Ethanski: An Introductory Grammar

 
 

 

  

   
Ethanski 

An Introductory Grammar Book 
 
 

 Michaela Snyder

 
 
 
 
 
 
  

Table of Contents  1 

Introduction 2 

Phonology 2 
3 
1.1 Phonemes 
1.2 Stress  5 

Orthography 5 
6 
2.1 Alphabet 
2.2 Diacritics and Punctuation  7 

Morphology 7 
8 
3.1 Cases and Declensions  8 
3.2 Articles and Negation  9 
3.3 Numbers  10 
3.4 Pronouns  11 
3.5 Verbs 
3.6 Conjunctions and Interrogatives  13 

Syntax 13 
13 
4.1 Word Order 
4.2 Relative Clauses  15 

Appendix 15 
16 
Words
Affixes

 

 

Introduction 

 
 

Created over the course of one college semester, Ethanski (or, in its own alphabet, 
Yδanski), is a constructed language – or conlang – based on the Scandinavian branch of the 
Indo-European language tree. During the initial stages of development, it was unknown what 
the final makeup of the language would be; in fact, it initially started as an Anatolian language 
based on Hittite. The name even went through several changes: first it was Anafauxlian, then 
Scandifakeian, and now, the final name, Ethanski. As this was my first conlang, I wanted to 
avoid the mistakes that many before me had committed, mistakes like copying their native 
language structure by structure or incorporating too many incompatible structures from too 
many incompatible languages. It required constant vigilance trying to make sure I avoided 
these mistakes, and it also required a clear mind with clear goals to create a language I was 
proud of. Of course, it is not fully developed after four months, but it is developed enough 
to have a basic grammatical structure and a fully developed phonology and orthography. 

This book will go through the four basic aspects of language: the phonology, the 
orthography, the morphology, and the syntax. It is also assumed that readers will not have 
technical knowledge of linguistic terms; as a result, I will be including a “vocabulary” box at 
the end of each chapter for the reader’s use. I will be highlighting useful vocabulary and 
including them in the box in an attempt to notify readers of their importance. This will not 
be a comprehensive overview of the language; rather, this will explain the absolute basics of 
each aspect. It is not to be expected that you will be “fluent” or entirely able to speak the 
language after reading this. There may be aspects of the language that don’t quite make 
sense, or are rather clunky; these are just symptoms of an artificially constructed language. 
Although I have done my best to create a coherent, cohesive system, this is my official 
disclaimer that I may have failed in that regard. 

Without further ado, welcome, readers, to Ethanski!   

1 

 

Phonology 

 

 
1.1 ​ Phonemes ‘​  

In language, everything begins with the sounds, or the phonology. Every language has a 

sound system (barring languages like braille and sign languages), and thus, every language has 

a set of sounds that are called ​phonemes.​ Phonemes are the smallest set of sounds in a 

language that still have a distinct sound, such as /t/ and /d/ in English. In Ethanski, there are 

22 phonemes. They are listed in ​Fig. 1.​  

 

/​ɐ​/  /​z/​   These symbols may look intimidating, but they’re really 
/o​ ​/  /​n/​   much simpler than they look; most of them are found in English! 
/e​ ​/  /​ɻ/​   Although it would benefit any language learner to learn the 
/i/  /x​ /​   International Phonetic Alphabet​ ​(IPA)​, it is not necessary. Every 
/u/  /f​ ​/  sound but one in Ethanski can be found in the English language. 

/​ε/​   /k​ /​   For example, /​ɐ​/ is actually the /o/ sound in the word “rock.” 
/​θ​/  /ɳ​ ​/  The /t​ ͡s/ sound is simply the sound of the “ts” at the end of the 
/ð​ /​   /j​ ​/  word “cats.” Due to the fact that Ethanski is a Scandinavian 
/t​ ͡s/  /​ʒ​/  language – and thus Germanic – it is expected that so many of 

/t​ ​/  /w/  the sounds would be shared with other Germanic languages. In 
/s​ ​/  /v/  Fig. 2,​ you will see a table of English – and one Spanish – words 

Fig. 1   that exemplify each of the sounds in Ethanski. 

