Cadim Grammar

Nouns

Nouns and adjectives

Adjectives indicating quantities precede the noun; adjectives indicating qualities follow it. But tayeb "good" and zela "bad" usually precede the noun.

• -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.

• Adjectives do not change when they are plural. But when an adjective is used in place of a noun, it can be pluralized: al tali "the following (ones)".

Articles

Cadim only has a definite article.

• the -- al

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

No article is used when a word is being used in a generic sense, e.g. amu kahua, 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

• this -- hada
  • as a pronoun: this, these -- hada, hadam
• that -- sela
  • as a pronoun: that, those -- sela, selat

Accusative

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

Possessive

• nai is more common than anai.

Nominative

• -el is the formal form of the 3rd person singular.
• -te The polite/formal form of 2nd person singular.

Prepositions

Spacial -- de ruma

• at, to -- ela
• in front of -- ama
• behind -- ba'ad
• from, out of -- de
• in, into -- be
• outside -- bara
• above, over, on -- ala
• below, under -- tahet
• between, among -- bayan
• by, beside, up to -- janiba
• toward -- ela
• along -- alat
• across, through -- kebra
• around -- hula
• opposite -- aksa

Temporal -- de zaman

• at, to -- ala
• before -- anta
• after -- ba'ad
• since -- mun
• in (hence) -- talha
• during -- dum
• until -- gayet

Relational -- de suhed

• of -- man
• about, concerning -- beka
• for, in order to, benefiting, on behalf of -- heyara
• by (actor, author) -- beya
• with, in company of, using -- mita
• without, except -- ona
• opposite, against, in spite of -- aksa
• approximately, around, close to -- hula