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| = Locative verbs =
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| Kala does not have prepositions (or postpositions) as a distinct part of speech. Instead, many locative verbs can be used as adpositionals, in which case they precede the noun they modify. In English, locations are indicated with adverbs and/or prepositions, this is not the case in Kala however. To express locative concepts in Kala, the following verbs/affixes are used:
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| The general locative (-'''hue''') which is affixed to nouns (and occasionally verbs) to indicate the sense of “''at; in; on''”.
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| * '''na tsakahue nayo'''
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| : <small>1s home-LOC 1s.GEN</small>
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| : ''I'm in my home.'' / ''I'm at home.''
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| Here are some common verbs used as adpositions:
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| * -'''hue''' – in; at; on (general locative)
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| * '''nahe''' – within; inside
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| * '''nyaue''' – out; outside of; exterior
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| * '''ma’e''' – before; in front of
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| * '''pue''' – behind; after; in back of
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| * '''ua’e''' – above; over; on
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| * '''tahe''' – below; under; beneath; bottom
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| * '''ya’e''' – near; close to
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| * '''uaye''' – away (from)
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| * '''maye''' – between; among
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| The above are used as prepositions, but can also function strictly as verbs.
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| {{col-begin}}
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| {{col-break}}
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| * '''mita tahe yempa ina'''
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| : <small>dog under table eat</small>
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| : ''The dog is eating under the table.''
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| {{col-break}}
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| * '''mita ke yempa tahe'''
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| : <small>dog table be.under</small>
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| : ''The dog is under the table.''
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| {{col-end}}
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| The suffix -'''la''' (from '''yala''' ''“go; walk; travel”'') forms an allative (or motive) preposition, expressing movement in the indicated direction, stopping at the position indicated by the locative:
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| * '''nahela topu''' – ''into bed''
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| * '''pahela ke ana tayo''' – ''onto your head''
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| * '''tsayela tsaka''' – ''up to the house''
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| The locative/allative pair works like English on/onto, in/into, but in Kala this distinction is made for all locatives: you must distinguish between them:
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| * '''pue’ela kuanu''' – ''go behind a bush'' - (motion implied → allative)
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| * '''pue kuanu koma''' – ''hide behind a bush'' - (no motion → locative)
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| Kala uses nouns to express more complex spatial relationships (these words are adverbs in English) this means that for example the word '''mokua''' should be interpreted as something like the ''everywhere'' or ''all places''. So a phrase like '''mokua na'eta anya''' (meaning ''I see you everywhere'') is literally ''I see you in all places''. Likewise, '''yosohue na'eta anya''' means ''I see you at (the/my) left (area).''
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| * '''mokua''' – everywhere; all places
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| * '''hina''' – here; hither
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| * '''uana''' – there (near you)
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| * '''yemua''' – there (over there)
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| The above nouns never take the '''-hue''' suffix.
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| = Syntax =
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| == Simple sentences ==
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| == Complex sentences ==
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| === Clause coordination ===
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| Clause-level conjunctions such as '''ku''' "and", '''ua''' "or", or '''ehe''' "but, however" are placed clause-initially. Note that these conjunctions cannot be used to connect noun phrases.
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| * '''tahi tohyo ku nahi pina'''
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| : <small>boy brave CL.CONJ girl intelligent</small>
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| : ''The boy is brave and the girl is intelligent.''
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| * '''ima kihu saman ehe pakyotlai'''
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| : <small>now weather sun-ADJ however storm-IMM</small>
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| : ''Now the weather is sunny, but a storm will come soon.''
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| === Coordination of noun phrases ===
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| Non-subject noun phrases are coordinated using the conjunction '''ma''' "and" (sometimes "with").
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| * '''yomaye na ke tanka ma pato anya'''
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| : <small>day-PST 1sg O eagle CONJ duck see</small>
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| : ''I saw an eagle and a duck yesterday.''
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| * '''kinti ke tsaka kamyo ma'a yosu sapotle ma siuem muya'''
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| : <small>squirrel O house 3pl.POSS with moss soft-REL and leaf.PL make</small>
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| : ''The squirrels make their nest comfortable with soft moss and leaves.''
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| * '''ona ma ota kyosanku'''
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| : <small>mother and father fornicate-RECP</small>
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| : ''Mother and father have sex [with each other].''
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| * '''ta ma'a na ke molihuelatli'''
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| : <small>2sg with 1sg O forest-LOC-MOT-FUT</small>
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| : ''You and I will go to the forest together.''
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| Noun phrases can be presented as alternatives to each other with the conjunction '''ua''' "or; other". This conjunction can be used with both subjects and non-subjects. The conjunction '''ue''' "(exclusive) either X or Y" is used to delimit other nouns from the conjunction phrase.
