ALPT C Grammar Content (B1)
ALPT C
...SA... (SENTENTIAL TOPICS)
In Arusian, it is much more common to begin the sentence with the topic (often the direct object). The OSV word order is used in polite contexts, in situations where you are speaking to an audience, in formal writing (books, literature, fiction, fantasy, science, etc.), and talking to someone you respect, and add a serious tone to the sentence.
Vek sa lu drejr (As for the car, I bought it)
Tei sa lu amr (As for you, I love)
Juwa sa lu srauwr sasa bei (As for the book, I understood it well)
SU/SO (THIRD PERSON PRONOUNS)
The SU pronoun is a third person pronoun in Arusian that appears when it is the subject/topic of the sentence and when it refers back to the topic of the sentence.
Su sa lu ouwr (As for him, I like)
Su auwr su u payr meyek (He sees himself in the mirror)
SO is used when it is not the topic of the sentence. Please remember that VEJ SA is considered a topic in Arusian, thus SU may not be allowed here.
Su drejr nut (He buys food) becomes Vej sa so drejr nut (He doesn't buy food) because VEJ SA is the topic. You can interpret this literally as "the void is the thing that he [doesn't] buy food". YES, the word for "no" in Arusian means "void, emptiness". Cool, isn't it?
SO can also be used when referring to someone or something outside of the sentence or the immediate pragmatic context of the conversation.
Vej sa lu auwr so u sa tra pus (I didn't see him today - referring to someone else not mentioned in the sentence)
U (SPECIAL PRONOUN)
U is a "special pronoun" in Arusian because, unlike other Arusian pronouns, it refers back to a sentence or clause (e.g.: the food is cold, I hate it). If the noun you want to modify is in the topic position (the first slot in the sentence formula we showed you in the section "SENTENTIAL TOPICS"), you have to add U before SA and after the modifier.
Nut sa lru dauwr (As for the food, the dog eats) becomes nut beis u sa lru dauwr (As for the good food, the dog eats). In vek sa lu auwr (As for the car, I see), if you have a modifier like teis (yours, that is of you), you must do the same process as in the previous sentencde so it becomes vek teis u sa lu auwr (As for your car, I see it). A literal translation of this last sentence would be 'the car that is of you it is the thing that I see'. Another example I have is Nut beis u sa lu dauwr su (As for the good food, I am eating it).
For SVO sentences, you do not need SA because there's no noun following the subject, because when we have SVO, there is a verb right after the subject and SA links nouns.
For example: in Lru auwr lu (the dog sees you), we can modify the word lru (dog) with umu (big, large, bigness, largeness, size, etc.) and then the sentence becomes lru umus u auwr lu (the big dog sees me).
You will use U when you are modifying a noun that is in the topic position of the sentence or when it is the subject. When it is neither the topic nor the subject, you cannot use this U (not to be confused with some adverbial usages of U we have seen before). You will need another word (WEI) which will be taught later.
~SASA... (ADVERBIAL MARKER)
SASA is a powerful tool in Arusian grammar that turns nouns and small noun phrases into adverbs that modify a sentence. SASA TU (quickly), SASA OTRA (a lot, excessively, too much), etc.
DEYAYEI SA... (PERHAPS, PROBABLY)
This is an alternative form of SASA DEYAI we saw before, although the nuance here is a bit different. DEYAYEI SA focuses more on the fact that is it a probability.
Deyayei sa tei kamr sru (You probably have a cat/There is the possibility of you having a cat)
TELLING THE TIME IN ARUSIAN: DAYS OF THE WEEK AND MONTHS OF THE YEAR
For days of the week and months of the year (and many time expressions in general), you use these formulae: U SEGR + MONTH and U SEGR + DAY OF THE WEEK.
Juwa sa lu ouwr lu puwauwr u segr nru-naj (I want to read books in December)
Vej sa so tr umu-pai-tek u segr tra-tef (He doesn't go to the university on Wednesdays)
Another shorter and grammatically correct alternative is this: U SA + MONTH and U SA + DAY OF THE WEEK.
