Darnassian (speculation)

This project started as the Darnassian Language Society by User:Oponyxal, and was moved here. Its goal is to infer the rules of Darnassian grammar from the samples of Darnassian speech given in the games and lore. Many of the early translations, however, were made up by fans when little to no official translations had been published. In the table below, some phrases are listed as "official translations", and others are listed as "fan translations". "Official translation" is self-explanatory, while "fan translation" means that the translation has been randomly made up by fans where no official information was given at the time. Transliterations for fan-translated phrases are also generally pure guesswork.
==Words==
Darnassian 	English 	Used in:	Which means:
Alah 	To you (presumed) 	
*Ishnu-alah	
*Good fortune to you (official translation)
Ana (1st interpretation) 	My/ours (presumed) 	
*Ana'tole na Dure (fan transcription)
*Anoduna falore, isera'duna banthalos
*Anoduna thera	
*I will do it for nature (fan translation)
*Yes sister, the green(skins) are primitive (fan translation)
*Revenge will be ours (fan translation)
Ana/Ana'duna (2nd interpretation)	I (presumed)/Us (word by word "I-others", which is "us", which refer to sister) (presumed)	
*Anoduna falore, isera'duna banthalos
*Ana'duna thera	
*Yes sister, the green(skins) are primitive (fan translation)
*Revenge will be ours (fan translation)
* Based on the fact that in the both sentences Ana'duna is used when there is a translation in English presumably referring to "us" or "sister"
* Also note the similarity to the word "duna" which might mean "others"
Anu 	For (presumed) 	
*Anu'dora
*Anu'dorini talah
*Anu therador mali	
*For truth (fan translation) 
*For nature's survival (fan translation)
*For(?) (?)
An'da 	Papa (a father's nick name) 	
*An'da 	
*Papa (official translation)
Andu 	Let (it)? 	
*Andu-falah-dor	
*Let balance be restored (official translation)
Ande 	(May/let) you/your ? 	
*Ande'thoras'ethil	
*May your troubles be diminished (official translation)
Ash 	This? 	
*Ash-thero-sauguine! 
*Ash Karath!	
*(?)
*Do it! (official translation)
Asha 	What? 	
*Asha'falah	
*What (is) balance (?)
Ashte 	Very? 	
*Ash'therod neph'anis	
*Very ugly indeed (fan translation)
Bantallas 	Primitive 	
*Anoduna falore, isera'duna banthalos	
*Yes sister, the green(skins) are primitive (fan translation)
Dal 	Your (presumed) 	
*Ishnu-dal-dieb	
*Good fortune to your family (official translation)
Dalah 	My/mine 	
*Az'thero'dalah'dor
*Dalah'surfal	
* (?)
*My beloved one (official translation)
Darnassae 	Darnassian 	
*"Darnassae?"http://www.wowpedia.org/Arathandris_Silversky	
*(Do you speak) Darnassian?
Delar 	Ancient Keepers 	
*Lok'delar
*Rhok'delar	
*Stave of the Ancient keepers (official translation)
*Bow of the Ancient keepers (official translation)
Dieb 	Family? 	
*Ishnu-dal-dieb	
*Good fortune to your family (official translation)
Do 	Honored/relating to honor, used to denote formality? 	
*Shan'do
*Minn'do
*Nahlen'do	
*Honored teacher (official translation)
*Mother (official translation)
*Master of the Fang (official translation)
Dor 	Be restored/exist/eternal 	
*Andu-falah-dor
*Az'thero'dalah'dor 
*Kalimdor	
*Let balance be restored (official translation)
*(?)
*Land of Eternal Starlight (official translation)
Dora 	Truth 	
*Anu'dora
*Thor falah nor dora	
*For truth (fan translation)
*Fight for the truth of the balance of heaven(?)
Dorei 	Borne/Children 	
*Kaldorei
*Quel'dorei
*Sin'dorei	
*Star borne / Children of the Stars (official translation)
*High borne (official translation)
*Blood borne / Children of Blood (official translation)
Dorini/Dure 	Nature/nature's 	
*Anu'dorini talah
*Ana'tole na Dure	
*Let my will be known (official translation)
*I will do it for nature (fan translation)
Drassil 	Crown 	
*Aldrassil
*Andrassil
*Nordrassil
*Teldrassil
*Vordrassil	
*(?)
