Verdurian
by Philip Newton
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MU
Asho dénuo dy lacho mautruir soi hep prokeli. Ashiro crezheam muë!
Lacho imlelen chivinyát. Rho lacho mizec "Vulu crezhen on".
Mizo pere ftoren "Rho fasseceo eto! Rho fasseceo tot!", er proshe sono
eta kio crezhno.
Acineco mudraä!
Esli lädo dör er brugivo orestem im rhoorestem er rhoorestem im
orestem, er esli nurzha mun deyee ak mudraen, urë intorano nurzha muë
er ilat childano fsyan kaë rho tenu nurzha er rho cregu. Ashiro ke
shesne dembir uestuin!
Ke shesne dembir uestuin? Rihano, er lelmo mushem uestom. Descairon tu
brugive chividonece so brak uestui. Descairon tu carpue crur lië.
Descairon so pluy badhe ak ufëan lië. Er urë levî lië zam fizü er rho
epe sfahen.
Dembo, ac rho mevo comuestuece. Esli asho dy rho e com mizhao, eo
niruisî.
YOU
You think that you should get rid of the the seven curses. Consider
your eating! You should exhibit sympathy. You shouldn't say, "I want to
eat again."
You say to one another, "Don't do this! Don't do that!", and then you
dream about what you have eaten.
Listen to wisdom!
If you go outside and twist truths into untruths and untruths into
truths, and if food blinds you to wisdom, then you should divide your
food into portions and distribute it to those who have no food and who
do not eat. Consider who caused people to be!
Who caused people to be? Look, and then you will see many people.
Sometimes a person's arm is twisted painfully. Sometimes his leg is
grabbed. Sometimes his face is struck by rain. And so his lips are
sealed so that he cannot speak.
You exist, but you do not act humanely. If you think that things are
not the way I said, then you are foolish.
INTERLINEAR
This is in groups of three lines. The first line contains the words as
they appear in the text, the second line contains their part of speech
and inflectional information, and the third line is the dictionary
form of the word, as it appears in the glossary below.
Parts of speech are: N = noun, P = pronoun, A = adjective, V = verb.
Other parts of speech (which do not inflect) are marked "-". Words
and phrases marked "*****" are explained in the glossary.
Nouns and pronouns are marked with case and number. Case is one of:
NOM = nominative, GEN = genitive, DAT = dative, ACC = accusative.
Number is one of: SG = singular, PL = plural.
Adjectives are marked with case, number, and gender. Case and number
are as for nouns and pronouns; gender is one of: MASC = masculine, FEM
= feminine. The definite article is also marked "A" since it has the
same forms as an adjective.
Verbs are marked for person and tense. Person is one of: 1SG, 2SG,
3SG, 1PL, 2PL, 3PL. Tense is one of: INF = infinitive, PRES = present
tense, PST = past tense, FUT = future tense, IMP = imperative.
mu
P.2PL.NOM
Asho dénuo dy lacho mautruir soi hep prokeli.
V.2PL.PRES - - V.2PL.PRES V.INF A.ACC.PL.MASC - N.ACC.PL
ashir dénuo dy lachan mautruir so hep prokel
Ashiro crezheam muë! Lacho imlelen chivinyát.
V.2PL.IMP N.ACC.SG P.GEN.SG V.2PL.PRES V.INF N.ACC.SG
ashir crezheo mu lachan imlelen chivinyát
Rho lacho mizec "Vulu crezhen on".
- V.2PL.PRES V.INF V.1SG.PRES V.INF
rho lachan mizec vulir crezhen on
Mizo pere ftoren "Rho fasseceo eto! Rho fasseceo tot!",
V.2PL.PRES *********** - V.2SG.IMP P.ACC.SG - V.2SG.IMP P.ACC.SG
mizec pere ftoren rho fassec eto rho fassec tot
er proshe sono eta kio crezhno.
- - V.2PL.PRES - P.ACC.SG V.2PL.PST
er proshe sonan eta kio crezhen
Acineco mudraä!
V.2PL.IMP N.ACC.SG
acinec mudraë
Esli lädo dör er brugivo orestem im rhoorestem er
- V.2PL.PRES - - V.2PL.PRES N.ACC.SG - N.ACC.SG -
esli lädan dör er brugiven oresta im rhooresta er
rhoorestem im orestem, er esli nurzha mun deyee ak
N.ACC.SG - N.ACC.SG - - N.NOM.SG P.DAT.SG V.3SG.PRES -
rhooresta im oresta er esli nurzha mu deyeen ak
mudraen, urë intorano nurzha muë er ilat childano
N.DAT.SG - V.2PL.IMP N.ACC.SG P.GEN.SG - P.ACC.SG V.2PL.IMP
mudraë urë intoran nurzha mu er ila childan
fsyan kaë rho tenu nurzha er rho cregu. Ashiro
P.DAT.SG P.NOM.PL - V.3PL.PRES N.ACC.SG - - V.3PL.PRES V.2PL.IMP
fsya ke rho tenec nurzha er rho crezhen ashir
ke shesne dembir uestuin!