As you can see in the table, each sound is 
something that Germanic language speakers are 
familiar with. As we will see in the next chapter, 
each sound will be equal to one letter in the 
Ethanski alphabet; this was intentional. In English, 
several letters can make several different sounds 
and, as a result, English can be relatively difficult to 

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learn not only for nonnative speakers, but native ones as well. 

The basic phonemes are composed of six vowels and sixteen consonants, although that 
does not include how the phonemes interact with each other. For example, a sound that 
arises from placing /​ɐ​/ and /​ ​j​/ together will result in a sound similar to that of the word “eye.” 

1.2 ​ Stress ‘​  

Adding stress in language is something many native speakers of any language do 
frequently, even in English. The natural cadence of language is something nonnative 
language speakers struggle with, like ESL learners struggling with the difference between 
CONflict and conFLICT. These minute differences in pronunciation are capable of drastic 
changes in meaning, and Ethanski is not immune to such structures. 

However, although many languages have variation in stress, Ethanski does not; stress in 
Ethanski exists only in the first syllable of the word and is never the sole difference between 
words. For example, the word for “owner” is /​ ˈɐʦɛnv/​. The stress is on the first syllable, the 
/ɐʦ/ ​syllable. As a result, the vowel in the first syllable is pronounced exactly like it is in the 
IPA, whereas the second vowel is a “softened” version of itself, one that is less pronounced. 

  In F​ ig. 3​, we can see a visual 
representation of where the stress will 
always be. This does not depend on what 
the syllable is composed of. It doesn’t 
matter if the syllable is vowel and 
consonant, vowel and vowel, or two 
consonants then a vowel; the first syllable 
will always have the stress.  

Fig. 3 
Due to the nature of the stress structure in Ethanski, there are no words where the 
spelling is identical to that of another word. The entire lexicon is composed of unique 
spellings, which was intentional; the goal was to create a language that was less confusing to 
learn than many other Germanic languages. This decision also led to the usage of ​diacritics​. 
Similar to how borrowed words in English include an a​ cute accent​ – the accent in words like 
résumé – Ethanski utilizes diacritics to highlight where the stress is in the word. 

The discussion of diacritics, however, leads us to the next chapter, which will introduce 
the alphabet and spelling system for Ethanski. 

3 

 
Vocabulary 
Phoneme -​ A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a spoken language. 
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)​ - The IPA is a collection of sounds separated 
into vowels and consonants that are achievable in human language. 
Diacritic​ - A diacritic is a symbol written either above or below a letter to signify a 
different pronunciation from the same letter without the symbol. 
Acute Accent​ - An acute accent ( ´ ) is a diacritic that is placed above a letter and 
signifies a stressed pronunciation. 
  

4 

Orthography 

 

 

2.1 ​ Alphabet ​‘ 

Surprisingly, an alphabet is generally not the most important thing in language; however, 
it is the most important thing in written language, and as Ethanski has a written aspect, it also 
has an alphabet. Ethanski’s alphabet is 1:1, meaning each sound corresponds with one letter. 
This means that Ethanski has 22 letters. All of the letters are part of the ​Latin script​ except 
for delta, which takes the place of eth in the alphabet. Although delta is generally used in 
mathematics, it is part of the Greek alphabet as well. 

As can be seen in F​ ig. 4​, each letter represents one sound. This 
was intentional as the sheer number of sounds each letter 
represents in English makes learning it difficult, and Ethanski was 
created to be simple to learn. 

Many letters correspond directly to the symbol utilized in the 
IPA for their corresponding sound, and many letters are 
references to the alphabets of other languages, like how “Cc” is 
used to represent ​/t​ ͡s/ in Chinese as well. 