Juwa sa lu ouwr lu puwauwr u sa nru-naj (I want to read books in December)
Vej sa so tr umu-pai-tek u sa tra-tef (He doesn't go to the university on Wednesdays)
Here you can see the names of the months of the year:
And here you can see the days of the week:
SEMLEK SCRIPT
Arusian is also written with the Semlek script, which is fair more commonly used outside of the internet. In case you still don't know Semlek, click here to be directed to a chart of Semlek letters and their pronunciation. From the next level onward, all examples will be shown in both Semlek and Latin.
TRMR (TO BECOME)
Besides meaning 'to be', the verb TRMR can also imply a change of state in some contexts.
Lu trmr lu beis (I am becoming good)
Vej sa tei trmr gru beis (You won't become a good teacher)
Su trmr vom naareis (He is becoming a bad person)
TRMSE (...IS WHAT ... IS)
When you use TRMRSE (another form of TRMR 'to be'), you put more emphasis on what the thing you're talking about is.
Gru trmrse lu (A teacher is what I am)
Lu sa gru trmrse (A teacher is what I am)
Lru trmrse so (A dog is what it is)
Su sa lru trmrse (A dog is what it is)
sel trmrse tara (A community is what a city is)
PUNCTUATION
In the Latin form of Arusian, we don't use any comas, because the way sentences are structured and the intonation differ from most languages. The period (.) is used a lot in Arusian to break sentences, while ? and ! can be optionally inserted in sentences, although it is not mandatory. This is often done for stylistic purposes.
In the Semlek form of Arusian, different punctuation rules apply. A punctuation sign similar to | is used in both sides of the sentence to delimite it and separate it from other sentences, functioning in a similar way to the period and coma in English.
VERBAL NOUNS (KO-VERB)
To form the name of the action in Arusian (the verbal noun), that is, words like 'writing', 'driving', 'eating', etc. you just add KO- to the verb form without any suffixes (the stem or the bare root).
Tek- (to study) > Ko-tek (studying, the study)
Dau- (to eat) > Ko-dau (eating)
You cannot add -S to these words even if they end with a vowel. You must use SA (the full form) for all words that are built from two or move roots.
AGENT NOUNS (SU/SO + ROOT + RA)
Forming agent nouns (the doer of an action) is a very straightforward process in Arusian. First, you add SU or SO before the root and then you put the verb in the -RA form (this suffix may undergo some changes depending on the last letter of the root). The choice between SU and SO as prefixes depend on the function of the word in the sentence and it follows the same rule as SU/SO when used as stand-alone pronouns.
Su-delra auwr su u payr luwa (The queen sees herself in the water)
Vej sa so-tekra tekras u pus (The student isn't studying here/doesn't study here)
Su-kouwa beis u sa lu tuwar (I help the good employees/workers)
SUBORDINATE SENTENCES
In Arusian, just like English, there are verbs that can take a whole clause as their direct object. Usually, you don't add anything between the main clause and the subordinate clause, unlike in French or English in which you add QUE and THAT respectively. Pay attention to the sentences below because this sentence formula will be useful for many verbs we will learn (and for other concepts we will learn in the future, such as modifying predicates with WEI)
Lu trauwr so trmr lru (I think it is a dog)
Su auwr nut dause sru (She saw that the food was eaten by the cat)
The last sentence can be literally translated as 'she saw food being-eaten-by [the] cat'.
AEKR (I HOPE, I WISH)
You can hope and wish for things with the AEKR verb. It's direct object is often a subordinate sentence and you should be able to build subordinate clauses in Arusian (at least the simple ones, without modifiers such as adverbs and noun attributes, because for those you will need a pronoun that will be taught in the next level).
Nepa-tei aekr tei trmr gru (Don't you wish you were a teacher?)
Vej sa Nefrei-dei aekr so beis (Nefrei doesn't hope he is okay)
Puwei-su aekras (What does he hope? What does he wish?)