P.NOM.SG V.3SG.PST V.INF N.DAT.PL
ke shesan dembir uestu
Ke shesne dembir uestuin? Rihano, er lelmo
P.NOM.SG V.3SG.PST V.INF N.DAT.PL V.2PL.IMP - V.2PL.FUT
ke shesan dembir uestu rihan er lelen
mushem uestom. Descairon tu brugive chividonece
A.ACC.PL.MASC N.ACC.PL - P.NOM.SG V.3SG.PRES -
mushe uestu descairon tu brugiven chividonece
so brak uestui. Descairon tu carpue
A.ACC.SG.MASC N.ACC.SG N.GEN.SG - P.NOM.SG V.3SG.PRES
so brak uestu descairon tu carpuan
crur lië. Descairon so pluy badhe ak ufëan
N.ACC.SG P.GEN.SG - A.NOM.SG N.NOM.SG V.3SG.PRES - N.DAT.SG
crur ilu descairon so pluy badhir ak ufëa
lië. Er urë levî lië zam fizü er rho
P.GEN.SG - - N.NOM.PL P.GEN.SG P.ACC.PL V.3PL.PRES - -
ilu er urë leve ilu ze fizir er rho
epe sfahen.
V.3PL.PRES V.INF
epan sfahen
Dembo, ac rho mevo comuestuece. Esli asho dy rho
V.2PL.PRES - - V.2PL.PRES - - V.2PL.PRES - -
dembir ac rho mevan comuestuece esli ashir dy rho
e com mizhao, eo niruisî.
V.3SG.PRES - V.1SG.PST V.2PL.PRES A.NOM.PL
esan com mizec esan niruise
BASIC GRAMMAR
For this text, you need to know that verbs end in one of -ec -ir -er
-en -an. Present tense endings are added to the stem (e.g. lelen "to
see"; lelo "you (pl.) see"); imperative endings to the infinitive
(e.g. leleno "[you (pl.)] see!"; and past tense endings to the last
consonant of the infinitive (without the vowel) (e.g. lelno "you (pl.)
saw"). The main endings in this text are -o (2nd person plural) and -e
(third person singular); other endings are mentioned with the verb
where they appear.
The genitive form of personal pronouns is also used as a possessive,
e.g. cuon esë "my dog" (where "esë" is the genitive of se "I").
In general, Verdurian grammar is pretty European -- comparable,
perhaps, to a mixture of English, Spanish, and German.
For more information, see the Verdurian grammar online:
http://www.zompist.com/morphology.htm and
http://www.zompist.com/syntax.htm . The lexicon may also be
interesting: http://www.zompist.com/ver2eng.htm (Verdurian-English),
http://www.zompist.com/eng2ver.htm (English-Verdurian),
http://www.zompist.com/thematic.htm (Thematic Dictionary, a kind of
thesaurus).
GLOSSARY
Words are glossed in English alphabetical order. Parts of speech are
"pron" = pronoun, "v" = verb, "n" = noun, "adj" = adjective, "adv" =
adverb, "conj" = conjunction", "prep" = preposition.
acinec (v) - hear, listen to
ak (prep) - against
ashir (v) - to think; to consider (a subject)
badhir (v) - hit
brak (n) - arm
brugiven (v) - twist
carpuan (v) - grab
childan (v) - distribute
chividonece (adv) - painfully
chivinyát (n) - sympathy
com (prep) - as, in the way of, like
comuestece (adv) - like a human
crezhen (v) - to eat
crezheo (n) - (act of) eating
crur (n) - leg
dembir (v) - to exist
descairon (adv) - sometimes, now and then, occasionally, several times
deyeen (v) - to blind
dy (conj) - that, than (begins a subordinate clause)
dénuo (adv) - marks a repeated, habitual, or continuous action.
dör (prep, adv) - outside
epan (v) - to be able to
er (conj) - and
esan (v) - to be
esli - if
eta (prep) - about, concerning
eto (pron) - this
fassec (v) - to do
fizir (v) - to seal
fsya (pron) - everyone
hep - seven
ila (pron) - she, it (when referring to a grammatically feminine
noun)
ilu (pron) - he, it (when referring to a grammaticall masculine
noun)
im (prep) - (with dat.) in, (with acc.) into
imlelen (v) - display, exhibit, show
intoran (v) - divide, separate (into parts or portions)
ke (pron) - who
kio (pron) - what
lachan (v) - ought to, should, must
lelen (v) - to see
leve (n) - lip
lädan (v) - to go
mautruir (v) - destroy
mevan (v) - to act
mizec (v) - to say
mizec (v) - to say
mu (pron) - you (plural)
mudraë (n) - wisdom
mushe (adj) - many
niruise (adj) - foolish
nurzha (n) - food
on (adv) - again
oresta (n) - truth
pere ftoren - one to another
pluy (n) - rain
prokel (n) - curse
proshe (adv) - next, then
rho (adv) - negative particle; "not" with a verb, "don't" with an
imperative
rhooresta (n) - untruth
rihan (v) - to look
sfahen (v) - to speak
shesan (v) - to make (someone [dat.] do something), to cause
so - definite article
sonan (v) - dream
tenec (v) - to have
tot (pron) - that
tu (pron) - impersonal third person singular pronoun ("one"); also
used to simulate passive sentences, which Verdurian does
not have
uestu (n) - human
ufëa (n) - face
urë - then, therefore
vulir (v) - to want
ze (pron) - reflexive pronoun; sometimes used in cases where English
would use a passive verb