User:Sir Beluga/Globasa

Subject classification: this is a language-learning resource.

Bonata! ("Welcome!") This page presents a brief but comprehensive reference grammar for the international language Globasa.

Note: When a section of text is colored grey, that means that part is optional and is usually left out.

Pronunciation

Alphabet

Globasa shares the letters of the English alphabet, with the exception of q.

Letter	IPA	Pronunciation	Name		Letter	IPA	Pronunciation	Name
a	[ä]	Similar to the a in Thai	aya		n	[n]	n in nose	ine
b	[b]	b in bell	ibe		o	[o̞]	o in more or boy	oya
c	[tʃʻ]	Similar to the ch in chip	ice		p	[pʻ]	Similar to the p in pet	ipe
d	[d]	d in dog	ide		r	[ɾ]	Similar to the t in water	ire
e	[e̞]	e in let	eya		s	[s]	s in sing	ise
f	[f]	f in fast	ife		t	[tʻ]	Similar to the t in tap	ite
g	[g]	g in get	ige		u	[u]	u in flu	uya
h	[x]	Similar to the ch in Bach	ihe		v	[v]	v in vest	ive
i	[i]	i in ski	iya		w	[w]	w in we	iwe
j	[dʒ]	j in jump	ije		x	[ʃ]	sh in shell	ixe
k	[kʻ]	Similar to the k in kit	ike		y	[j]	y in yes	iye
l	[l]	l in laugh	ile		z	[z]	z in zebra	ize
m	[m]	m in moon	ime

Stress

• Placed on the last vowel when a word ends in a consonant:

  jabal mountain

• Placed on the second-to-last vowel when a word ends in a vowel:

  estudi study

  kroa frog

• As consonants, w and y are never stressed:

  Dunya Earth

• Non-grammatical words that consist of a single syllable are always stressed:

  gas gas

• It is up to the speaker whether to stress grammatical words or not.

Pronouns

		General		Possessive
				Determiner		Pronoun
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st person		mi	imi	misu	imisu	misu (e)te/(o)to	imisu (e)te/(o)to
2nd person		yu	uyu	yusu	uyusu	yusu (e)te/(o)to	uyusu (e)te/(o)to
3nd person	Animate	te	ete	tesu	etesu	tesu (e)te/(o)to	etesu (e)te/(o)to
	Inanimate	to	oto	tosu	otosu	tosu (e)te/(o)to	otosu (e)te/(o)to
Impersonal		ren		rensu		rensu (e)te/(o)to
Reflexive		se		sesu		sesu (e)te/(o)to
Resumptive		da		dasu

To emphasize self, seli is placed before the subject pronoun.

• seli mi I myself
• seli ete they themselves

To emphasize gender, the prefixes fem- and man- may be attached to te or ete.

• femte she/her
• mante he/him
• femete they/them (all female)
• manete they/them (all male)

To express a noun indirectly, a pronoun must be in its place.

• Dua to sen maxmo bon kom un to. Two are better than one.

Nouns and verbs

Nouns

There is no singular–plural distinction.

• uma horse, horses

There are no articles.

• mahi a fish, the fish

Most nouns do not inherently indicate gender.

• gami wife, husband, spouse
• kuku hen, rooster, chicken

Apposition is done when the second noun element identifies the first.

• Bahari Pacifiko Pacific Ocean
• Xaher Neoyork New York City
• kitabu Kilo Nuecen Ocodes Care the book Nineteen Eighty-Four
• misu sodar Alis my sister Alice

Abstract nouns can be formed from concrete nouns, adjectives and adverbs by using the suffix -ya.

• atreya parenthood (atre parent)
• hoxya happiness (hox happy)

Noun–verbs

Many words in Globasa can be both nouns and verbs.

• Te lala bon lala. S/he sings a good song.
• Mi yam tiga yam fe moy din. I eat three meals every day.

