The Kebreni Language • Kebren nizgu

Context
Phonology
Morphology
     Verbs • Pronouns • Numbers • Derivational morphology
Syntax
     Parameter order • Noun phrases • Adjectives • Conjunctions • Locative verbs • Questions • Complex sentences
Transformations
     Focus • Subordination • Nominalization • Causative • VP Anaphor • Gapping • Clefting • Light verbs
Semantic fields
     Time • Measures • Names • Letters
Examples • Inside and Outside • Shall we elope?
Sound changes
Borrowings
Lexicon

Unlike Verdurian, whose grammar is not too far from European models, Kebreni has a grammar which deviates any way it can from English. I'm particularly proud of the verbal system.

You can decipher the map names using the lexicon. The map shows borders as of Z.E. 3480.
--Mark Rosenfelder

Context

The Monkhayic family of languages, though now restricted to Kebri and the southwestern corner of Dhekhnam, was once spoken throughout the Plain, and indeed has left its linguistic traces heavily on the map of the Plain. The Mišicama ocean, the Ctelm mountains, the Svetla, Menla, Vesi, Meuna, and Efrat rivers, the nations of Ismahi, Azgami, Koto, Melináe, and Érenat, lake Como, the Arosd delta, and the cities of Kebropol, Lädau, Avéla, Ydamai, Raizumi, Nuveta, Kereta, Mituré, Gödo, Mogör, Melahdo, Trežda, Mabola, and Pelym all have Monkhayic names.

The first human states in the Plain were Monkhayic: Como and Meťaiu on the upper Svetla, established about Z.E. -1150. By the time they appeared, men had lived in the Plain for twenty thousand years, and the Monkhayic peoples were divided into dozens of mutually incompatible languages. The Plain in Z.E. 287

Civilization and trade spread the prestigious dialects of the cities, and just before the Eastern invasion we are aware of three major speech varieties: that of Okiami and Meťaiu in the south, that of Davur along the lower Svetla, and that of Agimbea and Newor along the Serea and the Mišicama littoral.

The Easterners pushed the Monkhayic peoples (those who were not absorbed) north and east (-375). Refugees from Davur established the kingdom of Davrio on Kebri.

Most of these lands were conquered by Munkhâsh (440), except for the littoral (reorganized as Leziunea) and Kebri.

The continental Monkhayic peoples (and, for about two centuries, even Kebri) were incorporated into the Caďinorian empire as it pushed back and ultimately destroyed Munkhâsh (1667), and though the Monkhayic languages persisted throughout the entire classical area, colonization and Caďinorization eventually replaced them everywhere except two areas, Kebri (plus some regions of Érenat and, till recently, the island of Koto) and Monkhay, the mountainous southwestern corner of Dhekhnam.

The relationship between Kebreni and Monkhayu (both the languages and the peoples) has been obscured by long isolation. In addition, Kebreni has been highly influenced by Caďinor, Ismaîn, and Verdurian, and has borrowed from languages further afield, the Kebreni being great seafarers; while Monkhayu is heavily influenced by Dhekhnami, Caizuran, and Sarroc.

'Monkhayu', which has given its name to the language family, simply means 'the people'; compare Kebreni neḣada.

This document describes the standard Kebreni of the 3400s, in particular that of Kebropol. A separate page on modern Kebreni and its variant in Śaidahami will come later. The lexicon covers both versions; hopefully it will be clear that terms like “quantum mechanics” were not used in the 3400s.

Some of the more notable features of Kebreni:

Verbs are not inflected by number, tense, or person, but by aspect, politeness, volition, and aspect. Their morphology makes heavy use of vowel interchange and infixing.
Pronouns are divided into pejorative, neutral, and deferential forms.
There is a single subordinator used for adjectives, possession, and relativization.
The ancestral number system is base 18. (Almeans have 10 fingers and 8 toes.)
Adjectives can be seen as simplified verbs and participate in some of their morphology.
There are no prepositions, but rather locative verbs.

Meťaiun

This grammatical sketch concentrates on Kebreni, but also relates what is known of its ancestor, the Monkhayic language of the littoral.

Following Verdurian scholars, we will call it Meťaiun, after the state of Meťaiu— although the language of pre-invasion Meťaiu was actually a southern Monkhayic language.

This is certainly the most rickety of the ancient languages presented on this website, not excluding proto-Eastern. To begin with, there are no direct ancient attestations; the Monkhayic peoples were illiterate, and remained so till the Caďinorians conquered them. The problem is compounded by the extreme distance between Monkhayu and Kebreni; only a few hundred cognates can be identified.

Our sources for Meťaiun are as follows:

Attestations from ancient Cuzeian and Caďinorian sources: lines of poetry, borrowed words, names of historical figures, word lists from the few Caďinorian writers who interested themselves in the peoples of the littoral or of Sarnáe.
Place names, attested in ancient or modern times.
Reconstructions based on the dialects of Kebreni, which are quite divergent, especially in the remoter areas: Kernoia, the valleys of Érenat, and Koto (whose language still has uses in the courts and temples).
Information from Monkhayu.

Note that reconstruction based on Kebreni and Monkhayu gives not Meťaiun but proto-Monkhayic, which predates it by two milennia or more.

Meťaiun may be taken as an idealized form of the Monkhayic language of Kebri and the littoral, some time before the Munkhâshi invasion. I say ‘idealized’ because none of our sources are completely satisfactory. The Caďinorians were not linguists, and adapted the Monkhayic words to the sounds of Caďinor in order to write them down; while the reconstructions are biased toward the eastern area. Still, the overlap of the two methods is large and reassuring, and where divergences are systematic they can be taken as belonging to western and eastern dialects of Meťaiun.

Phonology

Kebreni is written using the Verdurian alphabet, using the letters shown. The consonants are as follows:

labial dental palatal velar glottal

stops p b
p b t d
t d c
c k g
k g

fricatives f v
f v ť s z
† s z ḣ ś ź
… ß # h
h

nasals m
m n
n

liquids l r
l r

c is a true palatal stop /c/, pronounced by touching the tongue to the top of the palate. If you can’t do it, you can substitute [tʃ]. Verdurian speakers should not confuse it with [k].

k is pronounced like Verdurian c c /k/, not like its k k /q/. Kebreni has sensibly used Caďinor's two back stop symbols for two points of articulation, but the points are moved forward one step.

ť is the same as the th /θ/ in English thin, the unvoiced version of Verdurian ď ∂.

ś, though it's written using the Verdurian š ß, is a dorso-prepalatal fricative [ɕ], the same as Polish ś or Chinese x. One recipe for producing it is to start with a sh [ʃ] and add more palatal friction to it— say sh, think [ç]. ź is the voiced equivalent.

The h is pronounced as in English (and Old Verdurian), while ḣ is a palatal fricative /ç/, as in German ich. h must be pronounced word-finally (e.g. sih), but not before a consonant (sihzar).

ŋ is sometimes considered a phoneme in Kebreni; it's written ng, as in ingarei. Some dialects say [ŋg] instead.

Doubled consonants (as in linna ‘lord’) are drawn out, as in English pen knife, not penny.

The vowels:

front central back

high i
i y
y u
u

mid e
e o
o

low a
a

y is a mid vowel, IPA [ɨ], right between i and u. Verdurians mispronounce it as ü, which at least is better than [i]. Kebreni u is a very back vowel (as opposed to English where it is somewhat fronted).

e o have a wide phonetic range, but it’s safe to pronounce them [ɛ o].

Vowels can adjoin; there is no good case for considering these separate phonemes. Long aa is often written ä ä, as in Verdurian.

Stress is placed on the last syllable if it ends in a consonant, otherwise on the second-to-last vowel: Kébri, Kebropól, paḣár, Leléc, śaída, nizýru, Raazám, mýgu, paúśte, kulséu, ingaréi. Since stress is completely predictable, it is never indicated orthographically.

Kebreni is a syllable-timed language— one where each syllable takes up an equal amount of time— rather than a stress-timed one like English, where stresses occur at roughly equal intervals. Unstressed syllables in Kebreni retain their clear vowel sounds.

The sounds of Meťaiun are reconstructed as follows:

labial dental palatal velar vowels
stops p t k i u
b d g
fricatives f ť s č ȟ e o
v z j γ
nasals m n a
liquids l r
semivowel w

This schema should be viewed as our best guess; it is certainly wrong in spots, and phonetic interpretations are quite uncertain.

We have little idea how č was pronounced. The Kebreni reflex is ś. We use č because this is its reflex in Verdurian names inherited from Meťaiun. In Caďinor it was usually written t, tr, or ts, suggesting a palatal stop or affricate. Note also Cad. atrabion ‘emperor‘ > *ačabion > aźban.

Morphology

Only verbs (including predicate adjectives) have a true inflectional morphology; nouns and attributive adjectives are not inflected, and the remnants of inflection among the pronouns are not synchronically salient. However, there is a productive derivational morphology.

Verbs

Kebreni verb inflection is quite different from that of the Eastern languages such as Verdurian. Verbs are not inflected for person, number, or tense. Rather, the chief categories of inflection are aspect, politeness, volition, and effect.

In addition, inflection is accomplished by vowel interchange, vowel change, and infixing, not by affixation.

Aspect (imperfective and perfective)

The citation form of the verb is the imperfective:

kanu I see, you see, he was seeing...
diru I work, you work, he was working...
sudy I am called, you are called...

The final -u is not part of the root; it's a grammatical ending. It dissimilates to -y when the last vowel of the root is u, as in sudy.

To form the perfective you switch the last two vowels. (This relationship holds for all the other forms described below, as well.)

kuna I have seen, I saw...
duri I have worked, you worked...
sydu I was once called...

Perfective forms are used for completed actions, no matter what time they occur. Thus you'd use the imperfect diru for 'I was working', because you weren't done yet; and the perfective kuna for 'I will read it', if you mean you'll read it and finish.

An explicit time may always be indicated with adverbs:

Paḣar kanu pol.
Tomorrow you will see the city.
Paḣar kuna pol.
Tomorrow you will have seen (everything in) the city.

Note that Kebreni transitive or ditransitive verbs, used with one less noun phrase, express a passive meaning. Thus

Melaḣ kuna neku.
The king saw the cat.
Neku kuna.
The cat was seen.
Nyne ḣouźi aisel. The girl lost the key.
Aisel ḣouzi. The key is lost.
Gymu sudy kulseu 'Ḣulo'.
We call the commander 'Idiot'.
Kulseu sudy 'Ḣulo'.
The commander is called 'Idiot'.

Schematically:

NP Vo NP = S V O
NP Vo = O V
NP Voo NP NP = S V O O
NP Voo NP = O V O

Some English verbs work this way as well; but all Kebreni verbs do.

Falte śenen truśe lyḣ. Your boy broke the window.
Lyḣ truśe. The window broke.

Volition

To form the volitional, add an initial e, voice the initial consonant (if any), then switch the first two vowels (that is, the added e- plus what was the first vowel of the root). A final -y returns to -u.

agenu I intend to see, I will see, see! (volitional, uncompleted action)
agune I intended to see, I will have seen (volitional, completed action)
ideru I intend to work, I will see, work!
idure I intended to work, I will have worked...
uzedu I intend to call, I intend to be called...
uzude I intended to call / no longer be called...

The volitional forms emphasize that the agent consciously intends the action (imperfective) or the result (perfective).

Pucso mabu.
I kicked the dog (perhaps accidentally).
Obucse mabu.
I kicked the dog (on purpose).

It is frequently used for a future event (lahu 'come' → alehu 'I will come'), and by extension as an imperative: alehu 'come!' Neither of these extensions is permitted with nonhuman subjects.

There is no word for 'want' as an independent lexical item; some volitional expression must be substituted. Often in fact this is agenu 'want to see', but other verbs are used as appropriate:

Impuźeu agenu bonnezi!
The publisher wants (lit. wants-to-see) the story!
Linna ezeḣepu gembadi?
Does His Lordship want (lit. want-to-eat) breakfast?

If the verb begins with a vowel, insert an h before the vowel switch: adnedu 'I added it' → ahednedu 'I added it on purpose'. (Eśu 'to not be', discussed later, inserts v instead, for historical reasons.)

Polite forms

karynu I see, you see, he sees (uncompleted action)
kurina I have seen, you've seen, he's seen (completed action)
agerynu I intend to see, I will see, see! (volitional, uncompleted action)
agurine I intended to see, I will have seen (volitional, completed action)

Polite forms express deference toward a superior, or politeness to an equal. They are used with nobles and royalty, employers, military superiors, parents, in-laws, teachers, and so on. In addition the middle and upper classes use it with each other; but man and wife, siblings or cousins, or very close friends do not.

Ḣem cyryru? Do I know you, sir?
Alerihu! Please come!

Note that the politeness applies to the listener, not to the referent.

Kulseu, falaute mabu furina<; ne…at obucrise.
Kulseu, falaute mabu furina; neḣat obucrise.
commander / you-SUB dog die-PERF-POL / man kick-PERF-POL
Commander, your dog is dead; a man kicked (it).

Polite forms are made by inserting -ri- within the verb root, before the last consonant; -ry- if the vowel in the next syllable is a u. The infix may divide a consonant cluster: kulsu 'command' → kulrysu.

In addition there are a few suppletive forms; e.g. badu 'eat' has the polite form sehepu; tasu 'do' has the polite form soru, and so on. (Do not add -ri- to the suppletive forms; they are already polite.)

Positive effect

The benefactive implies that the given action benefits the speaker in some way:

keni someone sees, to my benefit
deri someone works for me
sidi someone is called, and it helps or flatters me
syťi someone provides to me

It is formed by fronting the stem vowel (a → e, o →e; u → y, y → i, i → e, e unchanged) and changing the final -u to -i. The perfective, volitional, and polite forms are formed according to the usual rules.

