Pronouns

The pronoun structure is relatively simple, except for perhaps the addition of a gender-neutral 3rd person el and an optional "we-not-you" pronoun us. The pronouns have been chosen to try to maximize phonetic differences in a way that minimizes the possibility of being misunderstood in noisy environments, yet still intuitive. We've opted for giving a common set of full pronoun options so you can be accurate and concise in your speech, rather than a restricted set that has the possibility of being misheard or awkward when discussing events between different genders.

You'll notice that an effort was made to keep the vowels similar between singular and plural forms (mi - wi, tu - vu, lo/he/xi/el - le) to try to create and reinforce intuitive understanding of sentences through repetition.

Singular Forms

• Mi (me)

• Tu (you)

• He (he), Xi (she), El (gender neutral)

• On (one)

• Lo (it)

Plural Forms

• Wi (we), Us (we-not-you)

• Vu (you)

• Le (they)

Possessive Pronouns

Just add -n after the pronoun's final vowel, or -in after a final consonant, to form the possessive pronoun form. Note that the 3rd person uses "se" for themselves and the specific form for "the other" in relavant sentences (example given in the next section.)

• Min (my)

• Tun (your)

• Hen (his), Xin (her), Elin (gender neutral)

• Onin (One's)

• Lon (Its)

• Win (Our), Usin (our-not-your)

• Vun (plural your)

• Len (their)

Reflexive "se" and "sen" as in Esperanto, Ido and Novial

For the third person (he / xi / el / lo / le), the pronoun se exists as a direct object for something done to one's self, and sen as the possessive pronoun of the person performing the action:

• He parla a se "He talks to himself"

• He parla a he "He talks to the other male"

• He kadufa sen klavos sur la tero "He makes his keys fall to the ground"

• He kadufa hen klavos sur la tero "He makes the other male's keys fall to the ground"

Possession Styles

You can always add -n/-in to a word to make a possessive form, but optionally possession can be shown using the word "del" (de + la) or "de" after the noun if that is your preference or tradition. They are equally valid.

• La varmitat del domo or La domon varmitat for "The house's warmth"

• La kato del werkuniks or La werkuniksin kato for "The workers' cat"

• For the longer words, it's assumed you'd probably want to switch to the "del" usage, but the option still exists according to your preferences.

"De" works great for abstract, generic possession:

• La frendotivitat de katos for "The friendliness of cats"

Gender

Showing gender when necessary

By default, all nouns are genderless. However, the pronouns he and xi additionally serve as prefix markers on words to show a gendered form of the word, if that is desired:

• Reyo "a king / a queen / a royal ruler"

  • La he-reyo "the king"

  • La xi-reyo "the queen"

Gendered family words

Only a few immediate family words have gendered options, otherwise everything in the world is done by affixing 'he' or 'xi' to the front with a hyphen, and you can opt for the generic form if you prefer:

• mamo "mother" (or xi-paro "female parent")

• papo "father" (or he-paro "male parent")

• frato "brother" (or he-sibo "male sibling")

• soro "sister" (or xi-sibo "female sibling")

• boyo "boy" (or he-nino "male child")

• filo "girl" (or xi-nino "female child")

  • You can use boyo and filo in sentences to signify son / daughter:

    • mi av du boyos "I have two boys (sons)"

    • mi av un filo "I have a girl (daughter)"

• mano "man" (or he-perso "male person")

• femo "woman" (or xi-perso "female person")

• mujo "husband" (or he-sposo)

• jeno "wife" (or xi-sposo)

Generic family / person words

But then you use logical constructs for everything else, even to replace the words we mentioned above.

• nino "child": xi-nino "girl", he-nino "boy"

• avo "grandparent": xi-avo "grandmother", he-avo "grandfather"

• tio "aunt/uncle": xi-tio "aunt", he-tio "uncle"

• kuzo "cousin": xi-kuzo "female cousin", he-kuzo "male cousin"

• nevo "niece/nephew": xi-nevo "niece", he-nevo "nephew"

• perso "person": xi-perso "woman", he-perso "man"

• sposo "spouse", xi-sposo "wife", he-sposo "husband"

"Avos" would also just mean forefathers in general, thus you could say, for family reunions:

• Mi es kon min avos, tios, nevos, ed kuzos (I'm with my forefathers/grandparents, aunts/uncles, nieces/nephews, and cousins)

The in-laws, stepsiblings, and halfsiblings

You can use the preposition par to show the origin of these items in a way that is easy to remember.

For in-laws, we use the words par sposo:

• brother-in-law: frato par sposo (literally: brother-by-spouse)

• sister-in-law: soro par sposo

For stepsiblings, we use the words par paro:

• stepbrother: frato par paro (literally: brother-by-parent)

• stepsister: soro par paro

• stepmom: mamo par paro

For halfsiblings, we use the words par ute:

• halfbrother: frato par ute (literally: brother-by-outside)

• halfsister: soro par ute

Even though these are verbose constructions, typically people only refer to them once or twice in a conversation and then use more familiar words, like pronouns or names or just "brother / sister" from then on, so they aren't as unwieldy as they might seem.

