Slovianski / Slovijanski / Словиянски

Version: August 2008

4. GRAMMAR

4.1. Nouns

As in all natural Slavic languages, nouns in Slovianski have three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). All Slavic languages, except Bulgarian and Macedonian, have six or seven cases. These cases are fairly consistent with one another. Therefore, Slovianski-N has six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative. The vocative, used in some Slavic language, is absent in Slovianski. Slovianski-P, on the other hand, has no declension at all: all grammatical cases are replaced by prepositions or word order.

Long and complicated paradigms are to be avoided, but we cannot escape distinguishing between a few different word classes.

These are the basic endings in Slovianski-N:

Below follow a few examples of each declension:

4.1.1. Masculine declension

One declension will do here. Of course, ' become j when followed by a vowel, and *ji becomes i. Three examples: pës „dog”, muž „man”, put' „journey”.

(*) Accusative forms of male persons are based on the genitive instead of the nominative.

4.1.2. Feminine declension

Here we can't escape introducting two different declensions: one for words on -a, one for words ending in a consonant. Note that the declensions of nouns on -a and nouns on -ja are identical, but that the j disappears when followed by -i. Examples: žena „woman”, zemja „earth”, jednost' „unit(y)”.

4.1.3. Neuter declension

Neuter nouns can end in -o or -e (the latter is used for stems ending in ', j, č, š, ž), but this difference does not affect declension. Again, three examples: slovo „word”, imeno „name”, and morje „sea”.

4.2. Adjectives

Adjectives match with the noun they modify in gender, case and number. Declension is regular. Example: dobri „good”.

An adjective can be made into an adverb by using the ending -o: dobro „well”.

4.2.1. Comparison

Adjectives are compared by means of the words više (more), mene (less), najviše (most) and najmene (least). These words may or may not be connected to the adjective with a hyphen.

There is also another superlative with the prefix pre-, meaning „very” or „too”. An adjective can be turned into the opposite by by prefix ne-.

Examples:

• veliki (big) > više-veliki (bigger) > najviše-veliki (biggest)
• novi (new) > mene-novi (less new) > najmene-novi (least new)
• dobri (good) > ne-dobri (not good, bad), pre-dobri (too good, extremely good, excellent)

In natural Slavic languages, adjectives are usually compared by means of inflectional endings, but these differ so much from one another that we felt better to use auxiliary words instead. Slavic languages don't even agree on a common word for „more”, but više (which literally means „higher”) should be understood by all.

4.3. Pronouns

4.3.1. Personal pronouns

In Slovianski-N, personal pronouns have the same six cases as the nouns. Because even the Slavic languages that got rid of most declension kept dative and accussative forms of personal pronouns besides the nominative ones, Slovianski-P has got them, too.

Notes:

1. Dependent on how much one care for regularity, the 1st and 2nd person singular can be regularised a bit. This will not have a positive effect on intelligibility, but neither will it seriously jeopardise it. If so, we'd get ja / mene / mene (mi) / mene (me) / menoju / mene and ti / tebe / tebe (ti) / tebe (te) / teboju / tebe instead.
2. After a preposition, all pronouns of the third person on i- or j- are preceded by n-: jego > do nego; im > pri nim, etc.
3. Slovianski-P uses the short forms in the accusative singular and the long forms in the dative (preceded by n-).

And a few notes regarding usage:

• Because not all verb endings are equally obvious to all speakers of Slavic languages, pro-drop (i.e. omitting personal pronouns when they are the subject of a sentence) is not recommended. It is better to say „on čita” instead of just „čita”.
• In Slovianski-P, the dative form is used after a preposition, the accusative form is used as a direct object. In Slovianski-N, prepositions can be governed by any case, depending on their usage in the Slavic languages.
• The pronoun on refers to any noun of masculine gender and not only to male beings. In the same way, the pronoun ona refers to any noun of feminine gender and not only to female beings.
• As all natural Slavic languages, Slovianski-P has got T-V distinction, i.e. vi is an universal second person pronoun for both numbers, but in singular, ti may be used to address friends, relatives and children.

4.3.2. Reflexive pronouns

The reflexive pronoun is sebe. It is inflected like ti, tebe, ..., with the only difference that it does not have a nominative.