Now that we have the alphabet, we can try to spell some 
English words that utilize the sound library of Ethanski. Firstly, 
let’s spell Ethanski. 

Referencing the phonology examples given in Chapter 1, we know that the /E/ at the 
start of Ethanski is pronounced ​/ε​ ​/, which means that it is represented by the letter Y. Now, 
the important difference between d (/θ​ ​/) and ​δ ​(​/ð​ ​/) is that d is u​ nvoiced​ a​ nd ​δ i​ s​ ​voiced.​ ​ ​The 
terms “voiced” and “unvoiced” refer to the usage of the vocal cords when pronouncing the 
sound, and in this case, the /th/ in Ethanski is voiced, so will thus be represented by ​δ.​ The 
/a/ is pronounced like /ɐ​ ​/, and can thus be represented by a. The rest of the letters then 
follow suit, with the final spelling in the Ethanski alphabet being Y​δa​ nski. 

To spell the English word “yet,” we could follow the same phonetic steps. The /y/ in 
“yet” makes the sound /j/ and in the Ethanski alphabet, that sound is represented by j. The 
/e/, then, makes the /​ ε​ ​/ sound, and is represented by y. Finally, the /t/ sound is pronounced 

5 

/t/, and is represented by t. As such, the final spelling of “yet” in the Ethanski alphabet is 
“jyt.” 

2.2 ​ Diacritics and Punctuation ​‘ 

As was said in Chapter 1, Ethanski utilizes diacritics – specifically acute accents – to 
specify which vowels are stressed. Although it is always the first syllable that is stressed in 
Ethanski, there may be multiple vowels in the first syllable; as a result, it is important that 
there be a simple way to denote which vowel is stressed. 

For example, the word for trouble/problem in Ethanski is cíe; the acute accent is above 
the i because the i is the stressed vowel. This stress, however, does affect the pronunciation 
of the next immediate vowel. The pronunciation of cíe without the stress would be /​t͡sie​ /; 
with the stress, the pronunciation would be /t​ ͡sij​ε​/. This is a result of v​ owel reduction​. 
Notice that if you stress the first vowel, you will automatically reduce the subsequent 
vowels. 

Punctuation in Ethanski is pretty much identical to that of English. Semicolons, periods, 
commas, quotations, apostrophes, question marks, and exclamation points are all written the 
same and function the same as they do in English and other Germanic languages, so a 
sentence written in English could be translated to Ethanski and still have – relatively – the 
same structure. There are no extra punctuation marks to learn, no tone markings, and there 
are no added rules to existing punctuation marks. Each punctuation mark functions exactly 
the same as in other Germanic languages, and as such, there are no ¿ marks or ¡ marks. 

Now that we’ve finished discussing the writing system of Ethanski, it’s time to discuss 
morphology, which leads us into the next chapter. 

Vocabulary 

Latin Script​ - The Latin script is the alphabet system used by many languages, most 
notably European languages. Most notably, it is the script used by English. 
Voiced Consonant ​- A voiced consonant is a consonant sound that is produced using the 
vocal cords. 
Unvoiced Consonant​ - An unvoiced consonant is a consonant sound that is produced 
without using the vocal cords. 
Vowel Reduction​ - Vowel reduction is the phenomenon where unstressed vowels are 
shorter, less pronounced versions of themselves, and frequently they mimic other vowels 
when combined with consonants.  

6 

 

Morphology 

 

  
3.1 ​ Cases and Declensions ‘​  

As is the case with many languages, Ethanski has noun cases and, like many Germanic 
languages, d​ eclensions.​ Unlike many Germanic languages, Ethanski has four c​ ases​: 

nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. Similarly, Ethanski does not change the noun at 
all when changing cases; rather, each case (barring nominative) has a corresponding particle 
that is used in the sentence. Furthermore, nouns in Ethanski are not gendered. 