The stem vowel is the last vowel of the root; e.g. pansyru 'someone kisses' → pansiri 'someone kisses me'. (Verbs with stem y, like this one, have identical perfective and imperfective.)

To indicate that the action was performed for the benefit of the listener, the infix -ni- is added before the final consonant of the root:

kenini someone sees, to your benefit
deniri someone works for you

Compare:

Ḣazum diru keda. Hazum is working on the house.
Ḣazum deri keda. Hazum is working on my house.
Ḣazum deniri keda. Hazum is working on your house.
Kulseu nuzi melaḣ. The commander spoke to the King. (from nizu, speak)
Kulseu nize melaḣ. The commander spoke to the King on my behalf.
Kulseu ninize melaḣ. The commander spoke to the King on your behalf.

Negative effect

The antibenefactive implies that the given action harmed the speaker in some way. It's very common in the mouths of Kebrenis and essential for mastering colloquial speech.

kona someone sees, to my loss
dyra someone works against me
soda someone is called, and it harms or insults me
suťa someone provides at my expense
kano someone saw, has seen, to my loss
dary someone worked against me
adery someone purposely worked against me
oseda they purposely call him that to spite me
loriha someone is coming to harm me (polite form)

It is formed by backing the stem vowel (a → o, e → o, i → y; y → u, u → o, o unchanged) and changing the final -u to -a. The perfective, volitional, and polite forms are formed according to the usual rules.

Mabu fano. The dog went and died on me.
Ḣem dyra. I'm killing myself by working.
Kona hem. He watched me (in order to hurt me); he's spied on me.
Obeka. Oh, fuck me.

Again, -ni- can be infixed to indicate that the action was performed to the harm of the listener.

Kulseu nyniza. The commander is speaking against you.
Lelec pocnisa? Is Lelec kicking you?

Subordinating form

The subordinating form is used when there is another verb in the sentence. It's formed by moving the final vowel of the verb before the final consonant and adding -te. A labial stop becomes dental and a voiced stop becomes unvoiced before the -te (so m → n, p/b/d → t, g → c, z → s, etc.).

kanu 'see' → kaunte 'seeing'
diru 'work' → diurte 'working'
kulsy 'command' → kulyste 'commanding'
mimu 'deal' → miunte 'dealing'
ciḣcu 'praise' → ciḣucte 'praising'

This form has several uses. One is with auxiliary verbs, or any verb which takes another verb as a possible object. The -te form appears before the main verb, and after its objects:

Mela… kaunte elecu.
Melaḣ kaunte elecu.
king seeing VOL-able
The king is able to see you.
Kulseu gorkreha kaunte maru.
Kulseu gorkreha kaunte maru.
commander ledger seeing be.probable
The commander is probably reading the ledger.
Tarautte …ilu?
Tarautte ḣilu?
dancing like
Do you like to dance?
Úem diurte luha.
Ḣem diurte luha.
I working come-PERF
I came (in order) to work.

The negative in Kebreni is an auxiliary verb, eśu (polite natu):

Úem Úazum cyurte eßu.
Ḣem Ḣazum cyurte eśu.
I Hazum knowing not.be
I don't know Hazum.
Úazum kulseu kriu…te uße.
Ḣazum kulseu kriuḣte uśe.
Hauzm commander killing not.be-PERF
Hazum won't kill the commander tomorrow.
Pa…ar lauhte natu?
Paḣar lauhte natu?
tomorrow coming not.POL
Aren't you coming tomorrow? (polite)

Note that volitional, politeness, and aspect inflections normally apply only to the main verb. One can make such finicky distinctions as the following--

diurte lahu was/is coming to be working
diurte luha came to be working
duirte lahu was/is coming to work (and finish)
duirte luha came to work (and finish)
diurte alehu is intending to come to work
iderute lahu is coming intending to work

—but these are rare even in writing; normally only the base form (i.e. diurte) is used, and inflections are applied only to the auxiliary. Semantically, they are considered to apply to the auxiliary + verb combination— e.g. for diurte alehu the intention is taken to apply to both the coming and the working; while for diurte luha the entire action— coming to work— is taken as being completed.

Another usage of the -te form is as a gerund or modifier. The subordinated verb suggests the manner in which the main action was performed, or simply names a following or resulting action.

Kulseu kaunte nuzi.
Kulseu kaunte nuzi.
commander watching speak-PERF
The commander spoke watchfully.
Nyne pabautte taradu.
Nyne pabautte taradu.
girl laughting dance-PERF
The girl was laughing and dancing.
ˇazu mabu kri…ute pucso.
Ťazu mabu kriḣute pucso.
they dog killing kick-PERF
They kicked the dog to death.
Úulo ci…ḣucte diurte eßu.
Ḣulo ciḣucte diurte eśu.
food praising working not-IMPF
The fool works without praising (God).

Finally -te is used to form relative clauses. In this usage volitional, aspect, and effect inflections (but not politeness infixes) can be applied to the subordinating form. Note that the clause precedes the modified noun.

Neḣat duri keda.
Neḣat duri keda.
The man worked on the house →
Diurte keda ne…at alehu pahar.
[Diurte keda] neḣat alehu pahar.
[work-SUB house] man come-VOL tomorrow
The man [who worked on the house] will come tomorrow.
Kulseu nazy ne…at.
Kulseu nazy neḣat.
The commander spoke against me to the man →
Kulseu nayste ne…at sudy Kalum.
[Kulseu nayste] neḣat sudy Kalum.
[commander spoke-ANTIB-SUB] man name Kalum
The man [the commander spoke to against me] is named Kalum.
Mela… tigu nyne.
Melaḣ tigu nyne.
The king is screwing the girl →
Mela… tiugte nyne …ilu …ente mabu
[Melaḣ tiugte] nyne ḣilu ḣente mabu.
[king screw-SUB] girl like I-SUB dog
The girl [the king is screwing] is fond of my dog.

There is no relativizing pronoun. Note that if the subordinated verb is preceded by a subject, as in the last two sentences, the head of the clause must be taken as a direct or indirect object; if the verb begins the clause, as in the first example, the head must be the subject of the clause. Schematically:

NP Vte NP = [S V] O
Vte NP NP = [V O] S

If the head noun refers to a place or time, the phrase is equivalent to a when or where clause in English— again, these pronouns do not appear in Kebreni:

[vaac mygu moiutte] ha…c
[vaac mygu moiutte] haḣc
[blue ox find-SUB] valley
the valley [where the blue ox was found]
[pocuste mela…] re
[pocuste melaḣ] re
[kick-SUB king day
the day [when I kicked the King]

Conjugation table

For complex forms, form the (anti)benefactive first, then the volitional, then the perfective, then the listener suffix -ni, then (if there's no suppletive form) the polite -ri-, then the subordinating -te.

Ellipses indicate that variations (the imperfective and the two volitional forms) are being left out.

'see' 'work' 'call' 'laugh' 'kick' 'command' 'not'
Neutral imperfective kanu diru sudy pabadu pocsu kulsy eśu
perfective kuna duri sydu pabuda pucso kylsu uśe
volitional imp. agenu ideru uzedu abebadu obecsu ugelsu eveśu
volitional perf. agune idure uzude abebuda obucse ugulse evuśe
polite imp. karynu diryru suridy pabarydu pocrysu kulrisy natu
polite perf. kurina duriri syrydu paburida pucriso kylrysu nuta
vol. pol. imp. agerynu ideryru uzerydu abebarydu obecrysu ugelrysu anetu
vol. pol. perf. agurine idurire uzuride abeburida obucrise ugulrise anute
Benef. benef. imp. keni deri sydi pabedi pecsi kylsi eśi
benef. perf. kine dire sidy pabide picse kilsy iśe
vol. ben. imp. egeni ederi yzedi abebedi ebecsi ygelsi eveśi
vol. ben. perf. egine edire yzide abebide ebicse ygilse eviśe
benef. polite kerini... deriri... syridi... paberidi... pecrisi... kylrisi... neti...
benef. 'you' kenini... deniri... synidi... pabenidi... pecnisi... kylnisi... eniśi...
Antib. antib. imp. kona dyra soda paboda pocsa kolsa ośa
antib. perf. kano dary sado pabado pacso kalso aśo
vol. antib. imp. ogena ydera ozeda abeboda obecsa ogelsa oveśa
vol. antib. perf. ogane ydare ozade abebado obacse ogalse ovaśe
antib. polite korina... dyrira... sorida... paborida... pocrisa... kolrisa... nota...
Subord. subordinating kaunte diurte suytte pabautte pocuste kulyste euśte
subord. perf. kuante duirte syutte pabuatte pucoste kyluste ueśte
sub. vol. imp. ageunte ideurte uzeytte abebautte obecuste ugeluste eveuśte
sub. vol. perf. aguente iduerte uzyette abebuatte obuceste uguleste evueśte
Deriv. one who does kaneu direu sudeu pabadeu pocseu kulseu
'participle' kaina diera suida pabaida pocisa kulisa
action kani deri sodi pabadi pacsi kolsi

Pronouns [To Top]

pejorative ordinary deferential

person sing plural sing plural sing plural

1 (I, we) cin źum ḣem gymu —

2 (you) kuḣ fal falau

3 (he, she, it, they) vuḣ ťaḣ ťaza vep vybu

There are three sets of pronouns in Kebreni, which imply contempt, neutrality, or deference toward the referent.

The pejorative first person forms (cin, źum) are humilifics, used to refer to oneself when speaking with a superior; the remaining pejorative forms (kuḣ and vuḣ— one does not bother with any number distinction) are used to refer to those of lower classes (or, of course, to insult someone by referring to them as inferiors).

The deferential second person form falau is an honorific, used to refer to a listener or listeners who are social superiors; its use roughly correlates with the use of the polite forms of verbs. Note that the third person forms (vep, vybu) express deference to the person referred to, not (unlike polite verbs) to the listener. There are no deferential first-person pronouns.

For all of these pronouns, possessive forms can be made by adding -te (which forces a preceding labial stop to assimilate): ḣente 'my (ordinary)', falaute 'your (deferential)', vuḣte 'his/her/its/theirs (pejorative)'.

It must be emphasized that pronouns are optional, and indeed to be avoided, in Kebreni. They are used only when necessary for clarity. For direct address, in fact, it's preferable to use honorifics and titles:

Linna, agenu gembadi?
Linna, agenu gembadi?
lord / eat-VOL breakfast
Lord, [do you] want [your] breakfast?

Demonstratives

‘This’ and ‘that’, as adjectives, are gem and kuri (the relation to ‘one’ and ‘two’ is obvious, but the direction of semantic borrowing is not!): gem nyne ‘this woman’, kuri palaźnu ‘that thorn-bush’.

As standalone pronouns these become gente ‘this one’ and kurite ‘that one'. (This is actually a standard nominalizing use of the clitic -te with adjectives.)

Myra ‘here’, tomo ‘there’, źada ‘now’ and bada ‘then’ function as adverbs.

Interrogative pronouns

The standard interrogative anaphora are:

śava ßava who, what

śete ßete which (of what quality)

aśeve aßeve why

ciźe ci#e how, in what way

śanu ßanu where (locative verb)

śere ßere when

bigynte bigynte how much, how many

Unlike in English, the interrogative anaphora cannot be used in relative clauses. Subordinated clauses usually have no explicit subordinator at all. See Complex sentences below for examples.

Quantifiers and indefinite pronouns

Quantifiers are ordinary adjectives, and like any adjectives are nominalized with -te.

fyn fyn none

fynte fynte nothing, no one

biha biha some, any

bihate bihate something, someone, anything, anyone

kum kum many, much

kunte kunte many things, many people

orat orat all, every

oratte oratte everything, everyone

There are no words meaning ‘everywhere’, ‘sometime’, and so on; instead one uses expressions like biha re ‘some day’, orat hami ‘every land’, fyn haḣcte zani ‘in every valley’, etc.

Numbers

The Meťaiun counting system was based on counting on fingers and toes— the 10 fingers and 8 toes of an Almean.

1 grem (related to 'this')
2 kuri (related to 'that')
3 dama
4 γakaȟ ('almost (a hand)')
5 amua ('hand')
6 migrem amua ('with-one hand')...
9 γakaȟ kuri ('almost two (hands)')
10 kuramua ('two hands')
11 poc pinaȟ ('down to the feet')
12 mikuri kuramua ('two hands with two')
14 mipoc kuramua ('two hands with a foot')
15 migrem mipoc kuramua ('two hands with a foot with one')
18 oranda neȟad ('entire man')
324 dikumi (related to kumi 'many')
5832 ťeleť

Under the influence of Cuêzi and Caďinor, a decimal system was adopted; but the Kebreni numbers from 1 to 19 still show their origins in the Meťaiun system:

1 gem 11 pinaḣ
2 kur 12 migram
3 dam 13 midakram
4 hak 14 mipoc
5 amma 15 mipokemai
6 migem 16 mipokurai
7 migur 17 hakraida
8 midam 18 raida
9 hakur 19 raigemai
10 kram 20 kur kram

The numbers from 21 to 99 are formed on the model [tens] kram [digits]-ai: 21 = kur kram gemai, 37 = dam kram migurai. In fast counting, kram is omitted.

It's still possible to count by 18s: raida, kuraida, dam raida... This can be a nice way to hide a price increase: rather than charging 4 alať for ten, you charge 8 alať for eighteen.

dygum (from dikumi) has become the word for 100, while myga '1000' was borrowed from Cuêzi. The same basic model is followed: 487 = hak dygum midam kram migurai, 3480 = dam myga hak dygum midam kramai.

There are two ways of numbering noun phrases: by inserting the number before the noun, or by subordinating the noun and following it with the number:

dam kyr laḣ or kyr laḣte dam
three green fields

The subordinated form is more formal, and is preferred in writing, or with very long numbers.

The suffix -eḣ (-ḣ after vowel) forms ordinal numbers: gemeḣ 'first', raidaḣ 'eighteenth'.

