NOUNS

There are five grammatical genders, which are categorized semantically.

Class 1: People

Ex:

• Cybelis

• Mĕdis

• soldier – byăm

• boy – poikŭ

• girl - chōjō

• expert – sĕnmŭx

• lord/god – ōsŭ

• lady/goddess – fīmĕ

• fool – dūbĕ

• farmer – nōjŭ

• man – tōn

• woman – tōx

Class 2: Animate, non-human creatures*

Ex:

• fish – fīsŭ

• beetle – kĕfūlī

• horse - măsŭs

• răjī (ox-like creature)

• zombie – tĕmyīl

Non-standard uses for Class 2:

* For anthropomorphizing inanimate objects to poetic effect

* For expressing very strong contempt or condemnation for a person, implying that their actions have made them less than human.

* Occasionally used for talking about slaves/criminals/prisoners of war, though usually only in the abstract.

Class 3: Inanimate, naturally-occurring objects: plants, landscape features, weather, places (including cities)

Ex:

• flower – fănŭ

• pool/spring – făschī

• pond/lake – mīzăm

• world – seikĕn

• star – fŏz

• air – kūx

• sickness – bōx

Class 4: Man-made objects: clothes, tools, buildings, cooked food, etc

Ex:

• hat – lōtīm

• book/text – băs

• temple – tĕjīn

• home – bŏsmŭs

Class 5: Abstract objects

This includes all nouns that do not fit into the other classes. It includes abstract concepts (“love” or “speed”), component parts of a larger whole (hem of a dress, arch of a gate, nose of an animal), and nominalized verbs (running, singing, swimming).

Ex:

• origin – mōtō

• story – mōnŏx

• hair – kămlī

• hand – tĕx

( Complete list of nouns, organized by class )

CASE MARKERS

There are a range of suffixes used to inflect nouns to indicate case and number.

Noun cases:

• Plain case (not a true case; the noun base without a suffix is used only in BE-EQUALS sentences and for one-word answers to questions.)

• Nominative (subject)

• Accusative (direct object)

• Dative (indirect object)

• Locative (“at the time/location of ___”)

• Ablative (“originating from ___”; can indicate direction or a cause-effect relationship)

• Possessive (“belonging to ___”; subcategory of the genitive case)

• Relative (“associated with ___”; subcategory of the genitive case)

Declension examples:

Medis: Class 1, singular, subject

Soldier: plain case

	Medis is not a soldier.
	Mĕdĭs-tă byăm sĕ.

Soldier: Class 1, singular, subject

Zombie: Class 2, singular, direct object

Byakenol: Class 1, singular, subject

Horse: Class 2, plural, direct object

Cybelis: Class 1, singular, indirect object

Medis: Class 1, singular, subject

Spring: Class 3, singular, locative

Disease: Class 3, singular, subject

Soldier: Class 1, plural, ablative (origin)

I: Class 1, singular, subject

horse: Class 2, singular, direct object

Teramakoi: Class 1, singular, possessive

	I used Teramakoi’s horse.
	Zais-tă Teramakoi-nī măsŭs-kĕ tūkĕsīn.

CONJUNCTIONS

There are two forms of “and” in Sabax-gol, depending on whether the list is enumerating everything or just giving representative examples.

dĕx – and (definite)

dĕs – and (indefinite)

bĕl – or

(Note that both the noun suffix and the verb ending are plural)

(Note that in this case both flowers and fish take the same suffix. That means the fish are dead (thus, food) and now they are Class III nouns (natural objects) rather than Class II (animals). If the fish were alive, it would have to be “fănŭ-mīs dĕs fĭsŭ-kĕl...”)

If only the final noun is inflected, the suffix must be plural. If each noun is marked, the suffixes may be singular. It is more common with “and” to mark only the final noun in the list, and more common with “or” to mark each individually.

Ex: “Cybelis and me”

CORRECT:

Saibĕlĕs-tă dĕx zais-tă

Saibĕlĕs dĕx zais-tăm

INCORRECT:

Saibĕlĕs-tăm dĕx zais-tăm

Saibĕlĕs dĕx zais-tă

PROPER NAMES

Given name is listed first, followed by sī (singular) or sīm (plural), then surname.

Saibĕlĕs sī Ăpăn

Cybelis of Apan

Tĕlănŏlr dĕx Saibĕlĕs sīm Ăpăn

Telanolr and Cybelis of House Apan

~~~~~~~~

PREVIOUS: VERBS | TOP | NEXT: PRONOUNS