Nominal morphology

Nouns

All Ruritanian nouns are either masculine or feminine. All common nouns, and most proper nouns, have regular endings. Masculine nouns end in -o in the singular and -i in the plural: digito “finger”, digiti “fingers”. Feminine nouns end in -a in the singular and -as in the plural: gazeta “newspaper”, gazetas “newspapers”. Note that the masculine plural may cause spelling changes in the root to reflect pronunciation: mango /mango/ “mango” becomes mangui /mangi/ “mangos”, narangio /narandʒo/ “orange” becomes narangi /narandʒi/ “oranges”. There are a small handful of frequently-used irregular nouns which change the consonant in the plural form, such as ogo /ogo/ “eye” which becomes ogi /odʒi/ “eyes”. These irregular nouns will be noted in the dictionary.

As in English, nouns can combine with other words to form a noun phrase. These words and elements, when present, appear in the following order: [determiner] [number] [noun] [adjective(s)]

Determiners

When determiners are present, they appear at the beginning of the noun phrase. A noun phrase has at most one determiner, which may be an article, a demonstrative adjective, or a possessive adjective or phrase.

Articles

Ruritanian has definite and indefinite articles, which take different forms depending on the gender and number of the noun they modify.

The definite article, generally corresponding to English “the”, is lo for masculine singular, li for masculine plural, la for feminine singular, and las for feminine plural. Definite articles are used far more frequently than in English; they are used for days of the week, months of the year, times of the day, generic nouns, etc.

The indefinite article is un for masculine singular, uni for masculine plural, una for feminine singular, and unas for feminine plural. The plural forms roughly correspond to “some” in English, but are more common; as a rule of thumb, if the singular would require “a” or “an” in English, the plural in the same sentence in Ruritanian requires uni or unas .

Both the definite and the indefinite articles change form when followed by certain vowels. The articles lo and la become l' before o or a, respectively; the article una becomes un'  before a. Before an i, the articles li and uni become le and une respectively. The forms with apostrophes are still written separately: l' aqua, not *l'aqua.

Demonstrative adjectives

Ruritanian has two demonstrative adjectives: esto “this” and dato “that”. These decline the same as regular adjectives (see below): esta casa “this house”, dati fiqui “those figs”.

Possessive adjectives

The possessive adjectives are derived from the personal pronouns (see below). They are:

	1st	2nd	3rd m	3rd f
sg	mi	ti	lese	lase
pl	nese	vese	lise	laste

Unlike other adjectives, these do not decline to agree with the head of the noun phrase: mi auto “my car”, mi sestras “my sisters”.

Possessive phrases

Finally, the determiner slot can be filled with a possessive phrase. This is similar to the possessive adjective, except it is a regular noun phrase with a possessive suffix. The possessive suffix is -se, unless the head ends in /s z ʃ tʃ dʒ/, in which case the suffix becomes -te. Both these suffixes are written with the hyphen: la madra-se “the mother’s”, las madras-te “the mothers’ ”.

Possessive phrases are complete noun phrases embedded into the determiner slot in the main noun phrase: they may have determiners, numbers, and preceding adjectives such as gran (see below). However, they cannot have regular adjectives that follow the noun. Thus, “the two women’s father” is las dua femas-te patro, but “the two young women’s father” must be worded lo patro van las dua femas yunas. Note that the article in the first example agrees with femas rather than patro; remember that this possessive phrase is replacing the article in the main phrase.

Numbers

Nouns can also be modified with numbers, whether actual numerals or just quantifier words. When present, these precede the noun, and follow the determiner if there is one.

Numerals

Numerals are explained in more detail in another document. Typically this will be either a cardinal or an ordinal; however, it is possible to combine them: li primi sepe mesi “the first seven months”.