*Crown of the snow (official translation)
*Crown of the heavens (official translation)
*Crown of the earth (official translation)
*Broken crown (official translation)
Duna (1st interpretation) 	fact/truth/real(ity) (presumed) 	
*Anoduna falore, isera'duna banthalos
*Ana'duna thera	
*Yes sister, the green(skins) are primitive (fan translation)
*Revenge will be ours (fan translation)
Duna (2nd interpretation) 	others (presumed) 	
*Anoduna falore, isera'duna banthalos	
*Yes sister, the green(skins) are primitive (fan translation)
*Scroll further down to Phrases to find its direct meaning
Dure 	Nature (presumed) 	
*Ana'tole na Dure	
*I will do it for nature (fan translation)
Eldre 	? 	
*Eldre'Thalas	
*(?) home/homeland
Enshu (En'shu?) 	? 	
*Enshu'falah'nah	
*(?) balance? (?)
Falah 	Balance? 	
*Andu-falah-dor
*Thor falah nor dora
*Enshu falah-nah
*Asha'falah	
*Let balance be restored (official translation)
*Fight for the truth of the balance of heaven (?)
*(?) balance (?)
*What (is) balance
Falore (1st interpretation) 	Sister (presumed) 	
*Anoduna falore, isera'duna banthalos	
*Yes sister, the green(skins) are primitive (fan translation)
Falore (2nd interpretation) 	Agree (presumed) 	
*Anoduna falore, isera'duna banthalos	
*Yes sister, the green(skins) are primitive (fan translation)
Fanass 	Indeed 	
*Ash'therod neph'anis	
*Very ugly indeed (fan translation)
Ilisar 	Enemies(?) 	
*Tor ilisar'thera'nal	
*Let our enemies beware! (official translation)
Ishnu 	Luck/Fortune 	
*Ishnu-alah
*Ishnu-dal-dieb
*Shal myrinan ishnu daldorah	
*Good fortune to you (official translation)
*Good fortune to your family (official translation)
* (?)
Iszera 	Green (plural - "the green ones/green-skins", singular probably being "ysera") 	
*Anoduna falore, isera'duna banthalos	
*Yes sister, the green(skins) are primitive (fan translation)
Kal 	Star 	
*Kaldorei
*Kalidar
*Kalimdor	
*Starborne (official translation)
*Star (island?)
*Land of Eternal Starlight (official translation)
Lok 	Stave 	
*Lok'delar	
*Stave of the Ancient keepers (official translation)
Malor 	Malorne's 	
*Zin-Malor	
*Glory of Malorne / Malorne's Glory
Min/Minn 	Mother/Maternal Guardian 	
*Min'da
*Minn'do	
*Mama (official translation)
*Mother (official translation)
Mush'a 	Hunter 	
*Mush'a	
*Hunter (fan translation)
Na 	For/to (presumed) 	
*Ana'tole na Dure	
*I will do it for nature (official translation) (My efforts for Nature)
Naar 	Town 	
*Astranaar
*Dolanaar
*Satyrnaar
*Sylvanaar
*Thalanaar	
*?
*?
*Town of Satyrs (?)
*?
*?
Nah 	? 	
*Enshu'falah'nah	
*(?) (?) (?)
Nal 	Feel/know 	
*Tor ilisar'thera'nal	
*Let our enemies beware! (official translation)
Nor 	Sky/heavens 	
*Nordrassil	
*Sky/heaven crown
Quel 	High 	
*Quel'dorei
*Quel'serrar
*Quel'thalas	
*High borne (official translation)
*High blade (official translation)
*High Kingdom/homeland (official translation)
Rhok 	Longbow 	
*Rhok'delar
*Rhok'shalla	
*Longbow of the Ancient Keeper (official translation)
*Longbow of (?)
Rodne 	Ugly? 	
*Ash'therod neph'anis	
*Very ugly indeed (fan translation)
Serrar 	Blade 	
*Quel'serrar	
*High blade
Shan 	Related to learning/knowledge? 	
*Shan'do
*Thero'shan	
*Honored teacher (official translation)
*Honored student (official translation)
*Note also the similar word "Shanna" in the phrase "Shanna melor'ne adala fal," which means "The truth is a guiding light."
