SYNTAX

Sintaksa

Word order

Word order is basically free, but the clearest (and stylistically most neutral) word order is subject — verb — object (SVO). Placing the verb of object before the subject is possible when special emphasis is needed, but when neither subject nor object differentiate between the nominate and accusative, this is better avoided for clarity.

Modifiers usually precede the noun. This is not mandatory either, but it is the most neutral and the clearest way of building a sentence.

Questions

There are two types of questions:

• Yes/no questions can be made in three different ways:
  • either it differs from a normal declarative sentence only by intonation:
    – Otec kupil knigu? „Has father bought a book?”
  • or this sentence is preceded by the particle či:
    – Či otec kupil knigu?
  • or it is marked by the question particle li placed right after the focus point of the question, usually the verb:
    – Kupil li otec knigu?
• Other questions start with an interrogative pronoun or adverb, normally placed at the beginning of the sentence:
    –   Koju knigu kupil otec? „Which book has father bought?”
    –   Kde otec kupil tu knigu? „Where did father buy that book?”
  In this type of sentences, the meaning is usually made clear by the case that's been used:
    –   Koja žena ljubi togo muža? „Which woman loves that man?” (woman = subject, man = object)
    –   Koju ženu ljubi toj muž? „Which woman does that man love?” (man = subject, woman = object)
• If necessary, it is possible to use passive sentences that are always clear:
    –   Koja žena jest ljubjena od togo muža? „Which woman is loved by that man?”

Negation

Negation in Interslavic can always be recognized by the particle ne „not” preceding the word being negated, usually the verb:
  –   Ja ne hoču idti v kino. „I don't want to go to the cinema.”
  –   Tuto avto ne jest drago. „This car is not expensive.”

This particle is also used in conjunction with other words used for expressing negation, such as nikogda „never”, nikto „nobody”, nikde „nowhere”, etc.:
  –   Ja nikogda ne jem čokoladu. „I never eat chocolate.”
  –   Nikto ne prijehal na zabavu. „Nobody came to the party.”
  –   Otec nikde ne mogl najdti svoje ključi. „Father couldn't find his keys anywhere.”

Unlike in English, all negatable words are being negated in Interslavic, for example:
  –   Ja uže nikogda ne budu čitati nijednu knigu! „I am never going to read a single book anymore!” (lit. „I will never not read no book anymore”)

Ne- can also be used as a prefix: nedobry „not good”, nedragy „inexpensive, cheap”, ne-Slovjanin „a non-Slavic person”. Note the slight difference in meaning:
  –   Tutoj hlěb jest nedragy. „This bread is inexpensive.”
  –   Tutoj hlěb ne jest dragy. „This bread is not expensive.”

A peculiarity of the Slavic languages is that the direct object of a negation is often in the genitive, in cases when the positive sentence would have the accusative. This is common in Russian and even mandatory in Polish and Slovene, but considered archaic in Czech and Serbo-Croatian. In Interslavic, both options can be used:
  –   Moj brat ne je hlěb. (accusative), and
  –   Moj brat ne je hlěba. (genitive) have exactly the same meaning: "My brother doesn't eat bread.”
Although some might feel a subtle difference in meaning (hlěb meaning „bread in general”, hlěba meaning „that particular bread”), the choice for either option is probably related to the speaker or writer’s nationality instead.

Final clauses

Final clauses are translated by means of že or da followed by the conditional:

• Turisti posětet Niderlandiju, že by fotografovali tulipany. „Tourists visit the Netherlands to take photos of the tulips.”
• Turisty posětili Niderlandiju, že by fotografovali tulipany. „Tourists visited the Netherlands to take photos of the tulips.”
• Ona prinosi jabloka, da by děti byli zdrave. „She brings apples so that the kids will be healthy.”
• Ona prinosila jabloka, da by děti byli zdrave. „She brought apples so that the kids would be healthy.”

Passive constructions

Passive constructions are used less frequently in the Slavic languages than in (for example) English. That does not mean they should by be avoided by any means, but using them should be done with some caution. Although a sentence like: „Pica jest dělana” or „Pica jest dělajema” „Pizza is being made” is grammatically completely correct, it sounds clumsy to those Slavs who are not accustomed to using the verb „to be” in the present tense, whereas for others the past passive participle cannot be used for a present tense construction at all. Therefore, if the subject is known, it is better to utilise a normal active sentence: „Picu dělajut studenti” „Pizza is being made by students”. 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: „Dělajut picu” „They make pizza, one makes pizza, pizza is being made”. Even more common is a reflexive construction: Pica dělaje se, which literally means „Pizza is making itself” and should be translated as „One makes pizza, pizza is being made”.

The agent in passive construction is either in the instrumental case or preceded by the preposition od with the genitive: „pica sdělana studentami” or „pica sdělana od studentov” „Pizza made by students”.