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Pronouns
The Kaldon Pronoun system instantly resembles that of the nouns, as it is very heavily inflected. However, some of the lesser used pronouns are only slightly, or in some cases, indeclinable. Also, there are less pronouns than there would be, but certain pronouns are taken up in inflections. This reduces the pronoun amount quite considerably
Personal pronouns
1st person
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Singular |
Plural |
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Common |
Ën |
Ël |
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Vocative |
Ëne |
Ële |
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Genitive |
Ënoz |
Ëloz |
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Dative |
Ënix |
Ëlix |
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Ablative |
Ënomt |
Ëlomt |
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Instrumental |
Ënolm |
Ëlolm |
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Locative |
Ënand |
Ëland |
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Optative |
Ënetz |
Ëletz |
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Relative |
Ënemath |
Ëlemath |
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Interrogative |
Ënazhol |
Ëlazholme |
2nd person
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Singular |
Plural |
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Common |
Ethela |
Ethelan |
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Vocative |
Ethezh |
Ethelzhi |
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Genitive |
Ethemt |
Ethemti |
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Dative |
Etholm |
Etholmi |
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Ablative |
Ethoz |
Ethozi |
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Instrumental |
Ethagl |
Ethagli |
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Locative |
Ethob |
Ethobi |
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Optative |
Ethakw |
Ethakwi |
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Relative |
Ethemath |
Ethemathi |
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Interrogative |
Ethenezh |
Ethenezhi |
3rd person
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Singular |
Plural |
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Masculine |
Feminine |
Neuter |
Netural |
All genders |
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“He” |
“She” |
“It” {inanimate} |
“It” {animate} |
“They, their, them, theirs” |
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Common |
Mten |
Mtel |
Kwën |
Len |
Delen |
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Vocative |
Mtenix |
Mtelix |
Kwënix |
Lenix |
Delenix |
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Genitive |
Mtenaz |
Mtelaz |
Kwënd |
Leni |
Delend |
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Dative |
Mtenot |
Mtelot |
Kwënoth |
Lend |
Delenomt |
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Ablative |
Mtenol |
Mtelol |
Kwënog |
Lenot |
Delenat |
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Instrumental |
Mtenud |
Mtelud |
Kwënazh |
Lenath |
Delenoth |
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Locative |
Mtenaxl |
Mtelaxl |
Kwënamt |
Lenigl |
Delendim |
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Optative |
Mtenizh |
Mtelizh |
Kwënizh |
Lenizh |
Delenizh |
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Relative |
Mtenemath |
Mtelemath |
Kwënemath |
Lenemath |
Delenemath |
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Interrogative |
Mtenaidhop |
Mtelaidhop |
Kwënaidhop |
Lenedhop |
Delenaidhop |
Demonstrative pronouns
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This |
That |
**Yon {good distance} |
Out of sight |
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Common |
Alath |
Alaz |
Alalm |
Alamt |
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Vocative |
Alathix |
Alazix |
Alalmix |
Alamtix |
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Genitive |
Alathaz |
Alazin |
Alalmaz |
Alamtaz |
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Dative |
Alathot |
Alazot |
Alalmot |
Alamton |
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Ablative |
Alathol |
Alazol |
Alalmol |
Alamtol |
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Instrumental |
Alathud |
Alazud |
Alalmud |
Alamtud |
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Locative |
Alathixl |
Alazixl |
Alalmixl |
Alamtixl |
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Optative |
Alathizh |
Alazizh |
Alalmizh |
Alamtizh |
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Relative |
Alathemath |
Alazemath |
Alalmemath |
Alamtemath |
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Interoggaitve |
Alathemadhon |
Alazemadhon |
Alalmadhon |
Alamtadhon |
Note the two extra forms here. “yon” refers to an object that is in sight, but is out of touching distance, say a house across a field. The fourth term Alamt, refers to an object that one cannot see. Also note that the inflected forms are very rarely used indeed, nine times out of ten they will just occur in the common form.
