Tigerian
From KneeQuickie
Tigerian [tI."ge:r\.i.'@n], or san Nahadana Tegirenai [san na."ha.da.'na te."gi.re.'nai] - n. 1. The native tongue spoken in Tegireserana. 2. A conlang created by Jonathana Tegire.
A short grammar follows:
Contents |
Grammar
Sentence Construction:
Sentences in Tigerian follow a subject-verb-object pattern.
For example, "I see the cat" becomes "(Ha) Rusinata san athana."
In reforming their language, the Tigerians had to decide what order seemed most logical. Well, it seemed to them of no use to give the action before you know about what you are talking. In addition, it seemed useless to give the object before you know what is being done to it, so they decided on the Subject-Verb-Object pattern.
In Tigerian subject pronouns are unnecessary, however, as verb conjugation indicates person.
Verbs - Nehenasin:
Conjugation:
To conjugate verbs, remove the final e (all verb infinitives end in -ne) and add on the ending.
It goes like this:
Person Ending
I -at(a)
You -ea
He / She / It -i
We -ao
They -u
Note: The first-person ( I ) ending is -at unless the first letter of the following word or suffix is a consonant, then you add the final a, making it -ata. This is a recent change made by the Tigerian Language Committee because of the confusion between first-person verbs and nouns. It is a partial borrowing from the language of the Crilatsecal, if you will notice. Note also that the first person pronouns retain their original forms. They have not changed. Do not worry.
Tense:
In Tigerian, there are seven tenses: the present, the present being, the past, the past being, the continuing, the future, and the general.
To conjugate for tense, first conjugate for person and add the corresponding tense ending:
Tense Ending Present no ending Present Being -tea Past -n Past Being -ti Continuing -vau Future -va General -vai
Now for the explanation:
* Present tense does not need much explanation. It signifies that the action happens currently or all the time. * Present being emphasizes that the action is happening right now. * Past tense refers to something that happened in the past. * Past being signifies that it was going on in the past but that it does not happen anymore. * Continuing tense refers to an action that started in the past and which still continues. * Future tense refers to an action done in the future. * General tense refers to something that happens every now and then, that may happen, or that may have happened at any time.
Example: Rusine, "To see"
* Present - rusinat(a), "I see" * Present being - rusineatea, "You are seeing" * Past - rusinun, "They saw" * Past being - rusiniti, "He was seeing" * Continuing - rusinatavau, "I was seeing and still see" * Future - rusineava, "You will see" * General - rusinuvai, "They see every now and then, may see, or may have seen"
To say "should" as in "should do something", put the word "nesan" in front of the conjugated verb.
Example: "I should have slept" becomes "Nesan risanatan."
"May", as in "may do something", is indicated in a similar way. Place the word "shan" in front of the conjugated verb.
Example: "I may do that" becomes "Shan shenata shun."
"Must," as in "must do something," is indicated also in the same way, but with the word "Vuisan."
Example: "I must destroy the enemy" is "Vuisan garahadanata san aihana."
Commands:
Tigerian verbs form commands by conjugating in the 3rd person singular or 3rd person plural tenses for singular you and plural you, respectively. This is the only time Tigerian distinguishes between plural and singular you. Tense endings are regular.
Reflexive Verbs:
Reflexive verbs "reflect" the verb back upon the subject, such as in "I washed myself" or "He killed himself." Those who have studied Spanish are likely familiar with these verbs. A reflexive pronoun is used in Spanish along with the verb to signify reflection.
In Tigerian, there are special reflexive pronouns. I say special, but in reality, if you know the basic pronouns, it's easy to get the reflexive ones. For the most part, just change the initial h to n. For the full list, go to the Tigerian Dictionary, downloadable from Tigeria Online.
Anyway, to use reflexive verbs, just place the reflexive pronoun immediately before the conjugated verb.
Examples: "I will wash myself" is Na Honanavat(a). "He killed himself" is Nir Habinin. "You should not lose yourself" is Nesan nea haduranea tan.
Verbals
Verbals are verbs used as a different part of speech. Tigerian has two types: the Participle (verb used as an adjective) and the Gerund (verb used as a noun).
Participles, the term for verbs used as adjectives, are formed by taking the infinitive form of the verb (ending in -ne) and adding the suffix -tha at the end. This is the only time you will see an adjective ending in -tha. They are used just like other adjectives.
Example: "The running cat" becomes "San athana telanetha."
Gerunds, verbs used as nouns, are formed from participles by changing the -tha ending to -ta and adding -na.