Verbs

		Present	Past	Future
Infinitive	na	na oko to see
Simple		Mi nun oko piu. I see the bird. I am seeing the bird.	Mi le oko piu. I saw the bird.	Mi xa oko piu. I will see the bird.
	u (formal)	Mi u oko piu. I see the bird. I am seeing the bird.
Active	… nun	Mi nun nun oko piu. I am seeing the bird.	Mi le nun oko piu. I was seeing the bird.	Mi xa nun oko piu. I will be seeing the bird.
Completed	… le	Mi nun le oko piu. I have seen the bird.	Mi le le oko piu. I had seen the bird.	Mi xa le oko piu. I will have seen the bird.
Prospective	… xa	Mi nun xa oko piu. I am going to see a bird.	Mi le xa oko piu. I was going to see a bird.	Mi xa xa oko piu. I will be going to see a bird.
Continuative	… dupul	Mi nun dupul oko piu. I have been seeing the bird.	Mi le dupul oko piu. I had been seeing the bird.	Mi xa dupul oko piu. I will have been seeing the bird.
Immediate	ja …		Mi jale oko piu. I just saw the bird.	Mi jaxa oko piu. I am about to see the bird.
Habitual/ continuous	… du-	Mi nun duoko piu. I see birds.	Mi le duoko piu. I used to see birds.	Mi xa duoko piu. I will see birds.
Conditional	ger …	Mi ger nun oko piu. I would see the bird.	Mi ger le oko piu. I would have seen the bird.
Passive	… be-	Piu nun beoko mi. The bird is seen by me.	Piu le beoko mi. The bird was seen by me.	Piu xa beoko mi. The bird will be seen by me.
Combined passive and hab./cont.	… bedu-	Piu nun beduoko mi. Birds are seen by me.	Piu le beduoko mi. Birds used to be seen by me.	Piu xa beduoko mi. Birds will be seen by me.
Negative	… no	Mi nun no oko piu. I do not see the bird.	Mi le no oko piu. I did not see the bird.	Mi xa no oko piu. I will not see the bird.
Imperative	am	Yu/Uyu am oko piu. See the bird.
		Imi am oko piu. Let's see the bird.
Jussive		Mi am oko piu. May I see the bird.
		Te/Ete am oko piu. May they see the bird.
Transitive (erg. verbs)	-gi cause	Mi nun bukagi dwer. I open the door. I am opening the door.	Mi le bukagi dwer. I opened the door.	Mi xa bukagi dwer. I will open the door.
Intransitive (erg. verbs)	-cu become	Dwer nun bukacu. The door opens. The door is opening.	Dwer le bukacu. The door opened.	Dwer xa bukacu. The door will open.
Gerund (noun)	du-	duoko (act of) seeing
Active state adj/advs	-ne	lalane piu singing bird
Inactive state adj/advs	-do	okodo piu seen bird

The particle na marks the infinitive.

Complement	Mi vole na xidu.	I want to try.
	Filme sen amusane na oko.	The movie is fun to watch.
	Hay haja na yam yamxey.	There is a need to eat food.
Nominal verb phrase	Debatemon sen na xidu.	The point is to try.
	Na oko filme sen amusane.	It is fun to watch movies.
	To sen amusane, na oko filme.
	Na yam in ogar sen bon.	It is good to eat at home.
	To sen bon, na yam in ogar.

The main copula is sen (to be).

• Sola sen brilapul. The Sun is bright.

Globasa's auxiliary verbs function also as adjectives or adverbs, rather than as nouns. There are only three auxiliary verbs: abil (can; which can, able/capable), ingay (should; which should) and musi (have to, must; which must).

• Mi abil na doxo. I can read.
• Mi ingay na doxo. I should read.
• Mi musi na doxo. I have to read. / I must read.

Adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives go before nouns.

• kijawi gras green grass

Adverbs have more flexibility in terms of position.

• Hox, ete swikara teyan. Happily, they accept the offer.
• Ete hox swikara teyan. They happily accept the offer.
• Ete swikara teyan hox. They accept the offer happily.

To turn an adjective into an adverb that can modify verbs, no change in form is needed.

• bon good, well
• asan easy, easily

To turn a noun into an adjective or adverb, use the suffix -li.

• syensili metode scientific method (syensi science)
• digitali penci digitally edit (digita digit)

To turn an adjective into an adverb that can modify other adjectives and adverbs, attach the suffix -mo.

• luminkalmo roso dark red

Globasa supports adjective phrases.