Reflexive pronouns
There are no reflexive pronouns in Kaldon, instead on must use the corresponding personal pronouns in the following list.
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Myself |
First person genitive singular |
Ënoz |
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Yourself |
Second person genitive singular |
Ethemt |
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Yourselves |
Second person Genitive plural |
Ethemti |
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Ourselves |
First person genitive plural |
Ëloz |
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Himself |
Third person singular masculine genitive |
Mtenaz |
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Herself |
Third person singular feminine genitive |
Mtelaz |
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Itself {Neuter} |
Third person singular neuter genitive |
Kwënd |
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Itself {Neutral} |
Third person singular neutral genitive {and any English Generics} |
Leni |
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Themselves |
Third person genitive plural |
Delend |
Others
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Some {Somewhere, something, sometime etc} |
Xadë |
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No {No one, no where, nothing etc} |
Ilë |
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Every {Everyone, everything, always etc} |
Vearë |
Note that “no” is used only when it does not negate the sentence, only when there is a natural absence of something, as in “there was no one there”
Note that the determiner word class does not exist independently in Kaldon, as the pronouns are used in such sentences. In a related way, there are no relative pronouns in Kaldon. For both see further under syntax
Examples:
Ël Balamt Ethela “We will see you”
Xadë Ël Belath Hlazhin “Sometimes we see things”
Alath lilath Mala Karez Mtol “This is a long way from home”
Mtel Balalm Dara Malaindad “She saw the end of the road”
Mtel Etzwenalm Mten “She spoke to him”
Ën Belath Gland Line Gaxindalm Ethoz Zandla “I will never see my land destroyed by you!”
Alath Lilamt Dara Ëloz “This will be the end of us”
Alalm Nain Ëlarath Ëlix Beazhez Uzhiwitila “That star comes close to us” [that star comes to us close very]
Ënoz Xlawizath Ëlemath Relmelan “{I}Myself believe that we should leave” [that=relative]
These word classes are relatively simple in Kaldon as they do not have to agree with the subject noun or pronoun. The forms are invariable save only comparative and superlative inflections, which is in many ways is the same system as in English. However Kaldon has two different comparative and two different superlative inflections, one for a increased or “better” value, the other for a negative or “worse” value. See below on this. Also note that Adjectives are utterly indeclinable
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Adjectives |
Inflection |
Example |
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Basic form |
-ez -bez |
Vrobez “cold” Nuebez “White” Mtondanez “smooth” |
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Comparative 1 “less” |
-der -eder |
Vroder “less cold/colder” Nueder “Less white/whiter” Mtondaneder “Less smooth/smoother |
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Comparative 2 “more” |
-nair -enair |
Vronair “more cold/colder” Nuenair “more white/whiter” Mtondanenair “More smooth/smoother” |
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Superlative 1 “least” |
-etze -petze |
Vropetze “least cold/coldest” Nuepetze “least white/whitest” Mtondanetze “Least smooth/smoothest” |
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Superlative 2 “most” |
-eten -meten |
Vrometen “most cold/coldest” Nuemeten “most white/whitest” Mtondaneten “Most smooth/smoothest” |
Note that the position of Adjectives is always after the noun they modify. Also note that the English word “than” which is used in comparisons, is not a Kaldon usage, and should be inserted according to sense. Hence “This hat is redder than mine” is literally “This hat is redder mine” For a full account of their usage’s, see under syntax.
Mtol Diranez “A red house”
Alath Mtila lilath Diraneder “This roof is less red”
This is the coldest house I have been to [this is the house-coldest, have been to I]
Alath Lilath Mtol Vrometen Lilogil Ënix
Mtëzlabund Dorobez Wanath Hwageranakwi Lmorenili “The Bloody soldier walked from the fields of the dead”
Adverbs always come finally in a sentence {or clause} the inflection is –la or –ila after a consonant.
