Baseyu Grammar

Baseyu Grammar Grammar co-written by Andrew Meyer and Vicente Costalago

Spelling and Pronunciation The only 24 Letters in the alphabet are ABDEFGHIJKLMNOPRSTUVWXYZ.

letter IPA pronunciation examples b /b/ as inboy

d /d/ as in dip doste friend f /f/ as in fun fasul bean g /g/ as in good globa world h /h/ As in high hawa air j /d͡ʒ/ as in jazz juni young k /k/ as in kiss kitabu book l /l/ as in log lala sing, song m /m/ as in map multi many, much n /n/ as in nine neo new p /p/ as in pack pingo apple r /ɾ/ as in better risi rice s /s/ as in sit sui water t /tʰ/ as in time teatro theater v /v/ as in vest visita visit w /w/ as in win watu time x /ʃ/ as sh in shop xugwan habit y /j/ as in yes yuxi play, game z /z/ as in zen zebra zebra

Vowels are pronounced the same as they are in Spanish Vowel Pronunciation Lip position Examples a ah Lips and mouth wide open. Cama, mamá, azúcar e eh Lips slightly open and mouth stretched. Especie, estadio, ese i e Lips slightly open and mouth stretched. Índigo, imagina, iría o oh Lips rounded and opened slightly. Oso, hoyo, asombroso u oo Lips rounded and almost fully closed. Universo, usuario, universidad

Vowel Diphthongs in Baseyu never combine into one sound, but are pronounced as two separate vowels. Vowel diphthongs Pronunciation uo oo-oh ui oo-e ue oo-eh ua oo-ah iu e-oo io e-oh ie e-eh ai ah-e ou oh-oo oi oh-e eu eh-oo ei eh-e au ah-oo ia e-ah

baseyu is Syllable-Timed, meaning every syllable is stressed the same

baseyu is meant to be pronounced by syllable for example, baruda is pronounced Ba-Ru-Da.

baseyu has double vowels but no triple vowels and no diphthongs, each vowel is to be pronounced separately, for example: kia is pronounced Ki-A, and ai is pronounced A-I.

baseyu has no double consonants; each consonant is to be pronounced separately, for example: ankul is pronounced An-Kul, and sinsin is pronounced Sin-Sin.

When the word begins with a vowel, and there is only one consonant in front of it, it will be pronounced separately, for example: aman is pronounced A-Man, and apoi is pronounced A-Po-I.

When there are two vowels before a consonant they will be pronounced separately from that consonant, for example: aide is pronounced A-I-De.

Morphology

Nouns

Plural To create the plural, the particle ni is used before the noun.

kat - cat ni kat - cats

Gender Generally speaking, Baseyu doesn't mark gender.

espos - spouse, wife, husband. neti - grandson, grandaughter, grandchild.

To distinguish the sexes, the adjectives lelaki(male) and feme(female) are used:

uma lelaki – a male horse, a stallion uma feme – a female horse, a mare However, there are a few words used differently for the two sexes:

mata, pata - mother, father tanti, onkel - aunt, uncle dota, sione- daughter, son

Determiners Determiners come before the noun.

anik indicates a large quantity while poko means a little, few.

mi jana poko insan - I know a few people. nos na ave anik tem - We don't have much time.

Predeterminers There are two predeterminers; toto “all" and uba “both”, which come before any other determiner.

toto dis ren - all these people.

uba manu es inteli - both men are intelligent.

This also works with demonstratives and possessives. “toto miyo doste kubua”- All my big friends.

Demonstratives dis means "this, these". It refers to something near the speakers.

mi joi dis kitab - I like this book.

tat means "that, those". It refers to something away from the speaker.

tat domo es nuvo - That house is new.

Cardinal Numbers

Cardinal numbers can also be used as quantifiers. When we use a number other than zero or one, we don't need to use ni.

dua domo - Two houses.

ta malik saba imbua – she owns seven dogs

Possessives

The possessive pronouns are: miyo-my, tuyo-your, tayo-his/her, noso-ours, voso-you(plural), humo-their, itoyo-its

There are two ways to show possession in baseyu:

Just using the possessive pronoun before what is possessed: dis es miyo pata - This is my father.

Using the preposition de plus the corresponding pronoun: dis es pata de mi - This is my father.

Compound Words All compound words turn into nouns when combined. If you have two consonants that need two be connected, you can use an (-i-) in between them. You can also have disconnected compound words like dere pino (pine tree). Words can be compounded freely as long as they follow pronounciation rules.

Articles There are no articles in Jatisama, so there is no word for the, a, an. To ephasize you can use the determiner un in certain circumstances. Mi ave un ide. – I have an idea.

Position Adjective comes after the noun.

Duplication You can use duplication on adjectives and nouns for dramatic effect, it will always create an adjective

kuela(happy, content) can become kuelakuela(delighted) joi(joy) can become joijoi(overjoyed)

Comparison ru… ru - as… as pir… je - worse… than mas... je - more… than mine… je - less… than betar… je - better… than maksa… - the most, the best pir… - the worst betar… - the better zixo… - the least mas... - the more mine... - the less

“ta da bili kursi mura maksa a bazar” - He bought the cheapest chair at the market.

“ta da fikir tat ta daro nesi paya mas je ata dolar pur korsi” – She thought she would need to pay more than eight dollars for the chair.

Pronouns Personal pronouns mi - me, I tu - you ta - he, she nos - we vos - you (plural) hum - they, them it-ito

Relative pronoun The relative pronoun is tot for both things and people (= which, what, who, whom).

a jen tat ave ni sapato itam- to who has the black shoes

Adverbs There are two types of adverbs: primary adverbs and derived adverbs. Adverbs can be placed at the beginning of the sentence or phrase, or after the verb.