The suffix -nu is used for fractions: kuirnu 1/2, dainnu 1/3, haiknu 1/4, ammanu 1/5, migemnu 1/6, etc.

Arithmetic expressions:

3 + 2 = 5 dam e…c kur zaru amma
dam eḣc kur zaru amma
three and two exist five
3 + 2 = 5
7 – 2 = 5 migur kur fuuste zaru amma
migur kur fuuste zaru amma
seven two lacking exist five
7 - 2 = 5
3 ° 4 = 12 dame…te hak zaru migram
dameḣte hak zaru migram
third four exist twelve
3 x 4 = 12
12 ^ 4 = 3 migrame…te haiknu zaru dam
migrameḣte haiknu zaru dam
twelfth 1/4 exist twelve
12 / 4 = 3

As in Verdurian, multiplication and division are expressed using ordinals. Note the double marking: dam 3 > dameḣ 1/3 > dameḣte.

Derivational morphology

Nominalizers

With adjectives, nominalizations with -gu name the abstract quality; with nouns and verbs, they generally name a countable action, result, or associated entity.

kanu see → kangu vista
boťynu fight → boťengu battle
syh strong → sygu strength
śen honorable → śengu honor

With nouns and verbs, -au (Meť. -adio) is an abstract nominalizer, comparable to our -tion; with adjectives it names an object with the given quality.

adnedu add → adnedau addition
kanu see → kanau vision
maru be probable → marau probability
melaḣ king → melaḣau royalty, kingship
ty round → tyau tube, pipe

For simple actions, a name for an instance of the action can be formed by lowering the last root vowel (i, y → e; e, o → a; u → o, a unchanged) and adding -i:

riḣu count → reḣi count, counting
pocsu kick → pacsi kick
taradu dance → taradi dance
źynu go → źeni departure
kulsy command → kolsi command

The suffix -nu, usually accompanied by raising of the last root vowel (a → e, e → i, o → u, others unchanged) names a concrete thing related to the root object or action.

gyru (Meť. ger-) rise → hernu (Meť. gerno) stair
kam oak → kamnu acorn
muk new → muhnu news

To pluralize a noun, you follow the formula (X)V1C(V2) → (X)V1C[+vcd]V1. The status of pluralization in Kebreni is quite different from languages such as Verdurian and English, where it is obligatory and grammaticalized. It is an optional derivation in Kebreni; it can be thought of as forming a collective noun— ‘a unit formed by more than one X.’

hami land → hama lands, large area, nation
neḣat man → neḣada people
cai (Meť. kiodi) mountain → cadu (Meť. kiodo) mountain range
beź grape → beźe bunch of grapes
lore horse → loro team of horses

-na is an augmentative; -iḣ is a diminutive.

ḣir long → ḣirna very long
siva sand → sivana desert
lezu forest → Lezyna Leziunea = big forest
zeveu friend → zeviḣ little friend
tada father → tadiḣ dad
nyne maiden → nyniḣ little girl

-eu names a person who does the action, comes from a place, or has a certain quality:

kulsy command → kulseu commander
taradu dance → taradeu dancer
Verdura Verduria → Verdureu Verdurian
zev loyal → zeveu friend

The Meťaiun equivalent was formed by replacing the final root vowel of the verb with -u- and suffixing -i. This formation is found in a few old words:

γis- cure → γusi (hus) doctor
brin- watch → bruni (brun) shepherd

-ec has about the same meaning, but specifically names a feminine referent. Kebreni is usually not concerned to do so (e.g. melaḣ means both king and queen), but may use -ec in a few cases where the occupation is chiefly female (e.g. maḣec ‘prostitute’) or where it’s desired to refer to a couple without awkwardness— e.g. a dance manual describing a duet may refer to the taradeu and taradec. The suffix is most commonly used to form girls’ names.

lele cute, pretty → Lelec
lezu forest → Lezec

Meťaiun -(γ)umi, whose Kebreni reflex is -um, named someone who lives in a particular place; it's related to γami 'land': thus limiγumi 'highlander'. As a productive prefix, it has been replaced by -eu in Kebreni; but -um is still found in personal names and in inhabitant-names of very old cities:

kal bee → Kalum
śogu ridge → Śogum
Laadau → Laadum person from Laadau
Kaťinaḣ Caďinas → Kaťynum Caďinorian

A manufacturer of something is named with -teu (a reduced form of taseu 'maker'):

nabira ship → nabirateu shipwright

Given a verbal root CVXⁿ, the formula VC[+vcd]VXⁿe names a tool which accomplishes the action, or a substance which exemplifies it (contrast -eu, which is always a person):

paźu cut → abaźe knife
ťanu harm → aťane weapon
treḣ black → etreḣe ink

The suffix -eśa creates a concrete nominalization of an adjective: an object having the quality named by the adjective:

gem one → geneśa primacy (among interested parties), lien
ḣir long → ḣireśa street

-arei names a place:

suťy provide → suťarei store
lore horse → lodarei stable (with dissimilation)
nizu speak → nizarei forum

The proprietor or manager of such a place is named with the suffix -areu (unless there already exists a simple form with -eu, e.g. suťeu 'provider, storekeeper'):

ingarei tavern → ingareu tavernkeeper

From toponyms and nobles' names we learn of a vowel-harmonizing honorific prefix me- in Meťaiun: Monȟado (Monkhayu), Mičiaγama (Mišicama), meneula (Menla), meleȟ 'king', myvun 'leader'. It's also seen in Meťaiu, Meuna, Mevost, Metōre. The prefix is not seen in modern Kebreni, and usually disappears in cognates: Śahama 'Mišicama', neḣada 'the people'.

Adjectivizers

The subordinator -te, attached to a single word, in effect turns it into an adjective.

keda house → kedate domestic
neḣada people → neḣadate popular
diru work → dirte relating to work

Attached to expressions referring to people, including pronouns, it serves as a genitive:

falau you → falaute your
nyne maiden → nynete maiden’s
Verdureu Verdurian → Verdureute Verdurian’s

An adjective related to a geographic expression is formed with -en:

Kebri Kebreni → kebren Kebreni
Ernaituḣ Érenat → ernaituhen Érenati

The infix -n- + final -(y)r gives an adjective meaning 'having the quality of X' or 'liable to X':

boḣtu water → bontur wet
men hill → mennyr hilly
ḣulo idiot → ḣunlor idiotic
zeveu friend → zevenur friendly
kriḣu kill → krinḣyr murderous
pabadu laugh → pabandyr amusing

The infix -su- gives an adjective meaning 'made of X':

siva sand → sisuva sandy
ḣeda stone → ḣesuda stony
kam oak → kasum oaken

The meaning of an adjective may be intensified by infixing -u- before the last consonant, or diminished by infixing -i-:

ḣir long → ḣiur very long, ḣiir not long
śaida beautiful → śaiuda breathtakingly beautiful
śe small → śei tiny

A similar process can be seen in Meť. nauni 'young man', niune 'young woman' (but it's obscured by sound change in Kebreni: nen, nyne).

-iCa where -C is the final consonant of the root, or -eCa after -i-, means 'that has been Xed'. This sounds like a past participle, but it is never a verbal form, nor can it even be used predicatively; it can only be used to modify a noun, or as a nominalization.

nizu say → nieza spoken
suťy provide → suiťa provisions;
kulsy command → kulisa what is commanded, lexicalized as ‘fleet’
nabru sail → nabira what is sailed, i.e. a ship

The suffix -lecsu (from lecu 'can'), added to a verb, means equally 'that can be verbed' or 'that can verb'; context generally indicates which.

badu eat → badlecsu edible
źaiźigu marry → źaiźiglecsu marriageable, nubile
treśu break → treślecsu breakable

The infix -at-, used to produce antonyms in Meťaiun, is no longer productive:

zewi loyal → zatewi disloyal, treasonous
čiam- aproach → čatiam- move away from

An adjective can be negated with bu- (borrowed from Caďinor):

doḣt correct → budoḣt incorrect
gauryr pure → bugauryr impure

Verbalizers

Nouns can be fairly freely converted into verbs by adding -u (replacing a final vowel):

dyrḣi credit (entry) → dyrḣu (enter as a) credit
nabra sail → nabru sail
alat silver coin → aladu spend money

A syntactic alternative, to use the verb tasu 'do', is extremely productive, especially for vague nonce forms:

suťarei store → suťarei tasu shop
zeveu friend → zeveu tasu be friendly
ťiron market → ťiron tasu go to market

The suffix -s- forms verbs with the meaning 'to use X (in the obvious way)' or 'to act like X':

poc foot → pocsu kick
bry eye → brysu keep an eye on
śemu fish → śemsu swim
mygu ox → mycsu haul

The infix -ma- means 'to make X' or 'to acquire X':

syl dark → symalu darken
hazik proud → hazimaku make proud
kur two → kumaru split
śemu fish → śemamu fish
alat silver → alamatu scrounge up cash

Locative verbs can be prefixed to verbs, often with the effect of specifying a direction or purpose for the action. Often an abbreviated form of the locative is used.

ebu be away from + diru work → ebdiru take off work
dynu be above + riḣu count → dyrḣu count as a credit

These expressions derive from a subordinated verb: eupte diru → ebdiru.

Syntax

Parameter order

Kebreni, lacking case marking or articles to signal case relationships, uses word order instead. The basic word order is SVO:

Linna Kalum, gente bo†eneu a#ei#irygu falaute nyni….
Linna Kalum, gente boťeneu aźeiźirygu falaute nyniḣ.
lord Kalum / this soldier VOL-marry-POL your-DEFER daughter-DIM
Lord Kalum, this soldier wants to marry your daughter.
Úazum, linna agenu hus.
Ḣazum, linna agenu hus.
Hazum / lord see-VOL doctor
Ḣazum, the Lord needs a doctor.

See the section on Focus for alternatives.

Indirect objects

Kebreni makes no morphological distinction between direct and indirect objects. One or both can appear after the verb, or be fronted for emphasis. The indirect object follows the direct object if both are given.

Kulseu …uvy ve#a taradeu.
Kulseu ḣuvy veźa taradeu.
commander give-PERF bottle dancer
The commander gave the bottle to the dancer.
Nyne mugeu …uvy ßemu.
Nyne mugeu ḣuvy śemu.
girl youngster give-PERF fish
The girl was given a fish by the young man.
Íemu nyne mu…a.
Śemu nyne muḣa.
fish girl sell-PERF
As for the fish, the girl sold it.

Another way of putting this is that verbs like ḣyvu 'give' are ditransitive in Kebreni, like sudy 'call (someone) (something)'.

Schematically:

NP V NP = S V O
NP NP V = O S V
NP V NP NP = S V O O
NP NP V NP = O S V O

Verbs of movement

The destination of a verb of movement is not morphologically marked in Kebreni; it's treated as an indirect object.

Linna, #yrynu Laadau.
Linna, źyrynu Laadau.
lord / go-POL Laadau
Lord, we're going to Laadau.
Kuri ťani…te ne…at lahu #umte keda?
Kuri ťaniḣte neḣat lahu źumte keda?
that annoying man come we-SUB house
Is that annoying man coming to our house?
Ime#yny ßemu tada.
Imeźynu śemu tada.
bring-VOL fish father
Bring a fish to your father.

However, the source of a movement is indicated using a locative verb (discussed below):

Laaven eupte lahu e…c bohru.
Laaven eupte lahu eḣc bohru.
Laaven from-SUB come and stink
They're coming from Laaven and they stink.

Noun phrases

Order

Modifiers— including adjectives, numbers, relative clauses and locative expressions— always precede the noun:

kur mabu two dogs
gem śaida hazigai nyne that beautiful and proud maiden
ťaniḣte neḣat an annoying man
kaunte melaḣ mabu a dog that looks at a king
sivana śaunte turgul the battalion near the desert

Kebreni's strong modifier-modified order would lead a linguist to suspect that it was once an OV language, which has changed, perhaps, under the influence of Verdurian. The evidence is equivocal; we do not have many actual texts in Meťaiun. However, they do seem to be predominantly SOV.

The -te relativizer

The root meaning of -te is to reduce an expression to an attribute. It reduces a noun or noun phrase to an adjectival expression, a verbal expression to a subordinate clause.

With a single noun (or pronoun), a -te expression has an adjectival or possessive quality:

falaute gem one of you
tadate zevu father's friend
neḣadate nizarei the people's forum
kedate zivan the inside of the house (lit. the house's inside)

The same can be said of longer expressions that are themselves -te expressions:

falaute gente mygu the ox belonging to one of you
Kalunte tadate zevu Kalum's father's friend
neḣadate nizareite dirau the work of the people's forum

With more complex expressions -te functions like a relative clause:

dama rete ebdiru a three-day holiday; a holiday that's three days long
ḣulo tauste melaḣ a king who acts like an idiot
keda ziunte te mygu the ox that's in the house

Finally, a -te clause can stand on its own, meaning 'the one(s) which...':

Fal buda Kazumte be#e e…c …em buda Lelecte.
Fal buda Kazumte beźe eḣc ḣem buda Lelecte.
you eat-PERF Kazum-SUB grape and I eat-PERF Lelec-SUB
You ate Kazum's grapes and I ate Lelec's.
Ru…i Avela… eupte lauhte? ˇa… miry.
Ruḣi Avelaḣ eupte lauhte? Ťaḣ miry.
count-PERF Avéla from-SUB coming / 3s rich
Did you count the one who comes from Avéla? He's rich.

Existence and equivalence

There is no verb 'to be' in Kebreni; the closest equivalent is zaru 'exist, be there'.

Dama gegeu zaru, e…c dama ve#a zaurte eßu.
Dama gegeu zaru, eḣc dama veźa zaurte eśu.
three servant exist / and there bottle existing not
(Lit.) Three servants exist, and three bottles do not exist.
There's three servants and three missing bottles.
Bo†engu ziunte ci…ica ingarei zura.
Boťengu ziunte ciḣica ingarei zura.
Boggola being.in praised tavern exist-PERF
In Boggola there used to be a praiseworthy tavern.

