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CONTENTS
Tundrian nouns and adjectives are declined for number and case. There are two numbers: singular and plural. There are two cases: nominative and accusative. It should be noted, however, that
in nouns and adjectives (as opposed to the definite article and the
demonstrative adjective) the distinction between nominative and accusative is
only made in the plural .The basic rule for the use
of the cases is given below.
- The
nominative is used in the following situations:
- For the subject of the sentence:
-
Li caini han caut lâ vûlp.
The dogs have caught the fox.
-
El ministro és arripat. The minister has arrived.
-
La javuta se banhará demán.
The girl will bathe
tomorrow.
-
La
partiyta és finiyta.
The game is over.
- For the complement of
stative verbs, in particular
of esseir (to be),
devêniyr (to become),
volveir-se (to become)
and restar (to stay):
- Ella és
la
reyna. She is the
queen.
- Mêi amiyci son devêniyti
campioni. My
friends have become champions.
- Cel livro se volverá el
melhour livro del
seyl. This book will
become the best book of the
century.
- Xempre restará la mîa
poriyna. She will
always remain my little
girl.
- When in apposition to
another noun in the
nominative case:
- Celi prêsidenti, touti
Dêmocrati, han
favorizat los syndicats. These presidents, all
Democrats, have
favoured the unions.
- Ella deveine
Catherina,
la
plus grand tzariyna rûssa.
She became Catherine, the
greatest Russian
Empress.
- In temporal absolutive
constructions:
-
El ân
xequent,
mî amiyc me
visitó denôu. Next year,
my friend visited me again.
- In titles, addresses and
other stand-alone
expressions:
-
La
guerra ê la paç.
War and Peace.
-
La
Casa Blanca,
Washington. The White
House, Washington.
- When in any of the syntactical situations above and preceded by the numerical qualifiers circa (about),
min que (less than, fewer) or plus que (more than):
- Circa dzeç enfanti son vêniyti a lâ festa. About ten children came to the party.
- Min que mil persoune han votat por nostro candidat. Fewer than a thousand people have voted for our candidate.
- Elli son plus que treis mil a participar. They are more than three thousand to participate.
- Son li magnífici, li circa dzeç compositouri qui dóminan lâ música clâssica. They are the
magnificent ones, the roughly ten composers who dominate classical music.
- The accusative is used in
the following situations:
- For the direct object of
the verb:
- Li caini morsuron
lâ vûlp. The dogs
bit the fox.
- La javuta si ha frait
lo brâç. The girl
has broken her arm.
- For the complement of a
preposition (except circa, min que and plus que):
- En
lâ
isla vi havîa es centans de soldats japoneisos.
On the island there were
hundreds of Japanese
soldiers.
- Ha dat lo dinêr a
los
amiycs de
sû
fraire. He has
given the money to his
brother's friends.
- Cel livro fu escrut
per lo
autour cêleur de
scientza-fictzoun,
Robert Heinlein.
This book was written by the
famous science-fiction
author Robert Heinlein.
- When in apposition to
another noun in the
accusative case:
- Dé los livros al Rey
Joân,
lo Bón. He gave
the books to King John, the
Good.
- When in any of the syntactical situations above and preceded by the numerical qualifiers circa (about),
min que (less than, fewer) or plus que (more than):
- Hoy enviat circa seutanta invitatzouns. I have sent about seventy invitations.
- Passó min que dous sêmainas con sûa familha. He spent less than two weeks with his family.
- Cêlebraron lâ victouria con plus que trinta amiycs. They celebrated the victory with more than thirty friends.
For purposes of declension, Tundrian nouns and adjectives can be divided into
four classes. Tha basic patterns for the four
classes A,B, C and D are shown by the following examples:
| |
A |
B |
C |
D |
| Singular |
casa |
mur |
taxi |
albûm |
| Nom. Plural |
case |
muri |
taxis |
| Acc. Plural |
casas |
murs |
Glosses: casa 'house', mur 'wall', taxi
'taxi', albûm 'album'.
- Class A includes all feminine nouns and adjectives ending in -a: casa
(house), blanca (white [fem.])
