6. Short words
Basic rules
In the lessons: Lesson 1: Sounds and syllables · Lesson 9: Question words and pointing
- Short words always have one syllable and take no endings.
- Every one-syllable word is a short word; every content word has at least two syllables.
- No root begins with a short-word syllable (see chapter 3). That way it is always clear when listening where a word begins.
- Questions and pointing work as a construction kit: category word (person, thing, place, time, reason, manner, quantity) + short word. “Place + question word” = where, “place + near” = here.
Position
In the lessons: Lesson 6: No, yes and questions · Lesson 7: Where? Places · Lesson 8: When? Time
Short words have no position rules of their own. Each one follows a rule that applies anyway:
| Rule | applies to |
|---|---|
| quantity first | plural, more, less |
| specifying word after | negation, tense, pointing words, question word, relative word, also, only, still, already, again |
| head word first | prepositions and conjunctions: they are the head word, and what follows specifies them (di dova = in the house) |
Whatever belongs more closely to a word stands nearer to it.
Sound forms
In the lessons: Lesson 1: Sounds and syllables
| Group | Meaning → form |
|---|---|
| Persons | I mi · you tu · he/she/it lo |
| Sentence structure | past po · future vi · plural ma · negation ne · question ka · request vo · direct speech re |
| Answers | yes ja · no ne |
| Pointing | near hi · far da |
| Conjunctions | and su · or jo · but ho · because ke · if fi · that de |
| Prepositions | in di · on he · under mu · to va · from ko · with ga · without sa · for fu · through ru · before le · after gi |
| Comparison | more ro · less hu · like si · than te |
| Relative | who/which/that in a relative clause je |
| Particles | also mo · only so · already ti · still ku · again ha |
The syllable “ji” is never used as a short word: j before i sounds hardly different from a plain i, and a one-syllable word has no context that helps understanding. In roots it is allowed but should be avoided.
Opposite pairs always differ in the consonant (hi/da, po/vi, ja/ne, he/mu, le/gi, va/ko, ga/sa, ro/hu, su/jo, mo/so, ti/ku). Otherwise a mishearing would unnoticed give the exact opposite. Other similar pairs are allowed because their position in the sentence separates them: le/re, ka/ga, te/de.
40 short words; of 75 syllables 35 remain free. The complete list with notes is in the dictionary.
Rules by group
Persons
In the lessons: Lesson 2: The first sentence · Lesson 5: Quantities and numbers · Lesson 10: My, your: noun + noun
- Person words behave like nouns: mi name nama = I eat food, tu name mi = you eat me.
- Plural with the quantity word before them: ma mi = we, ma tu = you (plural), ma lo = they.
- Possession follows from “noun + noun”: dova mi = my house, dova ma tu = your house (plural you).
- An adjective comes directly after its noun: dova biri mi = my big house.
Tense and negation
In the lessons: Lesson 6: No, yes and questions · Lesson 8: When? Time · Lesson 9: Question words and pointing
- Both come after the verb, tense first: verb – tense – negation (with a particle: verb – tense – particle – negation).
- mi name po nama = I ate food; mi name vi nama = I will eat food; mi name po ne nama = I ate no food.
- po and vi always count from the moment of speaking, even in a subordinate clause; in direct speech from the point of view of the person quoted.
- hi or da directly after po or vi gives the distance: po hi = just, recently, po da = a long time ago, long since, vi hi = in a moment, soon, vi da = in the distant future. mi name po hi. = I have just eaten. Like every short word they refer to the word before them, here the tense. The order stays verb – tense (with hi/da) – particle – negation: mi rike po da ti. = I have known that for a long time. Following the construction kit, po ka asks how long ago something was: lo gole po ka? = How long ago did he come?
- Negation always negates the word directly before it: mi name nama ne = I do not eat food (but something else).
- rava Senatola gome ne. = Learning Senatola is not difficult.
- Negation says “not so”; the opposite is formed with the prefix vu-: gome ne = is not difficult (perhaps medium), vugome = is easy.
Particles (also, only, already, still, again)
In the lessons: Lesson 6: No, yes and questions · Lesson 8: When? Time · Lesson 13: Requests
- They come directly after the word they refer to. This makes the reference clearer than in German or English.
- On the verb: verb – tense – particle – negation.
- “Not yet” and “no longer” need no word of their own: ti ne = not already = not yet, ku ne = not still = no longer.
- ku is only the temporal “still”. The intensifying “even” in “even more” is a different idea: pulu ro = much more.
| Senatola | Meaning |
|---|---|
| mi mo name nama. | I too eat food. |
| mi name nama so. | I only eat food. |
| mi name po ti. | I have already eaten. |
| mi name po ti ne. | I have not eaten yet. |
| mi name ku ne. | I am no longer eating. |
| tu sene ha. | You are speaking again. |
Questions
In the lessons: Lesson 6: No, yes and questions · Lesson 9: Question words and pointing
- At the beginning of a sentence ka makes a yes-no question: ka tu name nama? = Do you eat food?
- After a noun ka asks about that noun (“which”): tu name nama ka? = Which food are you eating?
- With a category word you get who, what, where, when and so on (place + ka = where; in the sentence with a preposition: di + place + ka).
- The question word stands where the answer would stand; the word order never changes.
