THE VERB

The Uropi verbal system can be summed up with 3 formulas (o – an - en), ( Ø – ì – ev) and ( ve-o, se-an, av-en, vid-en )

- 3 VERBAL FORMS :

-o -an –en

= Infinitive & Participles

-O = Infinitive	ex : skrivo, liso, sopo, jedo	= to write, to read, to sleep, to eat
-AN = Present participle	ex : san, skrivan, flan, sopan	= being, writing, blowing, sleeping
-EN = Past participle	ex : lisen, jeden, flen, opren	= read, eaten, blown, open

 

- 3 SIMPLE TENSES :

Ø – ì – ev

= Present, Past, Conditional

Ø (= no ending or -e ending when pronouncing is impossible)		= Present
ex : skriv, lis, sop, jed	= write, read, sleep, eat se, ste, fle, opre	= is, stand, blow, open
-Ì = Past	ex : sì, avì, oprì, sopì	= was, had, opened, slept
-EV = Conditional	ex : sev, avev, lisev, venev	= would be, have, read, come

 

-3 AUXILIARIES :

So (to be),

Avo (to have),

Vido (to get)

+ 1 particle : Ve

VE-O (ve + infinitive) = Future	ex : ve so, ve avo, ve sopo	= will be, will have, will sleep
SE-AN (to be + present participle)	= The Durative Form	(progressive or continuous)
It is used to insist on the duration, the continuity of an action (= to be + Ving)
	ex : se lisan, se sopan	= is reading, is sleeping
AV-EN (to have + past participle)	= PAST TENSES
av-en = Present Perfect	ex : av jeden, av venen	= has eaten, has come
Avo + -en is also used to form the pluperfect (avì-en, ex: avì sopen = had slept) and thepast conditional (Avev-en, ex: avev aven = would have had)
VID-EN (to get + past participle)	= PASSIVE
	Vid jeden, vidì tuden, ve vido opren	= is (gets) eaten, got (was) killed, will be open

 

PERSONAL PRONOUNS & POSSESSIVES

	i = I	ma = me	mo = to me	mi = my
	tu = you (sing)	ta = you (obj.)	to = to you	ti = your
	he = he	ha = him	ho = to him	hi = his
	ce = she	ca = her	co = to her	ci = her
	je = it	ja = it	jo = to it	ji = its
	nu = we	na = us	no = to us	ni = our
	vu = you (plur)	va = you	vo = to you	vi = your
	lu = they	la = them	la = them	li = their

We should add the indefinite pronoun UN = one, and the reflexive pronoun SIA = oneself (sio = to oneself, possessive siu = one’s) . The verb remains the same whatever the person.

CONJUGAISON

Affirmative : personal pronoun + verb ; Interrogative : verb + personal pronoun; Negative : personal pronoun + verb + NE

ex	I skriv, he lisì, ce ve sopo	= I write, he read, she will sleep
	Piv tu ?, Venì he ? Zavev lu ?	= Do you drink ? Did he come ? Would they know ?
	Nu vol ne, vu av ne vizen	= We don’t want, you haven’t seen
	De beb sì sopan, je v’ne liuvo	= The baby was sleeping, it won’t rain
	Avev vu iten za ? Tu jed ne	= Would you have gone there ? You don’t eat

 

ARTICLES

In Uropi, there are 2 articles.

* The definite article DE = the, for all nouns

ex : de man, de mata, de kat, de hase = the man, the mother, the cat, the houses

* The indefinite article U, UN (in front of a vowel) = a, an ; doesn’t’exist in the plural

ex : u kun, u kuna, un ovel, mane, kate = a dog, a bitch, a bird, men, cats

 

THE NOUN

In Uropi there are 2 types of nouns : the nouns ending in a consonant and the nouns ending in –a
* All MASCULINE nouns end in a CONSONANT
They designate only male sexed beings and correspond to the pronoun HE = he
ex : man, kun, pater, frat, kwal, doktor = man, dog, father, brother, horse, doctor
* All FEMININE nouns end in -A
ex : 3ina, kata, mata, sesta, kwala = woman, she-cat, mother, sister, mare
They designate only female sexed beings and correspond to the pronoun CE = she
Feminine nouns can be formed by adding –A to masculine nouns ex : kat > kata
* All the other nouns are NEUTER ; they correspond to the pronoun JE = it
They end either in a consonant or in –A
ex : has, tag, strad, luc, vag, natùr = house, roof, street, light, car, nature
	kina, teatra, dia, sta, vima = cinema, theatre, day, place, winter

Plural

* The nouns ending in a consonant take an -E

ex : hase, mane, vage, kune, frate = houses, men, cars, dogs, brothers

* The nouns ending in -a take an -S

ex : katas, kinas, tiotas, dias, aktoras = she-cats, cinemas, aunts, days, actresses

 

THE GENITIVE

It is the possessive phrase (‘s). It is the last trace of the old Indo-european declension system ; it remains in most of the present European languages: Slavic, Baltic, Germanic languages (ex-cept Dutch), Greek, Rumanian, Albanian, Armenian, etc…

* The nouns ending in a consonant take an -I , in the singular, -IS in the plural

ex : mani = man’s, vagi = car-, of a car, kuni = dog’s, kwalis = horses’, de kunis = the dogs’, de tage de hasis = the roofs of the houses, de kun mi patri = my father’s dog, de luce de vagis = the lights of the cars

* For the nouns in –a, the –a is replaced by -U in the singular, -US in the plural

ex : veste 3inus = women’s clothes, de fram ti sestu = your sister’s friend, un aktora kinu = a film star (cinema actress) , de mata mi kuzinu = my cousin’s mother

* The genitive can be used to form adjectives from nouns

ex : noc = nuit > noci = night-, nightly, noci ovel = night bird, diu fafìl = (day) butterfly, man > mani = man’s, masculine, mani veste = men’s clothes, mani moda = men’s fashion

* The genitive is used to form compounds

ex : vag + luc > vagilùc = « car light », headlight, vod = water + fal = fall > vodifàl = waterfall, strad = street + lamp = lamp > stradilàmp = streetlamp, vima = winter + sport > vimusporte = winter sports , kina + stel = étoile > kinustèl = film star

 

PREPOSITIONS

	a   to	gon   against	po   for	tra   across
	ane without	in    in, into	pos    after	trawan during
	be   at	instà   instead	pro in front of	tru    through
	berù  behind	intra between	slogan according to	ude under
	do towards	ki    with	su   on	us out of
	dod since	obte in spite of	sube   above	usim except
	for before	ov   about (concerning)	tis   till	uve over

 

ADJECTIVES

In Uropi adjectives are invariable ; They are always placed in front of the noun
Ex : u jun man, mi seni mata, nar kate, = a young man, my old mother, black cats
	de somu dias, u famos aktora = the summer days, a famous actress
Comparatives
Greater degree maj… te = more…, …er than
ex : ce se maj jun te i = she is younger than me (I)
Lesser degree min… te = less… than, not so… as
ex : vu se min alti te he = you are not so tall as him (he)
Equal degree os… te = as… as
ex : he se os glaj te tu = he is as merry as you
Superlatives
Greater degree de maj… = the most… (or de + adjective + -es)
ex : di flor se de maj bel, de beles = this flower is the most beautiful
Lesser degree de min… = the least…
ex : he se de min seni od tale = he is the least old of all

For more details
download the UROPI grammar

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