- Class B includes:
- most nouns (of either
gender) and adjectives ending in a consonant: mur
(wall), vouç (voice),
mal (bad)
- nouns and adjectives ending in -e and -ë: homne
(man), these (thesis), imagë
(picture)
- most masculine nouns and adjectives ending in -a:
programma
(program), socialista [when used with a
masc. noun or adjective] (socialist)
- many masculine nouns and adjectives ending in -o: povlo
(people), livro (book), pauvro
[m] (poor)
- nouns and adjectives ending in -eu, -éu, -âu, -êu, -ôu: cleu (nail),
calhéu (pebble),
clâu
(key), dzêu
(god), bôu
(ox)
- Class C includes:
- nouns ending in simple
vowels and diphthongs not
listed in Class A and B: papá,
comité,
taxi,
tî
(uncle), buró,
menú, tabû
(taboo), baby,
cangaróu,
papegay (parrot), rey (king), flûy
(river). Many of these are
loanwords with obvious
meanings, which I did not
provide.
- "abbreviated" nouns ending
in -o: radio,
video,
techno
- a few other words, such as Papa (Pope)
- Class D includes
undeclinables, such as:
- words of Latin origin
ending in -ûm, -ûs: albûm,
sinûs
(sine)
- letters of various
alphabets: êl (=L),
alpha, aleph
- musical notes: dó, fá
- compound nouns of the
form finite verb + noun:
avre-bottilhas
(bottle-opener),
tiyra-corças (corkscrew)
- a few loanwords ending
in -is: oasis, stasis
- numerals used as nouns:
dous (two), quatro
(four)
- Feminine nouns and
adjectives ending in -ca
have two possible outcomes
in the nom.pl., shown by the
following examples:
- avriyca
/ avriyque
(shelter), banca
/ banque
(bank), cieca
/ cieque
(blind [f.]), rocca
/ rocque
(rock)
- amiyca
/ amiyce
(girlfriend), auca
/ auce
(goose), bûcca / bûcce
(mouth), blanca
/ blance
(white [f.])
- Similarly, feminine
nouns and adjectives in
-ga have two possible
outcomes in the nom.pl.:
- carga
/ cargue
(load, charge), targa
/ targue
(target)
- chirourga
/ chirourgë (woman surgeon),
longa
/ longë
(long [f.])
- Forms with -ça, -gia
always keep the soft
consonant in the nom.pl.,
resulting in the spelling
-ce, -gë: fâça /
fâce
(face), lûnça
/ lûnce
(lynx), provinça
/ province
(province), espongia
/ espongë
(sponge), plagia
/ plagë
(beach)
- Forms with -gua, -qua
always keep the [w] glide in
the nom.pl., resulting in
the spelling -güe, -qüe:
- lingua
/ lingüe
(language, tongue), trigua
/ trigüe
(truce)
- antiqua
/ antiqüe
(antique [f.]), aqua
/ aqüe (water)
- Words with the rare
ending -gïa change to
-gie in the nom.pl.
(the trema is only needed
before the back vowel -a):
- ênergïa
/ ênergie (energy)
- The few fem. forms
ending in -ea and -oa need a
trema over the -e of the
nom.pl.:
- boa
/ boë
(boa constrictor),
europea / europeë
(European [fem.])
- The acc.pl. of Class A nominals is always regular:
casas,
blancas, amiycas,
targas, fûrcas, linguas,
aquas, ênergïas, boas
- When nouns and
adjectives in this class end
in a consonant, an -i
is added in the nom.pl. When
they end in -a, -e, -ë or -o, the final
vowel is replaced by
-i in the nom.pl.:
- mur / muri
(wall), taur
/ tauri
(bull)
- programma
/ programmi
(program); homne
/ homni
(man); imagë
/ imagi
(picture); pauvro
/ pauvri
(poor [m.])
- Normally, the acc.pl.
ending is -s added on
to the sing. form: mur/
murs,
homne / homnes.
In the comments below, the
acc.pl. is only mentioned
when its formation involves
more than just the addition
of -s
(with or without a
supporting vowel).