ADVERBIAL U
Besides being a "special pronoun" refering back to a previous clause (remember: Arusian sentences are built differently from English, so clauses like "the big dog" are actually built like "the dog is the thing that is big"), it also has adverbial uses like the ones you have learned previously. There are cases in which it can be interchangeable with the SASA adverbial marker. We are going to teach you a list of useful adverbs in Arusian which use U. We will specify whenever it can be replaced with SASA
| U Adverb | English | SASA variant | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| u pas | still, yet | sasa pa | Juwa sa lu semr sasa pa (I'm still writing the book) |
| u sa seg mregras | Past tense marker | - | Nepa-tei auwr ayau-vai pus u sa seg mregras (Have you ever watched this movie?) |
| u sa seg tregras | Future Tense Marker | - | Vej sa lu tr Honolulu u segr gau-2027 (I won't go to Honolulu in 2027) |
| u vras | really, honestly, truly | sasa vra | Su trmr vel auwayeis sasa vra (Honestly, she is a beautiful woman) |
| u atreis | only, once, just | sasa at, sasa fuwa sa pei-at | Tei demr-rmr so u atreis (You talked to her once) |
| u taais, u sa fuwa sa pei-ta | twice | sasa ta, sasa fuwa sa pei-ta | Marei mouwas u taais (Say it twice) |
| u vuwegreis | often, constantly, habitually | sasa vuweg | Tei-lu tekr naj u vuwegreis (We often study astronomy) |
| u waekreis | never | sasa waek | Lu auwr lru vais u waekreis (I have never seen a white dog!) |
| u ruuweis | occasionally, rarely | sasa ru | Su-pei numreis u ruuweis (They rarely sleep) |
| u sa osa | additionally | sasa osa | Mo-kai sa koreyanei u sa lu auwemr sasa osa (Additionally, I listen to Korean music) |
| u segr deg | in the beginning | sasa deg | Vej sa so delr so semras u segr deg (In the beginning, she couldn't write) |
IRREGULAR VERBS (MR AND TR)
The verbs TR and MR are conjugated a bit different in Arusian, adding -EG- between the root and the endings in some forms.
Lu tr pai-tek umus (I'm going to the big school)
In the intransitive form with an actor, you use TREGRA, when you are just expressing the action of going, not heading a specific place.
Su tregras (He is coming)
MR follows the same logic, with MREGRA for the intransitive form with an actor.
Vej sa lu mregras (I'm not leaving)
The forms TREGREI and MREGREI are used when you want to describe that the action of going or coming from a place happened, but you don't mention any specific agent.
Buk tegreis
In this sentence, you express that the action of going involved the store, because it was the destination. However, an agent is not specified.
Buk mregreis
Here you just describe that the action of leaving the store happened, again, without specifying an agent.
LUWEMR (TO DREAM)
With LUWEMR you can now describe what you dreamed of in Arusian!
Puwei-tei luwemras u sa mregra-tra (What did you dream of yesterday?)
Lu luwemr miya lus u sa tra pus (I dreamed with my girlfriend today)
Nepa-lu sa so-tekra luwemr* (Did the student dream with me?)
... U PAYR + PLACE (ADVERB OF PLACE/LOCATION)
You use this to express where an action takes place. Like it's usual in Arusian, it often comes at the end of the sentence. In higher levels, you will also learn how to topicalize adverbs of place.
Lu dauwr nut u payr pai-nut pus (I'm eating food at this restaurant)
Tei tekr naj u payr umu-pai-tek (He studies astronomy at the university)
TEYOR (TO WAIT FOR SOMETHING)
TEYOR lets you express that you are waiting for someone or for something to happen.
Nepa-tei teyor miya teis u pus (Are you waiting for your girlfriend at the restaurant?)
Lu teyor tei u payr mez teis (I'll wait for you at your house)
Vej sa so ouwr so teyor tei (He doesn't want to wait for you)
ARUSIAN SPELLING: U/W AND I/Y PAIRS (LATIN SCRIPT)
In the Latin script version of Arusian, but not in Semlek, when i and u are pronounced more like /ij/ and /uw/, then a y and a w is inserted, and this happens very often when they appear before another vowel. For example: daua > dauwa, auwaiei > auwayei. The insertion of these semivowels is mandatory in the Latin script.
ALPT B
Content for this level will be available soon!