Example: "My running" would become han talinetana.
- Note on external history -- This construction replaced the earlier "'to be + verb' construction."
- Note: This is the form used when saying something like "the man was killed," which would be san nemana sameni habinenatana. Remember that this is because predicate adjectives do not exist in Tigerian.
Examples: "I was seen" is Samenatan rusinenatana.
"It will be done" is Sameniva shenevatana.
- Note: If you are using a verbal that does not refer to the present tense, add the tense endings.
Example: "The killed man" is san nemana habinenatha. (Adding an "a" to stay within the consonant rule.) "The would-be-sleeping cat" is san athana risanevatha.
Personals
Personals are nouns that signify a person who carries out the action of the verb.
Example: "fighter" from "to fight"
They are created by changing the -ne ending of the verb infinitive to -she and adding the noun suffix -na.
Example: "fighter" is caleshena, from calene, "to fight."
Nouns - Nasin
Plurals
To pluralize a noun, add -sin to the end.
Example: "houses, friends, and years" are "tehanasin, matenasin, an hadainasin."
Possession
- To show possession, put -sai after the possession, followed by the possessor.
Example: "the cat's foot" is "san posirana athanasai."
OR
Use the possession, followed by the word saie, followed by the possessor. Example: "the cat's foot" is "san posirana saie san athana."
- To show that a thing is from or of/originating from somewhere or something, add the suffix -nai to the end of the something or somewhere, followed by the thing.
Or use the somewhere or something, followed by the word naie, followed by the thing.
Example: a man from Athanire is "ina nemana Athanirenai" or "ina nemana naie Athanire"
- Note: When adding the -nai suffix to a noun ending in -na (almost all of them), remove the -na ending first. Also, you cannot add this suffix to a pluralized noun.
- Note: The latter construction in both cases is technically the poetic form, used in poetry and proper names. It can be used in common speech, however. Likewise, the former construction in either case can be used in poetry nowadays.
Vowel Modifiers - Gender and Size
The noun is modified to mark differences in gender through the use of stem vowel changes, changes made to the last vowel in the noun before the -na ending.
Gender
All nouns are male unless made female. This may sound sexist, but that's the way it works. To make a noun female, change the last vowel of the root according to what the vowel is.
Chart:
Male Female a i i ie o e u i e ie
So nemana, "man," becomes nemina, "woman."
- In the case of diphthongs, change both vowels.
So jauna, "king," becomes jina, "queen." The second i is unnecessary and omitted.
Size:
Nouns modify for size by the addition of modifier words before the noun to distinguish from normal adjectives.
Diminutive : shi Larger : sho Slightly/Comparative Larger : shoa Superlative Larger : shoanu Extreme Largest : shai
Example:
mouth - felaona
small mouth - shi felaona
big mouth - sho felaona
larger mouth - shoa felaona
very large mouth - shoanu felaona
largest mouth - shai felaona
Adjectives - Tasin:
Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns. In Tigerian, adjectives come after the word they modify. All adjectives end in -ta, unless they are function words.
Examples: "the good cat" is "san athana denata." "the young man" is "san nemana hishianata."
- In Tigerian, there is no equivalent to the predicate adjective. Instead, Tigerian uses the verb samene, "to have," plus the noun form of the adjective being used. Thus, a Tigerian would not say, "The day is good," he would say "The day has goodness."
- Adjectives are only used immediately after the nouns they describe, as in "The fat cat," san athana vethata.
- The standard way to make a regular adjective into a noun is by removing the -ta ending and adding -na. Making nouns out of verbal adjectives, or participles, is discussed above in the verbs section.
- To make an adjective into a noun meaning "[adjective] one", change the -ta ending to -tha and add -na to the end. Thus, "Good one" is Denathana, from denata. You will notice that this is identical to the making of nouns from verbs. This is idiomatic. Don't worry about it. Just look for context clues to tell the difference.
•A noun can be used as an adjective when it shows relation to the word before it. Example: "San sheburina hamashina," the air demon.
Modifiers
Gender
As all nouns are inherently male, all adjectives are inherently female. A male noun must be described by a female adjective, but a female noun must be described by a male adjective. To change an adjective to male form, use the following chart.
Female Male a ae i ai o ao u au e ai
Size
Adjectives are modified for size in almost the exact same way as nouns, but the modifier word may precede or follow an adjective. Preceding implies a condition that must be understood, while following implies an already understood/passive condition.