- The acc.pl. of Class B
nouns and adjectives needs a
supporting vowel in certain
cases, which are outlined
below. This supporting vowel
is as follows:
- Feminine forms always
take -e-: tûrres
(towers), capaces
(capable).
- Masculine nouns
usually take -o-: casos
(cases), cajos
(cheeses).
-
Common exceptions:
berveiç / berveices
(wether, castrated ram),
cômpliç / cômplices
(accomplice), índiç / índices (index, clue),
interês / interesses
(interest), juiç /
juices
(judge), meiz / meizes
(month), mendaç /
mendaces
(lie, falsehood),
offiç / offices
(office, post), pêix
/ pêixes
(fish), polç / polces
(thumb), sang / sangues
(blood), verr / verres
(wild boar)
- In adjectives
requiring a supporting
vowel, the masculine
accusative plural is
always -os when the
adjective is variable
(i.e. it adds an -a
in the feminine): blancos
(white), largos
(broad).
- In invariable
adjectives (i.e.
adjectives that do not
change in the feminine)
requiring a supporting
vowel in the acc.pl., this
vowel is always -e
in both genders: capaces
(capable), tristes
(sad).
- As to which nominals
need a supporting vowel (-e-
or -o-) in the
acc.pl., this depends on
their ending in the
singular:
- -s, -ss, -z:
cas
/ casos
(case), tûss / tûsses
(cough), meiz
/ meizes
(month)
- -x (whatever
the pronunciation): caix
/ cajos
(cheese), sex
/ sexos
(sex)
- -tz, -dz, -ç, -ge,
-tx: pûtz / pûtzos
(well), candz
/ candzos
(change), vouç / vouces
(voice), college
/ collegios
(college), viatx
/ viatxos
(travel)
- -rr: tûrr
/ tûrres
(tower)
- any consonant cluster
not ending in -d, -t,
th: adverb
/ adverbos
(adverb), blanc
/ blancos
(white [m.]), golf
/ golfos
(golf; gulf), alberg
/ albergos
(inn), film
/ filmos
(film), carn
/ carnes
(meat, flesh), camp
/ campos
(field), cerv
/ cervos
(deer), triûmph / triûmphos
(triumph)
-
However, those ending in
consonant clusters whose
second component is -d,
-t or -th do not need a
connecting vowel, as the
-s of the accusative
merges with the dental
stop into an affricate
(i.e. a single consonant
phoneme): bord
/ bords
(seashore), fort
/ forts
(strong), hyacinth
/ hyacinths
(hyacinth)]
- -st, -xt: cost
/ costos
(cost), sext
/ sextos
(sixth)
- -ct, -pt: act
/ actos
(act), rapt
/ raptos
(abduction)
- When the final consonant
is -c, there are two
possible forms in the
nom.pl.: -ci and
-qui. Examples:
-
amiyc
/ amiyci
(friend),
blanc
/ blanci
(white [m.]),
porc
/
porci
(pig), sôc
/ socci
(hoof)
- auturc
/ auturqui
(turkey), masc
/ masqui
(mask), veuc
/ veuqui
(empty [m.]), xôc
/ xocqui
(bump, shock)
- When the final consonant
is -g, there are two
possible forms in the
nom.pl.: -gi and
-gui. Examples:
- fûng / fûngi
(mushroom), long
/ longi
(long [m.]), mag
/ magi
(magician)
- alberg
/ albergui
(inn), catálog
/ catálogui
(catalogue), jûg / jûgui
(yoke)
- The few adjectives
ending in -q have
their nom.pl. in -qui:
- antiq
/ antiqui,
obliq
/ obliqui
- The few adjectives ending in
-gû have their
nom.pl. in -güi:
-
ambigû
/ ambigüi
(ambiguous [m.]), contigû
/ contigüi
(contiguous [m.])
- Nouns and adjectives
ending in -ç always
have their nom.pl. in -ci:
- atroç
/ atroci
(atrocious), brâç / bracci
(arm), vouç
/ vouci
(voice). The
acc.pl. of these forms
needs -ç- if the
supporting vowel is -o-,
but not if it is -e-: bracços but vouces.
