Gramatica de 2000

Pronunciation and Spelling

There are 21 letters: a b c d e f g i j l m n o p r s t u v x z.

“a, be, ce, de, e, ef, ge, i, je, el, em, en, o, pe, er, es, te, u, ve, ex, ze.”

(h, k, q, w, and y are only used in proper names so spelled in original language. They fall alphabetically as in English, and are named hax, ka, qua, wa, and ya)

A special note:

Please understand that, while being precise in regards to pronunciation is important in order to provide a teaching standard, Lingua Franca Nova is very forgiving: People may vary their pronunciations quite a bit and still be easily understood. Correcting others’ pronunciation is considered quite impolite!

Consonants

• B [b] as in Bob.
• C [c] as in cat. Never as in lace.
• D [d] as in dog.
• F [f] as in fool.
• G [g] as in good. Never like a j as in gee or jump.
• J [j] as the s in pleasure. It should be pronounced like j in French, but it may be pronounced like j in English if that is easier for the speaker.
• L [l] as in lee.
• M [m] as in mom.
• N [n] as in no. Before g or k, it is pronounced as in ring.
• P [p] as in pot.
• R [r] as in road, but with a slight trill, as it is in Spanish or Italian.
• S [s] as in see. Never like a z as in please or zero.
• T [t] as in tea.
• V [v] as in vow.
• X [x] as the sh in ship. It should be pronounced like x in Catalan or the ch in French, but it may be pronounced like ch in English if that is easier for the speaker.
• Z [z] as in zoo.

Vowels

• A [a] as in father. Not as in fate or cat.
• E [e] like the a in mate. Pronounce it crisply, not lengthened as in may. Not as in see or set.
• I [i] as in machine. Not as in ice or it. Between vowels, initially before a vowel, or in the combinations ni and li before a vowel, it is pronounced like y as in yes.
• O [o] as in note. Pronounce it crisply, not lengthened as in no. Not as in not or bore.
• U [u] as in rude. Never as in up or use. Between vowels, initially before a vowel, or in the combinations cu and gu before a vowel, it is pronounced like w in wet.

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are double vowels that are pronounced as if blended. In LFN there are four. They may be pronounced as two separate vowels if that is easier for the speaker.

• AI [ai] as in mai-tai or the i in kite. It is the a of father followed by i pronounced like a y.
• AU [au] as in Maui or the ou in house. It is the a of father followed by u pronounced like a w.
• OI [oi] as in poi or the oy of boy. It is the o of note followed by i pronounced like a y.
• EU [eu] as the ay-w of bay-watch. It is the a of mate followed by u pronounced like a w.

Accent

The accent in multi-syllable words falls on the vowel preceding the last consonant or consonant cluster.

• mArto, perfEta aprIl, mUs, perfetAr

In words that have no vowel before the last consonant, the accent falls on the first vowel.

• mAio, mA, tIa, rEa

There is one exception to the rule: the plural -s or -es does not change the original stress of the word.

• rEde, rEdes, mUs, mUses, tIo, tIos

A secondary accent in words of four or more syllables falls two vowels back from the primary accent.

Basic Grammar

The alphabet:

• a b c d e f g i j l m n o p r s t u v x z

Pronunciation:

• car, boy, cat, dog, cake, fun, go, see, azure, low, mama, new, coat, pen, ray, see, tea, food, view, ash, zoo

Word order

The word order is as in the romance languages, and disagrees with english and germanic languages only in placing the adjective after the noun.

subject – verb – (direct object)

• el ama la dona “he/she loves the woman”

(preposition) – particle(s) – noun – (adjectives)

• en la casa grande “in the big house”

(auxiliary verb) – verb – (adverbs)

• io debe pasear atendente “I must walk carefully”

Grammatical Suffixes

Nouns

-s (or -es after consonants) forms the plural of nouns

• omes e donas “men and women”

Verbs

-va is the past tense of verbs

• tu laborava “you worked”

-ra is the future tense of verbs

• tu laborara “you will work”

add -nte to a verb to make the active participle, which acts as an adjective or noun

• donante “giving” or “giver”

add -da to a verb to make the passive participle, which also acts as an adjective or noun

• donada “given” or “gift”

-r after a verb makes the infinitive, which acts as an abstract noun

• donar “to give”

Additional rules

-ia after a noun or adjective makes it an abstract noun

• madria “motherhood” or vania “vanity”

a verb can be used as a noun just as it is

• nos dansa “we dance” and la dansa “the dance”

an adjective can be used as a noun the same way

• un om saja “a wise man” and la sajas “the wise”

adverbs are identical to adjectives

• un om felis “a happy man” and el dansa felis “he/she dances happily”

Auxiliaries

Auxiliaries are followed by the infinitive.

• 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

There are two articles.

• la – the
• un – a, one

Pronouns

• io – I (subject)
• me – me (object)
• ma – my (possessive)
• nos – we, us (plural subject)
• nosa – our (plural possessive)

• tu – you (subject)
• te – you (object)
• ta – your (possessive)
• vos – you (plural)
• vosa – your (plural possessive)

• el – he, she, it (subject)
• le – him, her, it (object)
• los – they, them (plural)
• sa – his, hers, its, their (singular and plural possessive)

• se – reflexive pronoun for third person singular and plural.

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

• ci (= ce person, la person ce) – who, whom
• ce (= ce cosa, la cosa ce) – what, that (re things)
• cual – which (of several)
• de ci (= de ce person) – whose
• como (= ce moda, la moda ce) –
• cuanto (= ce cuanto) – how much, how many
• cuando (= ce ora) – when
• do (= 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
• cuatro – 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-un – 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