ALPT E Grammar Content (A1)

In this page you will find all the grammar topics covered by ALPT (Arusian Language Proficiency) and they are ordered by level, with ALPT E being the lowest (equivalent to A1 in the European language level reference) being the lowest and ALPT A being the highest (equivalent to C1 and C2 levels in the forementioned guide). Each grammar topic will be followed by examples and grammatical explanations for beginners. Whenever possible, we will also provide advanced linguistic descriptions for sentences for more advanced students and Linguistics enthusiasts.

ALPT E

SA AND ~S

Both particles mean the same thing, but they depend on the phonological structure of the root (whether it ends on a consonant or a vowel) and on whether it is a native root, foreign root or a proper noun. They are used in many syntactic structures in Arusian and here we will present some to you.

• Introduce a Predicate SA introduces a predicate, which adds information about the subject, and, in this situation, the closest equivalent to English would be 'to be'. You will attach ~s to the root if it is a native word ending in a vowel. Otherwise, you use SA before the noun, especially if it ends in a consonant, is a foreign word or a proper name. The sentence formula is X Ys or X sa Y.

Lru sa tim (The dog is black)

Su umus (It is big)

Tei pus (You are here)

• Link the subject and an intransitive verb Intransitive verbs (verbs without an object) will be introduced later, but, it's important for you to know beforehand that SA is used to link it to the subject and this is because they behave like nouns syntactically.

Lu numreis (I am sleeping)

Vek jekreis (the car is new)

JEKREIS can be understood as TO BE NEW, instead of just NEW. Word classes don't always match between English and Arusian.

• Mark relationships between nouns Another useful usage of SA is to link two nouns and convey some sort of relationship or association between them, which can be translated into English as X of Y.

Juwa sa vel (The book of the woman)

Nut sa mef (The food of the animal)

Kref teis (Your friend)

~RA, ~A (INTRANSITIVE VERBS)

Intransitive verbs in Arusian are used when we have no object the verb is acting upon. That means it simply describes an action like "I write", "you swim", "they sleep", "we drive", etc. There are two kinds of intransitive verbs in Arusian, but for now we will learn the "actor intransitive verbs", which in Arusian grammar means that the subject acts on the action represented by the verb. Not all active verbs in English will necessarily be active in Arusian too, so they must be memorized separately.

Since in Arusian intransitive verbs behave like nouns, you mustn't forget the copula to link the subject to the predicate. Intransitive actor verbs end in -RA, by the way, for most verbs, and sometimes in -A. The general rule is that -RA is used for roots ending in consonants and -A for stems ending in vowels.

Ouwauwa-dei semras (Ouwauwa is writing)

Auwaya-dei dauwas (Auwaya is eating)

MAREI~ (GIVING ORDERS)

You add marei before a verb and remove all other pronouns to give someone an order or a request to do something. There is no word for PLEASE in Arusian, thus it is usually implied or demonstrated using other social cues.

Marei dauwas (Please eat it)

Marei semras (Please write)

Marei kouwas (Please do it)

~LU PAYAUWR SO (I THINK THAT... / I OPINE THAT...)

You add lu payauwr so after a sentence to add a "personal opinion" tone and make it clear that the statement is a thought or belief of yours. It is often separated from the main sentence and requires a period. In higher proficiency levels, you will see more efficient ways to express that concept.

Nut beis. Lu payauwr so (I think that the food is good)

Tek beis. Lu payauwr so (I think that learning/studying is a good [thing])

Lru sa tim. Lu payauwr so (I think that the dog is black/dark-coloured)

~MOR SO (...SAYS THAT.../...SAID THAT...)

This is a very useful structure, although you will see a better way to express that idea later. This structure is used for reported speech (He said that he is sick).

Lru sa tim. Lu mor so (I said that the dog is black)

Su umus. Gru mor so (The teacher said that it is big)

Su ukreis. Su mor so (I said that he is sick)

VEJ SA~ (DON'T, DOESN'T, ISN'T...)

To negate a sentence, just add the expression VEJ SA right at the beginning.

Vej sa lu semras. (I am not writing)

Vej sa lu mor so. (I did not say it)

Vej sa so umus. (It is not big)

NEPA~ (IS IT, DOES IT, QUESTION MARKER)

To make a yes/no question in Arusian, attach NEPA (written with a dash) to the noun or pronoun that follows it, at the beginning of the sentence.

Nepa-tei dauwr nut. (Are you eating food?)

Nepa-su beis (Is it good?)

Nepa-tei beis (Are you okay?)

Nepa-su semras (Is he writing?)

(VEJ SA) DON'T DO...

This is the negative forms for asking people not to do something.

Vej sa marei kouwas! (don't do [it]!)

Vej sa marei dauwr bru otras (don't eat too many cookies!)

Vej sa marei mrayas (don't be late!)

TR (TO GO TO/TOWARD)

This verb is used to mean that the subject goes to a place. In Arusian, the place you are moving to is the direct object of the verb. While this may seem weird for English speakers, this is because Arusian doesn't have prepositions the same way English does.