Basically, Adverbs modify Verbs in the same way Adjectives modify nouns, and since they often denote motion of some kind, one can see them. however their positioning in a sentence differs from English, and indeed from Kaldon Adjectives. Where adjectives come directly after the noun which they modify, Adverbs always come finally in a sentence. Hence. English “they are quickly running” will be ordered as “They are running Quickly” and “They are running very fast” is “they are running fast, very”
Here follow a few examples of Adverbs, see under syntax for a full account of their usage’s.
Zandila: Used to negate sentences
Delen Wethatz Mtol “They are running home”
Against
Delen Wethatz Mtol Zandila “They are running home – Not” = “they are not running home”
Mten Palatz Mtel Kweazlatila “He is building better than she” [contrast “he is a better builder than she”, where “better” is an adjective]
Mten Ardynatz Mtel Tzealikila “He is making fewer than she”
In English there are two types of conjunctions, Co-ordinating and subordinating. The equivilent co-ordinating conjunction is Aigaz, which corresponds to English “And, but, or” and it is used very often to create long compound sentences. However, Kaldon does not create complex sentences, and as such does not have any subordinate conjunctions. See further under Syntax. A few Examples however are shown below.
Pelar Wanalm Mtol Aigaz Len Kwilmath Mtiril “The person walked home and [they]{ate} a meal”
Delen Wanalm Nalitunith Aigaz Ilë lilalm Thomila “They walked into the room, but no one was there”
Alath lilath Dalizhëbez Aigaz Mten Ikwodalm Delen Mtol “This was dangerous, so he took them home”
The Determiner word class, often represented by the articles in English, fails to exist in Kaldon in any true form. Thus “The house, and a house” are not differentiated. However the other determiners do exist in several forms. The demonstrative determiners, this, that, these, those, are represented by the demonstrative pronouns, and should be used as shown under syntax.
The possessive determiners are three in number, each reflecting person but not number. The following table show their representations.
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1st person |
My, our |
Gland |
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2nd person |
Your |
Glawid |
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3rd person |
His, her, its, their |
Glamtaz |
Note also the basic use of determiners differs from Pronouns, a pronoun replaces a noun, a determiner refers to it. See further under syntax.
Alath lilath Gland Mtol, Ethela Ikwodath Kwën Zandila “This is my home, you will not take it”
Alath lilath Glawid Kazarind, Ël Tzandigilux Len Zandila “This is your sword, I cannot keep it”
Kaldon does not have many of the more mundane prepositions because of its inflecting nature. However there is a reasonable amount of more expressive prepositions, they are gathered below.
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After: Eolan |
Before: Renolan |
Among: Netolan |
Between: Thainolan |
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Above/upon: Denolan |
Except: Pänolan |
Against: Pëdolan |
Towards: Xolan |
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Through: Eanola |
Throughout: Namolan |
Under/beneath: Dinolan |
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These are placed before the nouns which they refer too. See further under syntax.
This small class of words are simple in Kaldon. The simple outbursts heard as curses and such is what they are, and they occur at the very beginning of a sentence. See below under syntax for their rules, but here are the most important of their number. Note that some are nouns or verbs with all affixes removed
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Irilide! Alas, my god! |
Ilë! “No!, Do not! |
Hlal! Stop! |
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Kaldon syntax is reasonably simple compared to most languages, and is indeed markedly regular. There are two types of ‘phrases’ noun and verb with several different clause types. Note first of all however that the word order is invariably SVO {Subject - Verb – Object} note that everything that is bracketed in “{}” is optional.