Quantifiers

Quantifiers may be used instead of numbers. All quantifiers decline as regular adjectives (see below). The primary quantifiers are:

• nonca “no”: Ya ha noncas docjtas “I have no daughters”. If this quantifier is used, the noun phrase cannot have a determiner. The masculine plural form of nonca is the irregular form nonci, not *nonqui.
• multo “many, much”: li multi nefi “the many clouds”, multa ciocolata “much chocolate”
• alo “each, every, all”; always requires a definite article: l’ ala persona “each person, every person”, las alas personas “all people”
• magioro van “most”: magiori van andri béven l’ aqua “most men drink water”, magiora van bloda est rosta “most blood is red”
• minoro van “few, a few, a little”: minoro van fromagio est bluvo “few [i.e. not much] cheese is blue; minoras van avias cánen sprequir “few birds can speak”; ya volo un minoro van iso “I want a little ice”; nos hávem uni minori van libri “we have a few books”

Adjectives

Adjectives almost always agree with their referent noun in gender and number; the endings are the same as for nouns (-o, -i, -a, -as). Attributive descriptive adjectives generally follow the noun: lo auto rosto “the red car”, la fema granda “the tall woman”.

Certain adjectives can precede the noun, which usually coincides with a change in sense or meaning. When an adjective is moved in front of the noun, it drops the ending and appears as a bare stem: la papira blanca “the white paper”, la blanc papira “the blank paper”. In addition to losing the inflection, some adjectives undergo further irregular changes (which will be noted in their dictionary entries): li andri grandi “the tall men”, li gran andri “the great men”.

Predicative adjectives must agree with their nouns: mi docjta est yuna multe “my daughter is very young”. (As can be seen here, adverbs follow adjectives they modify.)

Comparatives and superlatives

Adjectives form comparatives and superlatives through periphrastic means. They can be most succinctly explained through example:

• la casa granda “the big house”
• una casa magiora granda “a bigger house”
• la casa maxima granda “the biggest house”
• una casa minora granda “a less big house”
• la casa minima granda “the least big house”

The words inserted (magioro, maximo, minoro, minimo) always precede the adjective and always agree with it. Comparisons are constructed with the word como (which elsewhere means “like” or “as”): lo auto novo est magioro alegro como lo auto alto “the new car is faster than the old car”. Equivalencies use the so . . . como construction: esto pano est so duro como una pedra “this bread is as hard as a rock”.

The words bono “good” and malo “bad” do not form their comparative or superlative forms using the construction described above. These words have suppletive forms instead. The comparative and superlative forms of bono are betro and besto; the comparative and superlative forms of malo are varso and varsto. Again, these must agree in gender and number with the noun they're referring to. Thus: li apriqui sono betri como las pomas “the apricots are better than the apples”; la sevodna est la dia varsta en mi viva “today is the worst day of my life”. (However, constructions such as “less good” or “least bad” would follow the regular pattern: minoro bono, minimo malo.)

Pronouns

Pronouns take the place of entire noun phrases. Like most European languages, Ruritanian has many types.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns have different forms depending on person, number, and (in the third person) gender. The subject forms are:

	1st	2nd	3rd m	3rd f
sg	ya	tu	el	ela
pl	nos	vos	eli	elas

Thus: ya ha ne la moneta enuga “I don't have enough money”; ela caufeta un cato novo “she bought a new cat”.

The subject forms are used as the subjects of sentences and clauses, as well as in copulas. The object forms are used for direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions:

	1st	2nd	3rd m	3rd f
sg	me	te	le	lea
pl	nes	ves	leyi	leas

Finally, there are also possessive pronouns, which are used to indicate possession (e.g. “mine”, “yours”) and do not have different forms for subject and object:

	1st	2nd	3rd m	3rd f
sg	mise	tise	lese	lase
pl	nese	vese	lise	laste

The resemblance to the possessive adjectives described above is obvious, but the first- and second-person singular forms are different. Grammatically, the difference is that the possessive adjectives modify nouns, whereas possessive pronouns replace nouns or noun phrases; compare lo auto griso est mi auto “the gray car is my car” with lo auto griso est mise “the gray car is mine”.

