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In the third of each set of seven lessons, we’ll have a lesson with no grammar at all. These will be times to rehearse what we’ve learned so far and to add some new vocabulary with which to play.
áana
sleep
áath
door
bud
clothing
ede
grain
héeya
to fear
hesh
grass
i
and
laya
to be red
lom
song
muda
pig
rana
drink; beverage
shum
air
thal
to be good
tham
circle
thili
fish
thom
pillow
u
to be open
ud
stone
wíi
to be alive; to be living
zháadin
to menopause
Bíi áya hesh wa.
The grass is beautiful.
Bíi áya lom wa.
The song is beautiful.
Bíi áya thili wa.
The fish is beautiful.
Bíi áya wíi wa.
Being alive is beautiful.
Did you notice, in the last example, that a word that had been introduced as a verb, “wíi” (to be alive), was used as a noun, “wíi” (being alive)?
English does the same thing (known grammatically as “nominalization”), forming “abandonment” from “to abandon,” “carelessness” from “to be careless,” and so on; any English verb can be used as a noun if “–ing” is added, as in “Swimming is good exercise.”
This process, which is common to all human languages, is very easy in Láadan. Simply use the verb in the noun’s place in the sentence and add a case suffix to in (in this case that’s the Subject Case suffix, which is a “null suffix”); this will become clear in subsequent lessons.
Bíi hal with wa.
The person works.
Bíi óoha with wa.
The person is weary.
Bíi hal i óoha with wa.
The person works and is weary.
1
Bíi u áath wa.
2
Bíi laya bud wa.
3
Bíi áana muda wa.
4
Bíi wíi ede wa.
5
Bíi thal hesh wa.
6
Bíi laya tham wa.
7
Bíi thal ud wa.
8
Bíi zháadin muda wa.
9
Bíi wíi thili wa.
10
Bíi thal lom wa.
Note, in #8, that “zháadin” (to menopause) is done exclusively by females. Therefore, we could be more specific and translate “muda” (pig) in this sentence as “sow”.
11
The circle is open.
12
The pig is alive.
13
The beverage is red.
14
The air is good.
15
The fish menopauses.
16
The clothing is open.
17
The grass is alive.
18
The pillow is red.
19
The grain is good.
20
The fish is afraid.
top1
The door is open.
2
The clothing is red.
3
The pig sleeps.
4
The grain is alive.
5
The grass is good.
6
The circle is red.
7
The stone is good.
8
The sow menopauses.
9
The fish is alive.
10
The song is good.
11
Bíi u tham wa.
12
Bíi wíi muda wa.
13
Bíi laya rana wa.
14
Bíi thal shum wa.
15
Bíi zháadin thili wa.
16
Bíi u bud wa.
17
Bíi wíi hesh wa.
18
Bíi laya thom wa.
19
Bíi thal ede wa.
20
Bíi héeya thili wa.