There are six main types of these:
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1) Noun |
Avin “the mountain” |
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2) Noun + Noun |
Avinad Malir “the mountain of hope” |
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3)Noun + Adjective |
Avin Vrobez “The cold mountain” |
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4) Noun + Adjective + Adjective |
Avin Vrobez Narez “the cold, high mountain” |
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5) Noun + {Adjective} + {Adjective} +Noun/verb phrase |
Avinëz {Vrobez} {Narez} |
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6} Verb phrase + Noun phrase + {Above types} |
Mten Belalm Ën Avinëz “He saw me at the mountain” {where “He saw me” is the verb phrase and “At the mountain” is the noun phrase} |
A noun phrase can be preceded by a preposition, as in [Prep + Noun phrase + Verb phrase] Zhalmexiz Avin Hlaralm “Before the mountain was climbed”
Errors
Avin {Vrobez} {Narez} Hlaralm Mten Does not mean “he climbed the cold high mountain” but “the cold high mountain climbed him” which is obviously an error. Remember to think what is the subject and what is the object.
1) Glek “Fort, a fort, the fort,”
Minirilm “Food, the food, **A food”
Erehlaind “Friend, a friend, the friend”
2) Avternainad Alund “Avternain’s son”
Hiarenatz Viler “Hiare wants Viler/wishes for Viler”
Nainad Malir “The star of hope”
Note that type to forms can only exist where one form is not in the common.
3) Glek Zlaglamez “a strong fort, the strong fort”
Minirilm Kizhez “good food”
Erhlaind Mavinez “A young friend, the young friend”
4) Glek Zakwabez Zlaglamez “a/the tall, strong fort”
Minirilm Kizhez Elmëgez “a/the good hot food”
Erehlaind Rdazhendez Mavinez “a/the loyal young man”
Note that Kaldon especially likes type 3 noun clauses. Also note a more literal translation to English would be “A tall and strong fort”
5) {Noun + Adjective + Noun}
Glekani Zlaglamez Aranait “A/the strong fort by the lake”
Minirilmani Kizhez Kwëmtol “The good food on the place”
Erehlaindat Mavinez Mten “The young friend with him”
{Noun + Adjective + Verb}
Avin Mten Hlaralm “The mountain he climbed”
Minirilm Kizhez Mten Agilmalm Mtelot “the good food he gave to her”
Erehlaind Kizhez Wanalm Mtol “The young friend walked home”
6) {Verb +Noun + [other types]}
Mtel Belath Glek “She sees the fort”
Mtel Kwilmalm Minirilm “She ate the food”
Avternain Belalm Nomleagth, Mtenaz Erehlaind “Avternain saw Nomleagth, his friend”
There is only one type of verb phrase:
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Noun/Pronoun + Verb + {Noun/ Pronoun/Adjective/Adverb} |
Ën Belamt {Mten} “I will see {him} |
Examples:
Avternain Belalm Mtel “Avternain saw her”
Delend Glekalm Var Bylar “They fortified Var’bylar”
Nomleagth Phenalm Mten “Nomleagth killed him”
Pend Pendath Mtol “The ship sailed home”
Clauses
Clauses are a collection of phrases structured in a specific way. Each clause must have a verb phrase, and this can be supplemented by other types of phrase. There are six elements which make up a clause, as follows
1) The subject of a clause. Always the initial element in a sentence except only in the passive.
2) The subject compliment. This is any adjective which refers to the subject. Usually an additional extra
3) The verb. The middle element in a Kaldon sentence.
4) The object. This follows the verb an is the receiver of an action
5) The object compliment. This is any adjective that refers to the object. Usually an additional extra.
6) The Adverbial. An additional element in a sentence which comes finally. It can be anything from a single word “he came here quietly” to a short utterance in its own right, but one that can not make sense on its own “I spoke to him outside my house” The Adverbials describe three things, Time, place and manner, hence.
Time: {When or how often something happened} “I spoke to him yesterday”
Place {Where something happened} “I spoke to him over there”
Manner {How something happened} “I spoke to him quietly”
All Adverbials, if they occur, must come finally, and only one can occur in a sentence, hence “Last week I spoke to him at the bus stop” is literally impossible in Kaldon, however the phrase can be restructured as “I spoke to him last week. It was at the bus stop”
The following table gives an over view of the basic clause types in Kaldon. It ignores all clause elements not given above, but on such objects see further.
