Salveto GrammarTable of Contents
Alphabet & PronunciationThe official Salveto alphabet uses 19 of the 26 English letters -- J, K, Q, W, X, Y, Z are used only for spelling of proper names and foreign & science-related words.
I and U combine with any vowel following them, so the pair of vowels are pronounced as a single syllable. (piane = "PYAH-neh" not "pee-AH-neh"; cuareme = "kwar-EM-eh" not "ku-ar-EM-eh"). From a pronunciation standpoint (from an English perspective), you can think of substituting "y" and "w" for i and u in this context. All consonants are pronounced individually. Specifically, H does not combine to create TH, SH, or CH sounds as in English. These sounds simply do not exist in Salveto. With words that have more than one syllable, the stress is placed on the next-to-last syllable. An acute accent may be placed over a vowel for proper names and foreign imported words that are spelled phonetically, to indicate stress if Salveto's natural stress would result in a different pronunciation. (e.g. América, Nu Mécsico, Wásington, Óregon, Bárbara). This does not change the sound of the vowel, only the stress. In the case of an "i" or "u" followed by a vowel, if either of the vowel pair is accented, the two are pronounced separately, not melded together as they normally would be. (e.g. María, Perúa, Dián). If the word contains an accent or any non-Salveto letters, it must either be capitalized (a name) or italicized (a foreign word). SpellingSpelling in Salveto is much easier than in any "natural" language. All letters have predicatable sounds, and there is never any silent letter doubling. Any word can be spelled correctly if the pronunciation is known, and any word can be correctly pronounced if the spelling is known. Word EndingsSalveto uses word endings to convey certain information, making it easier to recognize the most important parts of any given sentence: nouns and verbs.
Adjectives and adverbs end with any consonant other than s. Prepositions, conjunctions, numbers, and some other words (especially very short ones) do not adhere to these rules. Word OrderThe normal word order is SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT (Me vidu te = I see you), but SUBJECT-OBJECT-VERB (Me te vidu) is also acceptable. Interrogatives can be formed by reversing the SUBJECT-VERB order to VERB-SUBJECT (Vidu te me? = Do you see me?). Adjectives usually precede nouns, but can also follow them. One or more nouns can appear before a noun to modify it (e.g. town hall, charm school graduate, corner bicycle repair shop). {{what suffix for the nouns?}} Adverbs can appear before or after verbs. Importing WordsNearly any word from another language can be imported into Salveto. There are two ways to do this:
Some examples of words that were a bit problematic and perhaps awkward to import:
taxi tacse
pizza pitse
taco tace
There may be a temptation to apply ArticlesSalveto has no definite article (the), though it does have an indefinite article: un (a/an). When a noun appears without an article, "the" is usually assumed. This eliminates entire categories of rules many languages have regarding when the definite article should or should not be used. If more specificity is required, "this" (lo) or "that" (la) can be used. PronounsSalveto's personal pronouns are:
Possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, etc.) are the same as above. The meaning is gleaned from the context (i.e., a personal pronoun that directly precedes a noun is most likely a possessive adjective). Salveto has no possessive pronouns (e.g. mine, hers, theirs). Instead, one uses patinar (belongs to). (e.g. The book is mine = Libre patinu me) Salveto personal pronouns do not distinguish between nominative and accusative case. The same word is used whether it is subject or object. (e.g. "I love him" = me amu ilo, "he loves me" = ilo amu me) There is no formal ("vous/ustedes/Lei/Sie") form for "you". This is exactly like English, where there simply is no such distinction. The word "it" (ile) is not often used. When a transitive verb is used, and "it" or "they" would be the object, it is often omitted. For instance, "Do you want it/them with water?" = Te volu con acue? Also, if "it" is the subject (the first word if the sentence were in English), it is usually omitted. Examples: "It tastes like lemon" = Gustu com limone; "It is my fault" = Es me culpe. Interrogative and Relative PronounsInterrogative pronouns are used for questions (e.g. Who is that man?); relative pronouns are used for clauses that modify nouns (e.g. "The man who wore the hat sat down next to me"). In Salveto, like English, the same word is used for both.