The nominative case​ i​ s the case that is used when a 

noun or pronoun is the subject of a verb. Take, for 

example, the sentence “I am happy,” in F​ ig. 5​; “I” is the 

subject, and the verb acting upon it is “am,” or the 

conjugation of the verb “to be.” In Ethanski, the 

nominative case requires no particle be added. Instead, 

every sentence without a case particle is assumed to be  

in the nominative case. F​ ig. 5 

The accusative case​ s​ hows the direct object of a 

verb. For example, the sentence “He took my cat” in 

Fig. 6​ is accusative; “he” is the subject, while “took” is 

the verb. The accusative case can be identified by 

asking “what? or “whom?,” and as such, the direct 

object of the verb “took” in the example sentence is 

“my cat.” In Ethanski, the accusative case is denoted 

by the  

Fig. 6 ​case particle “c​ ú,​ ” which is always placed before the 

direct object. When constructing your sentence, immediately identify the subject and direct 

object, then place the particle before the direct object. 

The dative case​ i​ dentifies the indirect object of the 
verb. For example, the sentence “She gave her cat a treat” 
in F​ ig. 7 ​ is dative; “she” is the subject, “gave” is the verb, 

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“her cat” is the indirect object, and “treat” is the direct object. The dative case can be 
identified by asking​ “​ what?” and then asking “for whom?”. In Ethanski, the dative case is 
denoted by the case particle “​vý,​ ” which is always placed before the indirect object. 

The genitive case, which shows possession, relies on pronouns, and will 
thus be discussed in section 3.4. 

Declension-wise, Ethanski only has one aside from the four cases, and it’s a suffix 
denoting plurality. There are two possible suffixes that can be appended to plural nouns: “-​ z”​  
for nouns ending in a vowel, and “-​ i​” for nouns ending in a consonant. 

3.2 ​ Articles and Negation ‘​  

Articles, in English, are words like “the,” “a,” and “to,” and are used with nouns to form 
noun phrases, phrases like “the dog” or “a banana.” Articles function much the same way in 
Ethanski; “á​ k​” is “the,” “í​ ​ is “a,” and “s​ á​” is “to.” These articles are still placed in front of 
nouns (or verbs in the case of infinitives), and unlike English, “i​ ”​ does not change according 
to the initial sound. Articles are completely static in Ethanski. Take, for example, the word 
for dog in Ethanski, w​ ýteñ;​ if you wanted to say “the dog,” you would have to say “a​ k 
wýteñ​.” To say “a dog,” you would have to say “i​ wýteñ​.” To construct the infinitive of a 
verb in Ethanski, you place “s​ á”​ in front of the verb. For example, if you took the verb for 
illuminate, “​áfste,​ ” the infinitive would be “s​ á áfste.​ ” 

In many languages, a word or particle exists with the express purpose of denoting 
negation. In English it’s “not,” in German it’s “nicht,” in Russian it’s “nyét,” and so on so 
forth. This is no different in Ethanski. When you want to negate a sentence – like saying 
“I’m not happy” – you place the negation, “​zúz,​ ” in front of the verb. If the sentence is like 
the example before, then you would place it before the adjective. A good rule of thumb is 
that you should always place the negation after the subject. 

3.3 ​ Numbers ‘​  

The number system in Ethanski is base-10, like many other languages. This means that 
the number system, with every increment of ten, is a product of whatever number and ten, 
like 30 is pronounced as “three ten.” In ​Fig. 8,​ you can see the list of numbers from 0 to 
1000 as well as the mathematical operations. 