Sin 	Blood 	
*Sin'dorei	
*Blood borne (official translation)
Surfal 	Loved / Beloved one 	
*Dalah'surfal	
*My beloved one (fan translation)
Surfas 	Love (verb, present tense) 	
*Kene'thil surfas
*Surfas'alah denai	
*I love you (fan translation)
*Love to you (?)
Talah 	Survival 	
*Anu'dorini talah	
*Let my will be known (official translation)
Thalas 	Kingdom or homeland 	
*Eldre'thalas
*Quel'thalas	
*(?) kingdom/homeland 
*High kingdom/homeland (official translation)
Thera 	Revenge/war/... 	
*Ana'duna thera
*(Anu therador mali)
*Tor ilisar'thera'nal	
*Revenge will be ours (fan translation)
*For (?)
*Let our enemies beware (official translation)
Thero 	Student (Presumed), possibly used to denote one who is learning/in-progress/of lower rank?	
*Ash-thero-sauguine! ba'anthalso-dorei!
*Az'thero'dalah'dor
*Thero'shan	
*(?) (student) (?)! (?) (?) (children)!
*(?)
*Honored student (official translation)
Tole 	Efforts (?) 	
*Ana'tole na Dure	
*I will do it for nature (fan translation)
Tor 	Let 	
*Tor ilisar'thera'nal	
*Let our enemies beware (official translation)
Thor 	Trouble/fight/fury 	
*Thor falah nor dora
*Ashra thoraman?
*Ande'thoras'ethil
*Bandu Thoribas	
*Fight for the truth of the balance of heaven(?)
*What troubles you? (fan translation)
*May your troubles be diminished (official translation)
*Prepare to Fight (official translation)
*Note also the similar word "Thori'dal" in Thalassian which means "Star's Fury"
Xaxas 	Elemental fury/Chaos/Catastrophe/Deathwing 	
*Xaxas 	
*Deathwing (official translation)
Vor 	Broken 	
*Vordrassil	
*Broken crown (official translation)
Ysera 	Green (singular), plural being "iszera" - this is not at all certain! 	
*Anoduna falore, isera'duna banthalos	
*Yes sister, the green(skins) are primitive
Zin 	Glory 	
*Zin-Azshari
*Zin-Malor	
*Glory of Azshara / Azshara's Glory
*Glory of Malorne / Malorne's Glory
==Phrases==
Darnassian 	English 	(Direct meaning (as we've translated it, some of these are very experimental)
Farewells 	Farewells 	Farewells
Ande'thoras'ethil 	May your troubles be diminished 	May/let your troubles diminish
Asha'falah 	? 	What (is) balance
Enshu'falah'nah 	? 	(?) balance (?)
War cries 	War cries 	War cries
Ana'duna thera 	Revenge will be ours 	Our (real?) revenge
Andu-falah-dor! 	Let balance be restored! 	Let balance be restored/eternal
Anu'dorini talah 	For nature's survival 	For nature's survival
Bandu Thoribas! 	Prepare to fight! 	(?) trouble/fight/fury
Endu'di Rifa! 	A war cry 	Kill the defilers?
Thor falah nor dora 	A war cry (said by druids) 	Fight for the truth of the balance of heaven(?)
Tor ilisar'thera'nal! 	Let our enemies beware! 	Let enemies revenge/war feel?
Greetings 	Greetings 	Greetings
Alah darnana dor 	Formal Greeting 	To you (?) be restored/eternal
Ishnu-alah 	Good fortune to you 	Good fortune to you
Ishnu-dal-dieb 	Good fortune to your family 	Good fortune to your family
Agreement 	Agreement 	Agreement
Anu'dora 	Yes/It's true 	For truth
Az'thero'dalah'dor 	? 	(?) (student) (my) (be restored/eternal)(?)
Disagreement 	Disagreement 	Disagreement
Anu therador mali 	? 	For (revenge/truth) (?)
Questions 	Questions 	Questions
Ashra thoraman? 	What troubles you? 	(?) troubles/fights (?)
Fandu-dath-belore? 	Who goes there? 	(?) (?) (?)
Other phrases 	Other phrases 	Other phrases
Anoduna falore, isera'duna banthalos	Yes sister, the green(skins) are primitive 	
*1: Our fact sister, (the) greens (are) (in) fact primitive
*2: I-others(referring to "us"/"sister") agreed, green others (are) primitive. The order of English and Darnassian might differ from each other
Ana'tole na Dure 	I will do it for nature (Druid's pledge of agreement)	My efforts for Nature
Arauk-nashal 	? 	(?) (?)
