Alska Grammar

GRAMMAR

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Conjugation
All verbs come in an infinitive form, starting with the word "i" (to-). I.e: i Spelen - to play. Verbs are conjugated in seven ways; each for a different pronoun. The pronouns are:

Jeg - I --------- Thu - You (Informal)
Han - He -------- Vi - We
Hun - She ------ De - They, (Dem - Them)
Es - It --------- Thi - You (Formal)
Thau - You All

The verb endings are as follows:

Jeg - "ar" (i spelen - to play .:. Jeg spelar)
Thu - "st" (Thu spelst)
Han, Hun, Es - "t" (Er spelt)
Vi - "en" (Vi spelen)
De - "an" (De spelan)
Thi - "en" (Thi spelen)
Thau - "t" (Thau spelt)

These rules apply to all verbs except "to be". In that case, everything conjugates to "er" NOTE: when using "er" as the primary verb in a sentence, all other verbs are left in their infinitive forms. I.e: Han er i spelen Foturboll. (He is playing soccer) .:. Han spelt Foturboll (He plays soccer)

On the Subject of Definite Suffixes

Definite articles only exist in the form of suffixes in Alska. Instead of "The Man" the suffix "-ann" is added to "Junger", making "Jungerann" Different Genders have different suffixes:

Masculine - "-ann" ("-nn" if the noun ends in "a")
Feminine - "-inn" ("-nn" if the noun ends in "i")
Neuter - "-onn" ("-nn" if the noun ends in "o")

If a noun ends in the first letter of the suffix, just add "-nn". This technically keeps the suffix the same. I.e: Fogli = Feminine | Foglinn = The birds

These suffixes stay the same for Nominative and Accusative Cases. For Dative Case and Genitive Case, they turn into alternate suffixes( M = enn | F = ynn | N = unn).

If the noun ends in the alternate suffix's beginning letter, simply turn it back to the primary suffix. (See parentheses above) I.e: Jeg gegeð Anjungerynn an Kart - I bought the woman a card. (Green - Nominative, inactive .:. Red - Dative, active [ynn] .:. Violet - Accusative, active [an])

I.e: Junger - Man > Jungerann - The man
Anjunger - Woman > Anjungerinn - The woman
Boll - Ball > Bollonn - The ball

These suffixes still apply when the noun in question is plural. Any suffixes added while making the noun plural are added after the Definite Suffix.

I.e: The men > Jungerann. In a sentence: Jungerannu er bløth - [the] Men are stupid. This is NOT the same as saying "Men are stupid" (Jungers er bløth.) That would change the sentence's meaning, making it a blanket statement, referring to all men, not a specified group. This is also not the same as saying "Those men are stupid" (Dað Jungers er bløth).

I.e Han er i kaufen kartonn fyri hannur Moðr. - He is buying the card for his mother. (Green - Nominative, inactive .:. Red - Accusative, active [onn] .:. Violet - Dative, active [hannur])




Grammatical Cases

Alska uses 5 grammatical cases: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive, and Vocative


Nominative Case denotes the subject of the sentence. I.e: Jungerann spelt - The man plays (Here, "the man" is the subject) This case only applies when using a definite suffix. (see above) Other than that, there is no other work to be done in this case.


Accusative Case denotes the direct object of the sentence. Think "what or who is receiving the verb's action?" I.e: Jungerann spelt vith Bollonn - The man plays with the ball. (Here, "the ball" is the direct object. It is what the man is playing with) Once again, this case only applies to the definite suffix.


Dative Case denotes the indirect object of the sentence. Think "whom or for whom is receiving the direct object?" I.e: Jungerann geðt hannur Motr a Kart - The man gives his mother a card (Here, "the man" is the subject,
his mother" is the indirect object, receiving the direct object, the card)

-Dative Prepositions
Dative Case comes with several prepositions. These prepositions require that the noun following them, or the noun they are describing be changed into the Dative Case. The Prepostions include: With, at/to, after, before, near, in and around. These respectively translate to Alska as: Vith, pa, yftir, byfir, när, inu, and um.

I.e: Anjungerinn er när Bankunn - The woman is near the bank. While bank is not the indirect object, the preposition "när" requires that the definite prefix "-onn" change to "-unn" as per Dative Case's declension.


Geninitive Case denotes ownership of something. Once again, this case affects the definite suffix of the word being modified: it is changed to the same alternate suffix that dative changes to. (In this case, the noun that shows ownership, NOT the noun being owned) I.e: Bankunn ägt Husonn - The bank owns the house.

This case does NOT apply when using proper nouns that have no definite suffix, like names. Saying "Julvinnar ägt Husonn" - "Julvinnar owns the house" Does not require any modification to the word "Julvinnar".


Vocative Case is used when addressing someone, or when saying that two or more specific people are together. It requires that the name of the person being addressed or mentioned have a letter changed in their first name.

The first vowel in the name changes to a specific vowel in Vocative case. ('a'-> 'o' | 'e' -> 'i' | 'i' -> 'a' | 'o' -> 'ø¸' | 'u' -> 'a') Accented letters do not change.

I.e: Kjaru Jalvinnar - Dear Julvinnar. OR: Kjaru Onna - Dear Anna.



The Contraction of "Thu"
The word "Thu" (you) can be contracted to "u" conversational dialogue. Since the conjugation of all verbs for "Thu" requires that an "st" be added to the end of the word, it can sound redundant to say "____st thu?". Instead, Alska contracts them into one word. "_____stu?"

This only happens when asking a question, in which the verb precedes the pronoun. It cannot be done if the pronoun precedes the verb, as this will change the meaning of the phrase.

I.e: "Thu Getst - You can" ≠ "Getstu? - Can you?"



Making Commands

When making commands, on simply does not conjugate the verb. Instead, one must, drop "i", and cut the "-en" off of the infinitive form of the verb. The word "Thu" is not included in the command phrase.

I.e: i Spelen - to Play | Spel Foturboll! - Play soccer!

This does not apply when inquiring if someone can do something. That is not a command. Only when you are telling someone what to do is this rule used.

I.e: Spelstu Foturboll? - do you play soccer? ≠ Spel Foturboll! - Play soccer!



Plurals

When making nouns plural, there are two distinct facts to keep in mind:

1) Most nouns, without their definite suffixes, end in consonants
2) All nouns end in "nn" with their definite suffixes attached

If a noun does not have a definite suffix attached to it, add an "s". I.e: Fogli = Bird | Foglis = Birds. This rule applies to all nouns, except those that end in "s". In this case, add "n" to the end. I.e: Hus = House | Husn = Houses. There are a few exceptions to this rule, most notably the word Naf = name | Nafn = names.

However, if a noun does have a definite suffix attached to it, the rule changes. The plural is designated by one of three letters, and is decided by the gender of the definite suffix. (see "definite suffixes" in Grammar section)

(U - Masculine | E - Feminine | I - Neuter)

For example: Fogli > Foglis | Foglinn > Foglinne