 
 

8 

0 - nóδ  8 - sý  sésat - plus (+) 
1 - rýn  9 - jó  gýt - minus (-) 
2 - xwó  10 - rú  jór - times (x) 
3 - ýf  11 - rýnjotru (one and ten)  fár - divided by (/) 
4 - dýx  100 - rýnkstue  dáno - equals (=) 
5 - wýn  101 - rýn jót rýnkstue (one and one 
6 - nónfja  hundred) 
7 - zó  200 - xwókstue 
1000 - rýn vík 

Fig. 8 

As is shown in ​Fig. 8,​ once you count past 10, the names for numbers become 
compound words. For example, the number 11 directly translates to “one and ten,” which is 
illustrated in the name rýnjotru, where “j​ ót”​ means “and.” When reaching 100 and any 
subsequent hundreds, the same rules apply; “​kstúe​” is hundred, so 100 is “r​ ýnkstue​,” 200 is 
“x​ wókstue,​ ” and so on until 1000, which follows the same rules, but with the word for 
1000, “vík.” 

When reading mathematical expressions, Ethanski is identical to that of English; 
specifically, reading from left to right with the appropriate words. In F​ ig. 8​, beside the list of 
numbers, there is a list of mathematical operators. Combining the operators with the 

operands in the example “2 + 10 = 12,” the equation would be read “x​ wó sésat rú dáno 
xwójotru​.” 

3.4 ​ Pronouns ​‘ 

In most Germanic languages, there are around eight pronouns, although in English there 
are seven. Generally, they are I, you (formal), you (informal), they, he, she, it, and we. This 
is much the same in Ethanski, except there is a ninth pronoun, one that functions as a 
singular they. As a result of more and more people deciding to use they/them as their 
personal pronouns, the decision was made to include a built-in singular pronoun for them. 

Pronouns function much the same in 
Ethanski as they do in languages like 
English, namely they replace nouns as the 
subject or object of a sentence. In ​Fig. 9​, we 
can see a list of pronouns in Ethanski and 
their English equivalents. To use the 

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pronouns in an example, to say “I run,” you would say “​Cjá ýrca​.” This works the same way 
for the other pronouns. 

In section 3.1, the case that wasn’t yet 
explained was the genitive case. As 
previously said, the genitive case is also 
known as the possessive case. Generally, 
pronouns are changed to possessive 
pronouns when in the genitive case. 
This is no different in Ethanski. In 
Ethanski, each pronoun has a 
possessive pronoun, but there is an 
exception for the pronouns he, she, 
it, and singular they; these pronouns 
all share the same possessive pronoun. These possessive pronouns can be seen in F​ ig. 
10.​ In F​ ig. 11​, the object forms of pronouns are listed. 

It is important to only use pronouns when appropriate, namely after you have 
already introduced your subject(s). It is also important to be aware of what pronouns 
you would use in any scenario for verb usage, which will be discussed in the next 
section. 

3.5 ​ Verbs ‘​  

Generally, verbs are ​conjugated​ according to the pronoun the subject would use. 
Although this is not the case for English, which is an outlier, it is true for other Germanic 
languages and Ethanski. Although there are nine pronouns in Ethanski, there are only six 
suffixes for conjugation. 

As can be seen in F​ ig. 12​, the 
pronouns he, she, it, and singular 
they share the same conjugation 
suffix. These suffixes are absolute; 
they do not change regardless of 
case. For example, if you wanted to say “I have,” you would take the verb to have, “s​ á á,​ ” 
remove the infinitive (s​ á​), and conjugate the verb itself (á​ ​) by adding the appropriate suffix 
(-​ ca​). Therefore, the phrase would be “C​ já áca​.” For informal you, it would be “​Ztó árja​.” 
This process works the same for all verbs and pronouns. 

10 

In Ethanski, there are ​verb tenses​; these include simple present, simple past, simple 
future, present continuous, past continuous, future continuous, present perfect, past perfect, 
and future perfect. For simplicity, all simple tenses and continuous tenses are created the 
same way. Simple and continuous tenses, in English, are phrases like “I work” (simple 
present) and “I am working” (continuous present).  

