Nouns
Bravalic nouns are more complicated than those in English as they have qualities which either don't exist in our language or used to exist. Bravalic nouns go through a grammatical process called declension which is where a noun changes according to the situation it is in. Confused? Well, let me explain a little more clearly. When a noun changes from singular to plural, that is declension.
In Bravalic however, there are more features that nouns decline for: number: singular, dual and plural; case: nominative, accusative, etc; gender: masculine, feminine, neuter, and inanimate; and lastly for state: definite, indefinite, and construct. Please don't worry if you don’t understand these term (particularly state), I will go through them as I go on.
Gender
Like in most romance languages, Bravalic has gender of the noun. This is basically the sex of the noun, whether it is masculine, or feminine. However, in Bravalic rather than just two genders, there are four: Masculine, Feminine, Neuter and Inanimate.
Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter, are to determine that the noun is male, female or, both (or neither) whereas Inanimate is used for everything else which is not-alive. Gender is identified by the endings of the nouns:
jaro - mouse (masculine)
cethá - cat (feminine)
shoví - spirit (neuter)
Animate nouns always ending in either -o, -á, or -í. When a noun ends in any other letter, it is inanimate:
gafad - strength
nahrachin - angel
dagas - problem
Now, adjectives must agree with the noun they are describing so it has to match the same gender.
Case
This is a little tricky to get the hang of, but after going through syntax, it should be much easier. Right, you remember the subject and object of the sentence? Well, a grammatical case is just a way of showing what a noun is in sentence. It’s like parts being given out for a play.
In Bravalic, there are 6 grammatical case which are added to the end of nouns to demonstrate what they are in the sentence as each case has a specific name. Each of the nouns belong to a certain Declension pattern; there are 6 in total:
The Nominative Case is used to indicate the subject of the sentence. In Bravalic, the nominative is exactly the same as the original noun so there is no need to change the end; however for those nouns ending in -n, -ŋ, or -m, where -ú must be added:
jaro - mouse
cethá - cat
shoví - spirit
gafad - strength
nahrachú - angel (nahrachin before)
dagas - problem
Example:
Butálí jaro bravalica
A mouse speaks Bravalic
The accusative case, is used for the direct object of the sentence. Now, the ending of the word changes for all nouns in accusative case. This change varies from nouns to noun, depending what its ending is:
jaro > jarom - mouse
cethá > cethan - cat
shoví > shovim - spirit
gafad > gafadan - strength
nahrachin > nahrachúm - angel
dagas > dagaca - problem
Example:
Cuvásí dano cethan
A dog loves a cat
The dative is used for the indirect object and the endings change in the same way as the accusative, except with different endings:
jaro > jarobas - to/for mouse
cethá > cethaba - to/for cat
shoví > shovibé - to/for spirit
gafad > gafadhan - to/for strength
nahrachin > nahrachúda - to/for angel
dagas > dagacaba - to/for problem
The next cases are different from the others as they don’t define the subject or object, but another semantic relation:
The genitive case indicates possession like in English -’s: “servant’s”. Now, throughout every noun no matter what ending, the genitive ends in -i:
jaro > jari - of mouse / mouse’s
cethá > cethay - of cat / cat’s
shoví > shovi - of spirit / spirit’s
gafad > gafathi - of strength / strength’s
nahrachin > nahrachingi - of angel / angel’s
dagas > dagaci - of problem / problem’s
Example:
Vanad nahrachingi
Angel’s sword / Sword of an angel
As you probably noticed, the genitive case has been placed after the noun it’s possessing.