Primary adverbs • agar - if • a na tem – never • aki - here • alan - now • ama - either • an - on • asi - so, thus, therefore • ata - until • badi - some • daima - always • duara-by, through, across • duara tem - during • kada - each • karib - near, around • adimen - additionally • kuasi - almost • na - no • nini - any • ofti - often • pia - also • puri - before • jegero - soon • kam - barely, seldom • tam - there • tel - such • tena - again • kuoda - too much, excessive • uba – both

Derived adverbs Derived adverbs are those that are formed when adding (-emen,-men) to the adjective, noun or verb.

silensi(quiet) – silensimen(quietly)

ta da jalan silensimenta upe ni sidi. – she walked quietly up the stairs.

Interrogative and relative adverbs

kia - what kia estat how(state) kia metod – how(way, method) kia zona - where kia jen - who kia sabab - why kia tem – when pur sabab – because

Verbs Tense Tense is marked by particles preceding the verb:

dulu: a long time ago da: before, simple past tense ja: already (preterite tense) tadi: just recently dan: shows that the verb is still happening (continuous tense) akan: modifies verbs to the future tense

Examples:

mi kula - I eat mi dulu kula - I had eaten(a long time ago) mi ja kula - I have eaten mi da kula - I ate mi dan kula - I am eating mi akan kula - I will eat mi da dan kula - I was eating mi daro kula - I would eat mi na kula - I don’t eat mi vu kula – I just ate mi sap kula – I was just about to eat mi kan kula - I could/can eat mi beki kula - I should eat

Passive For the passive, just add the passive particle (be) before the verb and the modals

“kitab be dan basa duara mi” - The book is being read by me.

Negation Verbs are negated with the adverb na, which precedes both the verb and the time modals.

“nos na rabot an nini kitu dis din” - we didn’t work on anything today

Prepositions • a - at, to • an - on • atas - above • anti - against • ata – until • ahan – even, yet, still • de - of, from, belonging to • duara - through, by • entar - between • in – in, into • inbadal - instead • je - than • ko - with • nij - below, under • sin - without • pos - after, then • por - for • puri – before • ru - as • miama- however

Conjunctions Coordinating conjunctions There are four coordinating conjunctions:

i – and o – or na – not lakin – but, yet, however

Subordinating conjunctions Pronoun subordinators The relative pronoun is tot for both things and people (= which, what, who, whom).

Adverb subordinators tot, hal tat, metod tat, zona tat, jen tat, sabab tat and tem tat are conjunctions that introduce adverbial clauses.

I live in Madrid, where I work. – “mi jinda in maderid, zona tat mi rabot.”

Questions Yes/no questions For a yes/no question, we change the intonation of the sentence, with the tone being elevated at the end of the question:

tu jat baseyu? - do you speak baseyu? The answer can be yes(ya) or no (na).

ya, mi jat baseyu. - Yes, I speak baseyu. na, mi na jat baseyu. No, I don't speak baseyu. Other questions Other questions use interrogative words such as kia, kia estat, kia metod, kia zona, kia ren, kia sabab and kia tem at the beginning of the sentence.

Numbers Cardinal numbers The basic cardinal numbers are:

• zero – zero
• un – one
• dua – two
• san – three
• epat – four
• lima – five
• six – six
• saba – seven
• ata – eight
• tisa – nine
• das – ten
• das ona – 11
• das dua – 12
• etc…
• dua das – 20
• san das – 30
• epat das – 40
• etc…
• epat epat - 44
• lima lima - 55
• six six - 66
• etc..
• sat – hundred
• elfu – thousand
• milon – million
• bilon – billion

put i(and) after the hundred dua sat i epat dua - two hundred and forty-two mil sat i das ona - one thousand one hundred and eleven

Ordinal numbers For the ordinal number, just put the number after the noun:

ona kitab - one book. kitab ona - first book.

Affixes • (-abil, -bil) shows ability adjective • (-an, -n, -ni) person of a nationality, ethnicity, or region • (-at, -t, -te) turns adjectives into verbs • (-dor, -ador) tool suffix • (-edo, do) creates a past participle adjective • (-emen, -men) turns adjectives, nouns, and verbs into adverb • (-endi, -ndi, -yendi) creates a continuous adjective • (-ere, -re) person who does something • (-eria, -ria) place that sells something • (-eyu, -yu) language suffix • (-i-) connects two words into a compound • (-ia, -ya) suffix for a region or place • (-anez, -nez) turns adjectives and concrete nouns into abstract nouns. • (-isem,-sem) shows a belief or practice • (-iste, -ste, -tiste) person in a skill, religion, or practice • (-iti,-ti) diminuitive suffix • (-i, ,-yi) turns nouns and verbs into adjectives • (na-, nan-) negation (rer-, re-) suffix showing repetitive nature, or something that is occurring again.

Quasi affixes Some words can be used as affixes:

a-: (at, to) adi-: (more) anti-: (against) - e.g. antikomunisem (anticommunism) ko-: (with) suv-: (self, yourself) - e.g. suvimanda (self-control) -loji: (study of) - e.g. farmaloji (agriculture) entar-: (between) - e.g. entarinaxioyi (international) med-: (middle) - e.g. medinokti (midnight) pos-: (after, post-) nij-: (below, under, sub-)

both words modified by affixes and quasi-affixes will retain their form as a noun, adjective, or verb after modification unless otherwise specified.

Syntax The word order in Baseyu is SVO(Subject-Verb-Object)

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