Whether subject, object, or possessive, the third person forms must agree with the gender of their referent: “it” is el when it refers to lo telefono, but ela when it refers to la banana. When the third person plural refers to a group of people of mixed gender, the phrase elas i eli (or leas i leyi) is used; if it refers to a group of items of mixed grammatical gender, but not to people, the masculine form is used. (Historically the masculine form was used for a group of mixed-gender people as well, but this practice died out in the mid- to late 20th century.)

There are also reflexive pronouns in the third person:

	3rd m	3rd f
sg	se	sea
pl	seyi	seas

These which are used when the object is the same person or thing as the subject: ela ingiureta sea guestere “she hurt herself yesterday”. There are no special reflexive forms in the first or second person; the regular object form is used: ya vilo me a la hospitala farir “I will drive myself to the hospital”.

Finally, Transemilian has an indefinite pronoun man, which is used when referring to indefinite subjects. Formally this word is glossed in English as the pronoun “one” (as in “one never knows what lies ahead”), but it is usually more natural to translate it was “you”, “we”, or even “they” (e.g. “they say he died”). Note, however, that this pronoun is not used for decidedly non-human indefinite subjects; phrases such as “it's raining” generally use el. (The possessive adjective of man is manse.)

Demonstrative pronouns

Ruritanian’s demonstrative pronouns are related to its demonstrative adjectives. The proximal pronoun (“this” or “these”) is est in the singular and esti in the plural. The distal pronoun (“that” or “those”) is dat in the singular and dati in the plural. Unlike the adjective forms, however, these pronoun forms usually do not decline based on the referent’s gender. The one exception is that singular est becomes esto or esta as appropriate if it is immediately preceded or followed by the verb est, which means “is”: est ha no baterias “this has no batteries”, but esto est mi libro “this is my book”.

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns serve to introduce questions, and always appear at the beginning of the sentence (or clause). The main interrogative pronouns are:

• quì “who”; plural quìli
• què “what”; plural quèli
• quonde “where”
• quan “when”
• por-quì “why” (the stress is on the second syllable)
• quom “how”

Additionally, there are two interrogative adjectives that take the place of the determiner in a noun phrase, which likewise must be the first element in a sentence:

• qualo “which”; must agree in gender and number with the noun
• quìse “whose”; does not decline

The interrogative pronoun (or noun phrase) can either be the subject or the object of the sentence: quì saveta lea? “who saw her?”; quì saveta ela? “who did she see?”. However, if the interrogative is quì(li) or què(li) and is the object of the sentence and the subject is not a personal pronoun, the interrogative takes on a special object form: quì becomes quìle, quìli becomes quìleyi, què becomes quèle, and quèli becomes quèleyi. These object forms are only required if the subject is not a personal pronoun; if it is, the pronoun clearly indicates that it is the subject and the object forms of the interrogative are unnecessary.

However, interrogative phrases with qualo or quìse can only be the object of the sentence if the subject is a personal pronoun (e.g. qualo urso toteta el? “which bear did he kill?”. If the “subject” is anything other than a personal pronoun, the question must be reworked into the passive, with the interrogative phrase as the subject: qualo urso vere por lo andro totato? “which bear was killed by the man?”, i.e. “which bear did the man kill?”. The construction qualo urso toteta lo andro?, then, is unambiguously “which bear killed the man?”

Finally, the various forms of quì and què have feminine forms if the referent is known or assumed to be female, or to otherwise require the feminine gender. The forms are:

• quì > quìla
• quìli > quìlas
• quìle > quìlea
• quìleyi > quìleas
• què > quèla
• quèli > quèlas
• quèle > quèlea
• quèleyi > quèleas

These are not used if the gender is not known, or (if plural) is known to be a mix of the two grammatical genders.

Relative pronouns

The relative pronouns are the same as the interrogative pronouns: who: quì, quìla, quìli, quìlas; what: què, quèla, quèli, quèlas; where: quonde; etc. As the verb moves to the end of the relative clause and thus cannot be used to distinguish subject and object, the special object forms described above are used if the subject within the clause is not a personal pronoun: lo urso quèli lo andro toteta "the bear that the man killed" vs. lo urso què lo andro toteta "the bear that killed the man". Relative pronouns must match the grammatical gender of their referent.