If you were to use the verb for to go, “s​ á ácu,​ ” the same sentence – “C​ já ácuca”​ – would 
be used to say both “I go” and “I am going,” but this structure works only for simple present 
and continuous present. For simple past and continuous past, a prefix is used; the prefix, 
“g​ ý-​,” is attached to the conjugated verb. If the verb starts with y, then a t is placed between 
the verb and the prefix. For example, if you wanted to say “I went” or “I was going,” you 
would say “​Cjá gýacuca.​ ” With the simple future and continuous future tenses, a particle is 
used instead of a prefix; the particle, “​vó​δ​,” is placed in front of the verb. For example, to 
say “I will go” or “I will be going” you would say “C​ já vó​δ​ ácuca​.”  

The differences lie with the perfect tenses, shown in English by sentences like “I have 
left,” “I had left,” and “I will have left.” Present perfect and past perfect utilise the same 
particle, “t​ ýt​.” Past perfect also utilises the same verb prefix that simple past and past 
continuous use. For future perfect, the verb “​sá á”​ is conjugated for the pronoun as a helping 
verb, the particle for simple future and continuous future is put after the helping verb, and 
the actual action verb is left in the infinitive form. Although it seems complicated, saying “I 
will have gone” would be as simple as saying “C​ já áca vó​δ​ sá ácu.​ ”  

3.6 ​ Conjunctions and Interrogatives ​‘ 

Without conjunctions, every complex thought would have to be expressed with short, 
simple sentences. As such, Ethanski includes conjunctions that function the exact same way 
as they do in English. In English, conjunctions include coordinating conjunctions (for, and, 
nor, but, or, yet, so), correlative conjunctions (either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also), and 
subordinating conjunctions (because, since, as, although, though, while, whereas); Ethanski 
includes all such coordinating conjunctions and only a few subordinating conjunctions. 
These can be found in the Appendix section. 

It’s important to remember that because Ethanski conjunctions function the same way as 
English ones you have to understand how to use English conjunctions. Namely, coordinating 
conjunctions connect independent clauses and subordinating conjunctions connect an 
independent clause with a dependent clause. Ethanski conjunctions are placed at the 

11 

junction of clauses and are normally preceded by a comma. This will be discussed more in 
the chapter on syntax. 

Much like other Germanic languages, Ethanski utilises interrogative pronouns for the 
grammar of questions. However, when using such words, it’s important to remember that 
Ethanski also uses a question particle, similar to that in Mandarin. The interrogative 
pronouns in English are who, what, when, where, why, and how; in Ethanski – following the 
same order – the interrogative pronouns are ​á​δ​, ​tsí,​ ​ kstúnfo, dýz, fwýv, ​and ​józ.​ These 
interrogative pronouns are placed at the beginning of the question and the particle, n​ í​, is 
placed at the end. The word order and any omissions will be explained in the next chapter. 

A​ s this chapter concludes, you should congratulate yourself; you are now armed with 
everything necessary to begin constructing sentences, which will be discussed in the next 
chapter! 

Vocabulary 
Declensions -​ Declensions are variations in the noun forms with the purpose of 
showcasing grammatical case, number, and gender.  
Cases ​- Grammatical (noun) cases are classifications that categorise nouns and pronouns 
according to their relationship with the subject and their purpose in a sentence or clause. 
Verb Tenses ​- Verb tenses are forms of verbs that tell when an action occurred. They 
include variations of the past, present, and future. 
Conjugation - ​Conjugation is the act of changing a verb from its infinitive to a form 
representative of the subject of the sentence. 
  

12 

Syntax 

 

  
4.1 ​ Word Order ‘​  

Armed with the necessary 

parts of speech, you’re now ready 

to learn how to put those pieces 

together to form F​ ig. 13 

sentences. Word order, an 

integral part of any language’s 

syntax, is most loosely defined as 

the order these pieces have to be in in order to F​ ig. 14  

f​ orm a grammatically correct sentence. Like English, Ethanski’s word order is SVO, or 

subject/verb/object. This means that when forming your sentence, the subject is first, the 

verb is second, and the object is third. This is, of course, relative to any conjunctions, 

numbers, or articles also used in the sentence. The exception is with interrogative sentences; 

questions are VSO, or verb/subject/object. In F​ ig. 13​ and ​Fig. 14​, you can see the basic 

word order for the two types of sentences. 

