/r/conlangs Chat Network Relay Game - Learn a Lang Natlang Relay 2

⇐ Previous step | Full Relay | Next step (Mandarin) ⇒

#1Romansh by Sascha Baer
RomanshEnglish

"Tuot quista roba chi'd es giò qua vaivat ramassà?", ha dumandà Limargia fond darcheu ir vi e nan il cheu. "Quai es bler. Tuot il schler es plain."

"Na, da quai chi'd es quia nu vaina ramassà nöglia. Quai d'eira tuot fingià qua", n'haja respus.

"Have you collected all the things down here?", asked Limargia shaking her head back and forth again. "That's a lot. The entire basement is full"

"No, of what is here we haven't collected anything. That was all here already", I answered.

"Tuotquist-arobachi'desgiòquavaivat=∅ramassà?",hadumandàLimargiafonddarcheuirvienanilcheu.
"allthis-fstuffRELitisdownherehave.2p=2pcollect.PTCP?",have.3sask.PTCPL.makingagaingothitherandhitherDEF.Mhead
"Quaiesbler.Tuotilschleresplain."
"Thisbe.3smuch.AllDEF.Mbasementbe.3sfull"
"Na,daquaichi'desquianuvain=aramassànöglia.Quaid'eir-atuotfingiàqua",n'ha=jarespus.
"no,ofthisRELitbe.3shereNEGhave.1p=1pcollect.PTCPnothing.Thisbe.IMPF-3sallalreadyhere",have.1s=1sanswer.PTCP

LEXICON

bler(a) adj much
cheu n-masc head
chi prn who (interrogative, nominative relative), the one (for people)
chi'd \ chi + id
da pp from, of
darcheu adv again
dumandar v-ar to ask
e(d) conj and
esser v-irr to be
fingià adv already
fond \ present participle of far "to make"
giò pp down to, down at
i(d) prn it (impersonal pronoun)
il det masculine definite article
ir v-irr to go
Limargia n-fem personal name, archaic word for "animal"
na intj no
nan adv to here
nöglia prn nothing
nu \ not
plain(a) adj full
qua/quia adv here
quai prn this
quist(a) det this
ramassar v-ar to collect, gather
respus \ past participle of respuonder "to answer"
roba n-fem stuff
schler n-masc basement, cellar
tuot det all
vaiv- \ imperfect stem of avair
vi adv to there

GRAMMAR

Basic word order is SVO.
If something (such as an adverb) precedes the verb, the order becomes XVSO instead (inversion).
Modifiers precede nouns and agree with them in gender and number. Feminine is generally marked with -a, masculine is unmarked.
Verbs inflect for person, number, mood and tense. There are four paradigms (determined by ending of the infintive) as well as irregular verbs. In this text, only -ar verbs and irregular ones appear.
If the subject pronoun follows the verb, it is reduced to a clitic. These forms are listed below with the paradigms as "inverted" forms.
Negation "nu" precedes the verb without causing inversion.

Tenses:

\ Formation: only irregular presents appear in this text. Conjugations are listed below.
Perfect Used to describe a single action in the past.
\ Formation: esser or avair in present + past participle.
Imperfect Used to describe a lasting action or a state in the past.
\ Formation: Append endings listed below to imperfect stem. Irregular stem formations are listed in lexicon. No regular imperfect stems occur in this text.

For -ar verbs, the past participle is formed by replacing the infintive ending with -à. Other formations are listed in lexicon.

I will now list the paradigms for avair and esser (both irregular) in both normal and inverted form. The verb ir (also listed in the lexicon) only shows up in the infintive and is therefore omitted from this list.

NORMAL PRESENT

eu n'ha sun (1s)
tü hast est (2s)
el(la) ha es (3s)
no vain eschan (1p)
vo vaivat eschat (2p)
el(la)s han sun (3p)

INVERTED PRESENT

n'haja suna (1s)
hast est tü (2s)
ha'l è'l (3s masc)
ha'la è'la (3s fem)
vaina eschna (1p)
vaivat eschat vo (2p)
hana suna (3p)

IMPERFECT - For all verbs occuring in the text, the following endings are appended to the imperfect stem:

-a -a (1s)
-ast -ast (2s)
-a -à'l (3s masc)
-a -'la (3s fem)
-an -na (1p)
-at -at (2p)
-an -na (3p)

(the above tables should align nicely if you use a monospace font)