- In a de clause, ka after a word gives an indirect question (I know what you are eating). Details under “Subordinate clauses” in chapter 4.
- ka comes after the word that is asked about: after a noun (“which”), a quantity word (“how much”) or an adverb (“how”). There is no ka after a verb or adjective; “how big” = duvu ka biri (how much big).
Question and pointing kit (in the sentence with a preposition where it is about place, time or reason):
| Category | Question | near | far |
|---|---|---|---|
| person mela | mela ka who | mela hi this one | mela da that one |
| thing tama | tama ka what | tama hi this | tama da that |
| place nisa | di nisa ka where | di nisa hi here | di nisa da there |
| direction | va nisa ka where to, ko nisa ka where from | va nisa hi to here | va nisa da to there |
| time lusa | di lusa ka when | di lusa hi now | di lusa da then |
| duration | ru duvu ka lusa how long | ||
| reason vera | ko vera ka why | ko vera hi therefore | |
| manner fola | folo ka how | folo hi like this | |
| quantity duvu | duvu ka how much | duvu hi this much | |
| frequency | duvo ka how often | duvo hi this often |
Request
In the lessons: Lesson 13: Requests
- vo at the beginning of a sentence makes a request; the subject stays: vo tu name! = Eat! Details under “Types of sentence” in chapter 4.
Direct speech
In the lessons: Lesson 17: Telling
- re introduces direct speech and replaces the colon; in writing the quoted sentence is also put in quotation marks: lo sene re „mi name.“ = He says: “I am eating.” Details in chapter 4.
Answers
In the lessons: Lesson 6: No, yes and questions
- ja = the statement is true, ne = it is not true, no matter how the question was asked. To ka tu name ne? (Aren't you eating?) the answer ja means: I am eating.
Pointing
In the lessons: Lesson 9: Question words and pointing
- After the noun: dova hi = this house, dova da = that house, kiru dova hi = these three houses.
- With category words: place + hi = here, time + hi = now, time + da = then. In the sentence they come, like all place and time phrases, with a preposition: di + place + hi = (here) at this place.
Conjunctions and subordinate clauses
In the lessons: Lesson 14: Linking sentences
- The conjunction comes at the beginning of the part of the sentence it introduces. The subordinate clause has the same word order as the main clause.
- Subordinate clauses always come after the main clause: mi rave Senatola, ke sena tole. = I learn Senatola because the language is clear. Otherwise, because of “noun + noun”, it would be unclear where a subordinate clause placed first ends.
- For the same reason several main clauses in one sentence are always joined with a conjunction: mi name nama, su tu rave Senatola.
- su, jo and ho join whole groups; whatever stands before or after does not apply to both parts. A preposition before them, however, applies to all joined nouns.
- jo means “one or both”. If it has to be exactly one, that is said in a second sentence.
- fi only means “if” (condition); anything temporal takes time phrases.
- A sentence may begin with su, jo or ho and then continues the previous sentence (see “Several main clauses” in chapter 4).
Prepositions: meanings
In the lessons: Lesson 7: Where? Places · Lesson 18: With what, and where exactly?
Every preposition has exactly one meaning; it applies to space and time.
| Word | Meaning | Space | Time and other |
|---|---|---|---|
| di | in, at | in the house | on the day, during the meal |
| he | on | on the table | |
| mu | under | under the table | |
| va | to, towards | to the house | until tomorrow; recipient |
| ko | from, out of | from the house | since yesterday (ko nupa vudoki); reason only with vera (ko vera ka = why) |
| ga | with (company) | with the friend | |
| sa | without | without the friend | |
| fu | for | for you | purpose (fu sena Senatola) |
| ru | through | through the house | duration only with a time noun (ru kiru basa); otherwise means and tool (ru namota) |
| le | before, in front of (on a line) | in front of the house | before the meal; with quantity + time noun the distance: le kiru basa = three years ago |
| gi | behind, after (on a line) | behind the house | after the meal; with quantity + time noun the distance: gi dosu nupa = in two days |
Relative (relative clause)
In the lessons: Lesson 15: Relative clauses
- The relative clause comes after its noun and begins with je: namara je name nama sene. = The eater who eats food speaks.
- je is the subject or object in the relative clause; the verb shows where it ends. Details under “Relative clauses” in chapter 4.
Comparison
In the lessons: Lesson 16: Comparing and “self”
- ro (more) and hu (less) are quantity words and come before the word they measure: ro nama = more food, ro biri = bigger, mi ro name = I eat more.
- te = than, si = like: sena hi ro tole te sena da. = This language is clearer than that one.
- A te group always belongs to the ro or hu before it, even within a noun group: dova ro biri te nalu dova = a house bigger than all houses.
- A si group belongs to the whole sentence, like a prepositional phrase: lo sene si mi. = He speaks like me. “A house like mine” is said with a relative clause (see Paraphrases in chapter 4).
- A si group always compares with the subject: mi nile tu si pina mi. = I love you as my child loves you. If the comparison is with the object (“I love you like my child”), it is paraphrased (see Paraphrases in chapter 4).
- “Most” = “more than all”, with the noun repeated: dova hi ro bire te nalu dova = This house is the biggest.
- “More than three” = ro dova te kiru dova; kiru ro dova = three more houses (see “Several quantity words” in chapter 4).