Phonology & orthography

a - /a/
e - /e/
o - /o/
u - /u/
i - /i~j/
p - /p/
k - /k/
n - /n/
m - /m/
t - /t/
s - /s/
w - /w/
l - /l/

Phonotactics

((V|(VV))?(CV(i|o)?)+n?) | (V+n?)

Samples

kisu li kuso li pulu e topu supa toka li laki – A quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.

Vocabulary

Grammar

Pronouns

• mi – I; me (1S).
• tu – You (2S).
• ni – He; she; it (3S).
• ma – We (1P).
• na – They (3P).
• so – This; it (PROX).
• ko – That (DIST).
• koko – Here.
• soko – There.
• toko – Where.
• sin – Who.
• nan – What.
• sa – Reflexive (REFL).

Basics

There're a particle e that separates subject and the verb and a particle o that follows the object of a transitive verb.
e.g. mi e tana o kali – I give a fruit.
Sometimes these particles are unnecessary:
mi amo tu – I love you (e and o are dropped because both subject and object are pronouns).

The particle li is used to separate a noun and an adjective (a.k.a. descriptive) or a verb and an adverb.
e.g. mi motu o kali li poki – I have a big fruit.

Compound sentences are made by stacking the e or o particles together:
mi maki e milu – I eat and look;
mi milu o koto o tu – I see a cat and you;
koto li poki li uwu – The cat is big and cute;

The particle la is used to quote borrowed words and names:
e.g. mi no nami a la lila – My name is Rira.

To turn a verb into its infitive form use the le particle:
le kuki a pai – Cooking is amazing.

You can explicitly convert a word into a noun:
mu paka – An idiot.

Several words put together create a new meaning:
mono tana – A car;
koto tu – Your cat (cf. tu no koto).

Copula

Particle a is a copula.
e.g. koto so a poki – This cat is big;
e.g. kali a – There's a fruit.

Negation

We have two ways to negate something:
mi nai motu o koto – I don't have a cat (notice that the e particle is omitted);
mi motu o ana koto – I have an anti-cat (a dog maybe?).

Markers

Markers are special particles that perform the role of prepositions and grammarical cases in the other languages.

• no – genitive/possessive/partitive case. E.g. so a ni no koto – This is his cat; koko a koto no poki – There're a lot of cats here; mi motu o koto no tuwa – I have two cats.
• ta – dative/lative/benefactive case. E.g. na tana o maki ta mi – They give me some food.
• pi – ablative case. E.g. ni motu o kali pi tu – He got a fruit from you.
• su – locative case. E.g. mi maki su tomu ni – I'm eating in his house.
• ka – instrumental case. E.g. mi kama ka mono tana – I'm driving a car / I'm moving using a car.
• pe – causal case. E.g. mi nai teki le kama pe na milu mi – I can't move because they see me.
• wa – temporal case. E.g. mi kama pi koko wa mi milu tu – I will go away when I see you.
• en – subordinate clause marker. E.g. mi omo en tu a paka – I think that you're stupid.
• wo – comparison marker. E.g. kisu a pai wo koto – Foxes are better than cats.
• si – condition marker. E.g. na kama pi tu si tu motu o siti – They will run away if you have a stick.
• to – sentence separator. E.g. ni maki to mi milu – He's eating and I'm looking.
• inu – in/inside preposition.
• ku – with preposition.
• kunai – without preposition.
• poso – after preposition.
• supa – above preposition.
• apa – under/below preposition.
• peka – before/behind preposition.
• peto – between preposition.
• keiko – along preposition.
• utu – until preposition.

Modals

• ii – interrogative illocuton. E.g. tu motu o koto ii? – Do you have a cat?
• u – imperative illocution. E.g. u tana o so! – Give me this!; u ma maki! – Let's eat!

Digits

0. nili – 0
1. unu – 1
2. tuwa – 2
3. tila – 3
4. tata – 4
5. papi – 5
6. sika – 6
7. sewa – 7
8. osi – 8
9. nini – 9
10. tan – 10
11. soti – 100
12. tosi – 1000
13. mili – 1000000

e.g. tan osi – 18;
e.g. sika tan tata – 64;
e.g. nini tosi sewa soti tuwa tan unu – 9721.