Ash Karath! 	Do it! 	This you do!(?)
Ashte'rodne 	Very ugly 	Very ugly
Ash'therod neph'anis 	Yes, very ugly 	Very ugly indeed
Dalah'surfal 	My beloved one 	My (be)loved (one)
Dorani'ka 	? 	(Truth/?) (?)
Elune-adore 	Elune be with you 	Elune be restored with you?
Enu thora'serador 	? 	(?) (trouble/fight) (?)
Enu thora'serador thora dormil dora 	? 	(?) (?) (trouble) (?) (?) (truth)
Kene'thil surfas 	I love you 	(?) (?)love
Lok'delar 	Stave of the ancient keepers 	Stave Ancient keepers
Quel'dorei 	Highborne 	High borne
Quel'Thalas 	The High Home 	High Home/homeland
Quel'Serrar 	The High Blade 	High Blade
Rhok'delar 	Longbow of the ancient keepers 	Bow Ancient keepers
Sael'ah 	You're welcome 	(?) (?)
Shal myrinon ishnu dal'dora 	Unknown 	(?) (?) luck (my/mine?) is/truth/our(s)
Shan'do 	(Honored) teacher 	(?) (?)
Surfas'alah denai 	? 	Love (to) you(?)
Thera dormil dora 	Unknown 	(Revenge/war?) (be restored/eternal/?) truth
Thero'shan 	(Honored) student 	(?) (?)
Zin-Azshari 	Glory of Azshara 	Azshara's Glory
== Grammar rules ==
=== Nouns ===
==== Plurals and singulars ====
Darnassian singular	English singular	Darnassian plural	English plural
Ysera 	(the?) green 	izsera 	(the?) green ones
dorei 	child 	dorei 	childrenhttp://wow-europe.com/en/info/encyclopedia/508.xml
rhok 	longbow 	N/A 	longbows
naar 	town 	N/A 	towns
mush'a 	hunter 	N/A 	hunters
lok 	stave 	N/A 	staves
N/A 	enemy 	ilisar 	enemies
drassil 	crown 	N/A 	crowns
N/A 	child 	dorei 	children
N/A 	ancient keeper 	delar 	ancient keepers
=== Pronouns ===
==== Personal pronouns ====
 	 	Singular 	Singular 	Singular 	Singular 	Singular 	Singular 	Singular 	Plural 	Plural 	Plural 	Plural 	Plural 	Plural 	Plural
 	 	Subject 	Object 	Reflexive 	Possessive 	Pos. determiner	Pointing* 	Pointing pos.*	Subject 	Object 	Reflexive 	Pos. 	Pos. det. 	Pointing* 	Pointing pos.*
First 	First 	N/A (I) 	N/A (me) 	N/A (myself) 	N/A (mine) 	Dalah (my) 	N/A (to me) 	N/A (to my) 	N/A (we) 	N/A (us) 	N/A (ourselves) 	N/A (ours) 	N/A (our) 	N/A (to us) 	N/A (to our)
Second	Second 	N/A (you)	N/A (you)	N/A (yourself)	N/A (yours)	N/A (your) 	Alah (to you)	Dal (to your) 	N/A (you) 	N/A (you) 	N/A (yourselves)	N/A (yours) 	N/A (your) 	N/A (to you)	N/A (to your)
Third 	Masculine	N/A (he) 	N/A (him)	N/A (himself) 	N/A (his) 	N/A (his) 	N/A (to him) 	N/A (to his) 	N/A (they)	N/A (them)	N/A (themselves)	N/A (theirs)	N/A (their)	N/A (to me) 	N/A (to my)
Third 	Feminine 	N/A (she)	N/A (her)	N/A (herself) 	N/A (hers) 	N/A (her) 	N/A (to her) 	N/A (to her) 	N/A (they)	N/A (them)	N/A (themselves)	N/A (theirs)	N/A (their)	N/A (to me) 	N/A (to my)
Third 	Neuter 	N/A (It) 	N/A (it) 	N/A (itself) 	N/A (its) 	N/A (its) 	N/A (to it) 	N/A (to its) 	N/A (they)	N/A (them)	N/A (themselves)	N/A (theirs)	N/A (their)	N/A (to me) 	N/A (to my)
Third 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Third 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Third 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Third 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
*The names of the four Pointing columns (marked by a following *) need to be changed to something more correct.