For example, to say “I like soccer,” you would begin by identifying what part of speech 

each word is. In this example, your subject is “I,” your verb is “like,” and your object is 

“soccer.” Once you’ve identified what each word is, you can identify which words in 

Ethanski you would use. In this case, we know that “I” is “C​ já.​ ” The verb “to like” in 

Ethanski is “s​ á séniz,​ ” or “​sénizca”​ after conjugation. The object, soccer, is “​fútvo.​ ” Thus, 

your translated sentence would be “​Cjá sénizca fútvo​.” 

Specific word order, however, may change depending on the type of clause. 

4.2 ​ Relative Clauses ​‘ 

Relative clauses are a type of dependent clause. Typically, they function almost like 
adjectives in that they provide more information about a noun. For example, the two 
sentences “I don’t like the cat. He scratched me.” can be rewritten with a relative clause as “I 
don’t like the cat that scratched me.” 

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In Ethanski, relative clauses are written much the same way as simple sentences; namely, 

the word order is still SVO, but after the object you include a relative adverb like ​áδ​  

(who), f​ wý ​(that), or ​áwty​ (which), then the remainder of the relative clause, which typically 

contains a verb and an object.   

14 

Appendix 

 

Words​‘ 

cíe -​ (noun) trouble, problem  Ró​ - (pronoun) it 
cú​ ​- (accusative particle)  Xón​ - (pronoun) sing. they 
vý -​ (dative particle)  Ñát​ - (pronoun) formal/pl. you 
ák ​- ​(article) the  Dúr​ - (pronoun) pl. they 
í ​- (article) a  δ​ír​ - (pronoun) we  
sá ​- (article) to  cján​ - (poss. pronoun) mine 
wýteñ​ - (noun) dog  ztán​ - (poss. pronoun) sing. yours 
sá áfste​ - (verb) to illuminate  cró​ - (poss. pronoun) his/hers/its/sing. 
sá ýr ​- (verb) to run  theirs 
sá á ​- (verb) to have  ñét​ - (poss. pronoun) formal/pl. yours 
sá ácu -​ (verb) to go  dín​ - (poss. pronoun) pl. theirs 
vóδ​ ​ - (future particle)  δ​ín​ - (poss. pronoun) ours   
týt -​ (perfect particle)    nó​ - (conj) for 
á​δ -​ (pronoun) who  jót​ - (conj) and 
tsí -​ (determiner) what  nóta​ - (conj) nor 
kstúnfo​ - (conjunction) when  éx​ - (conj) but 
dýz​ - (adverb) where  ý​ - (conj) or 
fwýv​ - (adverb) why  kstóx​ - (conj) yet 
józ​ - (adverb) how    fwéd​ - (conj) so, therefore, thus  
Cjá​ - (pronoun) I  sé​ - (conj) because  
Ztó​ - (pronoun) informal you  sá séniz​ - (verb) to like 
Cá​ - (pronoun) he  fútvo​ - (noun) soccer 
Cík​ - (pronoun) she  fwý​ - (det) that 
áwty ​ - (det) which 

15 

 
Affixes​’ 

Suffixes  Prefixes 
-ca ​- “I” verb conjugation  gý- -​ Past tense prefix 
-rja​ - “You (informal)” verb conjugation 
-an​ ​- “He/She/It/They (sing.)” verb 
conjugation 
-jyt -​ “You (formal)” verb conjugation 
-in ​- “They (plural)” verb conjugation 
-sjat​ - “We” verb conjugation 
-z​ - Plural ending for nouns ending with 
vowel 
-i​ - Plural ending for nouns ending with 
consonant 

  

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