Also, to be nominalized, modified adjectives take an infix before the -ta ending to indicate the size instead of the modifier word.
less - shi, -nio- much/very - sho, -no- more - shoa, -nao- much more - shoanu, -nanu- most - shai, -nai-
Adverbs - Tesin
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. In Tigerian, adverbs come after the verb(s) and adverb(s) they modify but before OR after the adjective(s) they modify. All adverbs end in -te unless they are function words.
Example: "It lives forever" is "Hemoni hanarate."
"You know so many things" is "Setunea enasin sun sinata."
Size
Size in adverbs is shown exactly as it is in adjectives, but adverbs have no gender, so they do not have the gender modifiers.
Pronouns - Nierashenesin
Personal pronouns are not usually used, as verb conjugation usually indicates what pronoun is understood. However, as they are also used for objective pronouns (i.e., him, her, etc), it is important to know them.
The Tigerian Dictionary has a list of all pronouns.
Now I shall explain the chart, found in the dictionary. It is self-explanatory, mostly. The only confusing part is the possessive forms of "you". Here I have a singular and plural form for it. But wait, doesn't that mean it goes in the Plural Possessive column? No. The Plural Possessive is the form used when describing a plural possession, like "his shoes" or "its feet." "Heanin" is equivalent to Spanish "de ustedes," only it uses the same verb ending as singular you. The rest should be self-explanatory.
- NOTE: Unlike other "adjectives," Possessive pronouns come before the noun modified.
Function Words - Turabashenasin
Function words are just what their name says. They can function as adjectives pronouns, or conjunctions. Their distinction is the lack of endings.
They share this feature with pronouns, but it should be easy to spot the difference when looking at a sentence.
For grammatical purposes, use them as their part of speech.
I.e., if it functions as an adjective, use it as an adjective, etc.
When using an interrogative function word such as "How," "Who," or "Where,"
the sentence order changes. Place the function word first, followed by the verb, followed by the subject.
Example: "How was your day" is Conun rusinin hean arehana? (literally, "How saw your day"
The Tigerian Dictionary contains the list of function words.
Other Suffixes
In Tigerian, several suffixes which may be added to the end of a word in place of a prepositional phrase.
Here are a few:
about: -ham after: -shov as: -car at: -tam belonging to: -sai for: -cur from: -thal in: -tal like (similar to): -lun of / from: -nai on: -tur(a) to (a person): -thon to (a place): -ton under: -urun with: -fir
Add these endings to the end of the word which would come last in the prepositional phrase.
Example: "with a cat" is "in athanafir."
- NOTE: DO NOT use these endings if it would violate the consonant rule.
Example: "with him" is "firian hir."
- As a rule of thumb, when in doubt as to whether an ending exists, assume it does not and use the traditional construction. In poetry and formal writing, these endings are not used at all anyway, except for -nai and -sai, so why not seem educated and take the extra effort. This is really a conversational help to lessen the strain of the "highly-advanced and beautiful" language of the Tegirenai.*
Numbers - Iranasin
Please refer to the dictionary for a list of numbers.
Now I'll give the explanation. The prefix column can be attached to any noun in place of the full word as long as it would not violate the consonant rule. When they are used in full, they come BEFORE the noun they describe.
Examples: "two days" is either alarehanasin or alir arehanasin. However, "nine books" must be furinir firilesanasin.
I am not exactly sure how to explain how numbers are constructed, except that the last word in a phrase ends in -an (literally, and). I hope these examples will be of help.
twenty-three - alair haliran three hundred fifty-seven - halainir henair latiran one hundred eleven - ainir tenairan four hundred two - lasainir aliran one thousand, eight hundred seventy-four - uir hafainir latair lasiran three thousand, two hundred fourteen - haluir alainir lasanairan five thousand and twelve - henuir alanairan forty thousand - lasaiuir thirty-seven thousand - halair latiranuir three hundred twenty-seven thousand - halainir alair latiranuir four hundred eleven thousand - lasainir tenairanuir seven hundred nine thousand - latainir furiniranuir one hundred thousand - ainiruir
Get it yet? It may seem complicated at first, but with practice, it becomes very easy.
To form cardinal numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.) into ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.), add -ena to the end of the number. Literally, this interprets as [number]-thing, from the word ena, meaning "thing." When used as ordinals, they come after the noun like adjectives.
I hope this has been and will be a useful resource to all students of san Nahadana Tegirenai. Sucane shun tunin an tuniva in suroduna setunai curin thurushenasin suneta naie san Nahadana Tegirenai.
-Jonathana Tegire
