Geban:Jon Gua/Grammar

Spelling and pronunciation

a	ä	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	k	l	m	n	o	ö	p	(r)	s	t	u	ü	v	x	y	z
a	ä	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	k	l	m	n	o	ö	p	(r)	s	t	u	ü	v	x	y	z

Nouns

Nouns inflect for case and number, but not for gender.

Declension

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vol (world)	vols (worlds)
Genitive	vola (of the world)	volas (of the worlds)
Dative	vole (to the world)	voles (to the worlds)
Accusative	voli (world)	volis (worlds)

Determiners

Pronouns

ob / obs I / we
ol / ols you (1 person) / you (more than 1 person)
om / oms he / they (all males)
of / ofs she / they (all females)
on / ons it / they (neuter or mixed gender)
ok / oks (reflexive)
od / ods (reciprocative)
oy "one"
os (impersonal {null subject})

or / ors "polite" forms of ol and ols (hardly ever used except poetically)

Some other pronouns are: atos (this), etos (that), it (itself), ot (the same thing), ut (whoever), kel, kelos (who/which: relative, not question), kin (who?), kif (who? female). kim (who? male), kis (what?), ek (somebody), nek (nobody), bos (something), nos (nothing), valikos (all, everything), öm (several, some), öman (someone, such a one, such person), al (each, every).

Adjectives

Adjectives, formed by the suffix -ik, normally follow the noun they qualify. They do not agree with the noun in number and case in that position, but they do if they precede the noun, are separated from it by intervening words, or stand alone.

The comparative and superlative of adjectives is formed by adding -um or -ün respectively after the -ik and before any case or number agreement.

The prepositions used with the comparative and superlative degrees are ka and se respectively.

Adverbs

Adverbs are formed by suffixing -o, either to the root or to the adjectival -ik (gudik "good", gudiko "well"); they normally follow the verb or adjective they modify.

ai always
us there
vio how (relative)
tu too (excessively)
ba perhaps
ya already
löpo above
anu at this moment, now
i(d) also
ye however
ti almost
go quite, very
is here
nu now
nog yet (still)
ga certainly, indeed
mu extremely
kö where (relative)
neai never
jünu up to now
plu more
kü when (relative)
sevabo namely, that is
igo even
te only
lio how (question)
täno then
igo no not even
enu recently
zu in addition, moreover
ebo just
sosus as soon as
suno soon
alna each time
ömna sometimes

The questions where? and when? are kiöpo? and kiüpo? respectively. These are formed from ki- then the affix of place or time respectively (-öp- or -üp-), then the adverb ending.

As for the whence? (= from where?) and the whither? (= to where?), these two adverbs are expressed in Volapük simply and logically by the endings -ao = from where? and -io = to where? as in: domao = from the house, and domio = to the house

Verbs

p( )- Passive (pa- for present tense)
i- Pluperfect
e- Present Perfect
ä- Imperfect
o- Future
u- Future Perfect
ö- Future in the Past
ü- Future in the Past Perfect
-ön Infinitive
-öd Imperative (added after personal ending)
-ös Optative (added after personal ending)
-öv Conditional (added after personal ending)
-öl Participle (verbal adjective)
--la Subjunctive (appended with hyphen)

Whether a verb is naturally transitive or intransitive varies from one word to the next. Transitive verbs can be made intransitive by inserting the affix -ik, and intransitive verbs made transitive by the use of the affix -ük.

The affix -ik can be used with intransitive verbs, and -ük with verbs that are normally transitive. In these cases, they provide a kind of medial voice or causative voice respectively.

Prepositions

da through
me by means of
ma according to
pro for
de of/from/off
nen without
ad for, to, in order to
dis under
ko with
po behind (place)
za, zao about
fa by (person)
bü before (time); ago
vü between, among
pos after
fo in front of
su on
in in
se out (of), from
ini into
sus above
ta against
as, äs as
tö at, in
lä by (position), with
du during
len at, on
pö at
bevü between, among
binü (made) of
ve along
sis since
to in spite of
sa together with
plas instead (of)
ünü within (a time)
dö about, in
lü to (= direction)
tü at, on (= time)
jü up to
gü contrary to
ün at, in, on (time)
love over
pla besides
bai according to

Some prepositions can take an ending -i to show motion.