There is also a shorter form, almost always used in reflexive verbs: se or sja. For example: ja mijem se/sja „I'm washing myself”.

4.3.3. Possessive pronouns

The possessive pronouns are inflected like adjectives, except that they have a zero ending in the masculine singular and the ending -e in the neuter singular. The forms are:

• moj, moja, moje „my”
• tvoj, tvoja, tvoje „your, thy”
• naš, naša, naše „our”
• vaš, vaša, vaše „your (pl.)”
• svoj, svoja, svoje „one's own” (reflexive)

There is no possessive pronoun of the third person. If the possessor is also the subject of the sentence, the reflexive svoj is used. Otherwise, the genitive form of the corresponding personal pronoun is used: jego, jej, ih. These do not change their form.

Just like adjectives, possessive pronouns correspond with the noun they modify in gender, number and case. Here is an example of their declension:

4.3.4. Demonstrative pronouns

The demonstrative pronoun in Slovianski is tot „this, that”. When it is necessary to make a distinction between here and there, we use tuttot „this” and tamtot „that, yonder”. Except for the masculine nominative singular, tot, tuttot, tamtot are declined like adjectives.

4.3.5. Relative pronouns

The relative pronoun is ktori (declined like an adjective). Alternatively, the use of čo „what” is also allowed.

4.3.6. Interrogative pronouns

4.3.7. Pronominal adverbs

On of Zamenhof's best inventions was his table of correlatives, a group of interrelated pronouns, adverbs and adjectives. The principle here is the same as everywhere in Slovianski-N: I try to keep it as regular as possible, but not at the expense of recognisability for speakers of Slavic languages. Therefore, unlike the schematicists, it is not my intention to make the table perfectly regular. A few virtually impossible words have been left out, and a few other regular forms have been replaced by forms that are common in the natural languages.

In the table above, adverbs are in black, adjectives and demonstrative pronouns in blue, interrogative and indefinite pronouns in red. Irregular forms (i.e. not looking the way they should according to the table) are in italics.

4.4. Numerals

4.4.1. Cardinal numbers

4.4.2. Ordinal numbers

Basically, these are formed by adding -i to the corresponding cardinal number. Except for the following:

1st — pervi
2nd — drugi
3rd — treti
4rd — četverti
7th — sedmi
8th — osmi
100th — sotni (stoti)
1000th — tisjačni

4.5. Verbs

Verbs in Slovianski-N behave pretty much like they do in the natural Slavic languages: they are conjugated for three persons in two numbers. There are three tenses: present tense, past tense and future tense. Furthermore, there are participles, imperatives and verbal nouns. There is also aspect: most verbs are either perfective or imperfective, most perfective verbs have an imperfective counterpart and vice versa.

Slavic verbs are quite a complicated thing. Most verbs have two different forms („aspects”), both listed the dictionary: the imperfective and the perfective one. Usually, they need to be learned separately. And in addition to that, many verbs have two basic roots, which also need to be memorised. And since this phenomenon occurs in áll Slavic languages, that leaves us little choice but to incorporate it into Slovianski-N as well, although we do our best to keep it as simple as possible.

4.5.1. Roots

For most verbs goes that the entire conjugation can be derived from the infinitive. By removing the infinitive ending -t', you get the root of the verb, and all forms of the verb are a matter of simply adding the correct endings to it. These roots can both end in a consonant and in a vowel.

A number of verbs, however, use a separate root in the present tense. Usually, these are verbs where the infinitive root ends in a vowel, while the present-tense root ends in a consonant. An active user of Slovianski will have to learn both forms. He will notice, however, that in most cases the formation of this second root happens in a predictable way:

• all verbs ending in -ovat' and all frequentatives on -ivat' have a present-tense root -uj-: djakovat' > ja djakujem, prigotovivat' > ja prigotovujem
• all verbs ending in -nut' have a present-tense root -n-: tjagnut' > ja tjagnem, dvignut' > ja dvignem
• many verbs of one syllable only have a present-tense root on -j-: čut' > ja čujem, žit' > ja žijem
• in the remaining cases, the present-tense root is a minor modification of the infinitive root: pisat' > ja pišem, plakat' > ja plačem, hotet' > ja hočem
• in rare cases, the present-tense root is quite different from the infinitive root: bat' se > ja bojim se, stat' > ja stojim, brat' > ja berem

Whenever the present-tense root cannot be logically derived from the infinitive, it will be given in the dictionary.

