Word order

Cadim has a (mostly) strict word order. The general word order is:

subject noun phrase - verb phrase

Marya cini semaka - "Maria eats fish"

A noun phrase has this order:

(article -) (quantity -) noun (- adjective)

Al tam mujat buyuk... - "The three large men..."

A verb phrase has this order:

(auxiliary verb)(-tense) verb (-tense) (- adverb) (- object noun phrase)

...tayabi cibani tayeb - "...must have eaten well"

...ciyani cabuk kulu yugat - "...will quickly eat all the pies"

A prepositional phrase follows what it modifies, and has this order:

preposition - noun phrase

...ala al kucina - "...in the kitchen"

Nouns

Nouns and adjectives

Adjectives indicating quantities precede the noun; adjectives indicating qualities follow it. But tayeb "good" and mala "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 cok(a) (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 nekeb 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 segu "the following (ones)".

Articles

There are two articles:

al, the definite article
ua, the indefinite article

They go before a noun to show whether it represents something already known to the listener, or something new. Al is a neutral equivalent of hada "this" and sela "that". It is used with both singular and plural nouns, in cases such as the following:

The thing has already been mentioned:
- Emrabu ua doma. Al doma ilha ketan. "I've bought a house. The house is small."
The listener can easily guess that the thing exists:
- Emrabu ua doma. Al kucina ilha adai. "I've bought a house. The kitchen is large."
The listener can perceive the thing for themselves:
- Al hudab ilha amniha, ne? "The music's lovely, isn't it?"
The thing is well known to everyone:
- Al kamra ilha meruk dal dunya. "The moon is a long way from the earth."
The thing is described in the sentence itself:
- Iletani al numrat funil di ilai amikat. "She's lost the phone numbers of her friends."

Ua can be used in other cases, if the noun is countable but singular. It indicates something new:

Ganu somek ua ketab. "I want to read a book."

If the noun is plural, don't use ua (because ua also means "one"). Instead, say:

Somayu nej ketabat. "I'm going to read some books."

Or simply:

Somayu ketabat. "I'm going to read books."

If the noun is uncountable, nej can be used to indicate an unspecified quantity. After a verb, di can be used:

Nej abik fadayi dal tenjo. "Some dust fell from the ceiling."
Necu ebek nej kahua. "I need to drink some coffee."

(Di is also used as a preposition after nouns of quantity — ua cub di kahua "a cup of coffee", sela darab di yuga "that piece of cake".)

If the quantity is unimportant, and the thing is being mentioned in a general way, the article can be omitted — or al can be used if an article seems necessary for clarity:

Amu kahua. "I love coffee."
Amu al kahua. "I love coffee."

Al is used before abstract nouns, and names of fields of knowledge, and nouns representing any member of a class:

Al sayedeya muhim mera kua al tarueya. "Happiness is more important than wealth."
Ne sabu la al matematik. "I don't understand mathematics."
Al haraf ilha ua yiki hudabil. "The harp is a musical instrument." = Harafat umha yikim hudabil. "Harps are musical instruments."

But after a preposition, al and ua can often be omitted if the meaning remains clear:

Al amir di garad. "The chief of police."
Alos a okula. "We're going to school."
Sela ilha ua beya ona cara ala matematikem. "That's an unsolved problem in mathematics."
Ua magal ibdi necida heya yesaneya. "An article seems necessary for clarity."

Don't use an article before a proper noun or before an infinitive:

Marya u Natan otayahum ala yaza. "Maria and Nathan will marry in the summer."
Eskimak ilha bahiza. "Skiing is dangerous."

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 -- mika

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 -- anta
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

Index

Cadim Grammar

Contents