User:Masako/nkala

Word order

Kala has an extremely regular grammar, with very few exceptions to its rules. Sentences are made up of one or more phrases. Each phrase consists of a verb and a subject. The basic word order is always <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject–object–verb" target="_blank">SOV</a>.

yohano empa
John run
John runs. or John is running.

maliya yohano anya
Mary John see
Mary sees John. or Mary is looking at John

Nouns

The roles of nouns in a sentence are indicated through prepositions and word order. There are no cases.

Plurals are not marked as frequently as in English and tend to only be marked for accuracy. They are never marked if another quantifying suffix is used, or if there is a number present. Plural nouns are formed by appending -m or -lo if the final syllable contains m. This does not alter the stress:

tsaka - tsakam
house - house-pl
house - houses

yama - yamalo
mountain - mountain-pl
mountain - mountains

Gender is typically not indicated. If necessary, nouns may be modified by -ta (male) or -na (female):

uma - umata - umana
horse - horse-MASC - horse-FEM
horse - stallion - mare