*Words that are known and seemingly correct are written down in bold.
*Note: It's not at all certain that Darnassian follows this system the same way that English does, and elements such as the position of the word might change its meaning or form.
=== Verbs ===
==== Tenses ====
This table is an effort to further systematize the "known" Darnassian verbs. I've used third person forms in the English translations for the sake of simplicity. Words in italic are "logic speculations" derived from the more "known" tenses, and should probably not be used as a base to derive other words.
Darnassian infinitive	English infinitive	Darnassian imperative	English imperative	Darnassian present	English present	Darnassian past	English past	Darnassian past perfect	English past perfect	Darnassian subjunctive	English subjunctive 	Darnassian gerund or stative	English gerund or stative
Belore 	To go 	Beldu 	Go 	N/A 	Goes 	N/A 	Went 	N/A 	(has) Gone 	N/A 	(may it) Go 	Belah 	(The) Going
N/A 	To do 	Ash? 	Do 	N/A 	Does/do 	N/A 	Did 	N/A 	(has) Done 	N/A 	(may it) Do 	N/A 	(The) Doing or Deed
N/A 	To prepare 	Bandu 	Prepare 	N/A 	Prepares 	N/A 	Prepared 	N/A 	(has) Prepared 	N/A 	(may it) Prepare 	Banah 	(The) Preparing or Preparation
N/A 	To declare 	Fandu 	Declare 	N/A 	Declares 	N/A 	Declared 	N/A 	(has) Declared 	N/A 	(may it) Declare 	Fanah 	(The) Declaring or Declaration
Adore? 	To be 	Andu 	Be 	N/A 	Is/are 	N/A 	Was (/were) 	N/A 	(has) Been 	Ande 	(may it) Be 	Anah or Andah 	(The) Being
N/A 	To kill 	Endu 	Kill 	N/A 	Kills 	N/A 	Killed 	N/A 	(has) Killed 	N/A 	(may it) Kill 	Enah 	(The) Killing
Falore? 	To balance 	Faldu 	Balance 	N/A 	Balances 	N/A 	Balanced 	N/A 	(has) Balanced 	N/A 	(may it) Balance 	Falah 	(The) Balancing or (The) Balance
N/A 	To survive 	Taldu 	Survive 	N/A 	Survives 	N/A 	Survived 	N/A 	(has) Survived 	N/A 	(may it) Survive 	Talah 	(The) Surviving or Survival
N/A 	To diminish 	N/A 	Diminish 	N/A 	Diminishes 	Ethil? 	Diminished 	N/A 	(has) Diminished 	N/A 	(may it) Diminish 	N/A 	(The) Diminishing
N/A 	To love 	N/A 	Love 	Surfas 	Loves 	N/A 	Loved 	N/A 	(has) Loved 	N/A 	(may it/you) Love 	N/A 	(The) Love/Loving
N/A 	To bear 	N/A 	Bear 	N/A 	Bears 	N/A 	Bore 	Dorei 	(has/is) Borne 	N/A 	(may you (be?) borne	N/A 	(The) Birth/Bearing
N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A
=== Darnassian grammar primer - beginning ===
:The first thing to keep in mind is that Darnassian does not follow the rules of English and there is often likely no "word for word" literal translation of any given phrase. To find the meaning behind given phrases takes a little more effort then, but the first step to figuring out the structure of a language is in identifying parts of speech.
:Let's take a simple phrase from the official WoW lexicon - 
Bandu thoribas!
Prepare to fight!
==== Verb conjugation and reflexive prepositional and possessive modifiers ====
:This looks easy enough. The phrase may be just an imperative verb matched with an infinitive verb if we take the word for word, or it may be something more. We also see two clear word roots in this phrase, bandu or ban/d- and thor-. 
:We see the root thor- in other phrases too:
*Ande'thoras-ethil.
*Thor falah nor dora.
*Ashra thoraman?