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| * '''ta ke nasi ua poma inamyo'''
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| : <small>2sg O pear or apple eat-PERM</small>
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| : ''You may eat an apple or a pear.''
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| * '''tsola ue otso itsikua mataye'''
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| : <small>fox either.X.or.Y wolf PROX-bird kill-PST</small>
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| : ''It must have been a fox or a wolf that killed this bird.''
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| Contrastive coordination of noun phrases ("but") is achieved with '''ehe''' "but; however" (or '''me''' more informally) if the noun phrases appear in subject position.
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| * '''yomaye mita'u ehek mitana ke kutsu kapya'''
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| : <small>day-PST dog-MASC but-NEG O meat receive</small>
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| : ''The male dog but not the female dog received meat yesterday.''
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| * '''na itlaka mek inaka unya'''
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| : <small>1sg PROX-man but-NEG PROX-woman know</small>
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| : ''I know this man, but not this woman.''
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| === Complement clauses ===
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| === Relative clauses ===
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| Relative clauses, i.e. subordinated clauses acting as an attribute to a noun phrase, are marked with the relativizer '''-tle''' (or '''-le''' if the last syllable has '''tl'''). A pronoun referring to the relativized noun is retained within the relative clause:
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| * '''na ka naka amyatle pesoue'''
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| : <small>1sg O woman liked-REL meet-VOL</small>
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| : ''I want to meet a girl who is friendly.''
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| * '''naku nayo ke yakokua na tikuyetle inapua'''
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| : <small>sister 1sg.POSS O strawberry-all 1sg pick-PST-REL eat-PFV</small>
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| : ''My sister has eaten all the strawberries that I picked.''
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| * '''kam tananitle ke teki tlalitli'''
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| : <small>3pl fight-nice-REL O enemy defeat-FUT</small>
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| : ''They who fight well will defeat the enemy.''
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| = Evidentiality =
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| {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;"
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| !
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| ! affix
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| ! from
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| |-align=center
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| ! direct participation (dir)
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| | '''-'''
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| | '''-'''
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| |-align=center
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| ! sensory perception (sens)
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| | '''-'''
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| | '''-'''
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| |-align=center
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| ! inferred from evidence (evid)
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| | '''-'''
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| | '''-'''
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| |-align=center
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| ! assumption; guess (ass)
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| | '''-ho'''
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| | '''toho'''
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| |-align=center
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| ! hearsay; fiction (rep)
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| | '''-tai'''
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| | '''ata'''
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| |}
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| The first set of evidentiality markers indicated that the evidence was gained directly by the speaker via their senses. There were three such markers:
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| *-xx-, which denotes that the speaker witnessed the action visually;
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| *-xx-, which denotes that the speaker tasted or smelled the evidence and
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| *-xx-, which denotes that the speaker felt or heard the evidence.
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| The second set of markers indicated that the evidence is secondhand and not directly derived from the speaker's experience. There were two such markers:
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| *-xx-, which indicates that the information was received via hearsay and may or may not be accurate and
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| *-xx-, which indicates that the speaker has no doubts about the information he has received.
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| The third set indicated that the information was not personally experienced but was inferred from indirect evidence. There were three of these markers:
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| *-xx-, which indicated that there was physical evidence;
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| *-xx-, which indicates that the information is general knowledge and
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| *-xx-, which indicates that the information is inferred or assumed based on the speaker's past experience of similar situations.
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| = kalama =
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| * '''kalama''' - speak; talk; utter
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| * '''kasa''' - house; home; abode, dwelling
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| * '''kawi''' - coffee
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| * '''kome''' - eat; consume
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| * '''ko''' - he, she [3sg]
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| * '''kute''' - listen; hear
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| * '''le''' - past tense [PST]
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| * '''lo''' - many (more than one) / '''-lo''' - plural [PL]
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| * '''loka''' - place; location
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| * '''ma''' - what; which
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| * '''maka''' - do; make; cause
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| * '''miyo''' - feline; cat; lion; tiger
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| * '''ne''' - no; not; negative [NEG]
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| * '''ni''' - you [2sg]
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| * '''o''' - direct object [DO]
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| * '''oma''' - mother; grand-
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| * '''opa''' - father; grand-
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| * '''sa''' - future tense [FUT]
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| * '''sapa''' - know; understand
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| * '''ta''' - be big; large; grand
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| * '''tale''' - give; transfer; donate
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| * '''wa''' - I, me [1sg]
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| * '''waka''' - bovine; cattle; livestock
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| * '''wite''' - see; look; watch; observe
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| * '''yo''' - have; possess; hold / '''-yo''' - possessive; genitive
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| * '''yu''' - (be) in; at; on; by; near
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