📖 Basic Grammar and Sentence Patterns

This page describes the basics of Arusian grammar and basically all you will need to build most of the basic sentences in Arusian. Arusian usually prefers small, simple sentences, so fell free to break a long and complex English sentence into small pieces when trying to express the same concepts in Arusian.

📖 X TRMR Y

The easiest way to say that X is Y is by using the verb trmr, which translates to equals to. This can only be used for linking two nouns (or at least what would be a noun in English).

. urg rmrt ul .

• Lu trmr gru (I am a teacher)

. lev rmrt ,at apeN .

• Nepa-tei trmr vel? (Aren't you a woman?)

. ,aP ul as cuP rmrt us .

• Su trmr puk sa lu-pei (She is our child!)

📖 X SA ["ADJECTIVE"]/X SA [POSSESSOR]

Arusian has no adjectives in the same sense as English, but there are nouns that describe other nouns. In this case, you cannot use trmr to link then. You will use sa between the noun and its description (which must be another noun!) if it is a foreign word or ends in a consonant and -s if it is a native root or ends in a vowel.

. m,et as dera ,aaM .

• Mai-ared sa tim (the world is dark/the dark world)

. sumu auj .

• Juwa umus (the book is big/a big book)

. Tuk as cuP .

• Puk sa kut (little child/the child is little)

The sa particle also links two nouns to form some kind of association between them (such as expressing possession). Note that you may only link ONE element to the noun, otherwise you will need to use further linkers (which will be taught later).

. sul cuP .

• Puk lus (my child)

. sauj met .

• Tem juwas (the size of the book)

. surg cet .

• Tek grus (the lesson of the teacher)

. sul cet ,aaP .

• Pai-tek lus (My school/the school I study at)

📖 [X SA Y] U SA Z

Let's suppose you now want to use a noun modified by another word with SA (forming a single "group of words" or, more technically, constituent). You will need to link it to the rest of the sentence with the help of u, which forms a bridge between that group of words and the following words. Example:

. s,armuN u sul cuP .

• Puk lus u numreis (My child sleeps)

You will need sa after u if the following word is another noun:

. surg u saujmet .

• Tem juwas u grus (The size of the book of the teacher)

. sumu u m,et as cev .

• Vek sa tim u umus (The big black car) although in English the order of adjectives is stricter

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Another way to memorize u is by building two sentences first:

Puk lus. Su numreis

And then you join both sentences and replace su with u. Thus, you get: puk lus u numreis

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The element to be linked by u must be part of the subject or topic (what you are talking about). Otherwise, if it is part of the predicate, you will have to use wei, which will be taught in the next section.

📖 [X SA Y] WEI SA Z

The wei particle works the same way as u (it enables you to link a group of words to the rest of the sentence), but wei is used when the element is not the topic or the subject of the sentence, that is, it is part of the predicate.

. m,et as ,au Tuk as cev r-ced ul .

• Lu decr vek sa kut wei sa tim (I bought a small black car).

Here, vek sa kut follows the X sa Y rule, and tim (black) must be linked to it. By adding wei, the whole vek sa kut element becomes X, and thus it adheres again to the X sa Y rule: [vek sa kut] wei sa tim.

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If you find the usage of wei too difficult, just break it into smaller sentences.

. m,et aso Tuk as cev r-ced ul .

• Lu decr vek sa kut osa tim (I bought a small car and it was black).

. saso u m,et as cev . Tuk as cev r-ced ul .

• Lu decr vek sa kut. Vek sa tim u osas (I bought a small car. The car is black too.)

📖 "ADVERBS" AND SASA

The use of sasa is very straightforward and often corresponds to English adverbs (specially those that end in -ly). It comes before the noun you want to turn into an adverb and it should come after the object or other arguments of the verb.

. arTo as as sarmed u s,at aM .

• Ma teis u demras sasa otra (Your dad talks a lot!)

. ut as as s,armes auj apeN .

• Nepa-juwa semreis sasa tu? (Was the book written quickly?)