:All refer to trouble, or strife and fighting. We can also see from this that the root thor- is often modified by a suffix. This reflexive modifier can either be an adjectival modifier or a possessive one, or even a "counting" modifier that denotes quantity. So, to begin with, we have identified thoribas as the fighting part in the meaning of the sentence. 
:This leaves us with bandu as the imperative form of the verb to prepare. We can also see this same imperative verb form in other phrases too:
*Fandu-dath-belore?
*Andu-falah-dor!
:This implies that there is regular verb conjugation in Darnassian, not unlike French, Spanish, Japanese or many other of our own languages. This means they follow a regular pattern, and when we encounter one, we should verify it against our known set of patterns, keeping in mind that exceptions and irregular verbs might occur. 
:One other thing to note before we move on is that, as in English, the imperative verb form in a declarative sentence in Darnassian will always come first in that sentence. Even in the interrogative statement above, this seems to be the case. 
:Notice something else - we have just identified two new verb roots - fan/d- and an/d- in the above. Identifying and isolating root words will be an important part of correctly labeling and translating parts of speech as we move forward. But let's move on.
:Is thoribas then the infinitive form of the verb to fight? 
:::[Note: It might very well be. The verb to fight might indeed have an irregular conjugation, including conjugates such as thoribas, thoras, thoraman, and thor.] 
::First, we should look for any corroborating words or phrases, but sadly, this is the only example we have of that ending.
::Second, we should look for any other instances of verbs in the infinitive form that we can confirm, but again, examples lack.
:At this point, it is worth trying to move from a descriptive grammar (deriving a rule from observed cases) to a proscriptive grammar (creating a rule and then applying it to cases) to see what works. If, for instance, we assume that reflexive modifiers are mostly of a possessive or prepositional nature in non-verb cases (trouble and fight could be either a verb or a noun), then we might be dealing with a prepositional modifier instead, as in to the fight or for a fight. This would work in this case and would not break our already established rule for regular verb conjugation.
:Just as easily, and because in later examples we will see more evidence that the preposition for is already a different modifier, -ibas might possibly be a reflexive possessive pronoun meaning yourself, or even, referring back to the speaker.
*Bandu = You prepare (imperative)
*thor- = fight, trouble
*-ibas = yourself/me (reflexive possessive pronoun, either or neither is possible)
*Bandu thoribas! = Prepare (yourself) for trouble/a fight (with me)! (literal), Prepare to fight! (practical)
==== Action verbs: Preparing, Killing, Surviving, Balancing, Declaring, Going ====
:So, now that we can tell others to prepare to fight, what else can we communicate? For starters, it would be nice to know if we are challenging friend or foe before casting our spell or unsheathing our blades at just anybody.
*Endu'di rifa!
*Kill the defilers! (presumed)
:Well, yes, I would certainly like to kill the defilers. Here we can see another imperative verb in action: endu, which is more than likely the command verb, (you) kill. We also see a conjunctive suffix appended as a definite article to specify "the defilers" or 'di rifa we want to kill. We now have a new verb root, en/d-, which rather suitably means kill.
:But why indeed should I go killing these defilers? For what greater purpose?
*Anu'dorini talah.
*For nature's survival.
:Ah yes, good catch. From other phrases available, such as Anu'dora, which means, For truth, we can identify Anu' as the prepositional prefix for to the noun dorini, or nature. This leaves us with the apparent gerund (or noun form) of the verb survive being talah, meaning perhaps both the stative form survival and the gerund form surviving as in the sentence, "I like surviving. Survival is good." Going back to our previous conjugation patterns, this would mean the root of the verb survive is ta-. 
::The concept of nature (as in mother nature, not human nature) is another interesting case. Here we see dorini refer to the possessive nature's but elsewhere as the singular dure. Not coincidentally, the word dor likely means land, as in the name Kalimdor meaning Land of Eternal Starlight, derived itself again from the root kal meaning star. It may not be coincidental either that dorei are children, presumably of the Earth Mother (beings of the land). Of course, this shares a direct link to another fictional world, that of J.R.R. Tolkien (e.g. Gondor, "Land of Stone," Mordor, "Land of Darkness"), but I think we can excuse Blizzard on this since nearly all modern fantasy is Tolkienesque fantasy.
:While we are on the subject of nature, the same gerund verb from appears quite often in the word falah, perhaps one of the most used words in the phrases we have available, the word for balance. 
*Andu-falah-dor.
