Vasejirda buhai avi raulaqa mara
Mepaiveto, vaxarandi garugayaron iher Armadale. Celini pileibbon vas gan. Sasi Saba vacandi nunieni pileibbon.
«Dentú desqesa, sasi Saba,» vayenda. «Nunien vayole serebiat.»
«Dentu desqes, jalan serebiatta. Hamú, buvirustadiva,» yobepeqda. «Nu selida?»
«U rah reso e nun!» vabepeqda. «Selida xayari, asban jalan, sas. Nu selida?»
«Soucya xayarsya. Ni abui saut vayole Javant?»
«Hoje, sasi Saba, avi saut vayole Javant,» vimabepeqatta. «Mepaiveto, vasejirdi avi raula mara buhai abui pileibbon busai sejirda oher pauranda e hamoja bus.»
«Trasi xayar!»
Varaulada piyoi e aibavi gon. Go mepaiveti raula vauda, vayenda, »Evon starebiatta«, busai staxaranatti garugayaron buhai ava. Vayenda, »Na garuda!«, go sebouda mouzono.
Veqomaqaizet
Translation
Today, I took the train to Armadale.
mepaiveti, today’s, the day’s, for the day; mepaiveto, today
xarandi, take (a bus, train, etc); staxaranatti, take [again]: sta, again (also, stayi/stayu)
garugayaron, train
iher, to
A beautiful shop is there. Mrs Saba owns this shop.
celini, beautiful
pileibbon, shop
vas, be (existential)
gan, there
sasi, Mr, Mrs, Ms
vacandi, own sth
nunieni, this, these
“Good morning, Mrs Saba,” I said. “How do you do?”
“Good morning. How do you do? I’m sorry to have kept you waiting,” she replied. “How are you?”
yenda, say
bepeqda, answer, reply, respond; imabepeqatta, answer, reply [back]; stabepeqatta/stimabepeqatta, answer, reply [again]
“Oh, don’t mention it!” I replied. “I’m well, thank you. How are you?”
sas, Madam/Sir (nominative form of sasi, often not translated)
“Fine. Is your name Javant?”
ni, marker for yes/no questions
abui, your
saut, [first] name
vayole, be (copula for equational sentences)
“Yes, Mrs Saba, my name is Javant,” I replied. “Today, I begin my first job in your shop and I’m beginning to learn about rugs, too.
sejirdi, begin, start, commence sth: sejirda oher, begin to; stasejiratti, begin sth [again]
avi, my/our; ayoi, his/her/its/their
raula, job: raulada, work (intr)
mara, first
buhai, at [the place of]: chez, buhai ava, my place, home
busai, and (linking phrases)
pauranda, learn: paurandi, learn sth
e, about (this ligative also means “and” in lists and series)
hamoja, rug
bus, too, also
“Very good.”
I worked long and hard. When the day’s work was over, I said goodbye and took the train home again.
gon, then, at that time
piyoi, long
aibavi, hard, diligent[ly]
go, when
vauda, be finished, be over
I said “I’m home!” when I arrived home.
sebouda, arrive
mouzon, house: mouzono, home, at home
Uzeut
Remarks
Notice how simple Taneraic grammar is:
w No articles.
w No inflexion for number or gender.
w No conjugation of verbs to show tense.
w No special infinitive form of the verb.
w No special form for adverbs.
w Word order generally follows a subject, verb, object (SVO) pattern. No change of word order is required for interrogation; a question marker (ni) is placed at the front of the sentence.
Attention should be paid to the following features:
1. Subject pronouns are prefixed to the verb (they may be omitted when the sense is clear):
va-, I, we (not the person addressed)
an-, we (including the person addressed) bu-, you
yo-, he, she, it, they (yoy– before verbs starting with a vowel; yo– may be incorporated in a verb starting with a vowel that admits a Taneraic diphthong: e.g., yoibanda, he/she eats, they eat; but yoyaibanda is never wrong, whereas yoibanda could be open to misinterpretation)
2. Verbs are tagged with the –da desinence for intransitive verbs and the –di desinence for transitive verbs:
xaranda, ride — xarandi, ride [on] something: take
sejirda, begin — sejirdi, begin something
3. The verb “to be” is rendered by vas in true existential cases and vayole (a copula) in equational cases:
pileibbon vas gan, the shop is there
avi saut vayole Javant, my name is Javant
4. Adjectives and adverbs are tagged with the same –i desinence (mepaivet-i, today’s; celin-i, beautiful[ly]). The –o desinence is used in adverbs of time, as as mepaiveto, today, pasaiveto, yesterday, uzaiveto, tomorrow, etc.
5. Nouns are declined (mouzon, house — mouzono, at the house, at home); prepositions often govern declension.
6. When standing alone (the full sentence is inferred), predicative adjectives (and adverbs qualifying them) may stand without the –i desinence (soucya xayarsya).
7. Foreign proper nouns are never assimilated — they appear in italics (or plain if the general text is in italics) with an initial capital letter. The honorific sas is given the adjective desinence when appearing before surnames (sasi Saba, Mr(s) Saba).