• basa palado fal mega insan the language spoken by a million people
• fleytora maxmo velosi kom soti the airplane faster than sound

Degree can be expressed with daydenmo.

• Daydenmo yukwe! How pleasant!
• Daydenmo gao drevo! What a tall tree!

Word formation

	Suffix	Noun/verb	Adj/adv
Prefix		awidi aw- + idi leave	nenresmi nen- + resmi unofficial
Noun/verb	yuxitul yuxi + -tul toy	fatmindoku fatmin + doku patent	dureabil dure + abil durable
Adj/adv	amikuje amiku + -je depth	suhegeo suhe + geo desert	godojaldi godo + jaldi premature
Numeral	unyum un + -yum first	duacalun dua + calun bicycle

Correlatives

		Interrogative	Proximal	Distal	Indefinite	Universal	Negative	Alternative	Identical
		ke which	hin this	den that	ban some	moy every	nil none	alo another	sama same
Individual	te s/he	kete who	hinte this one	dente that one	bante someone	moyte everyone	nilte no one	alote someone else	samate same one
	ete they	keete which ones	hinete these ones	denete those ones	banete some of them	moyete all of them	nilete none of them	aloete some others	samaete same ones
Quality	to it	keto what	hinto this one	dento that one	banto something	moyto everything	nilto nothing	aloto something else	samato same thing
	oto they	keoto which ones	hinoto these ones	denoto those ones	banoto some of them	moyoto all of them	niloto none of them	alooto some other things	samaoto same things
Time	watu time	kewatu when	hinwatu now	denwatu then	banwatu sometime	moywatu always	nilwatu never	alowatu another time	samawatu at the same time
Location	loka place	keloka where	hinloka here	denloka there	banloka somewhere	moyloka everywhere	nilloka nowhere	aloloka elsewhere	samaloka same place
Reason	seba reason	keseba why how come	hinseba for this reason	denseba for that reason	banseba for some reason	moyseba for every reason	nilseba for no reason	aloseba for a different reason	samaseba for the same reason
Manner	maner way	kemaner how	hinmaner like this	denmaner like that	banmaner somehow	moymaner every way	nilmaner no way	alomaner another way	samamaner same way
Number	numer number	kenumer how many	hinnumer this many	dennumer that many	bannumer some of	moynumer all of	nilnumer none of	alonumer different number of	samanumer same number of
Quantity	kwanti amount	kekwanti how much	hinkwanti this much	denkwanti that much	bankwanti some of	moykwanti all of	nilkwanti none of	alokwanti different amount of	samakwanti same amount of
Method/ Category	-pul -ful	kepul how/ like what	hinpul this way/ like this	denpul that way/ like that	banpul some way/ some kind	moypul every way/ every kind	nilpul no way/ no kind	alopul different way/ different kind	samapul same way/ same kind
Degree	-mo -ly	kemo how	hinmo yea	denmo as such	banmo somewhat	moymo every degree	nilmo no degree	alomo different degree	samamo same degree
Genitive	-su 's	kesu whose	hinsu this one's	densu that one's	bansu someone's	moysu everyone's	nilsu no one's	alosu someone else's	samasu same person's
Emphatic	he any …to	he keto whatever	he hinto any of these	he dento any of those	he banto anything	he moyto anything and everything	he nilto not any	he aloto any other	he samato same exact thing

Questions

Word order does not change for questions.

Yes–no	kam	Risi sen bon.	Rice is good.
		Kam risi sen bon?	Is rice good?
		Risi sen bon, kam no?	Rice is good, isn't it?
Open	"ke" word	Mi suki jubin.	I like cheese.
		Kete suki jubin?	Who likes cheese?
		Yu suki keto?	What do you like?
		Yu suki ke jubin?	Which cheese do you like?
		Yu suki keto: myaw or bwaw?	Do you like cats or dogs?