*Thor falah nor dora.
*Enshu falah-nah.
*Asha'falah?
:Again, the gerund form of the verb fal- is used as a noun - and here it is The Balance, not just any particular balance, but more in the sense of The Tao, or The Force, etc, so more than likely the stative and gerund ending are the same in Darnassian. The above phrases might then translate to:
*Andu-falah-dor. = Be (imperative) of balance (gerund), the land. (literal), Let balance be restored. (practical) 
*Thor falah nor dora. = (The) Fight (for) balance and truth. Fight here not being in the imperative form, I presume, thus meaning "the fight" and not the command "you (had better) fight."
*Enshu falah-nah. = This one depends greatly on context to identify the meaning of both Enshu and -nah.
*Asha'falah? = What (is) balance?
:Unfortunately, this brings up an interesting conflict with a pre-existing translation of the word falore. One interpretation is that the word means sister and the second that it means agree. However, if we are to accept both the previous verb conjugation patterns that form the basis for the rest of the root verbs above, as well as the gerund rule for falah to make any sense, then falore would be the infinitive form to balance. Here's why it is complicated:
*Anoduna falore, isera'duna banthalos.
*Yes sister, the green(skins) are primitive. (Fan translation)
:Let's take the rest of the sentence apart first, identifying what we already know. 
#The most clear term in use here seems to be the word iszera, which is generally accepted as the plural for green(skins), or Orcs and Goblins, and is clearly the object of the sentence. 
#The word duna is repeated twice in the Darnassian, but not in the official translation, suggesting this is not as simple as a word-for-word exchange.
#The prefix Ana' occupies the usual place for a prepositional modifier in other examples we have encountered.
#The word bantallas likely stands the best chance of being associated with the meaning primitive.
:Although we have not yet encountered the prepositional prefix ana', Thalassian appears to share the same rule of prepositional modifier prefixes, and ana' bears too much of a resemblance to the Thalassian prefix anar', or By, as in Anar'alah belore (By the light of the Sun) to dismiss completely.
:One interpretation of the word duna is that it means fact/truth/reality, while another defines it as others.
:To test this case, if we take falore to mean the infinitive to balance, in line with both the verb belore (for the infinitive form - see examples further below) and falah (for the verb root fal- to mean balance at all), then we arrive with two possible meanings:
*Anoduna falore, isera'duna banthalos. 
#By reality to balance, the greenskins are really/truly primitive. 
#By us/others to balance, the green others are primitive.
:These are again, literal translations, but an idiomatic meaning for the first might be an expression somewhat like By/via reality, (in order) to balance, or in other words, Get real, sister. There is no reason to assume Darnassian is necessarily devoid of sarcastic or idiomatic expressions. 
:Of course, two previous interpretations of falore are sister and agree/d. Not to dismiss these out of hand, I would simply offer this third interpretation in the context of an inclusive verb conjugation pattern that, well - just seems to work that way - with fal- as the verb root for balance, with falah as the gerund form and falore as the infinitive form. If falore does mean either sister or agree, then a glaring exception occurs in verb conjugations elsewhere. 
:Now, after all of this, I know exactly why I should kill these defilers: so that nature can survive, balance can be restored, and well, because greenskins... are just so primitive. Still, it might be a good idea to be able to know who exactly is a defiler and who is not a defiler before I go killing everyone. 
*Fandu-dath-belore?
*Who goes there?
:This is one of the first phrases we identified as having an imperative verb form, but here is where it gets tricky, because the English translation does not contain any kind of imperative or command verb. In English, the command is implied when you shout "Who goes there?" because it is an interrogative statement, or an interrogation. Perhaps not so in Darnassian. We have already established a rule on reflexive modifiers and that may apply to sentence structure as well, and it looks as though dath and belore are both modifying the imperative fandu, so let's try rephrasing the question into an imperative statement for meaning. 
:Another way of stating "Who goes there?" in the imperative in English is to say, "Declare yourself!"
*Fandu-dath-belore?
*(Declare) who goes (there)?
:There is a very good possibility that dath, therefore, is the interrogative article who and that belore is some form of the verb to go. (Which makes sense, especially if one considers that the Thalassian word for the Sun is belore; Thalassian and Darnassian both share a common ancestral tongue, and if one considers the Sun as a "chariot of fire in the heavens" and all that, quite a good bit of our very existence depends upon it coming and going.)
