Elefen Language

* Aliadian

**Elefen** is a Goldenic Language spoken on Andremond during the Golden Era, Iron Era, Sangar Era and the Time of the Great War of Light and Dark.

## Phonology - Fonolojia

### Vowels - Vocales

* **A** is pronounced as in b**a**t.
* **E** is pronounced as in b**e**t.
* **I** is pronounced as in b**ee**t.
* **O** is pronounced as in b**o**t.
* **U** is pronounced as in b**oo**t.

### Consonants - Consonantes

**b, d, f, h, l, m, n, p, r, t, v, y** and **z** are pronounced the same as English.

* **c** is always pronounced hard as in **c**at.
* **g** is always pronounced hard as in **g**ate.
* **j** is pronounced as in mea**s**ure.
* **s** is always pronounced like hi**ss**
* **x** is pronounced like **sh**eep.

**k, q** and **w** are only found in foreign words.

## Grammar - Gramatica

### Nouns - Nomes

The roles of nouns in a sentence are indicated through prepositions and word order. There are no cases.[1][3]

Nouns are commonly preceded by determiners. Plural nouns are formed by appending ***-s*** to nouns ending in vowels or ***-es*** to nouns ending in consonants. This does not alter the stress:

* *casa > casa**s*** — house > houses
* *fem > fem**es*** — woman > women

Mass nouns include liquids, powders, and substances, such as *acua* (water), *arena* (sand), and *lenio* (wood). They do not normally require determiners or the plural. However, one may add these to indicate specific examples or different types:

* *la acua* — the water (e.g. in the cup)
* *lenios* — woods (e.g. various kinds)

Gender is typically not indicated. If necessary, nouns may be followed by ***mas*** (male) or ***fema*** (female):

* *un cavalo **mas*** / *un cavalo **fema*** — a stallion / a mare

A few terms for family members and traditional roles do show distinctions of gender. For example:

* *madre / padre* — mother / father
* *fi**o** / fi**a*** — son / daughter
* *prinse / prins**esa*** — prince / princess

Apposition — the use of one noun to modify another — is mostly limited to names and titles:

* *san Josef* — Saint Joseph
* *me sore Maria* — my sister Mary

### Determiners - Determinantes

Determiners in Elefen precede the noun they modify. There are two articles: ***la*** (the) and ***un*** (a), used as in English:

* ***la** om, **un** fem, e enfantes* — the man, a woman, and children

Other words function similarly:

### Adjectives - Ajetivos

Adjectives follow the noun they modify, with two exceptions: ***Bon*** (good) and ***mal*** (bad) may come before the noun, due to their frequent use.

Adjectives don't agree.

The comparative is made with ***plu*** (more) or ***min*** (less). "The most" is ***la plu*** and "the least" is ***la min:***

* *Jan es **plu** bon **ca** Jo, ma Jil es **la plu** bon.* ― "Jan is better than Jo, but Jill is the best."

Equivalence is indicated with ***tan... como***:

* *Marco es **tan** grande **como** Mona.* ― "Mark is as big as Mona."

Like verbs, adjectives can be used as nouns. For example, *bela* means "beautiful", but *un bela* means "a beautiful one" or "a beauty." This works with participles, too: *la studiante* and *la studiada* mean "the student" and "the studied," respectively, from the verb *studia,* "study."

An adjective can be made into an abstract noun by adding ***-ia*** (-ity, -ness, -ship, -hood). In this way *bela* becomes *bel**ia**,* meaning beauty. This can also be used with nouns: *madre* (mother) becomes *madr**ia*** (motherhood).

### Pronouns - Pronomes

Personal pronouns are invariant:

***tu*** — you (singular (thou))***el*** — he, him
***ela*** — she, her
***lo*** — it

There is an indefinite pronoun ***on***, which is used like German "man" or French "on":

* ***On** debe segue la regulas* — "One must follow the rules."

The reflexive pronouns are also ***me, tu, nos,*** and ***vos***. For the third person, singular and plural, lfn uses ***se***:

* *Me lavada **me*** — "I washed myself."
* *El ama **se*** — "He loves himself."

The possessive determiners are:

There are no separate possessive pronouns such as "mine". Instead one can use expressions such as ***de mea*** and ***lo de mea***, or includes the noun:

* *Esta es **mea*** — "This is mine."
* ***Lo de mea** es plu grande ca **tua***— "Mine is bigger than yours."
* ***Mea padre** es plu grande ca **tua padre*** — "My father is bigger than your father."

Other pronouns include the following:

***nun*** — no one, nobody***esta, estas*** — this, these***multe*** — many, much

### Verbs - Verbos

The infinitive and present tense are represented by the basic verb:

* *La om **come*** — "The man eats", "The man is eating."

The present tense is also used to indicate habitual actions and states, facts of nature, and as a "historical" tense, such as when relating a story that has been clearly established as occurring in the past:

* *La sol **leva** en la este* — "The sun rises in the east."
* *Me **labora** a la universia* — "I work at the university."

