Novliki uses the word order VSO, or Verb, Subject, Object.

This means that the English sentence 'The man sees the dog' (English uses SVO, or Subject, Verb, Object) would become 'See, the man the dog'. However, it is slightly different in Novliki.

Firstly, the verb always has a pronoun attached to it. Doesn't matter which pronoun, as long as there is a pronoun attached. If you do not know which pronoun to use, use 'it' ('shi'). With this, the sentence would now be 'He sees, the man the dog'. (note that in Novliki, there would be no space between 'he' and 'sees')

Secondly, this sentence only needs one connective. The English 'the' is needed for every noun, but the Novliki 'i', 'a', 'ia' and 'ai' connectives are used differently. The connective is used to connect the 2 'segments' of the sentence, in other words to connect the V (verb) to the SO (subject, object). With this info, the sentence is now 'He sees, the man dog', or in Novliki, 'zhiviso i cheloizhi deisi' (3s.see CONN person.M dog (there is no word for man, so we add 'person' and the 'he' pronoun, but after the word to show it is an adjective))

In Novliki, it is very common for words to combine, to form one word. In fact, it's more common for a word to be connected than on its own.

Different types of words connect differently, but one thing is for certain: roots. Nouns are also called root words in Novliki, because they are the base of connecting words. The words that can attach to a noun are adjectives, positions and possessors, while pronouns can connect to verbs.

Adjectives connect after the noun. For example, the word for cat is 'gatoi', and the word for good is 'tsir'. So, the word for 'good cat' is 'gatoitsir'.

Positions and possessives also come after the noun. For example, the word for table is 'shopli' and the word for under is 'soten', so 'under the table' would be 'shioplisoten'.

Pronouns always come before a verb. For example, the pronoun for I or me is 'mi', and the verb for go is 'tsaveli', so 'I go' would be 'mitsaveli'.

A Noun in Novliki is also known as a root, because sometimes two words can be put together to roughly describe a new word.

Wether you realise it or not, this actually happens a lot in Novliki, however over time the individual words become less recognisable and the word as a whole becomes more unique and natural.

However, if there is a word that you want to say but can't find in the dictionary, just combine two or more nouns. If that doesn't work, try adding some adjectives too, there's no limit on the amount of words you can string together as long as you follow the rules.

Proper Nouns (a specific place, person or thing) are handled differently.

Proper Nouns pop up a lot in many languages, and here are 2 rules on saying them in Novliki.

1. Proper Nouns must use letters in Novliki.

   1. If your Proper Noun has letters that aren't in the Novliki sound inventory, just convert the sounds to the closest sound available. For example, 'YouTube' would become 'yuchup' as the 'b' sound is not in the Novliki inventory.

2. Proper Nouns can be one word only.

   1. If you have a Proper Noun with more than one word, for example 'Great Britain' would become 'kreitipritan'; the 'i' is used to connect the two consonants to prevent a consonant cluster.

The end of words is also very important.

In Novliki, different words end in different ways, depending on what type of word it is.

All Nouns and Verbs end in vowels, e.g. shevoi and karau.

All Pronouns end in -i, e.g. mi, pi, xi, etc.

All Adjectives end in a consonant, e.g. kuval, siyel, etc. When combining two adjectives together (combining a noun and two adjectives), use the connective to string them together, e.g. kuval and siyel would become kuvalisiyel.

To make a word Plural, add -ts to the end of the word, and the vowel at the end. For example, cheloi (person, human) would become cheloitsi.

The connective is used in most Novliki sentences, to connect the Verb to the Subject and Object.

The connective is often pronounced as part of the word before it. For example, 'tsimira i ...' would be pronounced 'tsimirai ...'.

There are four connectives:

• 'i' /i/

• 'a' /a/

• 'ai' /aɪ/

• 'ia' /ia/

Which one to use when depends on the two letters neighbouring the connective in the surrounding words.

If the two letters next to it are both not 'i' or 'a', 'i' is used. If one of the letters is 'i', then 'a' is used. If the first neighbour is 'i' and the second 'a', then 'ai' is used. If the first neighbour is 'a' and the second 'i', then 'ia' is used. Let me show you in some examples:

• zhiseino i gatoi (the cat is sleeping)

  • 'i' is used because the two letters next to it (o and g) are not 'i' or 'a'.

• pisarisi a visle (they play the game)

  • 'a' is used because one or more of the letters next to it (i and v) are 'i'.

• shimotsi ai akotsi (the sun is shining)

  • 'ai' is used because the letter to the left is 'i' and the letter to the right is 'a'.

• miraua ia ieri (I hear a sound)

  • 'ia' is used because the letter to the left is 'a' and the letter to the right is 'i'.

In Novliki there are four tenses: past, present, future and current.

Three tenses there are ones you recognise, all other than Constant Tense. Constant Tense is similar to Present Tense, but also includes Past Tense. It is when a Past Tense verb is still happening.

To assign a tense to a sentence, you add a suffix to the connective.

To assign Past Tense, add -ma. For example, ... i semli (give) becomes ... ima semli (gave).

To assign Present Tense, leave the connective unchanged.

To assign Future Tense, add -mi. For example, ... i semli becomes ... imi semli (will give).

To assign Constant Tense, add -mo. For example, ... i semli becomes ... imo semli (I always give, I am generous).