S: Subject, SC: Subject compliment, V: Verb, O: Object, OC: Object compliment, A: Adverbial
Note also that where SC Occours it can be doubled, but OC can only be used once.
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S + V |
She | Fell |
Mtel Hlinalm |
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S + SC + V |
The tree | tall | Fell {The tall tree fell} |
Vinot Zakwabez Hlimalm |
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S + V + O |
She | closed | The gate |
Mtel Nizhinalm Man |
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S + SC + V + O |
The Tree | Red | Fell | On her | {The red tree fell on her} |
Vinot Diranez Hlinalm Mtelol |
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S + V + OC |
They | Were | Hungry |
Delend lilalm Puzhidinez |
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S + SC + V + O + OC |
The person | Tired | Was Walking | To the inn | Ruined {The tired person was walking to the ruined inn} |
Pelar Gladiwinez Wanakw Mtolerhlaindan Gazindez |
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S + V + A |
Avternain | Was tired | Really {Avternain was really tired} |
Avternain Gladiwinalm Uzhiwitila |
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S + SC + O + A |
The Man | Dark | Was tired | Yesterday {The dark man was tried yesterday} |
Mavin Arakez Gladiwinalm Zhalmezilila |
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S + V + O + A |
I | Caught | The Train | Yesterday |
Ën Ikwodalm Hwatidaz Zhalmezilila |
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S + SC + V + O + OC + A |
The person | tired | Was Walking | Too the inn | ruined | Yesterday {The tired person was walking to the ruined inn yesterday |
Pelar Gladiwinez Wanakw Mtolerhlaindan Gazindez Zhalmezilila |
Additions
1) Subject: The subject can be a noun on its own “House” however it can have a determiner before it “that house”{1} if it has a determiner, it can also it can have a preposition / inflection “Before that house” “In that house”{2} if it just a noun or has a determiner, it can have an interjection “Alas! My house” “Alas, we…..”{3}
{1} Alath Mtol
{2} Renolan Alath Mtol /Alath Mtolat
{3} Irilide Alath Mtol / Irilide Ël
Notes: In a type {2} sentence, if a preposition and a determiner occur in the subject, the preposition comes first.
2) Subject Compliment: Though in Kaldon this is always made by an adjective form, sometimes the English equivalent will be an adverb or verb “the tired person” is in truth a subject compliment. They can only consist of one word, but two can be placed together for emphasis, you could have “A cold mountain” with a single compliment. However a second could be added “A cold, high mountain” but there cannot be more than two.
3) Verb: This of course includes English auxiliaries “To be taken” is a single verb. It cannot include any other forms, as this is not a verb phrase, just the verb on its own.
4) Object: The object can of course be a noun on its own “the house is burning” note that a verb form is in fact a noun there. If the subject has a determiner, the object must have one hence “That house burns, and so does that house” an object can also have a preposition / inflection “this burns before that” {where “that” is a pronoun”} However an object cannot have a interjection before it
5) Object compliment: basically everything about an object compliment is the same as a subject compliment save only that there is only one allowed for each object.
6) Adverbial: The adverbials are difficult to characterise as they have variant forms in English, but the Kaldon ones are much simpler. However there are a few complications, and thus splitting into the aspects is helpful.
