Asari Grammar

--Alphabet--

Aa Cc Ee Gg Hh Ii Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Xx Yy Zz  (Áá Éé Íí Óó Úú Ýý)

-The initial stress position of a word is on the first syllable, but can be moved by using the acute accent over a vowel, as in Spanish
-The plosives [b] and [d] have morphed together with [p] and [t].  (Samara says that 'Ar[d]at-Yakshi comes from a dead Asari dialect)


--Cases--

Asari has 4 cases: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive.  These are marked in nouns by prefixes

Nominative Case:  This case has no marking, so a bare noun always sigifies that it is the subject

Accusative Case:  The accusative marking is the prefix [sa-]

Dative Case:  The dative marking is the prefix [ta-]

Genitive Case: The genitive case marking is the prefix [la-] on the object being possessed, and [le-] on the noun possessing the object


-These prefixes do not apply to proper nouns such as proper names or place names, except for genitive's markers


--Verbs--

-Infinitive Form is [verb]+[m]
-Conjugation is prefixed
-Verbs are conjugated for person:

(to play) - moru[m]        
(i play)  - pre [pa]moru      
(you play) - men [ma]moru       
(you pl.) - menu [ma]moru       
(she/it plays) - sene [sa]moru       
(they play) - ten [ta]moru       
(we play) - prenu [pa]moru
       
                                          

-The prefix is determined by taking the first letter of the pronoun and adding [a] to it
-Prefixes never change, but the verb does *not* have to end in [u].

--Gender--

Asari does not technically have gender.  All words are female, but since there is no other gender to compare against, this means that, when classified, they are Neuter Gender.

There is no way to distinguish gender in Asari; every word is considered female, but there is no special marking specifying them as such.

The definite and indefinite/articles are [set/su] (singular), and [nue/nu] (plural), respectively

--Sentence Structure--

Sentence Structure follows a standard SVO order, but unlike English, there is no deviation from this pattern whatsoever.  In English, interrogative statements can be put into a VSO order, but in Asari, questions are simply statements with question marks attached.  

English

-He plays soccer (SVO)
-Does he play soccer? (VS[v]O)

Asari

-Sene samoru tharí (SVO) - she plays soccer
-Sene samoru tharí? (SVO) - does she play soccer?  lit. she plays soccer?

-Notice how there is no helping verb used to make a question in Asari. ('does' in the English translation)