There is no verb 'have' either; zaru with effect inflections serves for this.

Keda, kur gegeu, e…c ßemu zeri.
Keda, kur gegeu, eḣc śemu zeri.
house two servant and fish have-BENEF
I have a house, two servants, and a fish. (Lit, they exist for my benefit.)
Lelena lelena nyne zeniri.
Lelena lelena nyne zeniri.
cute-AUG cute-AUG girl have-YOU-BENEF
You have a very, very cute daughter. (Lit., she exists for your benefit.)

Negative effect inflections are used when the possession is disadvantageous.

Keda eupte symanlur kangu zora.
Keda eupte symanlur kangu zora.
house from-SUB boring view exist-ANTIB
I have a boring view from my house.
Paru ziunte cuka zonira.
Paru ziunte cuka zonira.
lip being.in pimple exist-YOU-ANTIB
You have a pimple on your lip.

In the third person, the locative verb śamu is used instead:

Lelena nyne ßamu kulseu.
Lelena nyne śamu kulseu.
cute-AUG girl be.around commander
The commander has a very cute daughter. (Lit., she is near him.)

Or you can use possessive expressions, e.g.:

Kulseute pabandyr lore zaru.
Kulseute pabandyr lore zaru.
commander-SUB amusing horse exist
(Lit.) The commander's amusing horse exists.
The commander has an amusing horse.

There is no attributive 'be' at all; to say that X is Y you normally simply adjoin the two noun phrases.

Úente tada be#arei e…c baba taradeu.
Ḣente tada beźarei eḣc baba taradeu.
I-SUB father vintner and mother dancer
My father is a vintner and my mother is a dancer.

To say that X belongs to the class Y, you can use sudy 'be called':

Erankra… sudy kra….
Ebrankraḣ sudy kraḣ.
cinnabar nam mineral
Cinnabar is (lit. is called) a mineral.

To reveal that X is actually Y, one can use the expression X Yai gensu 'X and Y are one'; the opposite can be indicated with kursu 'be two, differ':

Linna, kri…u loreai genrysu.
Linna, kriḣu loreai genrysu.
lord / killer horse-AND be.one-POL
My lords, the killer is— the horse. (Lit., the killer and the horse are one.)
Falte tada e…c taradeu kursu.
Falte tada eḣc taradeu kursu.
you-SUB father and dancer be.two
Your father is no dancer. (Lit., your father and a dancer differ.)

Adjectives

Attributes

Adjectives used attributively appear before the noun, without modification: śaida seť 'a beautiful jewel'; ťaniḣte źem ḣulo 'an annoying old idiot'.

Predicates

As predicates they are a bit more complicated; in effect they are partially converted into verbs. No copula is used. In the simplest form, the adjective simply appears after the noun, in verbal position:

Kri…eu #em.
Kriḣeu źem.
killer old
The killer is old.

The politeness infix -ri- must be used in the same situations it would be used on a verb:

Falte nyne ßaida.
you-SUB girl beautiful
Falte nyne śaida.
Your daughter is beautiful. (ordinary)
Falaute nyne śairida.
Falaute nyne śairida.
you.POL-SUB girl beautiful-POL
Your daughter is beautiful. (polite)

The predication is negated using the auxiliary eśu and the subordinator -te, as with verbs, and other auxiliaries may be used as well:

Gem mabu #ente eßu.
Gem mabu źente eśu.
this dog old not
This dog is not old.
Mela… miryte maru.
Melaḣ miryte maru.
king rich be.probable
The king is probably rich.

Adjectives which already end in -te do not add it again:

Falau †ani…te eryßu!
Falau ťaniḣte eryśu!
you.POL annoying not-POL
You are not annoying, sir!

A perfective can be formed by appending -u (replacing a final vowel if any) and interchanging it with the previous vowel. Use -y instead if the latter is also a -u-.

Kri…eu ßaudi.
Kriḣeu śaudi.
killer beautiful-PERF
The killer is no longer beautiful. (Cf. śaida 'beautiful')
Falte nyne mycu.
Falte nyne mycu.
you-SUB girl young-PERF
Your daughter is no longer young. (Cf. muc 'young']

Predicate adjectives are not inflected for volition or effect.

Substantives

An adjective can be used as a substantive by suffixing -te: syhte 'the strong (ones)', kyrte 'the green (ones).'

The subordinated form may also appear attributively; in this form and position it can be interpreted as a one-word relative clause.

Note the difference between:

nyyl nabira a slow ship
nyylte nabira a ship that is slow
nyylte a slow one

Comparatives

There is no morphological comparative. A comparative 'X is more Q than Y' is formed using an expression that literally means 'As opposed to Y, X is very Q.'

Cadec ceuste polte nyne leule.
Cadec ceuste polte nyne leule.
hill-girl opposing city-SUB girl cute-AUG
A city girl is cuter than a hillbilly girl.
Bodu ceuste ßemu bontuurte eßu.
Bodu ceuste śemu bontuurte eśu.
frog opposing fish wet-AUG-SUB not
A fish is not wetter than a frog.

Instead of bontuurte eśu 'not very wet' we could say bontuir 'little wet'; but the negative expression is preferred in speech, where the difference from bontuur 'very wet' is not marked.

Note that where we use comparative forms Kebreni often uses the augmentative or diminutive forms: nyul lore 'slower horses', literally 'very slow horses'. Reduplication is also found, especially in speech: kasus kasus re 'a windy, windy day'.

Adverbs

Before a verb, the -te form of an adjective serves as an adverb:

Nyne nyylte taradu. The girl was dancing slowly.
Linna hazikte nuzi. The lord spoke proudly.

This form can follow the verb if it would not be confused with an object: nuzi hazikte is all right, but taradu nyylte would mean 'danced a slow one'. It can be fronted for emphasis, but only by placing it in its own subclause with tasu/soru 'do':

Úazikte tauste linna nuzi.
Hazikte tauste linna nuzi.
proud-SUB doing lord speak-PERF
Proudly the lord spoke. (Lit., Doing proudly, the lord spoke.)

Conjunctions

Kebreni has two ways of saying and, with slightly different meanings: eḣc, which appears between the conjoined constituents, and -ai, which attaches to the second constituent, voicing a final consonant and replacing the final vowel of a diphthong.

Applied to two (or more) modifiers, -ai forms an intersection, eḣc a union, of the meaning of the modifiers. For instance, muk syh neḣatai and muk syh eḣc neḣat both mean 'the young and strong men'; but muk syh neḣatat means the men who are both young and strong (the intersection of 'young men' and 'strong men'), while muk syh eḣc neḣat means the young men and the strong men (the union of 'young men' with 'strong men').

The third logical possibility is a disjunction— the men that are young or strong but not both— and this corresponds to ga 'or': muk ga syh neḣat 'the old or the young men (but not both)'.

Similarly, applied to separate words, -ai implies that both conjoints describe the same referent(s) or action, eḣc that they are separate, and ga that only one applies:

Úem falaai inezu.
Ḣem falaai inezu.
you I-AND speak-VOL
You and I (as a unit or team) will speak.

(Here the referents are not the same. When the conjoints are obviously distinct, the meaning is that they form an indissoluble team, acting together.)

Úem e…c falau inezu.
Ḣem eḣc falau inezu.
I and you.POL speak-VOL
You will speak, and I will speak.
Úem ga falau inezu.
Ḣem ga falau inezu.
I or you.POL speak-VOL
Either you will speak, or I will speak.
nyne taradeai
the girl and the dancer (who are the same), the girl dancer
nyne eḣc taradeu
the girl and the dancer (who are two separate people)
nyne ga taradeu
the girl or the dancer (but not both)
Palec symalu ťaniḣuai.
Palec bores and she annoys (all at once, simultaneously).
Palec symalu eḣc ťaniḣu.
Palec bores and she also annoys (two different attributes).
Palec symalu ga ťaniḣu.
Either Palec bores, or she annoys (not at the same time).

Ga is thus an exclusive or. There is no conjunction that has the meaning of inclusive or (X or Y or both, X and/or Y), but, as in English, one can add the 'and' case explicitly:

Mela… pabadu ga fanu ga kur soru.
Melaḣ pabadu ga fanu ga kur soru.
king laugh or die or two do
The king will laugh or die or both (lit. 'or do the two (of them)').

There is no conjunction 'but'— which, linguistically, is an 'and' with a built-in implication of surprise or contrast. These connotations must be explicitly indicated in Kebreni.

Locative verbs

What we would express with prepositions is expressed using locative verbs in Kebreni, such as zinu 'be in or on', nevu 'be in the middle of'. These can be used as regular verbs:

Mygu zinu keda!
Mygu zinu keda!
ox be.inside house
The ox is inside the house!
Raazam neryvu ha…c.
Raazam neryvu haḣc.
Raizumi be.middle-POL valley
Raizumi is in the middle of the valley (polite).

Most of them in fact are regular verbs— e.g. foru 'follow', used as a locative verb with the meaning 'be behind', mitu 'use' or 'be with'. The others were also once regular verbs, but are no longer used in their original meanings.

More frequently a locative expression is used as a modifier or an adverbial; these are subordinate clauses in Kebreni. The locative verb conventionally ends the expression, although its parameter is technically a direct object (more evidence, perhaps, for Meťaiun's OV nature):

ingarei ziunte inside the tavern
re neuvte in the middle of the day
[ḣir zeveu eupte] lyr muhnu
sad news [from an old friend]
[lim men fourte] keda
the high hill [in back of the house]
[melaḣ miutte] linna
the lords who support the king
[[kaldu ziunte] gem bakte kal ] ḣulo
an idiot [without one fucking bee [in his hive]]

These expressions are so frequent that they are phonetically degraded. The -u- is often lost, or combines with a preceding -i- or -e- to form -y-, and the final -e may be lost as well, yielding such forms as zynt' 'inside' or fort' 'in back of'.

English has at least one verb that acts like a locative verb— 'contain'. Kebreni locative verbs all act like 'contain'. Compare:

Kona zinu ci…ta ci…ta ziunte
Kona zinu ciḣta ciḣta ziunte
The money is in the box in the box

Ci…ta zadinu kona kona zadiunte
Ciḣta zadinu kona kona zadiunte
The box contains money containing money

The most common locative verbs, and the abbreviations used in derivations from them, are shown below, with some examples:

brynu bry facing, before, about keda bryunte 'in front of the house', kriidi bryunte about books'

dynu dy up, on top of, over cadu dyunte 'over the mountains'

ebu eb out (of), off, (away) from Kebri eupte 'outside Kebri'

cezu cez against, despite źaiźega ceuste 'against the marriage'

foru for behind, in back of keda fourte 'behind the house'

fuzu fu without śemu fuuste 'without a fish'

mitu mi with, using; supporting abaźe miutte 'with a knife'

nevu ne in the middle of, among, through, during nabira neufte 'in the middle of the ship', mur neufte 'for an hour'

ponu po below, under broga pounte 'under the table'

śadamu śada far (from) pol śadaunte 'far from the city'

śamu śa around, surrounding, near turgul śaunte 'surrounding the battalion'

vekru vek as, like gauryr vekurte 'like a virgin'

zinu zi in, inside, at, on(general locative) laḣ ziunte 'in the field', men ziunte 'on top of the hill', ťiron ziunte 'at market'

zadinu zadi containing, including seť zadiunte 'containing a jewel'

Time metaphorically flows not forward but downward in Kebreni:

mur dyunte an hour ago (lit., up an hour)
mur pounte an hour later, after one hour (lit., down an hour)

One can flow with a river or against it; expressions of support work the same way.

Tama miutte with (down) the Serea
Tama ceuste against (up) the Serea
melaḣ miutte/ceuste for/against the king

Finally, note that interrogative 'where' is a locative verb:

Syna ßanu?
Syna śanu?
waterfall where
Where is the waterfall?

Questions

Yes-no questions

Yes-no questions are indicated with intonation alone:

Lahu?
Lahu?
Are you coming?
Úulo, mi#unte …itane eßu?
Ḣulo, miźyunte ḣiťane eśu?
idiot / bringing sword not
Idiot, you didn't bring your sword?

A positive question is answered by repeating the verb or by contradicting it with the negative auxiliary eśu; there are no words for 'yes' or 'no'.

Lahu. Yes, I'm coming.
Eśu. No, I'm not coming.

To agree with a negative question, you again repeat the verb, which of course is the negative auxiliary eśu; to disagree with it you use the main verb:

Eśu. Yes, I didn't bring it.
Miźynu. No, I did bring it.

Tag questions are formed with eśu (polite natu), without subordinating the main verb:

Laadum ßemuste lecu, eßu?
Laadum śemuste lecu, eśu?
Laadau-MAN swimming know.how / not
Someone from Laadau knows how to swim, doesn't he?
Mela… karynu …em, natu?
Melaḣ karynu ḣem, natu?
king see-POL I / not.POL
The King will see me, won't he?

It should come as no surprise that a negative tag-question is formed by appending the non-negative main verb:

Fal fuuste kona eßu, fuzu?
Fal fuuste kona eśu, fuzu?
you lacking money not / lack
You don't have any money, do you?

Question words

Unlike in English, question words are not fronted; they remain in the syntactically appropriate spot:

Fal cyru ßava?
Fal cyru śava?
you know who
Who do you know? (Lit., you know who?)
Ma…u ßava loreai?
Maḣu śava loreai?
sell-PERF what horse-and
You sold the horse and what else? (Lit., you sold what and the horse?)
Oteurte lore zeveu ßanu?
Oteurte lore zeveu śanu?
VOL-acquire-SUB horse friend where
Where's this friend of yours who wants a horse?
Kuna ßete ßemu?
Kuna śete śemu?
see-PERF what kind fish
What kind of a fish did you see? (Lit., you saw what-kind-of fish?)
Kylsu bigynte ladu?
Kylsu bigynte ladu?
order-PERF how many olive
How many olives did you order?

