Cadim Grammar

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 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) and ua (one, a). As in English, there is no indefinite article for the plural. Articles are not necessary before infinitives and proper nouns, and may also be dropped after prepositions.

Other words function similarly and may be used in place of al or ua:

• hada, hadam -- this, these
• sela, selat -- that, those
• ne/la -- no, not
• kul(u) -- all
• kada -- every, each
• cok(a) -- many, much
• nej -- some
• cua -- few
• otra -- other
• ista -- same

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