Conjunctions

Coordinating	Subordinating
ji and mas but nor nor or or	eger if hu that, which, who kam (marks yes/no question) ki that ku (marks indirect question) kwas as if
Correlative
iji...ji both...and kama...kam whether...or noro...nor neither..or oro...or either...or

A range of conjunctions that are derived from the conjunction ki (that):

• celki so that
• durki while
• fe folo ki such that
• fe hataya ki although
• fe kompara ki whereas
• fe kosa ki because
• fe tayti ki instead of (+sentence)
• feki that
• finki until (+sentence)
• folki the more/less
• koski because
• leki before (+sentence)
• temki about which
• xaki after/once (+sentence)
• xorki since (+sentence)

Subordinating conjunctions

Complementizer	ki		Yu jixi ki mi jixi.	You know that I know.
			Debatemon sen ki mi abil.	The point is that I can.
			Ki yu sen hox sen bon.	It is good that you are happy.
			To sen bon, ki yu sen hox.
Relative clause	hu		Kam yu le ore haberi hu te le triunfa?	Did you hear the news that he won?
	hu	da	Mi yam yamxey hu da sen bon.	I eat food that is good.
			Mi yam yamxey hu mi suki da.	I eat food that I like.
			Maux hu da sen lil, yam jubin.	The mouse that is small eats cheese.
			Te yam jubin, maux hu da sen lil.	It eats cheese, the mouse that is small.
		dasu	Yu sen person hu mi hare dasu yawxe.	You are the person whose keys I have.
		den…	Mi yam denwatu hu mi sen yamkal.	I eat when I'm hungry.
			Denwatu hu mi sen yamkal, mi yam.	When I'm hungry, I eat.
			Ren sen dento hu ren yam da.	You are what you eat.
			Mi jixi to hu denwatu navi awidi.	I know when the ship departs.
			Xaher hu denloka mi le yam sen Tokyo.	The city where I ate is Tokyo.
Indirect question	ku		Mi no jixi ku keseba.	I do not know why.
			Mi jixi ku yu vole keto.	I know what you want.
			Mi no jixi ku yu sen of keloka.	I do not know where you are from.
			Mi jixipel ku to sen ke satu.	I wonder what time it is.

Prepositions

anti against bax under cel to(wards), for (goal, purpose) cis on this side of de of (possession), belonging to dur during, for (duration) el direct object marker (SOV & OSV only) ex out(side of) fal (done) by fe of, at (place/time) fol according to, alongside har with (having) hoy towards (orientation) in in(side of) infra below intre between kos because of, due to maxus including, plus minus except for, minus of from, (out) of pas through per on por (in exchange) for pro in favor of supra above, over tas for (recipient), to (indirect object) tem about, regarding ton (along/together) with tras across ultra beyond, over wey around yon with (using)

The prefixes nen- (non-) and pos- (opposite) are found appended to certain prepositions:

nenhar without (not having) nentem irregardless of nenton without (apart from) nenyon without (not using) posfol against (opp. direction)

The preposition cel (to) can be combined with certain other prepositions:

cel bax under cel ex out cel in into cel na in order to cel per onto

Some derived prepositions incorporate the preposition fe (of/at):

finfe until lefe before, ago ner fe close to teli fe far from xafe after, from now xorfe since, as of xorlefe for (time)

Phrasal prepositions with fe and de can be used for location:

fe byen de at the edge of fe centro de in the middle of fe comen de next to fe exya de outside of fe fronta de in front of fe inya de inside of fe kapi de on top of fe midiya de in the middle of fe muka de across from fe oko de in the eyes of, before fe oposya de against (position), opposite fe peda de at the bottom of fe ruke de behind

Prepositional phrases

Prepositional phrases can appear anywhere in a sentence. Before the verb, they require commas.

Mi oko teve in ogar. Mi oko in ogar teve. Mi, in ogar, oko teve. In ogar, mi oko teve.

I watch TV at home.

Indirect object

The preposition tas (to/for) marks the indirect object.

• Yu le gibe yawxe tas mi. You gave the keys to me.
• Yu le gibe tas mi yawxe. You gave me the keys.
• Tas mi yu le gibe yawxe. To me, you gave the keys.

Word order

SVO	Henri yuxi tenis.		Henry plays tennis.
SOV	el (poetic)	Henri el tenis yuxi.	Henry tennis plays.
OSV		El tenis Henri yuxi.	Tennis Henry plays.

