Cadim Grammar

Nouns

Plurals

• -t/-at for most words
• -m/-em for words ending in front vowels other than [a] or when the word ends with a coronal plosive

The plural endings do not change the original stress of the word: neko, cat... nekom cats, muj, man... mujat, men. Note that adjectives do not agree with plural nouns.

If there are other words (such as zida (much/many) or numbers) that indicate plurality, the plural ending may be omitted.

Gender is not indicated in most nouns. For animals, use muj and jena as adjectives after the noun.

Articles

Ilya only has a definite article, but it inflects for case.

• the NOM -- al
• the ACC -- el

The preposition di (of/from/about) is used without an article to express the partitive sense, e.g. icub di qahua... a cup of coffee, al darab di yuga... the piece of cake.

No article is used when a word is being used in a generic sense, e.g. amu qahua, yuga ilha tayeb... I like coffee, cake is good.

It is always permissible to drop articles after prepositions.

No article is necessary before names, words used as names, abstract nouns (-(e)ya), or infinitives (-ek/-mak).

Determiners

The following words precede the noun and often substitute for la or un and add a degree of precision:

• this -- hada
  • e.g. this thing, these things -- hada ceya, hada ceyat
  • as a pronoun: this, these -- hada, hadam
• that -- sela
  • e.g. that thing, those things -- sela ceya, sela ceyat
  • as a pronoun: that, those -- sela, selat

• all -- kul(u)
  • e.g. all things, everything -- kul ceyat
  • as a pronoun: all, everyone -- kulu
• each, every -- kada
  • e.g. each thing, everything -- kada ceya
  • as a pronoun: each one, every one -- kularen (persons only)
• some -- nej
  • e.g. something, somethings -- nej ceya, nej ceyat
  • as a pronoun: someone -- nejaren (persons only)
• no -- ne , la
  • e.g. nothing, no one -- nul, neren
  • as a pronoun: none, no one -- neren (persons only)

The following (when adjectives) require an article unless plural:

• many -- zida
  • e.g. ceyat zida... many things
  • e.g. al zida ceyat... the many things
• few -- cua
  • e.g. ceyat cua... few things
  • e.g. al ceyat cua... the few things
• same -- ista
  • e.g. al ceya ista, al ceyat ista... the same thing, the same things
• other, else -- otra
  • e.g. al ceya otra, al ceyat otra... the other things, the other thing
  • e.g. ceya otra, ceyat otra... another thing, other things.

The preceding particles are often followed by...

• thing -- ceya
• person -- aren
• time -- ura (time, hour of the day)
  • ima (occasion)
• place -- omra (area)
  • lu (location)
• amount, quantity -- anza
• manner, way, how -- mod
• case, situation, circumstance -- miq

Others:

• both -- bada
  • bada ceyat
• enough -- bas
  • bas ceyat
• such -- tan
  • tan ceyat
• certain -- tok
  • tok ceya, tok ceyat
• sole, only -- nur(a)
  • al nura ceya, nur ceya

Pronouns

Accusative

• te The polite/formal form.
• il, neuter | ila, feminine | ilu, masculine.

Reflexive

Possessive

• nai is more common than anai.

Nominative

• Endings for verbs that end in a consonant.
• -el is the formal form of the 3rd person singular.

• Endings for verbs that end in a vowel.
• -te The polite/formal form of 2nd person singular.