📖 -R AND -A/-RA VERBS

Those verbs are the equivalent of what we call "active voice" in English. use the -r ending if there is an object the subject is acting upon (i.e.: he writes a book) and -a or -ra if there is no object (i.e.: he writes).

. auj rmes us .

• Su semr juwa (He writes a book, TRANSITIVE)

. sarmes us .

• Su semras (He writes, INTRANSITIVE)

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Semras has an -s (a form of the sa particle) because intransitive verbs work like nouns and thus follow the X sa Y rule.

📖 -EI/-REI AND -SE VERBS

These verbs are equivalent to the "passive voice" in English, but, like the previous pair of verbs we learned in the previous section, they have two forms: -se and -rei. The -se form is used when the agent is explicit in the sentence and -rei is for when the object receives the action or is affected by it, but there is no agent. Let's take a look at it:

. ul ,r smes auj .

• Juwa semse lu (the book was written by me)

. s,armes auj .

• Juwa semreis (the book was written)

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Notice that the -rei verb has an -s after it. It is because -rei verbs, just like -ra ones, work like nouns and thus follow the same X sa Y rule.

📖 "PREPOSITIONS" (ACTUALLY, VERBS!)

Arusian has no prepositions, so it means that there is no one-to-one match for words like to, for, with, in, on, at, etc. Instead, Arusian uses verbs to convey those ideas. In this section, we will learn some of them.

📕 EDR

This verb literally means to help and it can also be used to express the receiver of something or the person benefited by an action.

. ,at rde u suP cev r-ced ul .

• Lu decr vek pus u edr tei (I bought the car for you/I bought the car to help you)

. ul rde u oarg rmes ,ad ha he hs he hl ha .

• Alicia-dei semr grau u edr lu (Alicia wrote a letter for me)

📕 RMR

To express company, you can use this verb meaning to be together with, to accompain.

. os rmr u cet ,aaP rt ,aP ul .

• Lu-pei tr pai-tek u rmr so! (We went to school with her)

.. ul rmr u os rok ,at rled ,at as jev ..

• Vej sa tei delr tei kor so u rmr lu! (You can't do that with me!)

📕 PAYR

This verb means to be located at and is used to express most types of location.

. ha hr hd hs he hr r,aaP u sauad ,aP ul .

• Lu-pei dauwas u payr resdra (We are eating at the restaurant)

. auj r,aaP u s,at ,ad rmes ,araM .

• Marei semr dei teis u payr juwa (Write your name on the book)

.. -jeM r,aaP ,ad ,aak as jev ..

• Vej sa Kai-dei payr mez! (Kai is not home!)

📕 OREMR

The verb oremr is used to introduce the tool you use to accomplish an action.

. aeuk os rmero u auj rmes ,aP us .

• Su-pei semr juwa u oremr so-kuweya (They write a book using the computer)

. mu rmero u ce,arv r-ced ,aP ,at rled ,aP ,at .

• Tei-pei delr tei-pei decr vreyek u oremr um (You guys can buy things with money)

📖 "CONJUNCTIONS" IN ARUSIAN

Arusian has almost no conjunctions in the same sense as English, but there are some verbs and words that might function in a similar way and could help you express the same concepts. Here are some:

Conjunction	English	Arusian
X and Y	I want to drink tea and coffee	Cai-osa-kafei sa lu ouwr lu dauwr
X and Y	I read and write books	Lu puwauwr juwa u osar lu semras
X or Y	Do you want to drink tea or coffee?	Nepa-tei ouwr tei dauwr cai-o-kafei?
If Y, then X	If you wanted, I would be able to help you	Tei ouwas u tuweise lu delr lu edr tei
X because Y	I help you because I love you	Lu edr tei u keise lu sumr tei

The word for but is also osa in Arusian.

📖 NEGATIVE SENTENCES

Just add vej sa to the beginning of the sentence to make it negative.

📖 YES/NO QUESTIONS

Just add nepa to turn a sentence or a statement into a yes/no question.