Complex sentences

See also the section on Subordinating form under Verbs.

Sentences as objects

Verbs such as say or know can take sentences as objects. If the object is in its usual place, after the verb, no special syntactic marking is employed:

Cyru Verdureu ame…u baba.
Cyru [Verdureu ameḣu baba].
know [Verdurian VOL-sell mother]
We know [that Verdurians would sell their mothers.]
Kulseu nizeu turgul zinu kuri ßogu.
Kulseu nizu [turgul zinu kuri śogu].
commander say [battalion be.at that ridge]
The commander says [the battalion is on that ridge.]

If it's desired to front the sentential object, it should be followed by gente 'this one' or kurite 'that one':

Verdereu ameæu baba gente cyru?
[Verdureu ameḣu baba] gente cyru?
[Verdurian sell-VOL mother] this-one know?
That Verdurians would sell their mothers, do we know this?

Adverbial conjunctions

The conjunctions eḣc and ga can be used for entire sentences:

Mela… zinu ingarei e…c ingareu zinu …yr.
Melaḣ zinu ingarei eḣc ingareu zinu ḣyr.
king be.in tavern and tavernkeeper be.in castle
The king is in the tavern, and the tavernkeeper is in the castle.
Úilu inga ga ingarei ziunte ßaida nyne diru.
Ḣilu inga ga ingarei ziunte śaida nyne diru.
like wine or tavern being.in beautiful girl work
Either he likes the wine, or a beautiful girl works in the tavern.

Other relations between sentences are expressed by more specialized conjunctions. These are often expressed by adverbial clauses in English. Thus English adverb X (adverb) Y becomes X (conj) Y in Kebreni:

Mela… kaaryru perma falau y…ervu …ifane.
Melaḣ kaaryru pema falau yḣeryvu ḣiťane.
king return-PERF-POL when you VOL-give sword
When the king returns, you will give him your sword.
Mela… kaurte natu he# falau oteryru …iitiru.
Melaḣ kaurte natu heź falau oteryru ḣiitiru.
king returning not-POL if.then you VOL-take-POL sash
If the king does not return, (then) you will take his sash.
Úem …ou#i kriida immi konarei mengu.
Ḣem ḣouźi kriida immi konarei mengu.
I lose-PERF mortgage-SUB paper because.of.that bank whine
Because I lost the mortgage document, the bank is whining.

The conjunction is considered to modify the first (X) clause. To second clause can however be fronted if a demonstrative is left in its place:

Konarei mengu, …em …ou#i gemeßate kriida immi kurite.
Konarei mengu, ḣem ḣouźi gemeśate kriida immi kurite.
bank whine / I lose-PERF mortgage-SUB paper / because that.one
The bank is whining, because I lost the mortgage document.

'To do X in order to Y' is expressed by placing X in the volitional and subordinating Y:

Alamute aeladu.
Alamaute aeladu.
get-money-SUB spend-money-VOL
In order to get money, you must spend money.
¸yunte Kebropol …em oteru lore.
Źyunte Kebropol ḣem oteru lore.
go-SUB Kebropol I acquire-VOL horse
I want to get a horse in order to get to Kebropol.

Relative clauses

As noted under Pronouns, interrogative pronouns cannot be used as relative clauses (that is, to form subordinate clauses).

Where English would use 'what', 'who' 'where', or 'when', Kebreni uses the subordinating form of the verb:

¸ai#iute kulseu taradeu …iulte eßu.
[Źaiźiute kulseu] taradeu ḣiulte eśu.
[marry-PERF commander] dancer liking not
The dancer [who married a commander] doesn't like him.
Cuka miute gente eveßu.
[Cuka miute] gente eveśu.
[pimple having] that.one VOL-not
I don't want the one [who has a pimple].
Y#enu hamaida nyne tarautte ingarei
Yźenu [hamaida nyne tarautte] ingarei.
VOL-go [stripped girl dancing] tavern
I want to go to the tavern where the naked girls dance.

An English sentence with relative 'why' will be expressed using immi 'because' in Kebreni:

¸yunte Laadau immi cyurte eßu.
[Źyunte Laadau immi] cyurte eśu.
[going Laadau because] knowing not
I don't know [why he's going to Laadau].
(Lit., I don't know because he's going to Laadau.)

Transformations

Transformations can be thought of as little machines that take one sentence and turn it into something else, for some purpose. E.g. our Passive transformation turns an active sentence into a passive one, which focuses on the object affected rather than the agent. Some of the above syntax (e.g. negation) would also count as transformations.

For a brief intro to transformations, see the Verdurian grammar. For a longer one, see the Xurnese grammar. And for a whole book, see my Syntax Construction Kit.

Focus

To mark focus, a constituent is moved to the front of the sentence. With compound sentences, the constituent in focus may serve as either subject or object in the sentence; context usually serves to keep the meaning clear, without any unusual syntax or the insertion of pronouns.

Muk bo†eneum, sudy Kamum, e…c kulseu …ilu.
Muk boťeneu sudy Kamum, eḣc kulseu ḣilu.
young soldier / name Kalum / abd commander like
The young soldier, [he] is named Kamum, and the commander likes [him].
Linnate nyne gegeu mi#ynu gembadu.
Linnate nyne gegeu miźynu gembadu.
lord-SUB daughter servant bring breakfast
As for the lord's daughter, the servants are bringing breakfast [to her].

Note that when there are two noun phrases before the verb and no object after it, the first must be the object. If there's just one noun phrase before the verb, it's both subject and focus.

Hus nynete baba agenu #e.
Hus nynete baba agenu źe.
doctor girl-SUB mother VOL-see also
As for the doctor, the girl's mother wants to see him too..
Nynete baba agenu hus #e.
Nynete baba agenu hus źe.
gilr-SUB mother VOL-see doctor also
As for the girl's mother, she wants to see the doctor too.
Ne…at guma mabu.
Neḣat guma mabu.
man bite-PERF dog
Man bites dog. (focus unmarked or on 'man')
Mabu guma ne…at.
Mabu guma neḣat.
bite-PERF dog man
Dog bites man. (focus unmarked or on 'dog')
Ne…at mabu guma.
Neḣat mabu guma.
man bite-PERF dog
As for the man, the dog bit him. (focus on 'man')
Mabu ne…at guma.
Mabu neḣat guma.
bite-PERF man dog
As for the dog, the man bit him. (focus on 'dog')

Schematically:

NP V = S V
V NP = V O
NP V NP = S V O
NP NP V = O S V

Subordination

Some of this is repeated from above, for completeness. Subordination turns a sentence into a modifier. E.g.:

Nyne a#ei#igu.
Nyne aźeiźigu.
girl VOL-marry
The girl wants to get married.
> a#ei#iucte (nyne)
aźeiźiucte (nyne).
VOL-marry-SUB (girl)
(the girl) who wants to get married

The relative clause can be headless; or to put it another way, the subordinated phrase can be used as an argument NP:

Kalum gennyr nizu a#ei#iucte.
Kalum gennyr nizu aźeiźiucte.
Kalum only speak VOL-marry-SUB
Kalum only talks to those who want to get married.

The use of the -te form with auxiliaries can be seen as extension of this: the entire subordinated sentence is the subject of the auxiliary. Compare:

Boß maru.
Boś maru.
failure be.likely
Failure is likely.

Kalum boßte maru.
Kalum bośte maru.
Kalum failure-SUB be.likely
It’s likely that Kalum will fail.

The subordinated sentence modifies a noun. But it can also modify an entire sentence, in which case it’s placed before the verb (exactly like -te adverbs):

a#ei#iucte toryveu Nyne Kebropol #uny.
Nyne Kebropol aźeiźiucte źuny.
girl Kebropol VOL-marry-SUB go-PERF
Wanting to get married, the girl moved to Kebropol

In this usage, if there is an object (not merely an additional modifier), the construction is usually fronted or backed.

¸i#uicte toryveu, nyne Kebropol #uny.
Źiźiucte toryveu, nyne Kebropol uźuny.
marry-SUB trader / girl Kebropol go-PERF-VOL
The girl moved to Kebropol in order to marry the trader.

The subordinated sentence can be the object of a preposition (locative verb). This is one occasion where two -te forms may adjoin.

Gymu ibreni pombaadarei bihate faunte fuuste.
Gymu ibreni pombaadarei bihate faunte fuuste.
we explore-BENEF-VOL sub-cellar anyone dying lacking
We’re going to explore this dungeon without dying.

This includes vekru ‘like, as’, which is a locative verb in Kebreni:

Cin kriutte leriucte eßu Mykneu kriutte vekurte.
Cin kriutte leriucte eśu Mykneu kriutte vekurte.
I-PEJ write-SUB can-SUB not Mykneu-SUB write-SUB as-SUB
I can’t write like Mykneu writes.

This can of course be shortend to Mykneu vekurte ‘like Mykneu’.

As shown above, a subordinated sentence may be followed by immi to express purpose. Cf. aźeiźiugte immi ‘because she wanted to marry’.

Nominalization

How do you turn a sentence into an NP? Since Kebreni has a hammer (-te), it uses it for this nail too. Compare:

Ma#iga dyvuti Verdereu.
Maźiga dyvuti Verdereu.
Maźiga beat-PERF Verdurian
Maźiga beat the Verdurians.
> Ma#igate (Verdureu bryunte) dyveti
Maźigate (Verdureu bryunte) dyveti
Maźiga-SUB (Verdurian facing) victory
Maźiga’s victory (i.e. beating) over the Verdurians
> Verdureu bryunte dyveti
Verdureu bryunte dyveti
Verdurian facing victory
victory over the Verdurians

The former object, if given, is properly marked with bryunte. However, if no confusion is likely and the subject is not given, this can be left out: Kebropol źynau ’departure for Kebropol’; kahaba ḣemi ’the drinking of coffee’. But: Maźigate kahaba bryunte ḣemi ’Maźiga’s drinking of coffee’

This works with person nominalizations too: Verdureute dyviteu ‘the victor over the Verdurians’. As only the object can be referred to, bryunte is omitted.

Causative

There are two ways of forming causatives. One uses the sentential object construction:

Lelec somura (mabu buda akennu).
Lelec somura [mabu buda akennu].
Lelec cause-PERF [dog eat-PERF evidence]
Lelec made the dog eat the evidence.

The other is to promote the causee to direct object of the main clause, and use the subordinating form for the subclause:

Lelec somura (akennu baudte) mabu.
Lelec somura [akennu baudte] mabu.
Lelec cause-PERF [evidence eating] dog.
Lelec made the dog eat the evidence.

Though the meaning basically is the same, this is more direct— here, it confirms that the causation was intentional and not accidental.

VP Anaphor

The verb foru ‘follow’ is used as a conjunction ’thus’. It can be used as a verbal anaphor, replacing an entire VP; for this it reverts to being conjugated as a verb, but should be understood as ’did thus’ rather than ’followed’.

Mabu buda sus, e…c neku buda sus.
Mabu buda sus, eḣc neku buda sus.
Mabu eat-PERF mouse / and cat eat-PERF mouse
The dog ate a mouse, and the cat ate a mouse.
> Mabu buda sus, e…c neku furo.
Mabu buda sus, eḣc neku furo.
Mabu eat-PERF mouse / and cat follow-PERF
The dog ate a mouse, and the cat did too.

In this sense foru can be conjugated normally. E.g. here volitional ...ofure would mean ‘...and the cat wanted to.’

The verb may be supplied as a conversational response.

—Cin ikrude kuri kriidi.
—Cin ikrude kuri kriidi.
I-PEJ write-PERF-VOL that book
”I wanted to write that book.”
—Furo?
—Furo?
thus-PERF
”And did you?”

Gapping

In a conjunction of the form "X verbs Y and W verbs Z", the identical verb can be deleted.

Verdureu toru Yndana, foru gymu toru Angenvari.
Verdureu toru Yndana, foru gymu toru Angenvari.
Verdurian take Téllinor / therefore we take Angenvari
The Verdurians are taking Téllinor, so we are taking Angenvari.
> Verdureu toru Yndana, foru gymu Angenvari.
Verdureu toru Yndana, foru gymu Angenvari.
Verdurian take Téllinor / therefore we take Angenvari
The Verdurians are taking Téllinor, so we are taking Angenvari.

Note that this is an instance of foru as conjunction ‘thus’, not as a VP anaphor!

Very similarly, if two conjuncts share an object, it can be omitted in the second sentence. (Not the first, as would be more likely in English.)

Verdureu hantoru Nam immi gymu ce…nu Nam.
Verdureu hantoru Nam immi gymu ceḣnu Nam.
Verdurian invade Nan because.of.that we defend Nan
Because the Verdurians are invading Nan, we are defending Nan.
> Verdureu hantoru Nam immi gymu ce…nu.
Verdureu hantoru Nam immi gymu ceḣnu.
Verdurian invade Nan because.of.that we defend
The Verdurians are invading, so we are defending, Nan.

Clefting

As noted above, a constituent can be fronted for emphasis. This can be extended with the verb zaru ‘be there’:

Kalum u…emu ingu.
Kalum uḣemu ingu.
Kalum drink-VOL wine
Kalum wants to drink wine.
> Ingu zaru, Kalum u…emu.
Ingu zaru, Kalum uḣemu.
wine exist / Kalum drink-VOL
It’s wine that Kalum wants to drink.
> Kalum zaru, u…emu ingu.
Kalum zaru, uḣemu ingu.
Kalum exist / drink-VOL wine
It’s Kalum that wants to drink wine.

Naturally you’d have Kalum zaurte eśu... for ‘It’s not Kalum who wants to drink wine.’ Colloquially this can be simplied to Kalum eśu...