Noun phrase: determiner→possessive determiner→quantifier (quantity)→adverb→adjective→noun
Verb phrase: tense→affirmation/negation→adverb (adj/adv)→adverb (verb)→verb

• Den etesu un daymo velosi mobil xa no kufimo hanman xofer.
  that their one very fast car will not enough slowly drive
  That one very fast car of theirs will not drive slowly enough.

Comparison

Comparative	max(mo) kom	Hay max kom 7 giga insan.	There are more than 7 billion people.
		Yu hare max pesa kom mi.	You have more money than me.
		Yu hare max to kom mi.	You have more than me.
		Kuku sen maxmo day kom ovo.	A chicken is bigger than an egg.
	folki max(mo), max(mo)	Folki ren max yam, ren max xunjan.	The more you eat, the more you grow.
		Folki ren sen maxmo day, ren maxmo sakate sokutu.	The bigger you are, the harder you fall.
	min(mo) kom	Mi hare min kom 3 restado minuto.	I have less than 3 minutes left.
		Mi hare min pingo kom Henri.	I have fewer apples than Henry.
		Mi hare min to kom Henri.	I have fewer than Henry.
		Kuku sen minmo dayrupul kom ovo.	A chicken is less round than an egg.
	folki min(mo), min(mo)	Folki ren min yam, ren min xunjan.	The less you eat, the less you grow.
		Folki minmo zarif, minmo kimapul.	The less fancy, the less expensive.
Superlative	maxim	maxim gao te (of drevo)	the tallest (of the trees)
	minim	minim fobine te (of kayvu)	the least scary (of the monsters)
Equative	-mo/-numer/ -kwanti/-pul ... kom	Mi pawbu velosi kom yu.	I run fast like you.
		Mi pawbu daymo velosi kom yu.	I run very fast like you.
		Mi pawbu denmo velosi kom yu.	I run as fast as you.
		Mi yam dennumer pingo kom yu.	I eat as many apples as you.
		Mi hare dennumer to kom yu.	I have as many as you.
		Mi hare denkwanti watu kom yu	I have as much time as you
		Mi hare denkwanti to kom yu.	I have as much as you.
		Mi sampo denkwanti kom yu	I walk as much as you.
		Mi sampo denpul kom yu.	I walk like you.

Numbers

0	nil	11	des un	1M (106)	mega
1	un	12	des dua	1B (109)	giga
2	dua	20	duades	1T (1012)	tera
3	tiga	21	duades un	1Qa (1015)	kilo tera
4	care	30	tigades	1Qi (1018)	mega tera
5	lima	100	cen	1Sx (1021)	giga tera
6	sisa	200	duacen	1Sp (1024)	tera tera
7	sabe	1K	kilo	10-1	deci
8	oco	2K	dua kilo	10-2	centi
9	nue	10K	des kilo	10-3	mili
10	des	100K	cen kilo	10-6	mikro
				10-9	nano
				10-12	piko

Applications

Fractions	numerator + of- + denominator	tiga oflima 3/5
		sabe ofduadesdua 7/22
Ordinal numbers	number + -yum	duayum (2yum) second (2nd)
		duadesunyum (21yum) twenty-first (21st)
		tigayum (3yum) maxim day third (3rd) biggest
Multipliers	number + -ple	unple (1ple) single (1x)
		duaple (2ple) double (2x)
		tigaple (3ple) triple (3x)
		limaple (5ple) maxmo day five times (5x) bigger
Groups	(if animate) number + -yen (if inanimate) number + -xey		Animate	Inanimate	Translations
		1	unyen	unxey	unit, solo, single
		2	duayen	duaxey	pair, couple, duo
		3	tigayen	tigaxey	trio, trinity, triad

Date and time

Date format	[day] de mesi [month], [year] 26 de mesi 7, 2019
Months of the year	mesi un, mesi dua, [...] mesi des dua		January, February, [...] December
Days of the week	Lunadin Marihidin Bududin Muxtaridin	Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday	Zuhuradin Xanidin Soladin	Friday Saturday Sunday
Time	satu [hour] ji [minute] satu sabe ji duades sisa (7:26)
	[hour] [minute]		sabe duades sisa