There are two more grammatical case, however in the singular form they both have the same ending. The Prepositional and Locative cases are both used used after prepositions, however the Locative comes after certain prepositions that indicate location such as “in, out, etc.”. The Prepositional is used for all other prepositions:
jaro > jarova - mouse
cethá > cethag - cat
shoví > shovir - spirit
gafad > gafade - strength
nahrachin > nahrachina - angel
dagas > dagacos - problem
Example:
Ba jarova
With a mouse
So that’s it for the grammatical cases of Bravalic and here’s a small summery for each declension:
In Bravalic however, there are more features that nouns decline for: number: singular, dual and plural; case: nominative, accusative, etc; gender: masculine, feminine, neuter, and inanimate; and lastly for state: definite, indefinite, and construct. Please don't worry if you don’t understand these term (particularly state), I will go through them as I go on.
Gender
Like in most romance languages, Bravalic has gender of the noun. This is basically the sex of the noun, whether it is masculine, or feminine. However, in Bravalic rather than just two genders, there are four: Masculine, Feminine, Neuter and Inanimate.
Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter, are to determine that the noun is male, female or, both (or neither) whereas Inanimate is used for everything else which is not-alive. Gender is identified by the endings of the nouns:
jaro - mouse (masculine)
cethá - cat (feminine)
shoví - spirit (neuter)
Animate nouns always ending in either -o, -á, or -í. When a noun ends in any other letter, it is inanimate:
gafad - strength
nahrachin - angel
dagas - problem
Now, adjectives must agree with the noun they are describing so it has to match the same gender.
Case
This is a little tricky to get the hang of, but after going through syntax, it should be much easier. Right, you remember the subject and object of the sentence? Well, a grammatical case is just a way of showing what a noun is in sentence. It’s like parts being given out for a play.
In Bravalic, there are 6 grammatical case which are added to the end of nouns to demonstrate what they are in the sentence as each case has a specific name. Each of the nouns belong to a certain Declension pattern; there are 6 in total:
The Nominative Case is used to indicate the subject of the sentence. In Bravalic, the nominative is exactly the same as the original noun so there is no need to change the end; however for those nouns ending in -n, -ŋ, or -m, where -ú must be added:
jaro - mouse
cethá - cat
shoví - spirit
gafad - strength
nahrachú - angel (nahrachin before)
dagas - problem
Example:
Butálí jaro bravalica
A mouse speaks Bravalic
The accusative case, is used for the direct object of the sentence. Now, the ending of the word changes for all nouns in accusative case. This change varies from nouns to noun, depending what its ending is:
jaro > jarom - mouse
cethá > cethan - cat
shoví > shovim - spirit
gafad > gafadan - strength
nahrachin > nahrachúm - angel
dagas > dagaca - problem
Example:
Cuvásí dano cethan
A dog loves a cat
The dative is used for the indirect object and the endings change in the same way as the accusative, except with different endings:
jaro > jarobas - to/for mouse
cethá > cethaba - to/for cat
shoví > shovibé - to/for spirit
gafad > gafadhan - to/for strength
nahrachin > nahrachúda - to/for angel
dagas > dagacaba - to/for problem
The next cases are different from the others as they don’t define the subject or object, but another semantic relation:
The genitive case indicates possession like in English -’s: “servant’s”. Now, throughout every noun no matter what ending, the genitive ends in -i:
jaro > jari - of mouse / mouse’s
cethá > cethay - of cat / cat’s
shoví > shovi - of spirit / spirit’s
gafad > gafathi - of strength / strength’s
nahrachin > nahrachingi - of angel / angel’s
dagas > dagaci - of problem / problem’s
Example:
Vanad nahrachingi
Angel’s sword / Sword of an angel
As you probably noticed, the genitive case has been placed after the noun it’s possessing.