Parts of Speech

There are five fundamental types of word in Proyo:

• Nouns, marked with an -o ending

• Verbs, marked with -a, -u or -e endings (depending upon function, to be explained below)

• Adjectives, marked with an -i ending

• Adverbs, often marked with -e (except for a very few)

• Prepositions, with variable endings

Nouns -o

Fundamental nouns are things that one would naturally assume to be an object of some sort and they end with -o. Good examples are:

• perso ("person")

• arbo ("tree")

• muro ("wall")

Mass Nouns

You can use quantifiers with the simple noun to denote a mass noun, and use them with the noun + s for a non-mass meaning, for example:

• Kyu tu av multi milko en la frigidor? "Do you have a lot of (mass) milk in the refrigerator?"

• Kyu tu av multi milkos en la frigidor? "Do you have a lot of (separate) milks in the refrigerator?"

Verbs -u/-a/-e

Fundamental verbs are things that seem most natural as actions. Verbs are split into three categories:

• Subject-focused verbs that end with -u

• Object-focused verbs that end with -a

• Subject experience verb, relating to an object, that ends with -e

  • For grammar lovers, these are the semantic classes of these verbs:

    • -u: Subject patient, often considered intransitive in their base languages

    • -a: Object patient, often considered transitive in their base languages

    • -e: Subject patient in relation to object, thus transitive

Good examples of verbs are:

• marxu "march"

• parla "talk"

• luve "subject experiences love about object"

The reason why they are split into three verb categories is so the learner can immediately know how to use a verb when they read it without consulting a dictionary. In Proyo, all verbs can take a direct object, meaning that you are only left to worry about the meaning of your sentence. There is a separate page dedicated to the logic behind the verb system in the "Advanced Verbs" section, which can show you how the system helps make verb usage intuitive and easy. Here are some short examples of the verbs with and without direct objects:

• Mi pa idu al butiko "I went to the store"

• Mi pa andu la vio "I walked the street"

• Le va parla "They will speak"

• Le va kolpa sen tibyo "They will hit their (own) shin"

• Xi aproxu "She approaches"

• Xi luve sen neboro "She loves her neighbor"

Why take the trouble to differentiate? It's so you can look at verbs and get a feeling about how to properly use the verb and instinctively know where the focus of the action is without ever having to consult a dictionary. If you don't want to think about these things, you can just remember that -u, -a, and -e are verb endings and you will likely learn the semantics naturally over time, without doing anything.

Adjectives -i

States or basic emotions are considered to be native adjectives. They all end in -i. Adjectives also typically precede nouns. Some examples are:

• difi "difficult"

• grandi "big"

• bruni "brown"

Derived adjectives are other word forms with the added suffixes -tiv, -ex, -nti (adjectival suffixes) or you can also re-use a noun as an adjective, as in English and Chinese. In general, anything that you can say with a trailing "<something> de <noun>", you can also say with "<noun> <something>." For example:

• grupo proyo or proyo de grupo : "group project"

• poliso stasyo or stasyo de poliso : "police station"

• hundo domo or domo de hundo : "dog house"

• la werku mita or la mita de werku : "the work meeting"

  • Note how it is good practice when using verbs as nouns to be a bit more explicit, using a definite article, to make sure the specific meaning is understood. In certain situations you may want to be careful and use an appropriate intonation, or just use the "...de" structure. "La werku mita..." could mean "the work meeting" or "the work meets", depending on what comes after in the sentence.

Adverbs -e

Adverbs are made from adjectives by adding -e to an adjective form:

• feli (happy) + e = felie "happily"

• parlativ (talkative) + e = parlative "talkatively"

• ridunti (laughing) + e = riduntie "laughingly"

• grubiex (rude-ish) + e = grubiexe "rude-ishly"

Or, a few are native adverbs with -e already:

• tre "very"

• tambe "also / too"

• uje "already"

• pale "please"

• (list to be added)

The stress does not change from the adjective form, e.g. parlativ > parlative

It is fine to use an adjective as an adverb as-is, as long as it makes sense. Thus, you can also just say, for example: Mi pa parla forti "I spoke strong." The optional -e is encouraged however to permit looser word order and create greater obvious clarity in sentences for other readers (it's hard to read a foreign language!)

Prepositions (variable endings)

Prepositions, due to their frequency in the language, have variable endings. They may also be re-used as adverbs (i.e. without a following noun) without modification.

• La kato es sur la tablo (The cat is on the table)

• La birdo fligu tra la sielo (The bird flies through the sky)

• La pilo de tero es hind la domo, ne pos lo (The pile of dirt/earth is behind the house, not after it)

• La monto es prox (The mountain is close)

Re-use as an adverb:

• Mi vola idur ut (I want to go outside)

• Le pa idu ultra (They went beyond)

Or, even re-use as a noun:

• Le pa tambe venu de ultra (They also came from beyond)

Verbs from Prepositions!