Time: Adverbials of time use an extra noun followed by an adverb to convey meaning. The adverb shows time, the noun shows position also note that this is often the opposite word order to English “Week last” instead of “last week” hence the following example:
Ën Belath Mtel Wadonzil Tzelila “I saw her last week” {Lit ten days ago}
Place: Adverbials of place are a noun phrase tagged on the end of a clause in which the object is in the locative case to indicate place. Hence “I met them at the palace” = I met them-at palace hence:
Ën Akwalidalm Delendim Mtol “I met them at the palace”
Manner: the simplest of the adverbials. It is simply an adverb placed at the end of the preceding clause, hence:
Ën Wethalm Renila “I ran quickly”
Questions
The above rules show how basic sentences are constructed. However to form a question, one must precede the subject with a verb phrase intruded by the relative pronoun Zozh “who, which, whose, whom” which is tagged to the verb “to be” and not as in English often does, to the verb “To do” Where an inflected verb form occours, “Should, have etc” use the apriprate inflection of “to be”
Nozh Ëgindilux Ën?
“Who can help me?”
Nozh lilath Alath?
“Whose is this?/who is this?”
Nozh Lilelan Ën Ikwodath?
“Which/who/whose should I take?” > Which is should I take?
Nozh Lilath Alath Othekwath?
“Who/To whom does this belong {To}?” > To whom is this belong {Without the “To”
Relative pronouns and clauses.
As has been briefly noted under Pronouns, there are no independent relative pronouns. For a relative clause one uses a relative noun inflection, which has been given under nouns. Thus “a city that” and “a person who” are all inflected. Hence the following examples.
Varometz Glandath Ëraklearond “The city that shone in the night”
Pelarometz Belalm Len Xlawizath Len Zandila “The person who saw it could not believe it”
Mtolazhig Lilalm Arak “A house that was dark”
Minirilmazhig Lililux Kizhez “The food that might be good”
Sentences
Any of the clause types given above may stand alone in a sentence, and in Kaldon there is no distinction between minor and simple sentences, hence Mtel Hlimalm “She Fell” and Avin Arakez “the dark mountain” are perfectly legal forms of utterances, and no Ezlag grammarian is going to come with a rule book. However, Kaldon sentence structure is in many ways much more simple than in English. Any one of the clause types given above counts as simple sentence in its own right, and as such there is no need to dwell on it.
However Kaldon had no complex sentences that is the language does not have subordinating conjunctions with which to create a subordinate clause. But the Ezleg never really thought that language should be like that. Their main method is strings of compound sentences joined by Aigaz “And, but, or” to us this may seem overly simplistic, somewhat like how a child would write using “and” repeatedly. However the Ezleg looked the other way, using masses of co-ordinating conjunctions and complex sentences would be like making everything overly slow and boring. Thus their style reflects their nature in such matters. Thus there are no Complex sentences in Kaldon. And few even of other races have ever found this a disadvantage when writing important documents in the language.
As such we are left with Complex sentences. The creation of these is as in English, two simple sentences are joined by Aigaz, which can stand for “and, but, or” when this is done both sentences retain all elements, no pronouns or such are omitted. That is the entire procedure with which an idea is kept going over more than one sentence. Hence the following sentence:
Mtel Nizhinalm Man “She closed the gate”
+
Mtel Thamalm Mtolat “She went into the house”
Hence joined by Aigaz
Mtel Nizhinalm Man Aigaz Mtel Thamalm Mtolat “She closed the gate and she went into the house”
Note that the second “she” survives intact in Kaldon, where as we would usually leave it out in English no real examples are needed here, as all has been dealt with previously, there are however a few other matters which need clarifying.
Speech
When in Kaldon you are quoting speech, or in narative, writing it, one uses the Ireegular verb “To say” Etziwenath It is irregular in that when it is used to introduce a passage of speech, it takes the inflected form Etziwenixazh However, when the word is used in direct speech, it inflects normaly for tence. Etziwenixazh cannot decline in any other way. Also, it has two ways of introducing a quotation or passage of speech, as below.
1)Independent
Avternain walked home, and said “…..
Avternain Wanalm Mtol Etziwenixazh “………
2) Indirect
Avternain wanted to say “………..
Avternainando Etziwenixazh “……….
Though this may no mean much to us, the former is a formal written way, the latter is to keep a secret.