- Nominals ending in -ge, -gë
form their nom.pl. in -gi:
- college / collegi (college), imagë / imagi
(picture).
The acc.pl. of these forms needs -gi- if the supporting vowel is -o-, and
-g- if it is -e-: collegios and images.
- The following four
nominals in -ix have
their nom.pl. in -ji:
- baix
/ baji
(kiss), caix
/ caji
(cheese), grix
/ griji
(gray [m.]), lix
/ liji
(even, smooth [m.]). The acc.pl. of these nominals keeps the -j-:
bajos,
cajos, grijos, lijos.
-
Others with
this ending are regular,
however: aix / aixi
(axle), flaix / flaixi
(flask), laix /
laixi (loose), paix
/ paixi (bellboy),
taix / taixi
(yew
tree)
- Nouns ending in -ail, -êil, -oil and -ûil lose the diphthongal glide and
gain a doubled <l> in the nom.pl. Examples:
- -ail / -alli:
bail / balli
(dance), cail
[f] / calli
(street), cail [m] /
calli
(corn [on foot]), cavail / cavalli
(horse), gail / galli
(cock)
- -êil / -elli:
agnêil /
agnelli
(lamb), anêil / anelli
(ring), aucêil / aucelli
(bird), bêil / belli
(beautiful), coltêil / coltelli
(knife)
- Exceptionally, we have the alternation -êil / -illi
in: capêil / capilli (hair [on head]), and tranquîl / tranquilli (calm)
- -oil / olli: coil / colli
(hill; neck), moil / molli
(soft)
- -ûil / ûlli: pûil / pûlli
(chicken)
- The acc.pl. of all these nominals is formed with the vowel of the sing.
(with a circumflex added if necessary) + ls:
bâls,
agnêls, côls, pûls.
The two -êil / -illi nominals have -îls:
capîls, tranquîls.
- Nouns and adjectives ending in -am, -án, as well as monosyllables ending in
-an, generally change the -a- to -ai- in the nom.pl.:
- -am / -aimi: ham / haimi
(hook), hiptam / hiptaimi
(hippopotamus), ram / raimi
(branch), tram / traimi
(tram, streetcar)
- -an / aini:
can / caini
(dog), cran / craini
(skull), gran / graini
(grain), man / maini
(hand), pan / paini
(bread), san / saini
(healthy)
- -án / -ani: antzán / antzaini
(ancient), capitán / capitaini
(captain), çután / çutaini
(citizen), faján / fajaini
(pheasant), humán / humaini
(human), lontán / lontaini
(distant)
- However, nouns and adjectives ending in
-án that
denote the name of a people, religious group or language change the -án
to -ani in the nom.pl., without the diphthong. Some examples:
amêricán / amêricani,
christián christiani,
êgiután / êgiutani
(Egyptian), italián / italiani,
tundrián / tundriani.
Also belongs here: ôceán / ôceani
(ocean)
- The acc.pl. of all these forms is regular, except that the acute accent
is not necessary: antzans, capitans,
çutans etc.
- Nouns and adjectives ending in -ábil, -íbil and -óbil lose the
-i- of the
last syllable in the nom.pl., and as a result do not need the acute accent:
- -ábil: agratábil / agratabli
(pleasant), potábil / potabli
(drinkable), responsábil / responsabli
(responsable)
- Exception: hábil / hábili (clever, able)
- -íbil: comestíbil / comestibli
(edible), disponíbil / disponibli
(available), terríbil / terribli
(terrible), visíbil / visibli
(visible)
- -óbil: nóbil / nobli
(noble)
- But: móbil / móbili (mobile) is regular
- Nounds ending in unstressed -er lose the -e- of the last syllable in the nom.pl., and as a result do not need the acute accent:
cadáver / cadavri (corpse), paláver / palavri (worthless talk).
