Gilkesh language

Sentence Patterns

Sagti.
It's good.

Qholti.
It's bad.

Vosagti.
She's (feeling) well.

Vosagmi.
I'm fine.

Nesagti.
It's not good.

Neqholti.
It's not bad.

Sagvi.
It's said to be good.

Qholvi.
It's said to be bad.

Sagtim.
They're good. (collective)

Gaalti.
It's big.

Plinti.
It's small.

Kumti.
It's hot.

Sheqti.
It's cold.

Vosheqmi.
I'm cold.

Vosheqsi-ha?
Are you cold?

Sagti li-abu.
The water is good.

Sagti oi abu.
Water is good.

Ashti oi keshu oi saga.
Humankind desires what is good.

Grammar roundup.

Passive voice.

There are two passive-voice forms in Gilkesh.  One of these is called the passive (as in "patient", the entity undergoing or "suffering" the action of the verb) and the other is the "receptive" voice.  (These terms replace the somewhat confusing terms I introduced earlier.) 

The passive (patient-subject) takes the nu- prefix.

Sudritid sapire gela.  [She gave the book to the girl.] -> Nusudritid sapiru gela.  [The book was given to the girl.]

The receptive (goal-subject) form takes the mu- prefix; the effect of mu- is to reverse the arrow of action.  In verbs of conveyance, this corresponds to a less common usage of the passive form in English expressing the recipient of the action:

Sudritid sapire gela. [She gave the book to the girl.] -> Musudritid gelu sapire. [The girl was given the book.]

Relative clauses.

Relative clauses are most often formed with the particle di.  The di particle can be rendered as "such that" but it doesn't translate directly.  Because Gilkesh word order is VSO, the syntax of relative clauses comes out a little bit different than in a SVO language like English:

Raqiti kesha di-ekishmid dha.  [I saw the woman whom I had loved.  Literally, "I saw the woman such-that I had loved whom."]

The fourth abstractive.

Here we meet our new friend, the Fourth Abstractive.  It's really our old friend, the infinitive, with case endings.  The fourth abstractive is basically a gerund:

Avnitid sudriyu Susanu sapire Joana Maria.  [Susan's giving the book to Joanne pleased Mary.]

or: Avnitid Maria sudriyu Susanu sapire Maria.  [Susan's giving the book to Joanne pleased Mary.]

The subject/object order may be reversed for clarity, as here.

Using the receptive voice (goal-subject):

Muavnitid Mariu sudriya Susannu sapire Joana.  [Mary was pleased by Susan's giving the book to Joanne.]

9. Identifier suffix.

The suffix –yi indicates that a given noun is named or identified by another.

nin-yi Kathris Queen Kathris
arj-yi Urth the planet Earth

8. Restrictive modifiers.

Modifiers precede the entities they modify and do not inflect for number or case. It is necessary to specify whether the modifier is used attributively (to add extra description) or restrictively (to distinguish something from something else). The suffix –ye marks a restrictive modifier.

lo margh dar the big house
lo margh-ye dar the big house (and not the small one)

7. Word order.

The Gilkesh sentence - or more accurately, clause - always begins with the verb or verbal phrase. A verbal phrase may include a simple or phrasal verb, auxiliary verbs, adverbs, and conjunctions.

The usual word order in sentences is: verb, subject, object; however, the order of subject and object may be changed for emphasis or variety. Objects include nouns in the mediative and objective cases, either of which may precede the other.

6. Open questions.

In open questions (those using an interrogative like “who” or “what”), the interrogative comes at the position in the sentence where the answer is expected. (Again, this is similar to Farsi grammar.)

Single-word questions can be formed with the interrogative plus a copula:

Chiti? What is it?
Chinisi? Who are you?
Charhmim? Where are we?

5. Binary questions.

Binary (yes-or-no) questions are marked by the suffix –ha after the verb.

Gansid-ha marchara? Did you go to the store?

Affirmative and negative answers are han and nau respectively.

Han, ganmid marchara. Yes, I went to the store.
Nau, neganmid marchara. No, I didn’t go to the store.

For a tag question, -haya indicates the expected answer.

Gansid-haya marchara? You went to the store, didn’t you?
Negansid-haya marchara? You didn’t go to the store, did you?

When responding “yes” to a negative tag question, vola rather than han is used – equivalent to the Persian chera. When an affirmative answer is expected, the negative response is naya.

Negansid-haya marchara? You didn’t go to the store, did you?
Vola, ganmid marchara. Oh yes, I did go to the store.

Heisi-haya Gilkeshni? You're Gilkesh, aren't you?
Naya, Urthinimi. No, I'm not; I'm Human [lit. earthling].

3. The abstractive.

To express ideas like “love”, “life”, and so on, we use abstractives. There are five primary orders. Abstractive forms beyond the fifth belong to advanced grammar and are outside the scope of this introduction.

The first abstractive represents the universal ideal associated with a given root. Its ending is the stem vowel for the appropriate case (absolutive, nominative, mediative, or objective) followed by –s. The first abstractive does not form plurals because, by definition, it represents a non-countable entity.

Examples of the first abstractive;

suki, to teach
sukis, education;

keshis, life in the abstract
Ê keshus push. Life is hard.

kishis, love
Zidmi kishas. I believe in love.

ashtis, desire
Râditim kayashum ashtes. People go astray with desire.

zundis, knowledge
Sagti zundus. Knowledge is good.

Here sag = something good, sagi = to be good.

Ashtya sagas! Desire virtue!

The second abstractive usually represents an attribute, quality, or state. It is formed through internal changes to the vowel of the root verb. Unlike the first abstractive, it is countable, and often proper to some person or thing. Frequently its English translation is the same as the first abstractive, but it is used differently. Study the following examples;

keyish, love
Walditid Ardis’wa keyishu. Ardis’ love was strong.

âshti, to desire
eshet, desire
Ai eshetu nil mi shalbe. There is desire in my heart.
Heimi ghiz eshto. I am sick from (lit. because of) desire.

The case endings –o (for) and –au (because of) are used only with abstractives.

The second abstractive (and all the remaining orders) can form plurals.

Sagtin minye kayashun. Our lives are good.

The third abstractive represents an occasion or instance. It sometimes takes on a substantive-like meaning; its exact meaning depends on the word. It is marked by reduplication of the strong consonant.

wârqi, to break
warqaq, a break
warqaqim, breakage

râqi, to see
raqaq, sight, a sight

dâni, to judge
dadan, judgment, ruling, decision

sûki, to teach
sukuk, a lesson

The formation of the second through fifth abstractives is not completely regular, so these forms need to be memorized along with the main verb root. The abstractives together with the infinitive form the principal parts of the lexical root.