, but it is pronounced ʑ when at the end of a word or followed by a consonant or at the end of a word.

Pronunciation guide

 * A - a as in father
 * B - b as in bat
 * Bh - no equivalent in English, pronounced like a b, but with the lower lip contacting the upper teeth, as in v.
 * C - similar to ch in chat
 * D - d as in doom
 * Dh - no equivalent in English,  pronounced like a d, but with the lower lip contacting the upper teeth, as in v.
 * E - e as in peck
 * Ä - a as in cat (notice the difference in pronunciation compared to a)
 * F - f in fear
 * G - g in g ear
 * H - h in hat
 * I - ee in feed
 * J - either like "dy" or s in vision
 * K - c in cat
 * L - l in lamp
 * Ğ - not used in English, but is pronounced the same as it is in Azeri, sounds a bit like a mixture of G and Z.
 * M - m in mop
 * N - n in no
 * O - o in so
 * P - p in pan
 * S - s in sink
 * Ŝ - similar to sh in shark
 * T - t in top
 * U - oo in boot
 * V - v in van
 * Y - y in yellow
 * Z - z in zoo

Grammar
These basic words will be used for these examples. Nouns end in -o, adverbs end in -i, adjectives end in -u. Adjectives and nouns are interchangeable by changing the ending. For example, take the word "kipomo" meaning a pig/hog/swine, it can be made an adjective by replacing the -o with a -u, so it would be "kipomu", meaning pig-like. It can also be made an adjective by adding -i, so it would be "kipomi". "Ton dujar kipomi" means "I feed in a pig-like manner".
 * Kipomo - pig, swine, hog
 * Dujiar - verb to feed
 * Ton - I, me (pronoun)
 * Dhumumu - large, big

Examples
-iar is the infinitive ending. -ar is the present tense ending. -or is the past tense ending. -ir is the future tense ending. Dradelian uses a SVO word order, like English. To show that the action happened to someone, rather than them doing the action, you make them the object of the sentence, for example... Since "ton" (I) is now the object of the sentence, it shows I was being fed, and not feeding something.
 * Ton dujar kipomo - I am feeding pig
 * Ton dujor kipomo - I fed pig
 * Ton dujir kipomo - I am going to feed pig
 * Ton dujor - I fed
 * Dujor ton - I was fed

Endings
Dradelian lacks articles. The  equivalent of articles in Dradelian are in the form of suffixes. They are -uk = the, -äl = some.

For example

 * Kipomo = A pig/Pig, Kipomos = Pigs
 * Kipomuko = The pig, Kipomukos = The pigs
 * Kipomälos = Some pigs

Plurals/Non countables To make a noun plural, you must add -s to the end, so kipomo = pig, kipomos = pigs. Also, if a noun is plural, the adjective describing the noun must be plural also, we do this by adding an -s before the -u. Non-countable nouns, for example "milk", "mud", "muck" and "rum", work the same was as plurals, however they take a -t rather than an -s.

Examples

 * Kipomo dhumumu - big pig
 * Kipomos dhumumsu - big pigs
 * Nuhot mugantu - brown mud

As you may have noticed, adjectives are post-positive, which means they are placed after the noun, unlike English where adjectives are placed before the noun. Adverbs are also post-positive, which means they come after the verb they are describing.

For words which end in "t", to be made an adjective describing a non-countable word, an apostrophe must be added to separate the t on the end of the word and the "t" in the -tu non-countable adjective ending. For example, "Dradelsrut" is the demonym for Dradelia in Dradelian. As an adjective describing a non-countable noun it would be "Dradelsrut'tu".

If you are talking about actions you do to yourself, you must use Ton, the word for I/me ("I" and "me" are the same word in Dradelian"). For example, if you where saying "I get washed" in English, meaning you wash yourself, it would be "Ton hadhar ğäyte ton", literally meaning "Me wash to me" to show you are washing yourself, not washing another thing or person. Also, there are no reflexive pronouns (himself, yourself, ourselves ect.) in Dradelian, so to show someone or you are doing an action to themselves you use a personal pronoun as the subject and put " ğäyte" (to) before the subject. For example
 * Dhekan  dujar  ğäyte  dhekan - He fed himself (Literally:He fead to he)

This is also used in Dradelian to express an action without specifying a subject. For example if you where to say "I eat", without specifying a subject, you would say in Dradelian " Ton  dujar  ğäyte  ton" which means "I fed to myself". However if you where saying you eat something, such as "I eat chese", you would say "Ton  ğafar  yodhot", since the sentence has a subject, with  yodhot  (cheese) being the subject.
 * Dhekan dujar dheken - he fed him, as in someone else (Literally:He fed he)

Questions When asking a question in Dradelian, use the following pronouns. In Dradelian questions, the word order sticks to SVO, unlike English which sometimes inverts during a question. For example, "who are you?" in Dradelian is "bhan bhok cebar?", literally "who you are?".
 * bhan - who
 * cumon - what
 * bemov - where
 * dän - why
 * dhabhum - how
 * ğetem - how much/how many
 * vec - yes/no
 * dhud - which

Examples

 * Bhan cebar yero? - Who is a beast? (Litteral:Who is beast?)
 * Cumon cebar yero? What is a beast? (Litteral:What is beast?)
 * Bemov cebar yero? Where is a beast? (Litteral:Where is beast?)
 * Dän cebar yero...? Why is a beast...? (Litteral:Why is beast...?)
 * Dhabhum cebar yero...? How is a beast...? (Litteral:How is beast...?)
 * Ğetem bhok vabhar yeros? How many beasts do you own? (Litteral:How many you own beasts?)
 * Vec bhok cebar yero? Are you a beast? (Litteral:Yes/no you are beast?)
 * Dhud ton jokar yero? Which beast do you like? (Litteral:Which you like beast?)

Predeterminers
Predeterminers in -ucä, for a setence with prederminers this is the form. (adjective) (verb) (predeterminer)

Bägu cebor ucä (alike where all) - (All where alike)

Moods
Dradelian has two moods, subjunctive and conditional. In Dradelian, these moods are shown as prefixes before the verb.

Conditional

 * Prefix = Vil-

Conditional in Dradelian is used to express something hypothetic, it is used in Dradelian to express "If something happens, something else will happen too".

For example...

 * Bhok vilzobar  cajäto, vilgudhar bhok. - If you kill a human, you will be imprisoned.
 * Bhok  vil zobir  cajäto, vilgudhir bhok. - If you are going to kill a human, you are going to be imprisoned.
 * Bhok  vil zobor  cajäto, vilgudhor bhok. - If you had killed a human, you would have been imrpisoned.

Subjunctive


 * Prefix = Jut-

Subjunctive in Dradelian is used to express something unreality. Where as the Conditional is used to express reality.

For example...

For example...


 * "Bhok vilzobar cajät. Vilgudhir bhok" - "If you kill a human. You will be imprisoned".

Aspects
Aspects in Dradelian take suffixes. Below is a list of moods.


 * Perfect +igu
 * Continuous +äyu

Examples

 * PreSimp = Present. - Dhekan dokar Kipomuto (he bombs the pigs)
 * PreProg = Current, still happening - Dhekan dokaräyu Kipomuto (he is bombing the pigs)
 * PrePer = Recently happened, still current. - Dhekan dokarigu Kipomuto (he has bombed the pigs)


 * PasSimp = Past. - Dhekan dokor Kipomuto (he bombed the pigs)
 * PasProg = Continuos, but happened. - Dhekan dokoräyu Kipomuto (he was bombing the pigs)
 * PasPer = Was still current at the time, but has happened Dhekan dokorigu Kipomuto (he had bombed the pigs)


 * FutSimp = Future. - Dhekan dokir Kipomuto (he will bomb the pigs)
 * FutProg = Will be continuos, when it happens - Dhekan dokiräyu Kipomuto (he will be bombing the pigs)
 * FutPer = Will be current, but over with when it happens - Dhekan dokiräyu Kipomuto (he will have bombed the pigs)

Infinitives
The infinitive form of the verb in Dradelian ends in -iar. Infinitives can be used in several ways in Dradelian. The first way is for sentences like "I can kick", "I refuse to run" which use two verbs. In Dradelian these would be "Ton  pozar beviar" and "Ton vugar mayiar". Infinitives can also be used for phrases such as "It is hard to eat", which in Dradelian would be "Gan cebar ğafiar bhäbi" meaning "It is to eat hard/difficult".

Double adjectives
Double adjectives in Dradelian need to be seperated by "cin" (Dradelian for "and"). For example "Kipomo jeğämu cin  secumu", litterally "Pig fat and smelly".

Demonyms
Demonyms, words relating to a place can be adjectives too. Demomyns end in -srut, and can be made an adjective by adding -u (-su if plrual, -tu if non countable). So "Kipomo Dradelsrutu" means "Dradelian pig", and "Kipomos Dradelsrutsu" means "Dradelian pigs". If a demonym is made into a noun such as "Dradelsruto" it refers to a Dradelian person.

Adverbs describing adjectives
Adverbs can describe adjectives in Dradelian. They must be placed after the Adjective they are describing. For example "Kipomo  jeğämu  bhizäni" means "A very fat pig", with  jeğämu being the adjective meaning "fat" or "chubby" and " bhizäni" being an adverb meaning "very". This can work for double adjectives too, "Kipomo  jeğämu  bhizäni cin  secumu  bhizäni" means a "very fat, very smelly pig". Both adjectives need to take the adverb " bhizäni" in this sentence to show both adjectives are desribed by the adverb " bhizäni". If only one was followed by the adverb, the adverb would only describe the adjective it followed.