- Stress always remains on the same syllable during the declension of
Tundrian nominals. Because of the peculiar rules that apply to the
accentuation rules of words ending in vowel +
n/s (and of some monosyllables
ending in -ór ), accents may therefore appear in just the singular or just the
nom.pl. of certain nominals. Examples of various patterns:
- ending in unstressed vowel + n:
- carpen / cârpeni
(hornbeam tree), platan / plátani
(plane tree)
- destin / dêstini
(destiny), termin / têrmini
(terminus, terminal)
- origen / orígeni
(origin)
- abdomen / abdómeni
(abdomen), orden /
ôrdeni (order),
organ
/ ôrgani (organ),
orphan
/ ôrphani (orphan)
- The same changes occur in the acc.pl.:
cârpens,
plátans, dêstins,
orígens, abdómens,
ôrdens, etc.
- ending in unstressed vowel + s:
- atlas / âtlassi
(atlas), lapis / lápissi
(pencil)
- arquiris / arquírissi
(rainbow), iris /
írissi
(iris)
- The same change occurs in the acc.pl.:
âtlassos,
lápissos, arquírisses
- ending in stressed vowel + n (those ending in stressed -an or
-án have already been dealt with):
- bén / beni
(goods), gén / geni
(gene), hyphén / hypheni
(hyphen)
- alfín / alfini
(bishop [in chess]),
domín / domini
(range), magazín / magazini
(magazine), pingüín / pingüini
(penguin)
- avión / avioni
(airplane), bón / boni
(good), campión / campioni
(champion), hormón / hormoni
(hormone), pión / pioni
(pawn), són / soni
(sound), tzón / tzoni
(insane)
- alcún / alcuni
(someone), común / comuni
(common), dejún / dejuni
(breakfast), necún / necuni
(none, no-one)
- As the accent is no longer necessary in the acc.pl. either, it is
deleted there as well:
bens, alfins,
avions, alcuns,
etc.
- ending in stressed vowel + s:
- abús / abusi (abuse), excús / excusi (regret), intrús / intrusi (intruder)
- Note the doubled -ss- in metús / metussi (same)
- Note the doubled -ss- and the kept accent in: ânanás / ânanássi (pineapple), matrás / matrássi (mattress)
- For all these nominals, the acc.pl. form follows the same pattern as
the nom.pl.: abusos, metussos,
ânanássos
- ending in -ór:
- cór / cori
(heart), lór / lori
(parrot), sór / sori
(sister, nun)
- Same for the acc.pl.:
cors, lors,
sors.
- A few nouns and adjectives ending in consonant + s in the singular
carry a circumflex over their stressed vowel (a, e or o) in
order to indicate the correct pronunciation. In the nom.pl. this is no longer
necessary, and the circumflex disappears. Examples:
- â
:
escârs / escarsi
(scarce), fâls / falsi
(false), fârs / farsi
(stuffed), gâns / gansi
(gander), mâns / mansi
(tame)
- ê
:
divêrs / diversi
(diverse, various), pêrs / persi
(dark [of colours]), sêns / sensi
(sense), univêrs / universi
(universe), vêrs / versi
(verse)
- ô
:
côrs / corsi
(Corsican), môrs / morsi
(bit [of bridle])
- The acc.pl. of these nominals follows the pattern of the nom.pl.:
escarsos,
diversos, corsos,
etc.
- The use of the circumflex to indicate the correct pronunciation of some
words, and the associated avoidance of doubled consonants in final position
(except for -rr, -ss), are behind the following patterns:
- â :
ân / anni
(year), attâc / attacqui
(attack), brâç / bracci
(arm), cât / catti
(cat), crystâl / crystalli
(crystal), sâc / sacci
(bag)
- ê
:
arquêt / arquetti
(bow [for arrows]), bêl [bef.vowels] /
belli
(beautiful), colonêl / colonelli
(colonel), interês / interessi
(interest), jêt / jetti
(jet), tirêt / tiretti
(drawer)
- î
:
esmerîl / esmerilli
(falcon), xîc / xicci
(dry), xîn / xinni
(meaning, sense)
- ô
:
côl / colli
(mountain pass), crôc / crocci
(bishop's crook), escrôc / escrocqui
(swindler), pôt / potti
(pot), sôc / socci
(hoof), xôc / xocqui
(bump, shock)
- Mostly, the acc.pl. of these nominals is regular. However, if a
supporting vowel is necessary, the circumflex accent is deleted and the
consonant is doubled. E.g.:
âns, arquêts,
esmerîls, côls;
but: bracços, interesses,
etc.