Light verbs

Often an intransitive verb can be turned into a transitive with what is in effect a dummy object. It doesn’t really change the meaning, so stylists advise against it, but it’s quite common.

Lelec nyylte taruda.
Lelec nyylte taruda.
Lelec slow-SUB dance-PERF
Lelec slowly danced.
> Lelec nyylte taruda taradi.
Lelec nyylte taruda taradi.
Lelec slow-SUB dance-PERF dance
Lelec slowly danced a dance.

The verb can then be replaced with tasu/soru ’do’. In this case, any adverb modifying the original verb moves to the dummy object.

> Lelec tusa nyyl taruda.
Lelec tusa nyyl taradi.
Lelec do-PERF slow dance
Lelec did a slow dance.

Semantic fields

Weekdays

The names of days of the week (mery) are calqued from Caďinor.

hamare scúreden country

cymure širden moon

sovundre fidren night

ozurre calten sun

boḣture zëden sea

ťiron néronden market

seḣepre ceďnare eating (i.e. feast)

Months

The months (cymu) are somewhat looser calques on Caďinor.

muccymu olašu new month

śonsi reli sowing

seḣapna cuéndimar celebration

aḣimba vlerëi goddess Vlerë

geḣgu calo heat

ede recoltë harvest

forźynau yag hunt

ḣela želea calm

zavec išire planet Išire

sylgo šoru shadow

rikas froďac cold wind

varu bešana ending

The leap day is called forźycisa, a calque on Ver. kasten ‘hidden day’.

Measures

The traditional system for measuring length:

Unit Relation In hui Metric Etymology

śenu 1/12 huiḣ 0.02083 1.98 mm smallness

huiḣ 1/4 hui 0.25 2.38 cm dim. of hui

hui base 1 9.525 cm finger

zeta 5 hui 5 47.625 cm arm

neḣagu 3 zeta 15 1.429 m body

lore 2 neḣagu 30 2.858 m horse

prozma 1/125 kaamza 63.68 6.065 m (Caď.) pace

kaamza 125 prozma 7,960 758.19 m (Caď.) size of Caema temple

The Kebreni kaamza is slightly larger than the Verdurian cemisa: 758.19 m rather than 758 m. The prozma is cognate to the Verdurian proma, but the Kebreni found it more useful to make it 4 times larger.

Area is measured in prozmana, which are 100 square prozma, i.e. 3678.2 m² or 0.37 hectare.

In 3615 Kebri adopted a decimal measurement system. It adopted the international Xurnese System instead in 3636, but the older system persisted in many domains.

The basis of the system was the hui, unchanged at 9.525 cm. Rather than using prefixes, new names were created for the derived units:

Unit Multiplier Metric

śeiḣ 1/100 0.9525 mm

śeina 1/10 9.525 mm

hui 1.0 9.525 cm

linniḣ 10 95.25 cm

linnu 100 9.525 m

leḣos 10000 0.9525 km

Informally, hui is sometimes used for mein, the 7.6 cm unit that is the basis for the Xurnese system.

Names and titles

The Kebreni, at least in modern times, have two names, a personal name (ťirunu) and the family name (źante), in that order.

Personal names may be just about any appropriate noun or adjective (Syna ‘waterfall’, Miry ‘rich’, Caiźiru ‘type of flower’), but are often formed with nominalizations: e.g. kal ‘oak’ > masculine Kalum, feminine Kalec; Ḣileu ‘devotee’.

Family names often indicate a geographic origin, specific (Kotor, Nynoḣu, Nevurte) or vague (Lezum ‘of the forest’, Vaarum ‘of the coast’, Ebaneu ‘foreigner’). Profession names are common: Kopureu ‘distiller’, Lazum ‘farmer’, Seťarei ‘silk workshop’. Yet others derive from nicknames or other qualities: Pansyr ‘loveable’, Voiteu ‘blind’, Cymure ‘(born on) širden’.

A full title comes between the names: Zauvum linna Tivatemeu ‘Zaauvum, lord Tivatemeu’; Sygec dibira Oriśaga “prime minister Sygec Oriśaga’, Śogum ziedu Numygur, ‘lieutenant Śogum Numygur’. On second reference you omit the personal name. Unlike in Verduria, nobles do not have separate family and title names.

Eleďî normally but not always take Elenico names— rarely Cuzeian ones. These have been adapted from Old Verdurian (rather than directly from Greek, or from Verdurian):

Masculine

Agusto Filemo Klemen Nikano Timoťeu

Akulaḣ Filipo Koḣmo Nikolo Tito

Alekso Gaho Korneu Oano Tomeu

Ämilo Gamaleu Kuro Osef Tuḣiko

Antono Gavrel Lavreno Pavlo Tuḣon

Apelen Gregoro Lazaro Petro Ťadeu

Apolo Gyrgo Lino Rufo Ťamano

Äron Helaḣ Lukano Sameu Ťanel

Atipaḣ Heso Lukaḣ Savlo Ťaro

Aťam Ḣisforo Marko Sergo Ťavid

Aťano Ida Maro Sevaḣtan Ťemetro

Aťra Ikovo Martino Silaḣ Ťonuso

Avräm Ilo Mato Simon Ťydoro

Egeno Ison Maťeu Solomon Varnavaḣ

Emaneu Isäc Meliťec Sosťen Vaťolomeu

Eraḣto Isu Miḣäl Stefano Vasileu

Ezekaḣ Kefaḣ Moso Sumon Venamen

Felics Kläťo Naťaneu Timeu Zaḣaraḣ

Feminine

Agaťe Evgeni Luka Reveka Ťedora

Äkatrine Fernike Luťi Roťe Ťerasi

Aleťe Foive Luťuka Ruťa Ťorka

Aleksa Hagne Margite Sarra Varvara

Ämila Helena Mari Sofi Vaťolomec

Anna Ḣarma Martina Suntiḣ Vasilec

Angela Ḣloe Melani Susana Verena

Antona Ila Miḣäla Tadec Vernike

Aťana Iriḣ Natali Taviťa Vetriksa

Aťera Käkila Oana Timoťec Zaḣara

Elisveta Kläťa Persiḣ Trufäna

Esťera Koḣma Petra Ťamariḣ

Eva Ksena Priska Ťanela

Evnike Loiḣ Raḣeli Ťara

Letters of the alphabet

The Kebreni alphabet, in order, with the letter names:

u u u † ť ťen

a a a z z zaḣ

o o o t t ten

e e e ß ś śe

i i i # ź źe

y y y r r ra

k k ek h h hoť

p p pe l l la

c c ceḣ m m me

b b be f f faḣ

g g geḣ n n ne

d d dah v v vaḣ

s s saḣ … ḣ ḣik

A pitfall for Verdurians: ß # ś ź are the same letterforms as Verdurian š ž but appear in a different place in the alphabet. Programmers solved this problem for themselves, but created one for the users, by giving these characters different code points.

Example

`Zivan e…c eban` • Zivan eḣc eban • Inside and outside

This selection, from a newspaper article by Śenum Polyr, shows the typical romantic, slightly defensive Kebreni patriotism. It is given in transliteration with an interlinear translation, then in a free English translation.

In the interlinear translation, for brevity, I've used the English possessive or gerundive to represent subordinating forms of nouns and verbs, respectively. However, I've used verbal forms to translate locative verbs; prepositions would misrepresent the structure of Kebreni.

Writing addressed to the world in general (stories, essays, textbooks, news articles) generally does not use the polite forms. When the writer has a specific audience in mind (speeches, petitions, personal letters, sermons), polite forms are used. They are not used in religious language or in legal documents--not signs of disrespect for gods or negotiation partners, but of the age of such language, predating the grammaticalization of politeness.

Uneitsu Kebri. Nuutsi ßava?
Uneitsu Kebri. Nuutsi śava?
think-VOL Kebri. think-PERF what?
Think of Kebri. What do you think of?

Ha…c ziunte sylgu, luda kuguynte men, boætunate geira †aupte yvyre.
Haḣc ziunte sylgu, luda kuguynte men, boḣtunate geira ťaupte yvyre.
valley being-in shadow, olive-tree filling hill, sea's sound lapping boats.
You think of the shadows on the valleys, the hills carpeted by olive trees, the sound of the sea lapping against boats.

Nuitu ziunte kanu hazik pol, nabirateu e…c konarei e…c ingarei miutte,
Nuitu ziunte kanu hazik pol, nabirateu eḣc konarei eḣc ingarei miutte,
mind being-in see proud city, shipbuilder and bank and tavern using
You see in your mind the proud cities, with their shipbuilders and banks and taverns,

geru kebrite ceirate lyyr zauguai, ansu ßaida kebren nynete …ir mova,
geru kebrite ceirate lyyr zauguai, ansu śaida kebren nynete ḣir mova,
hear kebri's song's sadness glory-and, feel beautiful kebreni girl's long hair
hear the sadness and glory of Kebreni songs, feel the long hair of beautiful Kebreni girls,

debru falte ha…c ga falte no…a ziunte tauste i#ele, Kebri ziunte dynyr.
debru falte haḣc ga falte noḣa ziunte tauste iźele, Kebri ziunte dynyr.
taste your valley or your island being-in making cheese, kebri being-in top
taste the particular cheese made in your own valley or island— the best on Kebri.

Fal kebren immi nuitsu orat kurite.
Fal kebren immi nuitsu orat kurite.
you kebreni because think all that-NOM
You think all this because you are Kebreni.

Verdureu nuitsu, kebri zikanu gente: ingu, ladute gezu, nabira zateuguai.
Verdureu nuitsu, kebri zikanu gente: ingu, ladute gezu, nabira zateuguai.
verdurian think, kebri mean this-NOM: wine, olive's oil, ship, enmity-and
To the Verdurians, Kebri means these things: wine, olive oil, ships— and enmity.

Gymu …i…unte Ru…tyrte rema hami, toryuvte ˇe˙nam hami, Moreo Aßcaite mela… bryunte ledeu.
Gymu ḣiḣunte Ruḣtyrte rema hami, toryuvte Ťeḣnam hami, moreo aścaite melaḣ bryunte ledeu.
we burning arcaln's bridge land, trading dhekhnam land, moreo ašcai's king facing rival.
We are the land which burned the Arcaln Bridge, the land that trades with Dhekhnam, the rival before the king of Moreo Ašcai.

Oratte ceuste, nana miutte, tasu oradam ziunte dynyr ingu,
Oratte ceuste, nana miutte, tasu oradam ziunte dynyr ingu,
all-NOM opposing, methods using, make world being-in top wine,
And at the same time, somehow, we make the finest wine in the world,

Kelenor Luißorai ceuste …auv miuryai.
Kelenor Luiśorai ceuste ḣauv miuryai.
celenor luyšor-and opposing good-AUG rich-AUG-and
better and richer than that that of Célenor or Luyšor.

Gensi e…c gennisi. Kanu gymu oradam vekurte:
Gensi eḣc gennisi. Kanu gymu oradam vekurte:
same-for-me and same-to-you. see us world seeming:
It is the same way with each one of us. We see ourselves as a world—

bucuelecsu cynaute kumbehsu meclau.
bucuelecsu cynaute kumbehsu meclau.
irreducible experience's miscellaneous mixture
a jumbled mixture of irreducible experience.

Ebaneu kanu bemaß miutte— gente ceuste, gymu kaunte eußte #aite †aza kanu.
Ebaneu kanu bemaś miutte— gente ceuste, gymu kaunte euśte źaite ťaza kanu.
outsider see caricature with— this-NOM opposing, we seeing not-SUB things they see
Outsiders see us in caricature— but may also see what we do not see:

Bobabeu nuituste eßu …ymu kunnar.
Bobabeu nuituste eśu ḣymu kunnar.
drunkard thinking not-PRES drinks too-much
the drunkard never thinks he drinks too much.

Kanarei geme… do…tte eśu, kure… do…tte eßu:
Kanarei gemeḣ doḣtte eśu, kureḣ doḣtte eśu:
viewpoint first right-SUB not, second right-SUB not-PRES
Neither point of view is the correct one

ne…atte #aite miutte, nenkanyr kanarei zaurte eßu.
neḣatte źaite miutte, nenkanyr kanarei zaurte eśu.
man's thing having, objective viewpoint existing not
with human things, there is no objective viewpoint.

`Aße#ynu?` • Aśeźynu • Shall we elope?

This extract is from a 3467 play, Aśeźynu? (Shall we elope?), by Kusire Mykneu. The hero, Kalum, has fallen in love with a lord’s daughter, Sylec Broida— who however has been promised to her father’s old attorney. In this scene Kalum works up his nerve to ask her father for her hand. However, he does not speak well when he’s nervous, and he’s particularly prone to mix up words with similar-sounding ones.

You can learn some common expressions from this dialog, as well as how to use the polite and pejorative forms.

KALUM (tastauste). Din Linna. Linna Broida. Falaute reikau vatar tra#agu.
KALUM (tastauste). Din Linna. Linna Broida. Falaute reikau vatar traźagu.
Kalum / trying / hon. lord / lord Broida / you.POL-SUB meeting endless pleasure
KALUM (practising). Sir Lord. Lord Broida. What a pleasure it is to meet you.

Kaunte lerycu falaute zizavaute baadarei?
Kaunte lerycu falaute zizavaute baadarei?
seeing can-POL you.POL-SUB famous cellar
Could I see your famous wine cellar?

Luriha falaute nyne fourte. Falaute nynete amma fourte.
Luriha falaute nyne fourte. Falaute nynete amma fourte.
come-POL-PERF you.POL-SUB daughter following / you.POL-SUB daugher-SUB hand following
I've come for your daughter. For your daughter's hand.

Ehemarybu kurite, fynpila.
Ehemarybu kurite, fynpila.
VOL-POL-give.up that.one naturally
If you wish to give it up, of course.