Starting in 1.3, we have decided to make intuitive verbs from prepositions, by affixing a- to preposition and trailing with -e. If the preposition ends in a vowel other than "e" it will be changed to "e". This can also be done with common nouns, as long as it makes sense:

• sur "on": a + sur + e == asure "to go on top of"

  • La kato pa asure la tablo "The cat went on top of the table"

• hind "behind": a + hind + e == ahinde "to go behind of"

  • Xi pa ahinde la domo "She went behind the house"

• supra "over": a + supra + e == asupre "to go over of"

  • La tempero va asupre 40C en Frans hodo! "The temperature will go over 40C in France today!"

• fronto "the front": a + fronto + e == afronte "to go in front of"

  • La postonik pa afronte min domo ma el ne pa vide min posto bokso "The mail worker went in front of my house but he/she did not see my mailbox"

List of Prepositions for Time, Place, Motion and Derived Verbs

(to be added soon)

Prepositional Phrases from Nouns

As in many languages, you can also use a noun in a prepositional phrase, often with al/en + noun + de. The suggestion is that for verbs of movement, you use "al <noun> de" and for static locations, use "en <noun> de":

• fronto "a front": Mi es en fronto del domo "I am in front of the house"

• ango "a corner": Mi idu al ango de Damen ed Montrose "I am walking to the corner of Damen and Montrose"

• faso "a face": Tu es en faso de mi "You are facing / across from me"

• loko "a place": Xi pa ofra idur en loko de mi "She offered to go in place of / instead of me"

Converting between nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs

These derivation rules generally are only meant for first order transformations. As words get more complex, the possibility for confusion increases if you keep tacking on suffixes. Keep it simple. If you start to have a more complex derivation, stop adding prefixes and instead shift to helper verbs or words to achieve your meaning. Proyo is not a language that tries to make an ultra-powerful root that you overload with lots of different affixes -- instead, we will introduce short words for commonly useful things whenever it seems appropriate. For more information, visit the page on Derivations.

Sentence Order

The typical sentence order is Subject > Verb > Object (SVO). Example:

• Mi koru a la storo. (I run to the store)

  • Note: You can also combine a + la and say "Mi koru al storo", if you wish.

• Vu parla a he. (You <plural> are talking to him)

• La hundo es beli. (The dog is pretty)

Negation

The negative particle ne precedes all modal verbs and verbs, and can be used in a prefixed form before an adjective to mean the opposite. Some examples:

• Mi ne vole idur. "I don't want to go"

• Mi ne pa vida la femo en la stasyo. (I-not-past-see-the-female-in-the-station) "I did not see the female in the station"

• Vu ne wud guste karno? "You would not like meat?"

• Us ne guste ne-frexi pano. "We-not-you don't like unfresh bread"

Special Negative Verbs "nes" and "nav"

The two most frequent verbs in the language, es and av, can optionally be made into negated verbs nes and nav for the purposes of easy pronunciation or simplicity. Examples of usage:

• Mi nav la tempo. "I don't have the time"

• Tu nes en la domo? "You aren't in the house?"

Articles

There is no gender, thus only one article is needed, "la" (the). If you want to talk about one of something, use the word for one, un:

• La perso es forti. (The person is strong)

• Un domo ne pova standur kontra la mundo. (One / A house cannot stand against the world)

Articles and possessive pronouns also make nouns out of adjectives and verbs:

• La parla va es huvanti. (The talk will be interesting)

• Un forti de ti suga es ke wi ne va nide plu geldo (A strength of this suggestion is that we will not need more money)

  • Note: This sentence could be more intuitive. If you weren't trying to make an example, you might want to say instead: Un fortitat de ti suga... (a strength of this suggestion...)

• La frigi de ti domo es tre mali (The cold of this house is very bad)

  • Or perhaps more clearly as: La frigitat de ti domo...

• Min fraga pa es boni (My question was good)

  • Min fragar pa es boni (My asking was good)

• La Espanien es korunti en la vio (The Spaniard is running in the street)

• La survivud pa es en la poliso stasyo (The survived <people> were in the police station)

It is also permitted to use a "un / uns" construct with adjectives:

• La roji uns es la plu beli (The red ones are the prettiest), or also simply

• La rojis es la plu beli (The reds are the prettiest)

Tenses / Modal Verbs

By the use of modal verbs, one can easily shift tense or meaning by placing them in front of the verb or noun. These particles are:

• "pa" past tense

• "nu" now

• "ha" perfect tense (Example: Mi va parla "I will speak" vs Mi va ha parla "I will have spoken")

• "va" future tense

• "wud" conditional tense.

• "yeo" habitual aspect

These modal verbs follow the subject and precede the verb, and the verb that follows this modal verb is not conjugated, as in English "I will speak" instead of "I will to speak."

Here is a table to demonstrate the tenses using the modal verbs, and the great precision possible.

Next: Advanced Verbs