Grammar

The alphabet:

a e i j k l m n o p s t u w

The consonants (j k l m n p s t w) are pronounced the same as English (except j which makes an English y sound)

The vowels (a e i o u) are pronounced the same as Spanish.

For the words, see kato supa.

Basic sentences:

li is a particle that separates the subject and predicate in a full sentence. The predicate can be a noun or adjective.

ne li jan. – You are human.

samu li upen. – Family is important.

For beginning speakers, li can often seem to function as the verb ‘to be’, but it is not.

jan li sunin. – The person speaks.

Context is important:

Words in sunin jesa can have broad meaning such as ita which involves consumption – eating and food. This can lead to ambiguity. Consider the following phrase and possible translations:

mi li ita. – I am eating. I am food.

In most conversations one would not expect to be considered food. However, ita can mean: to have eaten, am eating, or will eat. With this variation, direct translations are not always straightforward.

Most words can be used as as nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.

jusu – memory, to remember, knowledgeable

paken – error, to break, damaged

While the word nin may be used to say there are a lot of something, nouns by themselves do not imply a specific number or type of that thing.

kosa – this, that, thing, things

suta – a plant, some vegetables, the leaves

Direct objects:

The particle e is used between a verb and its direct objects. Using e verbifies the word before it.