We are aware, of course, that this is making the language more difficult than a language with a fully regular grammar; however, it cannot be avoided without making the distance between Slovianski and the natural Slavic languages bigger. And with this approach, we can at least avoid subdividing verbs into classes and the like.

4.5.2. Conjugation

Infinitives

All infinitives have the ending -t' (-at', -et', -it', -ut', in some particular cases a consonant + t')

Present tense

The present-tense endings are:

• when the present-tense root ends in a vowel: -m (-ju), -š, -Ø, -me, -te, -jut;
• when the present-tense root ends in a consonant: -em (-u), -eš, -e, -eme, -ete, -ut.

In the first person singular, the ending -(e)m is preferred, but the ending -(j)u is also allowed.

In the case of the i-stems, the sequence -iju- should be avoided. Instead, we get -ju-. Furthermore, *-siju- and *-ziju- become -šu- and -žu-.

Examples:

Explanation of our choice for the forms:

• 1st singular: South Slavic, Slovak and Lower Sorbian have only the ending -m; East Slavic only the ending -(j)u; Polish, Czech and Upper Sorbian have both. All in all, the difference is so small that we decided to allow both.
• 3rd singular: all West and South Slavic languages have a zero ending, Russian always has -t, Ukrainian and Belarussian have both. Conclusion: zero ending.
• 1st plural: the ending -me (present in Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Bulgarian and Macedonian) has a slight majority over -mo (Ukrainian, Serbo-Croat), -my (Polish, Sorbian) and -m (Russian, Belarussian).
• 3rd plural: quite a mess. Endings vary: -at, -a, -u, -ut, -e, -jo, -i etc. Choice is arbitrary. Final -t occurs in East Slavic, Bulgarian and Macedonian.
• 2nd singular and plural: all languages have -š resp. -te, so there's no problem here.

Past tense

The past tense in formed by replacing the -t' of the infinitive by the ending -l (masculine singular), -la (feminine singular), -lo (neuter singular), -li (plural).

Examples:

The only two exceptions are:

• past tense forms of the verb idet' are šël, šla, šlo, šli
• past tense forms of the verb moč' are mogl, mogla, moglo, mogli

Future tense

The future tense is formed by combining the future tense of the verb bit' „to be” with the infinitive. The forms are the same as if a verb with the stem bud- was conjugated in the present tense.

A perfective verb cannot have a future tense form: the future tense is expressed by the present form.

Conditional

The conditional is formed by adding the particle bi to the past tense:

• ja bi pisal „I would write/I would have written”
• etc.

If really needed, a past conditional can be formed by inserting the paste tense of the verb „to be” into the normal conditional form:

• ja bil bi pisal „I would have written” (m.)
• ja bila bi pisala „I would have written” (f.)

Imperative

The imperative has forms for the 2nd person singular, the 1st person plural and the 2nd person plural. It is derived from the present tense stem. If the latter ends in a vowel, the endings are:

• -j in second person singular
• -jme in first person plural
• -jte in second person plural

If the present tense stem ends in a consonant, the imperative is formed by adding the following endings:

• -' in second person singular
• -'me in first person plural
• -'te in second person plural

(The ' disappears after any consonant but t, d, n, r, l)

Alternatively, and contrary to what the Slavic languages do, the imperative forms may also be derived from the infinitive.

• If the infinitive root ends in a vowel, the endings are: -j, -jme, -jte
• If the infinitive root ends in a consonant, the endings are: -Ø, -me, -te.

Examples:

Participles

There are two participles: the present active participle and the past passive participle. The former is derived from the present-tense root, the latter from the infinitive root.

The present active participle has the ending -juč (-juči when used as an adjective) when the present-tense root ends in a vowel, -uč (-učí) when it ends in a consonant. In other words, you can build it by replacing the ending -t of the 3rd person plural by -č.

The past passive participle is created by replacing the infinitive ending -t' by -ni. If the infinitive root ends in a consonant or -i, this becomes -eni, and -si becomes -šeni. Monosyllabic verbs with their present tense stem ending in -j, as well as verbs with the infinitive -nut' have -ti instead of -ni.