Any other suitable words can also be made prepositions by the simple addition of -ü. For example:

demü with regard to
nilü near to
donü below
domü at the house of
binü made of
travärü across
gönü in favour of
labü comprising
vätälü (+ noun) considering
nemü in the name of
kodü because of
vegü on the way to
tefü concerning, with regard to

Conjunctions

ä and (This conjunction is sometimes used with multiple adjectives modifying the same substantive).
ab but
asa, asä as, as well as
zu, zuo moreover
bi because
ibä for, because
üf even if, in case of, insofar as
do though
das that
u(d){...u(d)} {either...}or
du while
toä yet (despite)
ni{..ni} neither{...nor}
e(d) and
too yet (however), nevertheless
klu so
if if
va whether
ka than
ü(d) or (Latin sive)
ven when
dat so that
äsi such as

Any other suitable words can also be made into conjunctions simply by adding the final vowel -ä. For example:

bisä provided that
kodä by reason of which
büä before
pasä only when
güä on the other hand
toä despite, in spite of

Questions

kim? ‘who?’ (m.)
kif? ‘who?’ (f.)
kin? ‘what?’ (definite)
kis? ‘what?’ (indefinite)
kitimo? ‘when?’
kiöpo? ‘where?’
kikodo? ‘why?’
lio? ‘how?’

Numbers

Numbers follow their noun.

bal 1 degbal 11 teldegbal 21 foldeg 40 tel 2 degtel 12 teldegtel 22 luldeg 50 kil 3 degkil 13 teldegkil 23 mäldeg 60 fol 4 teldegfol 24 veldeg 70 lul 5 teldeglul 25 jöldeg 80 mäl 6 teldegmäl 26 züldeg 90 vel 7 teldegvel 27 tum 100 jöl 8 teldegjöl 28 mil 1000 zül 9 teldegzül 29 balion 1 000 000 (10^6) deg 10 teldeg 20 kildeg 30 telion 10^12

	 	 	 	 	 	 	kilion	10^18

234 567 teltumkildegfolmil lultummäldegvel 4 876 329 folbalion jöltumveldegmälmil kiltumteldegzül

dim 0,1 zim 0,01 mim 0,001 dimmim 0,0001 zimmim 0,00001 balyim 0,000001 The fractional part should be read as if an integer number, followed by the decimal fraction word to give the order of magnitude. Thus:

0,345 = kiltumfoldeglul mim 0,123456 = tumteldegkilmil foltumluldegmäl balyim

For smaller magnitudes telyim (10^-12), kilyim (10^-18) etc. are formed in the same way as their high magnitude counterparts telion, kilion, etc.

Ordinal numerals are formed by the suffix -id; Fractional numerals are formed by the suffix -dil; Repetition or multiplication is expressed by the suffix -na.

Word formation

Prefixes

be- (make indirect object the direct object)
dä- broken into pieces
dei- until death
do- downward motion
du- movement through
fa- absence
fäi- shut
fe- complete consumption
fi- to the end; completion
hi- male
ji- female
ke- together
la- raising up
läx- ex-; emeritus
le- size (physical or abstract);
ancestry (e.g., grandparent)
lu- disparagement; step relationship
lü- in-law
ne- opposite
ni- interior object
nü- movement into
plö- exterior object
ru- primitive, ancient
sä- remission

Suffixes

-af names of animals
-ag abundance
-am verbal noun
-an someone who is or does something
-at amount of
-av science
-än country
-äb recipient of, victim
-äd generalisation of effect
-ät abstraction
-ed particularisation
-ef group of people
-el maker of
-em group of things
-ep plant
-er content(s)
-et consequential or concrete example
-iäl tendency, inclination
-iär container
-il diminutive
-im philosophy
-od softer or less serious example
-ot harder or more serious example
-ov possibility
-öf quality
-öm equipment
-öp place
-üd compass point
-ül young of; endearment
--li (with hyphen) interrogative, appended to verb

Calendar

Days of the week

Monday mudel
Tuesday tudel
Wednesday vedel
Thursday dödel
Friday fridel
Saturday zädel
Sunday sudel

Months

January janul
February febul
March mäzul
April prilul
May mayul
June yunul
July yulul
August gustul
September setul
October tobul
November novul
December dekul

Time

binos minuts deg pos düp balid = It's 1:10
binos foldil pos düp balid = It's 1:15
binos düpalaf pos bal = It's 1:30
binos minuts teldeg bü düp telid = It's 1:40
binos foldil bü tel = It's 1:45
binos sekuns kildeg bü düp tel = It's thirty seconds to two o’clock