Lu tr pai-tek (I went to school)

Nepa-su tr tara (Is he going to the city?)

Lu tr mez (I go to the house)

MR (TO COME FROM/ TO LEAVE)

This verb is very similar to TR, but it implies the opposite movement. While TR means that you are heading a place, MR implies you are coming from that place, making the direct object the source of the motion.

Nepa-tei mr pai-tek (Are you coming from/leaving school?)

Su mr mez (He is coming from/leaving the house)

Lu mr tara (I am coming from/leaving the city)

BEIS / BEYEIS (...IS GOOD)

To say that something is good, the easiest way is to add beis after a SINGLE noun or thing. In the future, you will learn how to add predicates to more complex phrases and clauses.

Kafei beis (Coffee is good)

Gru beyeis (The teacher is good)

NAS / NAAIS (...IS BAD)

This form is used to tell that something is bad. You add it after a noun.

Bru-pei nas (Cookies are bad)

Nepa-su naais? (Is it bad?)

TRMR (TO BE)

This is the equivalent of the verb to be in English.

Vej sa tei trmr gru (You aren't a teacher)

Nepa-tei trmr gru (Are you a teacher?)

Lu trmr so-tekra (I'm a student)

OSA (AND/BUT)

This is the first "conjunction" you will learn in Arusian and it translates into English as AND/BUT. If there is a sentence before it, you have to use U OSA instead.

Gru osa so-tekra (The teacher and the student)

Lu semras u osa lu tekras (I write and study)

Lu semras u osa tei tekras (I am writing and you are studying/I am writing but you are studying)

~SASA OTRA (A LOT)

This expression is used after a verb to express the notion of "a lot". You must'nt use it with nouns, only verbs. For nouns, you'll learn another expression.

Lu semras sasa otra (I write a lot)

Vej sa tei tekras sasa otra (You don't study a lot)

OTRAS (A LOT OF, MANY, SEVERAL)

This is the counterpart of the expression we learned in the previous session and this is the one you will use for nouns. You add it after the noun you want to modify and, yes, the -S here is the same marker we saw earlier and it is required here too.

Vom otras (It is a lot of people/a lot of people)

Nut otras (A lot of food)

PAYR (TO BE LOCATED IN, ON, AT)

This verb is used with the sense of 'to be located at' a place. Since in Arusian there is no way to say IN, ON, AT, we end up using a verb to express that notion. The subject is the thing or the person that is located at the place expressed by the direct object.

Lu payr pai-tek (I am at school)

Nepa-tei payr mez teis (Are you at home?)

Vej sa so payr pai-lak (He isn't at the supermarket)

PAYAS (THERE IS, THERE ARE)

Arusian doesn't really have a direct equivalent of the English expression used to express the existence of something. One of the expressions you can use to convey that notion is PAYAS.

Lru payas (There is a dog/There are dogs)

Vek payas (There is a car/There are cars)

~U RMR (WITH)

To express company in Arusian, in order to describe that you do something with someone, you can use U RMR after the verb and before the person you do something with.

Nepa-tei kouwas u rmr Kaya-dei (Do you work with Kaya?)

Vej sa so jeyas u rmr lu (She doesn't play with me)

RMR (TO BE WITH/TO BE TOGETHER)

The word RMR can be used as a verb meaning 'to be together with' someone.

Vej sa lu rmr so (I am not with her)

Su rmr sum (She is with family)

OUWR (TO WANT, TO LIKE)

In Arusian, this verb can cover both the meaning of wanting something and liking something. You have to know that we have many verbs for loving and liking in Arusian, but this verb should be fine for loving objects and stuff. For the intransitive verbs we have learned before, the SA (and its variants) are used in the last verb.

Su-pei ouwr nut (They want food)

Lru ouwr grai (The dogs want a bone)

Lu ouwr lu kouwas (I want to work)

Vej sa lu ouwr lu kouwas (I don't like to work)

Nepa-tei ouwr tei sa taya-kaya (Do you want to draw?)

Su-tekra ouwr gru (The student likes the teacher)

Notice that, in Arusian, when we have two verbs in a row we must conjugate both verbs with the same subject. If you speak Arabic you will recognize this.

DELR (TO BE ABLE TO)

This verb will behave similarly to OUWR in terms of how it is used in the sentence. It expresses the ability of doing something.

Vej sa lu delr lu sa taya-kaya (I can't paint)

Nepa-tei delr tei puwauwas (Are you able to read?)

Lu delr lu kouwas (I can do it)

PUWEI (QUESTION WORD)

Question words in Arusian are always in the beginning of the sentence and often attach to the first noun pronoun.

Puwei-vom pus (Which person/who is here?)

Puwei-kei sa so pus (Why is he here?)

Puwei-lei sa tei kouwas (how do you do work/do this?)

Puwei-pai teis (where are you?)

Puwei-seg sa tei mr tara (when are you leaving the city?)

Puwei-su pus (what is this?)

Puwei-kot sa vom pus (How many people are here?)