The past tense and the past participle are formed by adding **-da** to the end of the verb.

* *Maria come**da*** — "Maria ate."

The future tense is indicated by the particle ***va***:

* *Joan **va** come pronto* — "John will eat soon."

The particle ***ta*** indicates the irrealis mood and can be used where other languages might use a conditional or subjunctive mood. Its use is optional:

* *Me dutada ce el **ta** vade* — "I doubted he would go."
* *Me **ta** es felis si la sol **ta** brilia* — "I would be happy if the sun were shining."

One combination ― ***ia ta*** ― is permitted to express "would have":

* *Me **ia ta** es un bon re* ― "I would have been a good king."

Certain adverbs and verbal constructions add precision to the tenses:

* *Me come **aora*** ― "I am eating now."
* *Me comeda **ja*** ― "I ate already", "I have eaten", "I had eaten."
* *Me va come **a pos*** ― "I will eat afterwards."
* *Me **finida** leje la libro* ― "I (have) finished reading the book."
* *Doman, me va **comensa** leje un otra* ― "Tomorrow, I will begin to read another."

Negation is indicated by putting ***no*** before the tense particle or (in the present tense) the verb. Double negatives should be avoided:

* *El **no** pensada ce algun es asi* ― "He didn't think anyone was here."

Commands are indicated by dropping the subject pronoun. Hortative sentences are indicated by the ending **-mos**:

* *Boli la acua!* ― "Boil the water!"
* *dansa**mos**!* ― "Let's dance!"

***Lo*** and ***on*** are used as dummy pronouns before verbs that refer to weather or other general situations:

* *Lo va pluve* ― "It's going to rain."
* *Lo es tro calda en esta sala* ― "It is too hot in this room."
* *Lo pare ce tu es coreta* ― "It seems that you are correct."
* *On no ave pexes en esta lago* ― "There aren't fish in this lake."

Verbs can be made into adjectives: The active participle is formed by adding ***-nte*** to the verb. For example, *come* becomes *come**nte***, meaning "eating". This should never be used as a gerund, as it often is in English.

One can emphasize the idea that the subject is in the midst of an activity or process (the progressive aspect) using the active participle. Or one can use expressions such as *en la media de*:

* *Nos **sida comente** cuando la tempesta comensada* ― "We were eating when the storm began."
* *Nos sida **en la media de come** cuando la tempesta comensada* ― "We were in the middle of eating when the storm began."

The passive participle is formed by adding ***-da*** to the verb (the same as the past tense). For example, *come* becomes *come**da***, meaning "eaten".

The passive participle can be used to express the passive voice. Or one can usa a generic subject pronoun instead:

* *Si tu no asconde la torta, **lo va es comeda*** ― "If you don't hide the cake, it will be eaten."
* *Si tu no asconde la torta, **algun va come lo*** ― "If you don't hide the cake, someone will eat it."

Verbs can be used as nouns without change by adding *la* or other determiner. Without a determiner, the word serves as an infinitive or gerund:

* *La samba es **un** dansa.* ― "The samba is a dance."
* *Do es **la** dansa?* ― "Where is the dance?"
* *Los gusta dansa.* ― "They like to dance," "They like dancing."

### Adverbs - Averbos

Adverbs are formed by adding **-mente** at the end of the adjective. Adverbs are placed either immediately after the verb or and the beginning of the sentence. Adverbs used to modify adjectives *precede* the adjective.

Examples of common adverbs include the following:

***alora*** ― then***ancora*** ― still, yet ***ja*** ― already***sempre*** ― always***nunca*** ― never***an*** ― even
***oji*** ― today***doman*** ― tomorrow***asi*** ― here***ala*** ― there***tro*** ― too***apena*** ― barely, scarcely

### Prepositions - Preposadas

Prepositions are placed before the noun or noun phrase, and the prepositional phrase is placed after the noun being modified, or, if used adverbially, after the verb or at the beginning of the sentence. There are 22 basic prepositions in Elefen:

***ante*** ― before, in front of
***asta*** ― until
***ca*** ― than
***como*** ― like
***con*** ― with
***contra*** ― against
***de*** ― of, from, since
***en*** ― in, into, during
***entre*** ― between, among
***estra*** ― out of, except
***par*** ― by
***per*** ― for, in order to
***pos*** ― after, behind, according to
***sin*** ― without
***sirca*** ― around, approximately
***su*** ― below, under, beneath
***supra*** ― above, over
***sur*** ― on, about, concerning
***tra*** ― through
***ultra*** ― beyond, past, across

Some prepositions can be used as adverbs by placing ***a*** or ***de*** before them.

* ***a su*** ― down, below, downstairs
* ***a pos*** ― after, afterwards, behind, out back

### Coordinating Conjunctions - Juntas Coordinante

There are three coordinating conjunctions in Elefen and three correlative conjunctions:

***o*** ― or
***ma*** ― but, yet
***o ... o ...*** ― either ... or ...
***no ... (e) no ...*** ― neither ... nor ...