Dal'qörian adverbs
Adverbs are words that describe or give extra meaning to verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or any word that 'isn’t' a noun. In English, many adverbs are formed from the adjective by adding the suffix ly/ily:
- happy/happily
- strong/strongly
- hasty/hastily
- stupid/stupidly
- effective/effectively
However, there are many that are irregular and do not have recognizable endings such as now, very, quite. Words such as today, tomorrow, yesterday, nowadays, sometimes are also known as 'adverbs of time'. In Dalcurian, regular adverbs or adverbs that have a relative adjective, are formed by adding the following suffixes to the adjective:
- s to adjectives that end with a vowel
- as to adjectives that end with a consonant
- ni to adjectives that end with ø (some adjectives already end in ni; these take no ending)
| Adjective | Adjectival adverb | |
|---|---|---|
| qurnöra-happy | qurnöras-happily | |
| vélø-nasty | véløni-nastily | |
| geræsni-graceful | geræsni-gracefully | |
| neƒracteÞ-affectionate | neƒracteÞas-affectionately |
Word order
In English, normal adverbs can either precede or follow the adj/verb:
- The child played happily.
- The child happily played.
In Dalcurian, adjectival adverbs always precede the word they modify:
- Di arangáj qurnöras gä’spélögr. The child happily played.
- Minäla, öcra taÞ resæÞámn, örendörädnas gä’létr érenöra vögér dörÞ. They were told to wait there specifically for that reason. lit: They, for that reason, specifically told them to wait there.
- Di siárij sæmérädnas ømária. The sun is brightly shining.
Adverbs of time
Adverbs of time 'always' begin a sentence or clause 'except' when used in interrogative questions or comparative sentences where they are placed last:
- Vonériáda, di parenöj qve binöra besöcéræ,, brát nequtöndrel, mæ besöcérax binöra vélas. My dad is coming tomorrow but he doesn’t visit me much nowadays. lit: Tomorrow, my father will visit, but nowadays, he visits not me much.
- Væl? iquirquas diö gör vonériáda. Where would you like to go tomorrow?
- TiÞ säsa stæmériÞ strömi ädiáda. It's not as hot as yesterday.
Note that, in the first example, there is also an adverb of time in the second clause: nequtöndrel-nowadays. When you have an adv of time in the second clause of a sentence, it immediately follows the conjunction which introduces that clause. Following is a list of very common aderbs of time:
- ädiáda-yesterday
- am éagömrÞ-in good time
- andörest-at first
- aracievas-lately
- fröqu-early
- gegéna-again
- iádas-daily (every day)
- iáda-today
- infrequ-seldom/rarely (not very often)
- irønet-often
- mömádi-at last
- nequtöndrel-nowadays/these days
- nes-then
- nöra-now
- nösaraciev-sooner or later
- nösa-soon
- öcra nöra-for a short time/for now
- öcra tirimiÞ-for a long time
- qömblas-weekly (every week)
- quriandø-sometimes/now and then/again
- repönas-recently
- retöga máriÞ-at the same time
- sævála-always/forever
- sintránes-since then/from that time
- sintra-since
- solegasas-immediately
- täandø-at times
- Þömnas-monthly (every month)
- vonériáda-tomorrow
- vorbæ/vonéri-beforehand
- yérasas-yearly (every year)
There
In English the adverb there can be used either as an adverb of position or direction:
- The café is over there.
- We have to go through there.
- Look over there!
or as an existential adverb:
- There is a church in the village.
- There was a man in the garden.
- There are better things in life than....
Dalcurian has two words meaning there: dörÞ and danöÞ. The first is used to denote position or direction and is normally recognized as following the subject noun/pronoun, prepositon or modal verb:
- Ména mösár, dörac dörÞ, gör. We have to go through there.
- Di éfrácaj, rödn dörÞ, Þalár. The café is over there. Lit: The café, over there, resides.
The second is used as an existential adverb:
- DanöÞ Þalár ni qöráj am orÞ, yil? Is there a church in the village? Lit: There resides a church in the village, yes?
- DanöÞ Þalár ni qöráj am orÞ. There is a church in the village.
- DanöÞ pasäcr épøel,, vömä vétä svägérø. There are times when life is hard.
NOTE: As you can see from the examples, the verb Þalár-reside is used to denote the position or the existence of an object. This equates the English use of is/was/were as in there is/was a man in the garden. To render was/were, Dalcurian would use the past tense of Þalár:
- DanöÞ gä’Þalár ni sáj am jérabödä. There was a man in the garden. Lit: There resided a man in the garden.
This rule also applies to the adverb dérÞ-here:
- Dörac iáda, di siaberöj qve binöra gä’Þalár dérÞ. My sister was here all day. Lit: Throughout today, my sister resided here.
Contractions
DanöÞ takes the following contractions:
- danöqu-there is nothing
- danöÞöa-there are some/is something
- danörasáb-there is a person/somebody
Colloquial usage
You will note from some of the above examples the use of the verbs pasäcr-to exist and Þalár-to reside. This is standard Dalcurian. Þalár is used when a 'tangible' noun is being discussed. pasäcr is used when a non-tangible noun is used:
- DanöÞ Þalár ni qöráj am orÞ. There is a church in the village.
- DanöÞ pasäcr épøel,, vömä vétä svägérø. There are times when life is hard.
However, danöÞ already implies is/are, and in colloquial Dalcurian, the verbs will often be omitted. In a 'past' sense, standard usage would simply use the simple past of the verb:
- DanöÞ gä'Þalár ni qöráj am orÞ. There was a church in the village. Lit: There resided a chuch in the village.
- DanöÞ gä'pasäcr épøel,, vömä vétä gé'svägérø. There were times when life was hard. Lit: There existed times when life was hard.
But in every day speech, the prefix gé will often be used with the adverb:
- Gé'danöÞ ni qöráj am orÞ. There was a church in the village.
- Gé’danöÞ épøel,, vömä vétä gé'svägérø. There were times when life was hard.
However, this is highly colloquial and somewhat ungrammatical, and not expected of a foreign learner unless one has a very good grasp of other colloquial expressions.
Dummy Pronoun
DanöÞ is also used idiomatically to replace the dummy pronoun it when it doesn't appear to refer directly to an object, eg:
- DanöÞ morgér saméla,, taÞ tev’araciev, danpörämös näocr qamör¿ It looks as if it might rain later. lit: There seems as if, that later rain could come.
- Iádas séÞa qömbla, danöÞ gä'ábradanpör.. It's rained every day this week. lit: Daily this week, there has rained.
However, this leans towards correct speech. Colloquially, one might here:
- Ela qömbla, danpörämös gä'qamör. It rained all week. lit: All week, rain came.
Äda-ago
Äda represents the adverb ago but can also be translated as previously:
- Äda dion yérasel, binä gä’abetár nörasägr Dal’qörian. I started learning Dalcurian 2 years ago.
- Mæ, tevon levárel ocasionámnel, äda gä'ansanondr binöra. He contacted me on several occasions.
| This article is one of many about the Dalcurian language. Sub categories:
Miscellaneous word and phrase lists:
Links: |
