Reference grammar of Lidepla

Lingwa de planeta/Reference grammar

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< Lingwa de planeta

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Contents

1 The alphabet and pronunciation

1.1 Vowels

1.2 Consonants

1.3 Word stress

2 Simple sentence

3 Compound Sentence

4 Word

4.1 1. Noun

4.1.1 2. Pronouns that function like nouns

4.2 3. Adjective

4.2.1 3.3. Pronouns that function as adjectives

4.3 4. Adverb

4.3.1 4.2. Demonstrative

4.3.2 4.3. Compound

4.3.3 4.4. Other

4.4 5. Verb

4.4.1 6. Special verbs

5 Compound words

6 Interchange of one part of speech for another

7 Particles and affixes that don't change the class of word

7.1 1. Common

7.2 2. Noun

7.3 3. Adjective

7.4 4. Verb

8 Prepositions

8.1 2. Simple prepositions

8.2 3. Prepositions of correlations

8.3 4. Prepositions of situation

8.4 5. Prepositions of movement

8.5 6. Prepositions of time

8.6 7. Prepositions of number

8.7 8. Preposition of general meaning: pa

9 Conjunctions

9.1 1.1. simple:

9.2 1.2. doubled:

9.3 1.3. phrasal:

10 Numerals

10.1 1.1. basic numerals

10.2 Deriven worda

10.3 1.6. Pronouns

10.4 2. Date

11 Exclamations

11.1 1. Greetings

11.2 2. Politeness words

11.3 3. Interjections The alphabet and pronunciation[edit]

At present the Latin script is most widespread, so it was chosen to be the official Lidepla script. The alphabet of Lidepla contains 25 letters ("q" isn't used, "c" occurs only in "ch"):

A B Ch D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z

a b ch d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s t u v w x y z

a be che de e ef ge ha i ja ka el em en o pe er es te u ve wa iks ye ze

Vowels[edit]

Basic vowels: a, o, u, i, e

Vowels in Lidepla, unlike English ones, are regular and never change pronunciation. The situation is the same as in languages like Italian and Spanish.

Some examples of one syllable words with the basic vowels (in italics there is a close (in pronunciation) English word; also the meaning of the Lidepla words is given):

ba (bah) – (an imperative particle)

do (doo(r)) – (the preposition introducing a characteristic feature)

ku (coo(l)) – (a question particle)

li (lea(k)) – they

me (me(n)) – I, me

Also the letter "y" is used. It sounds generally the same as "i", but is never stressed. One can say that it corresponds to the English "y". For example: ya (yah) – yes, yo (yo(re)) – already, yu (you) – you, ye (yeah) – there is, lyu ((te)ll you) – leave, may (my) – my, ley (lay) – their

Consonants[edit]

b, d, g: bu (boo) – not, de (dea(f)) – of, ga (ga(r)) – completely

p, t, k (with aspiration): pan (pun) – bread, tak (tuck) – so

z ([dz]): zun ([dzun]) – occupy oneself

j, ch: jan (jun(to)) – to know, chay (chi(ld)) – tea

w / v, f: fa (fa(r)) – (to grow/get), wo (wo(re)) – where

s (as in English, it may be voiced between vowels), sh: se (se(t)) – this (noun), shu (shoe) – shoe

h: hu (who) – who

m, n, r, l: man (mun) – man, la (la(r)) – (used not to repeat a noun), ruf (roof) – roof

The letter "x" sounds as a combination "gs" (before a consonant my be pronounced as simple "s"; like the English “x”, may be voiced between vowels, as in “exam”): ex (ex) – ex

The combination ng is pronounced as the English ng: bruing (brewing) – brewing Word stress[edit]

The general rule is as follows: the vowel before the last consonant or "y" is stressed.

Thus, if the word ends in a consonant, the last syllable is stressed: kalAm – pencil, sabAh – morning

If the word ends in a vowel, the syllable before the last one is stressed: mAta – mother, kitAba – book, famIlia – family

The "y" itself is never stressed, it can affect the stress position though: dEy – day, ruchEy – brook

If there are 2 vowels in the syllable, one should remember that "u" and "i" in combinations (au, eu, ai, ei, oi) are not stressed, and "o" is not stressed in "ao": dao – way, auto – car, euro – euro, fail – file, meil – mail, asteroida – asteroid

There are some exceptions though, as Lidepla tries to keep the pronunciation close to widespread patterns. You don't need to memorize the rule, just read the examples attentively. (In this grammar you will meet a reminder if the stress is irregular.)

Thus, there are 4 endings that are never stressed:

-um (fOrum – forum, vAkum – vacuum, sIrkum – around)

-us (vIrus – virus, sIrkus – circus)

-er (sUper – super, kompyUter – computer)

-en (exAmen – exam, Iven – even)