Triparic Grammar
This is an overview of the grammar of the Triparic language.
Nouns
Nouns form their plurals in -s (or -es if the singular ends in s, z, x, or sch): mädins "young women", mensches "men".
Possession is expressed in two ways. First, it may be formed with a prepositional phrase, using the preposition o "of": der cän o der mensch "the dog of the man". Or it may be formed by using the plural form of the possessor in apposition to the thing possessed: der mensches cän "the man's dog".
As in English, but unlike in German and most if not all Romance languages, nouns have no grammatical gender in Triparic.
Articles
There are four different types of articles used with Triparic nouns: definite, indefinite, partitive, and negative. These are akin to "the", "a(n)", "some", and "no(ne)" in English.
The definite articles are der (singular) and des (plural): der mensch "the man", des mädins "the girls".
The indefinite article, used with singular nouns only, is simply the word for the number "one", æn.: æn mensch "a man". For indefinite plurals, one should use the partitive article.
The partitive article is da, abbreviated to d' before nouns beginning with a vowel. This is used with mass nouns such as "water", "snow", and the like to indicate "some": Ego dizire d'aqua. "I want some water."
The partitive article is also used with the plurals of countable nouns to likewise indicate "some unspecified number" or "some group not yet defined in this context.": Er kennet da mensches. "He knows some men."
The negative article is ni, and is used with mass nouns and countable nouns alike to indicate a lack of something: Ego habe ni aqua. "I have no water." Er habet ni cäns. "He has no dogs."
Adjectives
Unlike in English, adjectives agree with their nouns in number. The plural of adjectives is formed with -(e)s exactly as for nouns: duväd miaŏ "black cat"; duväds miaŏs "black cats".
Adjectives usually precede the nouns they modify: gut morgen "good morning", alta rol "high office". But they may be placed afterwards poetically, so long as ambiguities are not created thereby: tempos conects "contiguous times".
Most adjectives form their comparatives and superlatives with the adverbs ply "more" and plä "most": ply alta "higher"; plä lange "longest". However, two adjectives ("big" and "small") have irregular superlative forms, while two others ("good" and "bad") have irregular comparative as well as superlative forms:
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| gut "good" | besser "better" | optima "best" |
| arg "bad" | verser "worse" | pessima "worst" |
| gross "big" | ply grosse "bigger" | maxima "biggest" |
| klæn "small" | ply klæne "smaller" | minima "smallest" |
Pronouns
The personal pronouns are as follows:
| Case | 1. Sing. | 2. Sing. | 3. Sing. | 1. Plur. | 2. Plur. | 3. Plur. | Reflexive/ Emphatic | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masc. | Fem. | Epicene | Neuter | |||||||
| Nominative | ego | ðŏ | er | el | ei | id | nø | vø | eng | selb |
| Objective | me | ði | erm | elm | eim | id | nos | vos | eng | selb |
| Possessive | me | ðæ | ers | els | eis | ids | ŏr | vor | engs | selbs |
As indicated in the table, the pronoun selb(s) has two uses. It is used in the accusative or possessive, in all persons, as the reflexive pronoun, when the object or possessor is the same as the subject of the sentence:
Eng libant selb plä. "They love themselves most."
Er libet selbs cän. "He loves his (own) dog."
as opposed to Er libet ers cän. "He loves his (probably someone else's) dog."
Ego helfte selb. "I helped myself."
It may also be used in the nominative, adjacent to the subject in word order, to intensify the subject.
Der könig selb ist hir! "The king himself is here!"
Ego selb helfire ði. "I myself will help you."
Relative Pronoun
The relative pronoun is velk. It is used as the first word of a relative clause.
Der mensch, velk el libet, kenne erm. "The man whom she loves knows him."
Der mensch, velk libet elm, kenne erm. "The man who loves her knows him."
Verbs
Triparic verbs are conjugated to indicate the following categories:
- grammatical mood (indicative, subjunctive, imperative, infinitive, participle)
- tenses, both in time (past, present, future) and aspect (perfective or imperfective)
- voice (active or passive)
- person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) and number (singular or plural) of the subject
The inflections of person and number are only used in the finite moods (indicative, subjunctive, and imperative). The infinitive and participle moods do not inflect person and number, although they are often used in compound constructions with other verbs which themselves are in the finite moods.
In the indicative mood, verbs have forms reflecting all three times, in both aspects. In the subjunctive mood, they have only the present time, in both aspects; the perfective representing possibilities which have passed or finished.
The perfective aspect is formed by compounding the auxiliary verb haben "to have" with the past participle of the main verb. Similarly, the passive voice is formed by compounding the auxiliary verb sän "to be" with the passive participle of the main verb.
Other Parts of Speech
Interjections, prepositions, and conjunctions generally function as they do in English and other European languages. Noteworthy exceptions will be listed or linked here.
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