:This would make -ore an irregular verb suffix... unless it is in fact the infinitive conjugation we have been looking for from the start, making belore mean to go and the ultimate meaning of the sentence:
*Fandu = You declare (imperative)
*-dath = who (reflexive interrogative article)
*-belore? = to go (infinitive)
*Fandu-dath-belore? = Declare who (is) to go (there)? (literal), Who goes there? (practical)
:If this sounds like a bit of a stretch, consider this question in French: As-tu aller au cinéma?, or Did you go to the movies?, which literally translates as Have-you to go to movies/theater? It also represents a reflexive use of the infinitive verb form - when attached in this way, it often infers a prepositional phrase, such as to go there.
:When looking at the -ore ending in the quest for the elusive infinite verb form, there is another very common phrase which comes up:
*Elune-adore.
:Elune is the goddess Herself, and needs no introduction. Adore then - if we follow the rules above - would be the infinitive form of the verb to be and the meaning of the phrase would then be:
*Elune-adore. = Elune to be (with you). (literal), Elune be with you. (practical)
:A prepositional phrase inferred by the placement of an infinitive verb, however, is not a usage that has any precedent in human languages (to my knowledge).
==== Zandali and the Subjunctive Mood ====
:Speaking again of defilers, if you have ever listened to a Troll speaking Common or Orcish, you may have noticed that instead of saying We are they say We be -- i.e. they always speak in the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive mood is used by many languages to express a wish, hope, blessing, emotion, desire or opinion on something that has not yet but may occur. 
::In some real world languages such as Latin, the subjunctive is expressed as a single word, like necamus or "let I/us kill" or "may I/we kill." English, however, often likes to split verb phrases with a subject or adverb in practice (for instance, "to boldly go" and "to go boldly" are indistinguishable in meaning in English, but the former is quite impossible in Latin because the verb "to go" would be a single word, in this case, the Latin future participle eundum). 
:Darnassian also appears to have a subjunctive conjugation.
*Ande'thoras-ethil.
*May your troubles be diminished.
:Here is another example of the elusive and potentially slightly irregularly conjugated verb "to be." Because in English we tend to interject our subjunctives with our subject (because we often have compound verbs like "may have been" rather than a single word form), the literal translation of the sentence above may be closer to May it be that your trouble(s) are/is diminished/less.
:In this interpretation, ande' would then be the subjunctive form of the verb adore or to be; thoras would then be a subject in the possessive meaning either your troubles or thor + -as, or a subject in the plural (where possession is implied) meaning simply troubles or thor for trouble/fight/strife + plural -as. This is then further modified by the suffix -ethil which presumably means diminished, with eth- being a likely candidate for the verb diminish and -il then becoming the past tense... or this may be an adjectival modifier as we have seen in other suffix examples following the reflexive modifier rule, which might then translate as less or approaching nil -- eth or none + -il or approaching/nearing.
*Ande' = May (it) be (that) (verb, subjunctive)
*thoras = a) your troubles, b) troubles
*-ethil. = a) diminished (verb, past tense), b) less (adjective, reflexive modifier)
:The meaning would be the same in either case.
====Recap====
*Verb forms in Darnassian follow regular patterns of conjugation, and can be charted as such by tracking verb roots. There may be exceptions.
**Imperative verbs always appear at the start of the sentence.
**Gerund verb forms exist and can be used as nouns.
**The subjunctive is used to express hopes, desires, blessings, or opinions on things that have not yet happened.
*Nouns can be modified by adding either adjectival and possessive suffixes, or prepositional prefixes.
**Suffix modifiers are generally directly joined to the word to make a longer word, except in the case of definite articles used reflexively.
**Prefix modifiers are generally joined by a conjugation, represented by an apostrophe.
*Indefinite articles and prepositions within sentences are generally only inferred or implied, and not written/spoken.
== Related languages ==
Darnassian has also evolved into the languages of the naga (Nazja), and the high elves' and blood elves' (Thalassian). Darnassian, Thalassian, and Nazja seem to have many common phrases, and Thalassian might perhaps be so similar to Darnassian that it would be more correct to call it a dialect, rather than a separate language.
So, for comparison and aiding purposes see Thalassian (speculation).
== References ==
Category:Languages