There are two more grammatical case, however in the singular form they both have the same ending. The Prepositional and Locative cases are both used used after prepositions, however the Locative comes after certain prepositions that indicate location such as “in, out, etc.”. The Prepositional is used for all other prepositions:
jaro > jarova - mouse
cethá > cethag - cat
shoví > shovir - spirit
gafad > gafade - strength
nahrachin > nahrachina - angel
dagas > dagacos - problem
Example:
Ba jarova
With a mouse
So that’s it for the grammatical cases of Bravalic and here’s a small summery for each declension:
State
This is perhaps the hardest thing to learn about Bravalic Grammar. Like Latin and Russian, Bravalic does not have any articles (the, a/an), however unlike those languages, it still defines definiteness through grammatical state like Arabic. Now, definiteness is essentially how a noun is identifiable to the speaker. A definite noun is something which has been previously or currently identified as a specific thing by the speaker; an indefinite noun is one that is more generally commented on by the speaker. Complicated, I know, but all you need to know is “definite = the” and “indefinite = a/an”. In Bravalic there are three states:
The define state is “the” and is formed by added an infix after the stem of the word and there is a separate infix for each declension pattern; the indefinite state remains the same as the stem and means “a/an”; and the last one is called the construct state which is used with the noun in the genitive case; this uses a vowel prefix
This is perhaps the hardest thing to learn about Bravalic Grammar. Like Latin and Russian, Bravalic does not have any articles (the, a/an), however unlike those languages, it still defines definiteness through grammatical state like Arabic. Now, definiteness is essentially how a noun is identifiable to the speaker. A definite noun is something which has been previously or currently identified as a specific thing by the speaker; an indefinite noun is one that is more generally commented on by the speaker. Complicated, I know, but all you need to know is “definite = the” and “indefinite = a/an”. In Bravalic there are three states:
The define state is “the” and is formed by added an infix after the stem of the word and there is a separate infix for each declension pattern; the indefinite state remains the same as the stem and means “a/an”; and the last one is called the construct state which is used with the noun in the genitive case; this uses a vowel prefix
The infix is the same for every case.
Example:
Cuvásí cethá danegom
A cat loves the dog
The construct state is a little confusing to use but after some practice it will be much easier:
Example:
Ó-qechú cethay
The cat’s house
Example:
Cuvásí cethá danegom
A cat loves the dog
The construct state is a little confusing to use but after some practice it will be much easier:
Example:
Ó-qechú cethay
The cat’s house
Declensions
I think it would be a good idea to go into the declensions in a little more depth so you get an idea of what to do with each noun. There are three numbers in Bravalic: singular, dual (for two of something), and plural and are the most irregular part of the language
First Declension -o
The first declension is, as I said, the first of the animate nouns and are all entirely masculine.
I think it would be a good idea to go into the declensions in a little more depth so you get an idea of what to do with each noun. There are three numbers in Bravalic: singular, dual (for two of something), and plural and are the most irregular part of the language
First Declension -o
The first declension is, as I said, the first of the animate nouns and are all entirely masculine.
Second Declension -á
This one is similar to the first declension as it is animate, however it is strictly for feminine nouns:
This one is similar to the first declension as it is animate, however it is strictly for feminine nouns:
Third Declension -í
This is the Neuter declension and it can be used as a general word for nouns with two genders, for example: serí (human) can become, sero (man), or será (woman), however in most cases it is used for nouns that are considered alive but are neither male or female:
This is the Neuter declension and it can be used as a general word for nouns with two genders, for example: serí (human) can become, sero (man), or será (woman), however in most cases it is used for nouns that are considered alive but are neither male or female:
Fourth Declension -t, -d, -dh, -th
This is the first of the inanimate declension and always end in the above four letters; this is also known as the Dental Declension:
This is the first of the inanimate declension and always end in the above four letters; this is also known as the Dental Declension:
Fifth Declension -n, -ŋ, -ng, -m
This is the second of the inanimate declensions and always end in the letters above; this is called the Nasal Declension:
This is the second of the inanimate declensions and always end in the letters above; this is called the Nasal Declension:
Sixth Declension -c, -g, -s, -z, -sh, -zh
This declension is the last of the inanimate gender. If the noun ends in either of the above endings, they are in this declension:
This declension is the last of the inanimate gender. If the noun ends in either of the above endings, they are in this declension: