europidgin | Grammar (suggestion) - Based on the work og C. George Boeree
- Autor: europidgin
- Tema: Grammar (suggestion) - Based on the work og C. George Boeree
- Data: 2002-09-22 09:12
- Mesaje: 187 (presedente, seguente)
Grammar
Suggestion -- last updated 2002.09.22
Word order
The word order is as in the romance languages, and disagree with english and germanic languages only in placing the adjective after the noun.
Grammatical Suffixes
There is one grammatical suffix for nouns:
-s (or -es after a consonant) indicates the plural.
-s and -es do not change the original stress of the word. The plural suffix is included even when there are other words also
indicating plurality, e.g. Tre omes, three men.
There are two grammatical suffixes for verbs:
-va indicates the past tense,
-ra indicates the future tense.
Please note that there is no suffixes for passive participle and active participle.
The passive is expressed by sentence structure: le eseva colpa -- he was hit, someone hit him.
The active participle is expressed by clause: ???? -- the wilting plant, the plant that wilted.
Auxiliaries
Auxiliaries are always followed by verb in the simple form.
fa -- make, cause to...
permite -- let, allow, permit to...
debe -- must, should, need to...
vole -- want to, intend to...
pote -- can, could, am able to...
sabe -- know (how) to...
va -- go, begin to...
veni -- come (around) to...
Articles
In europijin articles are optional.
la -- the
un -- a, one
Pronouns
me -- I, me
te -- you
le -- him, her, it
nos -- we, us
vos -- you
los -- they, them
possessives -- the pronoun preceding the noun. Mine, yours, etc. are expressed by me, te, etc. followed by a noun, e.g. me cosas, te flores, etc.
There is no "formal" or "polite" version of you singular.
Demonstratives and Indefinites
esta -- this (here),
?????acel -- that (there)
cada -- every, each
no -- no, none
tota -- all
multe -- many
alga -- some
poca -- few
ambos -- both
basta -- enough
tro -- too much
mesma -- same
otra -- other, else
tal -- such
serta -- certain
varios -- several
sola -- sole, only
All the preceding may be used alone or followed by...
un, unes -- one, ones
person -- person
cosa -- thing
ora -- time (time, hour of the day)
ves -- occasion
parte -- place (area)
loca -- location
cuanto -- amount, quantity
modo -- manner, way, how
caso -- case, situation, circumstance
Interrogatives and Relatives
ce -- what, that
ce person, la person ce -- who
ce cosa, la cosa ce -- what, that (re things)
ce, ce de -- which (of several)
de ce, de ce person -- whose
ce moda, la moda ce -- how
ce cuanto -- how much, how many
ce ora -- when
ce parte -- where
per ce -- why
If a question contains no interrogative, it is expressed by rising intonation alone, indicated in writing by a final questionmark (?). Questions may have the verb before the subject, e.g. Parla tu Engles? = Tu Parla Engles? Do you speak English? One may also express questions by adding no? (no) or si? (yes) to the end of the sentence.
Comparatives and Superlatives
The comparative is expressed with plu; The superlative with la plu. The negative comparative uses min; The negative superlative uses la min. E.g. plu calda, la plu calda, min calda, la min calda -- hotter, the hottest, less hot, the least hot.
plu -- more
plu ... ce -- more... than
la plu -- most
min -- less
min ... ce -- less... than
la min -- least
Prepositions
There are 20 prepositions:
Space
a -- at
ante -- in front of
pos -- behind
da -- from, out of
en -- in, into
estra -- outside
supra -- above, over, on
su -- below, under
entra -- between, among
justa -- by, beside, up to
versa -- toward
longo -- along
tra -- across, through, past, beyond
sirca -- around
contra -- opposite
Time
a -- at
ante -- before
pos -- after
da -- since
en -- in (hence)
justa -- until
entra -- during
Relations
de -- of, about, concerning
per -- for, as a means of, in order to, on behalf of
par -- by (actor, author)
con -- with, by means of, in company of
sin -- without, except
contra -- opposite, against, in spite of
sirca -- approximately
Conjunctions
e -- and
e ... e -- both...and..
o -- or
o ... o -- either...or
no ... no -- neither...nor
ma -- but
si -- if, whether
donce -- then, consequently
per ce -- because, in order that, so that
contra ce -- although
pos ce -- after
ante ce -- before
da ce -- since
justa ce -- till
entra ce -- while
Numerals
un -- one
du -- two
tre -- three
quatro -- four
sinco -- five
ses -- six
sete -- seven
oto -- eight
nove -- nine
des -- ten
Higher numbers are constructed as follows:
des-un -- eleven
dudes -- twenty
sento -- hundred
sento-un -- 101
tresento-dudes-ub -- 321
mil -- 1000 -- mil
cuatrodes-sinco mil, sessento-setedes-oto -- 45,678
milion -- million
prime -- first
Other ordinals same as cardinals, except following the noun, e.g. la om tre, the third man ("the man three"). This may also be expressed as la om numero tre.
Fractions constructed with -i, e.g. di, tri, cuatri,... desi, senti, mili, etc.
Multiple units are formed with -uple, e.g. duple, truple, cuatruple,...
un ves -- once
du ves -- twice