The verbal noun can be derived very simply from the past passive participle by replacing the endings -ni resp. -ti by -nje resp. -tje.

Examples:

The passive voice

The passive voice is created as in English, by combinating a form of the verb bit' „to be” with the past passive participle:

• ja jesem neseni „I am being carried”
• ja bil neseni „I was being carried, I have been carried”
• ja budem neseni „I will be carried”
• ja bil bi neseni „I would be carried, I would have been carried”

Now, a sentence like: Pica jest delana „Pizza is being made” is grammatically completely correct. It is, however, recommended to avoid such constructions because they sound clumsy to those Slavs who are not accustomed to using the verb „to be” very often, especially in the present tense. If the subject is known, it is better to utilise a normal active sentence. And if the subject isn't known, as in the case of our pizza, it is possible to use third person plural form without the subject: Delajut picu „They make pizza, one makes pizza, pizza is being made”.

4.5.3. Irregular verbs

Bit' „to be”

Is conjugated as follows:

(*) Because „budem” would be understood as „we will be” rather than „I will be”, the form on -u is preferred here.

Other irregular verbs

• Moč' „can, be able” has the infinitive root mog- and the present-tense root mož-.
• Idet' „go” has the infinitive ánd present-tense root id-, but the past tense forms are šël, šla, šlo, šli.

4.6. Prepositions

Prepositions should only be used according to their logical meaning, not according to national idioms. Many of them can be used as prefixes, too.

As a general rule, prepositions that indicate a location govern the following cases in Slovianski-N:

• the locative case when a stable location is indicated;
• the accusative case when a movement towards, or into a location is indicated;
• the genitive case when a movement away from, or out of a location is indicated.

In most other cases, the genitive is used. Here follows a preliminary list of prepositions in Slovianski:

In caseless Slovianski-P, all preposition govern the nominative (the dative in case of personal pronouns). Besides, od (sometimes s) replaces the genitive case, k the dative case, and posredstvem (sometimes s) the instrumental case, while na serves as a „universal preposition”.

4.6.1. Prefixes

Since we are discussing prepositions, we might as well add a few prefixes:

do- — to
iz- — out
na- — (perfective marker)
nad- — above; approximation
ob- — around
od- — away; back
po- — for a while, a little
pod- — under; approximation
pre- — though
pred- — before
roz- — apart
s- — together
u- — (perfective marker)
v- — in
vi- — out
voz- — up
za- — to start an action

Prefixes can be attached to all kinds of words, but mostly to verbs. They are simply attached to it. However, in cases when ambiguity might emerge, it is recomment to separated the prefix from the verb with a hyphen. For example: videt' „to see” vs. v-idet' „to go in, to enter”.

4.7. Conjunctions

• ale — but
• čo — that
• jesli — if, whether
• i — and
• ili — or
• ili ... ili ... — either ... or ...
• kak ... tak i ... — both ... and ...
• kol'ko ... tol'ko ... — the ... the ...
• ni ... ni ... — neither ... nor ...
• hoti — although

4.8. Syntax

The stylistically most neutral word order is subject – verb – object. It isn't mandatory, but please note that if you put the object before the subject, the meaning will no more be clear. This is not the case of sentences where either a personal pronoun or the pronoun kto is either subject or object, because personal pronouns and kto have their own accussative forms, so the meaning is always clear.

If necessary, it is possible to use passive sentences that are always clear.

As far as relative clauses and questions are concerned, the word order is similar to that in English:

• Ktora žena ljubi tuttogo muža? „Which woman loves this man?” (woman – subject, man – object)
• Ktoru ženu ljubi tuttoj muž? „Which woman does this man love?” (man – subject, woman – object)

The yes-no questions are formed by adding li to the beginning of the normal indicative sentence.

Final clauses are translated by means of čobi which is followed by past tense forms:

• Turisti posetijut Niderlandi, čobi fotografovali tulipani. „Tourists visit the Netherlands to take a photo of tulips.”
• Turisti posetili Niderlandi, čobi fotografovali tulipani. „Tourists visited the Netherlands to take a photo of tulips.”
• Ona nosi jabolka, čobi deta bili zdrove. „She brings apples so that kids may be healthy.”
• Ona nosila jabolka, čobi deta bili zdrove. „She brought apples so that kids might be healthy.”