Genders : animated, unanimated (modo : manamodo, amanamodo)

Animated gender includes everything self-moving : Kobolds, spirits, animals (excluding their organs), heavenly bodies, wind, rain, streams (but not lakes), falling snow (not felt snow), nouns about motion, sentiments of animated creatures.

Unanimated gender includes all that remains.

The only grammatical mark of gender is the suffix of third person.

Example :
 

Yupeba, mune gameyote ka noku niguleyoke.
Formerly, the moon was larger and the night was less black.

(mahamodo : yømamodo, xemamodo, wemamodo)

Paucal is the number for "some" (from latin paucus, few)

The subject group never has mark of number and only the verb has it :

 
When the meaning demands it, the object can be preceded by the numeral wino ("one")
or particle ema ("some"), or prefixed with paucal prefix xe-, plural prefix we- (made from present conjugation), or collective prefix ko- ("all") :

The adjective (= genitive or participle) is usually unvariable.

O yofure abewataya rapixate wemaluza amatuwa.
These thieves hurry gathered apples unriped.

(O That

yo-fure guy-steal

a-be-wata-ya neg-able-wait-active_participle

rapi-x-a-t-e take-pc-past-he-indicative

we-malu-za pl-apple-accusative

a-matu-wa. neg-ripe-genitive)

But the meaning can demand the number of genitive be marked :

Viritoko       xesewa   ludeyete  wepawuka          xeyokiwa.
(male-toko*  you-of    play-he     pl-child**-with    pc-neighbor-of)
Your*** son plays with the children of your neighbors.

(*) toko : sexualy neutral word for son (viritoko) or daughter (gunetoko)
(**) pawu : sexualy neutral word for child (age, not lineage);
kuro is an adolescent, and yora an adult.
(***) your : a couple > paucal

Other use of collective prefix for plural :

Sopoyote wekukofolinu.
He was sleeping under the leaves of an oak. (litt : "under the foliage")
(Sopo-yo-te weku-ko-foli-nu.
Sleep-was-he oak-all-leaf-under)

There is a dual prefix (bi-) for braces :
 

Bisekatexo *	Scissors (seka = to cut, texo = tool)
Mukeluyesu biyokoza!	Close (your) eyes !
Wederuhoye bilatula padawa. (pl-tree-therewas two-side-locative road-genitive)	There was trees on both sides of the road

(*) Some lexicographs claim that bisekatexo means "tool cuting twice", so "scissors" should be named sekabitexo, "double tool for cuting".
 

(*) root values noun or verb : kewi = calm, peace

Negation (a-) is not inversion (wi-) :

kelu	to be closed
wikelu	to be open
mukelu	to close
mokelu (*)	to open
amokeluyesu !	don't open !

(*) : mo- is contracted form for mu-wi- (see the page nahameri).

Other examples :

memoyeme	I remember
amemoyeme	I don't remember
wimemoyame	I forgot

NB : you can only forgot that you knew. You can remember not that you never knew.

Usually, negation is before the other prefixes.
 

Prefix	Meaning	Example		Translation
ge-	to become	geki	to approach	ageki	to not approach
mu-	to make	murubi	to make red	amurubi	to not make red
ku-	reciprocity	kuseya	to discuss	akuseya	to not discuss
be-	potential	beyokuwa	visible	abeyokuwa	invisible
de-	passive	deyakuyeme	I am heard	adeyakuyeme	I am not heard

The use of passive participle -wa make prefix de- useless (-ya = active participle) :

yokuya	seeing, was seeing
yokuwa	seen, was seen
beyokuya	able to see
beyokuwa	able to be seen
abeyokuya	blind (adj), unable to see
abeyokuwa	invisible
abeyoku	blindness
abedeyoku	invisibility

But negation shoud be about part of meaning only :

Prefix	Meaning	Example	Translation
Gi-	Become no	giki	To go away, to move away
Mo-	Make no	morubi	To make out red colour
Ku-	reciprocal	kuaseya	To shut up reciprocally

NB : shrunk forms : ge- + wi- = gi- ; mu- + a- = mo- ; de- + mu- = du-

No shrunk forms for ku-.

Negation follows some prefixes :

Examples : yo- (active individual), wo- (passive individual)

Yoayoku	blind person	yoku	to see
Yoayaku	deaf person	yaku	to hear
yoapize	sceptic person	pize	to believe
yoanoya	fool	noya	to understand
Yoawara	Person who don't care**	wara	to care
Woabu	Unconcerned person	-bu	about

(**) french : je-m'en-foutiste (popular french : je m'en fous ! = I don't care about !)

NB : capacity infix (-be-) is useless.

For grammatical words (made with some prefix and case suffix), the suffix is added to the negation :

	suffix	collective		negative
Person	-ya	koya	everybody	aya	nobody
Place	-la	kola	everywhere	ala	nowhere
Past time	-ba	koba	always	aba	never
Quantity	-ma	koma	all	ama	nothing
Ablative	-yi	koyi	from everywhere	ayi	from nowhere

 
Koba mene yebu, aba seya yebu.
Always think about that, never talk about that.

There is usualy only one negation in a proposition :

Oye ayapeyøke. That don't happens

Oye yapeyøke aba. That never happens.

Oye ayapeyøke koba. That don't happens always.

You can change change the order of ideas with using impersonal :

Yapehøye aba yeza.
It happens never that.

Other example :

Asepeyeme eza wedevayi weregiyi.
(neg-hope-present-I undetermined-accusative pl-god-ablative pl-king-abl)
I don't hope anything from gods (and) from kings.

("I hope nothing neither from gods nor from kings", words from a french song :
Je n'attends rien, ni des dieux, ni des rois.   (G. Lenormand, Quelquechose et moi)

NB : "nothing" is said ama (neg-quantity) :
 

Yokuyeme ama. I see nothing

Ayokuyeme eza. I don't see anything.

Other examples (given in french version about double negation)

Memoyume kota.	I shall remember always.
Amemoyume yeza	I shall not remember that.
Memoyume yeza ata.	I shall remember that always.
Wimemoyume ata.	I shall forget never.

 

Avadeyame diwo dagayi.
I didn't walk since two days.

Aba vadeyame diwo dagaba.
I never walked during two days.

NB : -ba : case of past temporal ; -ta : case of future temporal ;

This difference is used around present :

Other examples about possiblity of adding negative prefix a-
to negative-factitive prefix mo- or negative-translative prefix gi- :
 

kewi kewiwa akewiwa gekewiwa gikewiwa begikewiwa abegikewiwa

calm (n), peace, tranquility still (adj), quiet, peaceful worry (adj) became quiet became worry able to become worry impertubable, immovable