Dal'qörian nouns

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Noun forms

There are 5 classifications of noun in Dalcurian:

Tangible nouns

These are mainly nouns that are physical; can be felt, seen and touched. These always end in j (with some exceptions):

• gadöraj dog

• ádecödrij accessory

• ratäj deer

• fosetaj tap

• sáj man

Verb-derivative nouns

These are nouns formed from an infinitive and have the characteristic ending ämös:

• amör-to love amörämös-love

• ölegár-to order ölgarämös-order/instruction

• quatésr-to confess quatésrämös-confession

Adjective related nouns

These are nouns that have an adjectival relative but no verbal relative. They take the charactaristic ending ámn:

• nistelæÞ-dejected nistelæÞámn-dejection

• incatröli-lawful incatröliámn-law

• Þravætas-gravitational Þravætasámn-gravity

Stative nouns

These are nouns that depict someone or something as having an attribute, such as: profession, religion, nationality etc, and typically take the ending átsi:

• incatrolátsi-police (this is a plural noun by default)

• reparesenátsi-ambassador

• stæmátsi-anarchist

• Estöna-Estonia Estönátsi-Estonian

• Anglæána-England Anglæánátsi-English

• qaÞolianámn-catholosism qaÞolianátsi-catholic

General nouns

These are nouns which take no ending, and have no verbal or adjectival relative:

• vönæÞ-address

• ädaquatic-antiquity

• stöndæ-hour

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Gerunds

In English, a gerund is the present participle acting as a noun. These are recognizable in the following instances:

Non finite clauses:

• The running of the country is an unenviable task.

• The recording of an album can be a costly effort.

After prepositions

• I've warned you about running in the corridor!

• The police warned us against going into the building.

The verb acting as a subject/object

• I like swimming. (direct object)

• Swimming is fun. (subject)

The gerund preceeded by a genitive

• We enjoyed their singing.

For the most part, a Dalcurian gerund is rendered with the infinitive and the preposition te-to:

• Te qalegør ni qalegørämös näocr stætaröpas vädenár. The recording of a record can be expensive.

• Te valcr 20 minötel iádasas, öcra di läbendéj, éagöra. Walking 20 minutes per day is good for the heart.

• Te øélár andri nörasábel máriÞ vendábrämösel disiri tamørämös. Laughing at disabled people is very ignorant.

With prepositions, te attaches to the verb by high apostrophe:

• Minäla, rödn te'vaÞr am amnistráÞ, gä'vonlétr minöra. We were warned about running in the corridor. Lit: They, over to run in the corridor, warned us.

• Di incatrolátsi, stæcamä te'gör amte prodnæj, gä'béÞamr minöra. The police advised us against going into the building. Lit: The police, against to go into the building, advised us.

Where a verb acts as an object, this is simply given as a pure infinitive:

• Binä iqur svemör. I like swimming. Lit: I like to swim.

If the verb has an actual noun, then this can also be used with an article:

• Ni svemörämös di agöepedandrädn ebian qve binöra. Swimming is my favourite hobby. Lit: A swim is my favourite hobby.

With Genitives

These kinds of gerunds are not translatable in Dalcurian. For example:

• We liked her singing-singing is not a noun in Dalcurian. One may reformulate the sentence as:

• Ména gä'iqur di gäba,, vöes sia gä'löigár. We liked the way she sang.

Plurals

The Dalcurian noun simply adds el to form plurals. Nouns ending in a flat a remove their final vowel:

• áda-day ádel-days
• abödä-house abödäel-houses
• televizian-television televizianel-televisions
• ninÞi-night ninÞiel-nights

Compound Nouns

Until quite recently (and to some extent, still in usage), Dalcurian compound nouns were formed either with the possessive qve or the genitive dis/nis.

Qve was used if the noun being spoken of was general, ie not identified:

• dalmanj qve Þradäjel door handle lit handle of doors
  • Binä gä'nemör ni dalmanj qve Þradäjel. I bought a door handle.

Note that doors is plural; this is what denotes the generalization. If I bought many door handles then I would say:

• Binä gä'nemör émø dalmanjel qve Þradäjel. I bought some door handles. lit: I bought some handles of doors.

The genitive would be used if I wanted to talk about a specific door handel:

• di dalmanj dis Þradäj the door handle lit: the handle of the door
  • Binä gä'peliacr di dalmanj dis Þradäj. I replaced the door handle.

Some examples:

• ni ecörämös qve penjel' (a) headache lit: an ache of heads
  • di ecörämös dis penj the headache
    • di ecörämös dis penj binöra my headache

• ni dræpéraj qve öánajel (a) shower curtain
  • di dræpéraj dis öánaj the shower curtain
    • émø dræpérajel qve öánajel some shower curtains