Falau cyurte, cin reuriki falaute nyne. Ga †a… cyru? Eßu he# …avna.
Falau cyurte, cin reuriki falaute nyne. Ga ťaḣ cyru? Eśu heź ḣavna.
you.POL knowing / I.PEJ meet-PERF-POL you.POL-SUB daughter. or 3s know? not if.then good-AUG
As you know, I've met your daughter. Or does he know? Perhaps it’s better if he doesn’t.

Cin reuriki nynete baba. Eßu, cinte baba reuriki falaute #ai#eiga ßaida nyne miutte.
Cin reuriki nynete baba. Eśu, cinte baba reuriki falaute źaiźeiga śaida nyne miutte.
I.PEJ meet-PERF-POL girl-SUB mother / no / I-gen mother meet-PERF-POL you.POL-SUB spouse beautiful daughter with
I’ve met the girl’s mother. No, my mother met your wife, your wife and your beautiful daughter.

Batrounte bißu, amma miutte tauste bißu.
Batrounte biśu, amma miutte tauste biśu.
relaxing must / hand with doing need
I must relax, have something to do with my hands.

(Tourte kriidi) Zizavaute mela…te sabareite lic. Kurite bißu.
(Tourte kriidi) Zizavaute melaḣte sabareite lic. Kurite biśu.
taking book / famous king-SUB court-SUB lawsuit / that.one need
(Taking a book) Famous royal court cases. Just the thing.

Linna kru…ite nynete neßameu lic. Dynyr, dynyrna.
Linna kruḣite nynete neśameu lic. Dynyr, dynyrna.
lord kill-PERF-SUB daughter-SUB suitor lawsuit / excellent excellent-AUG
The case of a lord who murdered his daughter’s suitor. Excellent, excellent.

BROIDA (zi#yynte). Úamenivi.
BROIDA (ziźyynte). Ḣamenivi.
broida / entering / bless-YOU-BENEF
BROIDA (entering). Greetings.

KALUM (piisa). Orat kem! Úamenirivi, Broga linna,, Bryga linna,, Broida linna.
KALUM (piisa). Orat kem! Ḣamenirivi, Broga linna— Bryga linna— Broida linna.
Kalum / surprised / all god / bless-YOU-BENEF-POL / table lord / trousers lord / Broida[storm] lord
KALUM (surprised). Omigosh! Greetings, Lord Table. Lord Trousers? Lord Broida.

Falaute oste reikau vatar tonzurgu.
Falaute oste reikau vatar tonzurgu.
you.POL-SUB later-SUB meeting endless softness
What a softness it is to meet you at last.

Gente …av kriidi natu? Cin kaunte lericu.
Gente ḣav kriidi natu? Cin kaunte lericu.
this.one good book not.POL / I.PEJ reading can-POL
Is this a good book? Perhaps I could read it.

BROIDA.Falai ßava?
BROIDA.Falai śava?
Broida / you-and who
BROIDA. And you are?

KALUM. Kamul, falaute vanau. Kalum. Kalum Patolen.
KALUM. Kamul, falaute vanau. Kalum. Kalum Patolen.
Kalum / Kamul / you-POL-SUB rulership / Kalum / Kalum Patolen
KALUM. Kamul, your majesty. Kalum. Kalum Patolen.

Cinte #ai#eiga reuriki faulaute baba. Natu, kurisa nan.
Cinte źaiźeiga reuriki faulaute baba. Natu, kurisa nan.
I.PEJ-SUB spouse meet-POL-PERF you.POL-SUB mother / not.POL / other way
My wife met your mother. No, the other way.

Vu… reuriki falaute #ai#eiga gemaḣarei ziunte nyne gauryrte nn gauvte.
Vuḣ reuriki falaute źaiźeiga gemaḣarei ziunte nyne gauryrte nn gauvte.
3s.PEJ meet-POL-PERF you.POL-SUB spouse bakery being.in daughter virgin-SUB um with-SUB
She met your wife at the bakery, virgin your daughter, er, with your daughter.

BROIDA. Te†eugte, mugeu. Y…emu bihate.
BROIDA. Teťeugte, mugeu. yḣemu bihate.
Broida / shuddering / youngster / VOL-drink something
BROIDA. You are nervous, young man. Have a drink.

KALUM. Fyrre …ymu, lintana#. Cin inezu ßava?
KALUM. Fyrre ḣymu, lintanaź. Cin inezu śava?
Kalum / never drink / wisdom / I.PEJ VOL-say what
KALUM. I don't drink, your honor. What am I saying?

Úymu orat re. (Úymu.) Kurite varyr gem re.
Ḣymu orat re. (Ḣymu.) Kurite varyr gem re.
drink every day / drink / that.one final this day
I drink every day. (Drinks.) That was it for today.

Sire, cinte linna, y#enu. Natu, i#e#ycrisu.
Sire, cinte linna, yźenu. Natu, iźeźycrisu.
thanks / I.PEJ-SUB lord / VOL-go / no.POL / VOL-wait-POL
Thank you my lord, I should be going. No, wait.

BROIDA. E…elu, ßenen. Úente #ai#eiga amukna.
BROIDA. Eḣelu, śenen. Ḣente źaiźeiga amukna.
Broida / calm-VOL / young.boy / I.SUB spouse explain-PERF
BROIDA. Calm yourself, boy. My wife has explained.

Inezu Sylec bryunte.
Inezu Sylec bryunte.
speak-VOL Sylec facing
You wish to speak about Sylec.

KALUM. Kurite, ßylnu bryunte— Sylec bryunte! Vep falaute nyne, natu?
KALUM. Kurite, śylnu bryunte— Sylec bryunte! Vep falaute nyne, natu?
Kalum / that.one / breast facing / Sylec facing / 3s.POL you.POL-SUB daughter / no.POL
KALUM. Yes, about breasts— about Sylec! She is your daughter, no?

E…c cin... varyr tra#agu... inerizu kurite he#... vep nurizi a#ei#igu?
Eḣc cin... varyr traźagu... inerizu kurite heź... vep nurizi aźeiźigu?
and I / final pleasure / VOL-say-POL that.one if.then / 3s.POL VOL-say-POL VOL-marry
And I am— I have the pleasure to be— if I could just say... has she said she wants to marry?

Nyne nizu, natu? Vybu kum zibor#yr gem re.
Nyne nizu, natu? Vybu kum ziborźyr gem re.
girl say / not.POL / 3p.POL much pushy this day
Girls do, don’t they? So headstrong, these days.

Kurite, kentegu. Icegu falaute amma, a#ei#igu. A#ei#irigu.
Kurite, kentegu. Icegu falaute amma, aźeiźigu. Aźeiźirigu.
that.one / holiness / VOL-ask you.POL-SUB hand / VOL-marry / VOL-marry-POL
Yes, your worship, I would like to ask for your hand. Let us marry.

BROIDA. Nohu fal zikanu,,
BROIDA. Nohu fal zikanu...
Broida / think you mean
BROIDA. I think you mean...

KALUM. Vatar do…tau, vepte amma. Nynete. Brynurizi gema…arei?
KALUM. Vatar doḣtau, vepte amma. Nynete. Brynurizi gemaḣarei?
Kalum / endless rightness / 3s.POL-SUB hand / girl-SUB / mention-PERF-POL bakery
KALUM. You’re so right, her hand. The girl’s. Did I mention the bakery?

BROIDA. Tasu ßava, mugeu?
BROIDA. Tasu śava, mugeu?
Broida / do what / youngster
BROIDA. What do you do, youngster?

KALUM. Úavte tasu, cinte linna. Nizu falau vatar tra#agu.
KALUM. Ḣavte tasu, cinte linna. Nizu falau vatar traźagu.
Kalum / good-SUB do / I.PEJ-SUB lord / speak you.POL endless pleasure
KALUM. I am doing well, my lord. It’s a pleasure to talk to you.

BROIDA. Zikanu, fal foru ßete dirau?
BROIDA. Zikanu, fal foru śete dirau?
Broida / mean / you follow which career
BROIDA. I mean, what is your business?

KALUM. Cinte dirau! Fynpila, linna, adnedeu zeri. Foru toryvau.
KALUM. Cinte dirau! Fynpila, linna, adnedeu zeri. Foru toryvau.
Kalum / I.PEJ-SUB career / naturally / lord / entrepreneur exist-BENEF / follow commerce
KALUM. My work! Yes, lord, I am a businessman. I engage in trade.

Zi…iraute inezu, gegu kulisa. Úyngu miutte— diru ingarei ziunte.
Ziḣiraute inezu, gegu kulisa. Ḣyngu miutte— diru ingarei ziunte.
precisely VOL-say / serve fleet / beverage with / work tavern being.inside
That is to say, I serve the Navy. With drinks— I work at the bar.

Lord Broida is not a severe man, but the lowliness of Kalum’s station, and his extraordinary clumsiness, do not make a good impression. He cannot agree to the marriage, at least here in Act 1.

Sound changes

The following sound changes can be postulated between Meťaiun and Kebreni.
C = any consonant
F = front vowel

CC → C		treggeur → treḣyr
[+fric] → [-fric]	/ _[+liquid]	Davrio → Dabru, ȟras → kraḣ
e → y	/ C,#_Cu	keruna → kyruna
i → y	/ C,#_Cⁿu	kijur → kyźur
g → x	/ _F	geilas → ḣilaḣ
g → γ	/ _C	mogdo → moγdo → mohdu
r → i	/ g_	grem → giem → gem
s, z → [+velar]	/ _[+stop], _#	γask → haḣc, girilas → ḣirilaḣ
k → c	/ _i	vaiki → vaac, kiodi → cai
ai → aa		Laita → Lädau
oi → e		Awoilas → Avelaḣ
au → e		saumi → sem
Fu → y		briu → bry, neuli → nyl
io → a	/ _C	kiodi → cai
o → u	/ _(Cⁿ)#	mog → muk, arosd → ruḣt
w → v		Newor → Nevur, Awoilas → Avelaḣ
ȟ → ḣ		ȟam → ḣam
[+vcd+stop] → 0	/ V_F	kiodi → cai, Dobauron → Doerun
i → 0	/ _V	lesio → lezu
[-vcd+obs] → [+vcd]	/ V_V	sifa → siva, Gutein → Gudin, Laita → Lädau
e → 0	/ _ i, a	geilas → ḣilaḣ, Leziunea → Lezyna
i → 0	/ C_#	raisi → raas
r → 0	/ C_#	godri → godr → god → got
č → ś		Čengo → Śengu
j → ź	/_	jindor → źindur
γ →h		γask → haḣc, mogdo → moγdo → mohdu
k → c	/ by x, ś	γask → haḣk → haḣc
n → i	/ _[+dental]	čanda → śaida
m → n	/ by [+dental]	admettan → adnedan, ȟamsifa → ḣansiva
h → 0	/ _x	moggeur → moγxyr → mohxyr → moxyr
n → 0	/ _s	tanso → tasu
[+stop] → [-vcd]	/ _#	vaiki → vaaci → vaac, mog → muk

Curiously, the voicing of medial consonants (e.g. demettan → demedu) seems to be an areal feature, shared with Ismaîn and the Avélan dialect of Verdurian.

Borrowings

Kebreni and its ancestor Meťaiun have been in close contact with Cuêzi and the Caďinorian languages for close to four milennia, and there has been extensive borrowing in both directions.

Meťaiun borrowings into Cuêzi include geōre ‘castle’, nîdo ‘wheel’, nêsei ‘parley’, auōni ‘treaty’, navera ‘sail’, ancua ‘sea serpent’, etêia ‘flower‘, girin ‘ibis’, sêori ‘octopus’, buras ‘sponge’, crinu ‘papyrus’, execu ‘lentil’, ladu ‘olive’, mexera ‘type of herb’, ciotīro ‘type of flower’, talāuas ‘orange’, xariu ‘luck’, trîgo ‘soot’.

Meťaiun borrowings from Cuêzi include aviza ‘university’, numygur ‘hermit’, kriida ‘paper’, eri ‘map’, ris ‘pen’, gunaḣ ‘hero’, eklura ‘sensual abandon’, kelun ‘bronze’, mardaḣ ‘iron’, lidaḣ ‘steel’, fadora ‘fountain’, myga ‘thousand’, pery ‘flaid’, yra ‘type of flower’, alať ‘silver coin’.

Meťaiun borrowings into Caďinor include Agireis ‘the sea goddess’, evranȟras ‘realgar’, ȟamsifa ‘sulfur’, laitondos ‘brass’, paťeta ‘calomine’, baita ‘barrel’, cora ‘riverboat’, tindigeda ‘anchor’,ťeiba ‘bow’, pinda ‘stern’, siobostos‘brine’, burasos ‘sponge’, dauris ‘seagull’, akulua ‘shark’, raiȟ ‘crab’, moreia ‘tuna’, noťonis ‘salmon’, busmitrio ‘pearl’, citro ‘lemon’, bidno ‘grapevine’, vinos ‘wine’, moruť ‘carrot’, palaznos ‘gorse’, seťa ‘silk’, viďora ‘type of flower’, mapola ‘poppy’, suber ‘cork’, peida ‘type of vine’, kariu ‘happiness’, and dozens of toponyms.

Meťaiun borrowings from Caďinor include adnedu ‘add’, demedu ‘subtract’, bina ‘list’, leraḣ ‘understanding’, aken ‘clear’, ḣiitiru ‘sash’, aladaḣ ‘grammar’, preḣtura ‘history’, kaadau ‘magic’, ygunit ‘knights-and-kings’, kraze ‘rose’, kridu ‘write’, ledu ‘compete’, lureḣ ‘beautiful’, lyḣ ‘glass’, ciḣta ‘box’.

As Caďinor is the scholarly language of Eretald, there are also borrowings directly into Kebreni, e.g. zen ‘sign‘, hurisum ‘hominid’, sekaťora ‘century’. These can be identified in the lexicon by the lack of a Meťaiun word.