- There is no doubling of the consonant in the nom.pl. after a vowel with a
circumflex when the consonant is r, and in a few other words. The
circumflex is retained in the nom.pl. of these words. Examples:
- with r: alviêr / alviêri
(beehive), calcêr / calcêri
(shoe), miratôr / miratôri
(mirror), sôr / sôri
(father-in-law)
- others: parallêl / parallêli
(parallel), raîç / raîci
(roots), smôg / smôgui
(smog); also, in words of Greek origin, such as the following:
amphytriôn / amphytriôni
(guest), côn / côni
(cone), iôn / iôni
(ion), têlephôn / têlephôni
(telephone)
- With a few exceptions, there is no doubling of the consonant in the
nom.pl. when the preceding vowel is
û. In additon, the vowel never loses its circumflex. Examples:
- No doubling: bûc / bûci
(he-goat), crûç / crûci
(cross), grûp / grûpi
(group), jûg / jûgui
(yoke), lûp / lûpi
(wolf), nûç / nûci (walnut),
tûb / tûbi
(tube, pipe), vitûl / vitûli
(hoodlum)
- Doubling: bûs / bûssi (bus), tûn / tûnni
(tuna fish)
- Nouns and adjectives ending in -âu, -eu, -éu,
-êu, -îu and -ôu
have somewhat irregular nom. plurals:
- -âu / -avi: câu / cavi
(cave, basement; hollow), clâu / clavi
(key, spanner), esclâu / esclavi
(slave), grâu / gravi
(grave, serious), nâu / navi
(ship)
- -eu (-éu) / -avi:
breu / bravi
(brave), calhéu / calhavi
(pebble), cleu / clavi
(nail [tool])
- 3 nominals in -êu / -evi:
blêu / blevi
(blue), lêu / levi
(light [adj.]), nêu / nevi
(mole, birthmark)
- But most nominals in -êu have
-êi in the
nom.pl.: aerêu / aerêi
(aerial), dzêu / dzêi
(god), escarvêu / escarvêi
(cockroach), europêu / europêi
(European), judêu / judêi
(Jewish, Jew), mêu / mêi
(mine [pn.]), musêu / musêi
(museum), nûclêu / nûclêi
(nucleus), trophêu
/ trophêi (trophy), etc.
- -îu / -iyvi: vîu / viyvi
(alive)
- -ôu /- ovi: bôu / bovi
(ox), nôu / novi
(new), sarcôu / sarcovi
(coffin)
- All these have regular acc. plurals (except for the loss of the acute
accent in calheus):
câus,
breus, blêus, aerêus,
vîus, bôus, etc.
-
Adjectives ending in -û after consonants other than
g have their nom.pl. in
-ui:
- continû
/ continui
(continuous [m.]), sûperflû
/ sûperflui
(superfluous [m.]).
The acc.pl. is regular:
continûs,
sûperflûs.
- In a few words of Italian origin, used in the plural only, the accusative plural is -is rather than the expected -s: spaghetti [nom.pl.], spaghettis [acc.pl.];
canelloni / canellonis.
- In this class, the nom.
and acc. plural are
identical, ending in -s:
ley / leys
(law), Papa / papas
(Pope). There are few
irregularities.
- One set of
irregularities is in nouns
ending in -óu, which lose
the accent in the plural
(because it is no longer
needed to show the
irregular stress), as in:
bambóu
/ bambous
(bamboo), bijóu
/ bijous
(jewel), cangaróu
/ cangarous
(kangaroo)
- If a word ends in a
digraph vowel that is
unstressed, the stressed
vowel must acquire a
written accent when the
-s of the plural is
appended: bonsai
/ bônsais
(bonsai), hindou
/ híndous
(Hindu).
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