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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.
áath
door
bud
clothing
ede
grain
héeya
to fear
hesh
grass
i
and
ina
sleep
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
The grass is beautiful.
The song is beautiful.
The fish is beautiful.
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.
The person works.
The person is weary.
The person works and is weary.
1
2
3
Bíi ina muda wa.
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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.
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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
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
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