There are three ways to ask a question in Salveto, and they are more or less equivalent. To ask "Do you speak English?":
NumbersNumeric representationNumbers are generally written as they are in American English: that is, large numbers are typically grouped in sets of three digits separated by commas, and a period (".") is used as the decimal point. Numbers after the decimal point are not grouped. Cardinal numbersCardinal numbers are largely modeled after the Romance languages...
Note that words like cent, mil, milion, and so on, or more like adjectives than nouns, and therefore do not take a plural form. This is like English: one thousand, two thousand -- not two thousands. When it is obvious the context is a number, one can say un instead of une (e.g. un cent sisant un = one hundred sixty one). Otherwise, use une. Ordinal numbers For ordinals, add the suffix Fractions These work the same way as fractions in English: the numerator is a
cardinal, followed by the denominator as an ordinal. Fractions are nouns, so
instead of adding
Genders Like the Romance languages, Salveto uses the
To anthropomorphize an inanimate object, it is common to use a genderizing suffix. For instance, to express a feeling for a computer (computere) as an animate object with a brain and personality, one might refer to it as a computera or computero. A special case: names of countries always end with VerbsThe basicsSalveto has basic verb forms for two tenses (present and past), and for both tenses there are two aspects (simple and progressive).
For a given tense, the same word is used regardless of person (first, second, third), gender, or number. By convention, esu (present tense of to be) is usually expressed as es. An alternate way to create a past tense is by using the word vi
(loosely translated: was, has been, did) directly before the verb. This
method is not often used with a present tense verb (the simpler
To create a future tense, the word va (loosely translated: will, will be) is used directly before the verb.
To create a conditional tense, the word vo (loosely translated: would, should, could) is used.
Continuative participlesA participle is an adjectival form of a verb (though it can also sometimes be used as a noun or a verb; more on this later). The continuative (present) participle is formed by adding
Passive participles The passive (past) participle is formed by adding
Verb transitivityTransitive verbs take an object (e.g., "I built a chair"), intransitive verbs do not (e.g., "I fell"). Salveto is like English and many other languages in that some verbs are "naturally" transitive or intransitive, and some can be both. With the latter verbs, it is up to the reader/listener to determine which meaning is intended. In almost every case, though, the meaning is obvious simply by the presence or absence of an object noun. For example, ove boli (the egg boiled) vs. me boli ove (I boiled the egg). In cases where there may be doubt, the writer/speaker may opt to use a helping verb to clarify.
ExamplesHere are some examples of sentences in English and Salveto . . .
Subjunctive moodAll the Romance languages have a subjunctive mood, which is used to express a point of view, fear, doubt, hope, possibility -- anything that is not an actual fact. Salveto does not differentiate subjunctive from indicative moods. All verbs forms shown above are used in both situations. The "subjunctiveness" of the verb is gleaned from the context. Miscellaneous WordsThese words get a great deal of use . . .
ENGLISH SV SP FR IT
this (a) este/a ce/cet questo this woman is my wife
these (a) estos
this (p) esto ce/cet questo i want this
these (p)
that (a) ese
those (a)
that (p)
those (p)
here ci
there la
every, each
no, none
all
many
some
few
both
enough
too much
same
other, else
All of the preceding can be used alone or followed by...
one, ones
person
thing
time (hour of day)
time (occasion)
place (area)
place (location)
amount, quantity
manner, way, how
case, situation, circumstance
Other particles:
such
certain
several, many
sole, only
Misc:
That's one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind
Es une pic pase por un ome; une grand salte por tut omi
Misc Notes
Endings
-a adj
-e noun
-i verb, past
-o verb, present
-u verb, future
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