Rhean

by Mike Ellis

TEXT

Yarz ora dlovadröza mahilekzom

Tor yarz ora drovorom ki dlovadrözom. Nagyelie, drovor lim drovadrözom raizioš. Dlovadröza üčetar šenasin hošaiš. Vica niir, bek dlovadrözom tačadve, üčeta drovor mirioš. Tant zduaiš o "Yei šenasin torek hošat? Todom mu ančez že." Ki drovor byantaiš o "Mai; mahil hošam." Rhu du dlovadröz tant derep ki irek sacir ai üčeta mahil-sacioš. Ža drovor zoorioš, ki dlepom surnaiš

English version

Story about the prophecy of the monastery.

This is a story about a thief and a monastery. Long ago, a thief travelled near a monastery. He wanted the valuables of the keeper of the monastery. One day, standing outside the monastery, the keeper saw the thief. (He?) said to him, "Do you want to take our valuables? There aren't any here!" And the thief replied, "No; I want a prophecy." So the keeper predicted that the monastery would cause him pain and anger. Then the thief fled, and hid far away.

INFLECTIONS USED:

-0 - accusative case (after consonants)
-a - genitive case (after consonants)
-adve - gerund (-ak verbs)
-aiš - third person singular, past tense (-ak verbs)
-am - first person singular, present tense (-ak verbs)
-at - second person singular, present tense (-ak verbs)
-ez - third person plural, present tense (-ek verbs)
-in - plural accusative
-ir - third person singular, future tense (-ek verbs)
-ioš - third person singular, past tense (-ek verbs)
-n - accusative case (after vowels)
-om - instrumental case (after consonants)
-r - genitive case (after vowels)

WORDS USED:

ai - prep. (subject particle for out-of-order clauses; nominative)
anč.ek - v. exist, be present
bel - prep. outside (instrumental)
byant.ak - v. reply, answer back
derep - n. pain
dlepom - av. far away
dlovadröz - n. monastery
drovor - n. thief
du - av. [the fact] that...
hoš.ak - v. want
irek - n. anger
ki - cj. and
lim - prep. near, around (instrumental)
mahil - n. prophecy, prediction
mahilekz - n. prophet
mahil-sac.ek - v. prophecise, predict, foretell
mai - ij. "no"
mir.ek - v. see
mu - av. not; negative
nagyelie - av. long ago
niir - n. day
o - prep. (object marker for out-of-order clauses; accusative)
ora - prep. about, regarding (instrumental)
raiz.ek - v. travel
rhu - av. [and] so...
sac.ek - v. cause, make
surn.ak - v. hide (oneself)
šenas - n. valuable (thing)
tač.ak - v. stand
tant - pron. (3rd person singular, dative case)
todom - av. here
tor - pron. this
tor.ek - v. take
üčeta - n. keeper, master
vica - aj. certain, particular, "one ..."
yarz - n. story
yei - aj. our
zdu.ak - v. say
zoor.ek - v. flee, run away
ža - av. [and] then
že - (emphasis particle)

GRAMMAR NOTES:

Unfortunately, there still is no Rhean grammar page online, so here's the grammar you'll need. I didn't give an interlinear because the grammar is fairly simple and regular.
Rhean word order is mostly Subject-Object-Verb. Other word orders are often used, especially with quotes or when the subject or object is a long phrase. When necessary, subject may be marked with |ai| and object may be marked with |o|. Both of these were used in this text. Adjectives come before nouns, as do genitive nouns indicating possession.
Nouns decline for five cases; their case endings depend on whether the stem ends in a consonant or a vowel. There are prepositions that govern all of the cases, but luckily for you, all those used in this text govern the instrumental. Accusative case is unmarked on consonant stems. Nominative is always unmarked.
Verbs come in two conjugations: -ak and -ek. These are shown in the glossary with a period. I gave just the endings used rather than a whole conjugation chart. What I called the "gerund" is something like a participle: "(in/while) doing..."