Kebreni borrowings into Verdurian include

financial and accounting terms like andedau ‘profit’, demedau ‘loss’, dürí ‘credit’, pória ‘liability’, porui ‘debit’, gëméša ‘mortgage’, gocrea ‘balance sheet’; lagu ‘income’, žüngu ‘expenditures’; sutam, cürnu, alat, sülcona ‘types of coins’
commercial words like susaré ‘shop’, tuyo ‘pipe’;
nautical terms like culisa ‘fleet’, culso ‘admiral’, nabro ‘ship captain’, navira ‘ship’, čirnu ‘deck’, sefo ‘boy’;
general words like bakt ‘terrible’, lür ‘woe’, řulo ‘clown’, zevu ‘pal’, vučemu ‘flounder’.

Kebreni borrowings from Verdurian include

technological terms like aisel ‘key’, beh ‘essence’, cuelu ‘calcine’, skalea ‘gas’, impuźu ‘print’, uvere ‘fashion’, źuśni ‘lace’, śeveḣka ‘leggings’, leidi ‘lens’; otedit ‘watch’, keťnai ‘factory’;
cultural terms like bemaś ‘cartoon’, kona ‘money’, lic ‘trial’, meika ‘school’, raline ‘play’, tuta ‘newspaper’;
religious and philosophical words like aźcita ‘monastery’, nieron ‘holy’, ripriroda ‘philosophy’, kuraiyr ‘logic’, razum ‘mind’;
grammatical terms, mostly loan-translated; e.g. maźeu ‘trustee’ is used for ‘pronoun’ based on V. promevec
general words like pruso ‘inn’, meclu ‘mix’, feśu ‘soirée’, fauśu ‘cram’, śekśe ‘cocoa’.

There are also many calques (loan-translations) from Caďinor or Verdurian, such as babate namar for ‘galena’, from mira plomei ‘mother of lead’; or zibiśu for ‘entail’, from imfayir, both formed from ‘in’ + ‘be necessary’; or miebeu for ‘disciple’, ‘one who leaves in support of (his beliefs)’, based on profäsec; or mitecau for ‘company’, based on cumbutát ‘those with a common goal’.

For borrowings into Ismaîn see the Ismaîn lexicon.

Many thanks to Josef Wolanczyk (Pedant), who very ably created hundreds of additional words for Kebreni and Meťaiun as well as a considerable number of translated texts.

Lexicon

	labial	dental	palatal	velar	glottal
stops	p b `p b`	t d `t d`	c `c`	k g `k g`
fricatives	f v `f v`	ť s z `† s z`	ḣ ś ź `… ß #`		h `h`
nasals	m `m`	n `n`
liquids		l r `l r`

	front	central	back
high	i `i`	y `y`	u `u`
mid	e `e`		o `o`
low		a `a`

	labial	dental	palatal	velar	vowels
stops	p	t		k	i		u
stops	b	d		g
fricatives	f	ť s	č	ȟ	e		o
fricatives	v	z	j	γ
nasals	m	n				a
liquids		l r
semivowel	w

		'see'	'work'	'call'	'laugh'	'kick'	'command'	'not'
Neutral	imperfective	kanu	diru	sudy	pabadu	pocsu	kulsy	eśu
	perfective	kuna	duri	sydu	pabuda	pucso	kylsu	uśe
	volitional imp.	agenu	ideru	uzedu	abebadu	obecsu	ugelsu	eveśu
	volitional perf.	agune	idure	uzude	abebuda	obucse	ugulse	evuśe
	polite imp.	karynu	diryru	suridy	pabarydu	pocrysu	kulrisy	natu
	polite perf.	kurina	duriri	syrydu	paburida	pucriso	kylrysu	nuta
	vol. pol. imp.	agerynu	ideryru	uzerydu	abebarydu	obecrysu	ugelrysu	anetu
	vol. pol. perf.	agurine	idurire	uzuride	abeburida	obucrise	ugulrise	anute
Benef.	benef. imp.	keni	deri	sydi	pabedi	pecsi	kylsi	eśi
	benef. perf.	kine	dire	sidy	pabide	picse	kilsy	iśe
	vol. ben. imp.	egeni	ederi	yzedi	abebedi	ebecsi	ygelsi	eveśi
	vol. ben. perf.	egine	edire	yzide	abebide	ebicse	ygilse	eviśe
	benef. polite	kerini...	deriri...	syridi...	paberidi...	pecrisi...	kylrisi...	neti...
	benef. 'you'	kenini...	deniri...	synidi...	pabenidi...	pecnisi...	kylnisi...	eniśi...
Antib.	antib. imp.	kona	dyra	soda	paboda	pocsa	kolsa	ośa
	antib. perf.	kano	dary	sado	pabado	pacso	kalso	aśo
	vol. antib. imp.	ogena	ydera	ozeda	abeboda	obecsa	ogelsa	oveśa
	vol. antib. perf.	ogane	ydare	ozade	abebado	obacse	ogalse	ovaśe
	antib. polite	korina...	dyrira...	sorida...	paborida...	pocrisa...	kolrisa...	nota...
Subord.	subordinating	kaunte	diurte	suytte	pabautte	pocuste	kulyste	euśte
	subord. perf.	kuante	duirte	syutte	pabuatte	pucoste	kyluste	ueśte
	sub. vol. imp.	ageunte	ideurte	uzeytte	abebautte	obecuste	ugeluste	eveuśte
	sub. vol. perf.	aguente	iduerte	uzyette	abebuatte	obuceste	uguleste	evueśte
Deriv.	one who does	kaneu	direu	sudeu	pabadeu	pocseu	kulseu
	'participle'	kaina	diera	suida	pabaida	pocisa	kulisa
	action	kani	deri	sodi	pabadi	pacsi	kolsi

	pejorative		ordinary		deferential
person	sing	plural	sing	plural	sing	plural
1 (I, we)	cin	źum	ḣem	gymu	—
2 (you)	kuḣ		fal		falau
3 (he, she, it, they)	vuḣ		ťaḣ	ťaza	vep	vybu

śava	`ßava`	who, what
śete	`ßete`	which (of what quality)
aśeve	`aßeve`	why
ciźe	`ci#e`	how, in what way
śanu	`ßanu`	where (locative verb)
śere	`ßere`	when
bigynte	`bigynte`	how much, how many

fyn	`fyn`	none
fynte	`fynte`	nothing, no one
biha	`biha`	some, any
bihate	`bihate`	something, someone, anything, anyone
kum	`kum`	many, much
kunte	`kunte`	many things, many people
orat	`orat`	all, every
oratte	`oratte`	everything, everyone

1	grem (related to 'this')
2	kuri (related to 'that')
3	dama
4	γakaȟ ('almost (a hand)')
5	amua ('hand')
6	migrem amua ('with-one hand')...
9	γakaȟ kuri ('almost two (hands)')
10	kuramua ('two hands')
11	poc pinaȟ ('down to the feet')
12	mikuri kuramua ('two hands with two')
14	mipoc kuramua ('two hands with a foot')
15	migrem mipoc kuramua ('two hands with a foot with one')
18	oranda neȟad ('entire man')
324	dikumi (related to kumi 'many')
5832	ťeleť

1	gem	11	pinaḣ
2	kur	12	migram
3	dam	13	midakram
4	hak	14	mipoc
5	amma	15	mipokemai
6	migem	16	mipokurai
7	migur	17	hakraida
8	midam	18	raida
9	hakur	19	raigemai
10	kram	20	kur kram

`Kona zinu ci…ta`	`ci…ta ziunte`
Kona zinu ciḣta	ciḣta ziunte
The money is in the box	in the box

`Ci…ta zadinu kona`	`kona zadiunte`
Ciḣta zadinu kona	kona zadiunte
The box contains money	containing money

brynu	bry	facing, before, about	keda bryunte 'in front of the house', kriidi bryunte about books'
dynu	dy	up, on top of, over	cadu dyunte 'over the mountains'
ebu	eb	out (of), off, (away) from	Kebri eupte 'outside Kebri'
cezu	cez	against, despite	źaiźega ceuste 'against the marriage'
foru	for	behind, in back of	keda fourte 'behind the house'
fuzu	fu	without	śemu fuuste 'without a fish'
mitu	mi	with, using; supporting	abaźe miutte 'with a knife'
nevu	ne	in the middle of, among, through, during	nabira neufte 'in the middle of the ship', mur neufte 'for an hour'
ponu	po	below, under	broga pounte 'under the table'
śadamu	śada	far (from)	pol śadaunte 'far from the city'
śamu	śa	around, surrounding, near	turgul śaunte 'surrounding the battalion'
vekru	vek	as, like	gauryr vekurte 'like a virgin'
zinu	zi	in, inside, at, on(general locative)	laḣ ziunte 'in the field', men ziunte 'on top of the hill', ťiron ziunte 'at market'
zadinu	zadi	containing, including	seť zadiunte 'containing a jewel'

hamare	scúreden	country
cymure	širden	moon
sovundre	fidren	night
ozurre	calten	sun
boḣture	zëden	sea
ťiron	néronden	market
seḣepre	ceďnare	eating (i.e. feast)

muccymu	olašu	new month
śonsi	reli	sowing
seḣapna	cuéndimar	celebration
aḣimba	vlerëi	goddess Vlerë
geḣgu	calo	heat
ede	recoltë	harvest
forźynau	yag	hunt
ḣela	želea	calm
zavec	išire	planet Išire
sylgo	šoru	shadow
rikas	froďac	cold wind
varu	bešana	ending

Unit	Relation	In hui	Metric	Etymology
śenu	1/12 huiḣ	0.02083	1.98 mm	smallness
huiḣ	1/4 hui	0.25	2.38 cm	dim. of hui
hui	base	1	9.525 cm	finger
zeta	5 hui	5	47.625 cm	arm
neḣagu	3 zeta	15	1.429 m	body
lore	2 neḣagu	30	2.858 m	horse
prozma	1/125 kaamza	63.68	6.065 m	(Caď.) pace
kaamza	125 prozma	7,960	758.19 m	(Caď.) size of Caema temple

Unit	Multiplier	Metric
śeiḣ	1/100	0.9525 mm
śeina	1/10	9.525 mm
hui	1.0	9.525 cm
linniḣ	10	95.25 cm
linnu	100	9.525 m
leḣos	10000	0.9525 km

Masculine
Agusto	Filemo	Klemen	Nikano	Timoťeu
Akulaḣ	Filipo	Koḣmo	Nikolo	Tito
Alekso	Gaho	Korneu	Oano	Tomeu
Ämilo	Gamaleu	Kuro	Osef	Tuḣiko
Antono	Gavrel	Lavreno	Pavlo	Tuḣon
Apelen	Gregoro	Lazaro	Petro	Ťadeu
Apolo	Gyrgo	Lino	Rufo	Ťamano
Äron	Helaḣ	Lukano	Sameu	Ťanel
Atipaḣ	Heso	Lukaḣ	Savlo	Ťaro
Aťam	Ḣisforo	Marko	Sergo	Ťavid
Aťano	Ida	Maro	Sevaḣtan	Ťemetro
Aťra	Ikovo	Martino	Silaḣ	Ťonuso
Avräm	Ilo	Mato	Simon	Ťydoro
Egeno	Ison	Maťeu	Solomon	Varnavaḣ
Emaneu	Isäc	Meliťec	Sosťen	Vaťolomeu
Eraḣto	Isu	Miḣäl	Stefano	Vasileu
Ezekaḣ	Kefaḣ	Moso	Sumon	Venamen
Felics	Kläťo	Naťaneu	Timeu	Zaḣaraḣ

Feminine
Agaťe	Evgeni	Luka	Reveka	Ťedora
Äkatrine	Fernike	Luťi	Roťe	Ťerasi
Aleťe	Foive	Luťuka	Ruťa	Ťorka
Aleksa	Hagne	Margite	Sarra	Varvara
Ämila	Helena	Mari	Sofi	Vaťolomec
Anna	Ḣarma	Martina	Suntiḣ	Vasilec
Angela	Ḣloe	Melani	Susana	Verena
Antona	Ila	Miḣäla	Tadec	Vernike
Aťana	Iriḣ	Natali	Taviťa	Vetriksa
Aťera	Käkila	Oana	Timoťec	Zaḣara
Elisveta	Kläťa	Persiḣ	Trufäna
Esťera	Koḣma	Petra	Ťamariḣ
Eva	Ksena	Priska	Ťanela
Evnike	Loiḣ	Raḣeli	Ťara

`u`	u	u	`†`	ť	ťen
`a`	a	a	`z`	z	zaḣ
`o`	o	o	`t`	t	ten
`e`	e	e	`ß`	ś	śe
`i`	i	i	`#`	ź	źe
`y`	y	y	`r`	r	ra
`k`	k	ek	`h`	h	hoť
`p`	p	pe	`l`	l	la
`c`	c	ceḣ	`m`	m	me
`b`	b	be	`f`	f	faḣ
`g`	g	geḣ	`n`	n	ne
`d`	d	dah	`v`	v	vaḣ
`s`	s	saḣ	`…`	ḣ	ḣik

The Kebreni Language • Kebren nizgu

Aspect (imperfective and perfective)

Volition

Polite forms

Positive effect

Negative effect

Conjugation table

Demonstratives

Quantifiers and indefinite pronouns

Nominalizers

Adjectivizers

Verbalizers

Indirect objects

Verbs of movement

Order

The -te relativizer

Existence and equivalence

Attributes

Predicates

Substantives

Comparatives

Adverbs

Yes-no questions

Question words

Sentences as objects

Adverbial conjunctions

Relative clauses

Months

Zivan e…c eban • Zivan eḣc eban • Inside and outside

`Zivan e…c eban` • Zivan eḣc eban • Inside and outside