Lingua Franca Nova
Encyclopedia
Lingua Franca Nova is an auxiliary constructed language
created by Dr. C. George Boeree of Shippensburg University, Pennsylvania
. Its vocabulary is based on the Romance languages
French
, Italian
, Portuguese
, Spanish
, and Catalan
. The grammar is highly reduced and similar to the Romance creoles. The language has phonemic spelling, using 22 letters of either the Latin
or Cyrillic
alphabets.
. He was inspired by the Mediterranean Lingua Franca
, a pidgin
used in the Mediterranean in centuries past, and by creoles
such as Papiamento
, Haitian Creole, and Bislama. He used French
, Italian
, Portuguese
, Spanish
, and Catalan
as the basis for his new language.
LFN was first presented on the Internet in 1998. A Yahoo! Group
was formed in 2002 by Bjorn Madsen and today has more than 250 members. Group members have contributed significantly to the further evolution of the language. Stefan Fisahn created a wiki
for the language in 2005. A few issues of a journal called Orizones Nova (New Horizons) were published online by David MacLeod in late 2006 and early 2007. Also in 2007, Igor Vasiljevic began a Facebook
page, which now has over 70 members. LFN was given an ISO 639-3 designation (lfn) by SIL in January 2008. The site moved to Wikia
in 2009. It has over 1800 articles and 42,000 edits as of January 1, 2011.
Introductions and "LFN for Travellers" are available in 12 languages. The searchable "master" dictionary (LFN - English / English - LFN) was updated by Simon Davies in 2008. As of January 1, 2011, it has over 15,000 entries. There is also a LFN - French dictionary and seven small dictionaries available in other languages as well as a wikibooks tutorial in eight languages. Many texts have been translated and included in the wiki, including Lewis Carroll
's Alice in Wonderland. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
's The Little Prince, Charles Dickens
' Christmas Carol, and Mark Twain
's Letters from the Earth. There are also many poems, both translated and original.
or Cyrillic alphabet:
Because there are only five vowels, variations in pronunciation rarely cause problems.
Diphthongs are ai [ai], au [au], eu [eu], and oi [oi] (approximately as in my, cow, "eh-w," and boy).
The letters k, q, w, and y may be used in proper names from other languages and are pronounced [k], [k], [u] or [w], and [i] or [j], respectively. They are placed in their usual positions in the alphabet. The letter h is seldom used and may be left unpronounced if the speaker finds it difficult. It is also used to represent [x] as in "Bach" and similar fricatives in borrowed words.
is not a critical factor in LFN, there are a few standards.
(subject-verb-object) language. Modifiers generally follow what they modify, as do prepositional phrases and subordinate clauses
.
Nouns are usually preceded by articles
(la or un) or other determiners. Other than the plural in -s or -es, nouns are invariant. A noun's role in a sentence is determined by word order and prepositions.
The personal pronouns are invariant: me, tu, el, nos, vos, los. Possessive determiners are the same except for the third person, which uses se. A variety of other pronouns are identical to or derived from the determiners.
Verbs are invariant. Tense
and mood
are indicated by preceding particles: ia for the past, va for the future, and ta for the conditional (optional). The active participle
ends in -nte and the passive participle in -da. The infinitive
is the same as the basic verb.
Adjectives are invariant, and adverbs are not distinguished from adjectives. The comparative
is formed with plu or min, the superlative
with la plu or la min.
Complete detailed grammars of LFN are available in English, French, Russian, Esperanto, and LFN
. The general word order is:
A noun phrase
has this order:
A verb phrase
has this order:
A prepositional phrase
generally follows what it modifies, and has this order:
.
Plural
nouns are formed by appending -s to nouns ending in vowels or -es to nouns ending in consonants. This does not alter the stress:
Gender
is typically not indicated. If necessary, nouns may be followed by mas (male) or fema (female):
A small number of traditional roles have a female form in -esa. For example:
A number of terms for family members have males ending in -o and females in -a. For example:
And a few terms use distinct forms. For example:
Apposition
- the use of one noun to modify another - is mostly limited to names and titles:
: la (the) and un (a). As in English, un is not used before plural nouns. One may use de (of) before mass nouns, if desired:
Pronouns serving as possessives are also used as determiners, as are numbers indicating quantity:
Other words function similarly:
s are invariant:
There are no gender
distinctions between "he", "she", and "it". If gender is significant, one can use words like la fem, la om, la xica, la xico, la cosa, la idea, esta, acel (the woman, the man, the girl, the boy, the thing, the idea, this, that), etc.
Unlike in the Romance languages, there is no polite/impolite contrast for the second person: tu is always used for the singular, vos always for the plural.
The reflexive pronouns are also me, tu, nos, and vos, which may be followed by mesma. For the third person, singular and plural, lfn uses se:
There is an indefinite pronoun on, which is used like German "man" or French "on":
Me, tu, nos, and vos become possessive
by putting them in front of the noun possessed where they function as determiners. They are commonly preceded by la. The possessive determiner for the third person, singular and plural, is se:
There are no separate possessive pronouns such as "mine". Instead one uses expressions such as de me and el de me, or repeats the noun:
Many of the determiners can also be used as pronouns:
Other pronouns and pronomial expressions, derived from determiners, include the following:
of verb
s in LFN. The basic form remains the same regardless of person, number, or tense.
The present tense
is represented by the basic verb:
The present tense is also used to indicate habitual actions and states, facts of nature, and as a "historical" tense, such as when relating a story that has been clearly established as occurring in the past:
The past tense
is indicated by the particle ia:
The future tense
is indicated by the particle va:
There is an optional particle ta, which indicates unreality and can be used where other languages might use a conditional
or subjunctive mood:
Certain adverbs and verbal constructions add precision to the tenses:
The adverb ja, meaning "already," may be used to express what in other languages is the perfect:
Negation is indicated by putting no before the tense particle or (in the present tense) the verb. Double negatives should be avoided:
Commands are indicated by dropping the subject pronoun:
Verbs that do not have true subjects, such as weather terms and expressions such as "it's" (es) or "there are" (ave), are also used alone:
Verbs can be made into adjectives: The active participle
is formed by adding -nte to the verb. For example, come becomes comente, meaning "eating". This should never be used as a gerund, as it often is in English.
The active participle can follow the verb "to be" and can be used to express what in other languages is the continuous aspect, which emphasizes the idea that the subject is in the midst of an activity or process:
The passive participle
is formed by adding -da to the verb. For example, come becomes comeda, meaning "eaten". This should not be confused with the past tense.
The passive participle can also follow the verb "to be" and be used to express the passive voice:
Verbs can be used as nouns without change. For example, dansa, as a verb, means "dance/dances", but un dansa is "a dance" and la dansa is "the dance." Without an article, the word serves as an infinitive
or gerund
, so "to dance is good" and "dancing is good" are both translated as dansa es bon. This is also the form used when one verb follows another. "I want to dance," for example, is simply me vole dansa.
In LFN, verbs often come in pairs. Some "leading" verbs are like modal verbs in English. However, the idea of leading verbs goes beyond modals to include attitudinal verbs:
There is no equivalent to the word "to," and the following verb is left in its simplest form:
s follow the noun they modify, with two exceptions: Bon (good) and mal (bad) may come before the noun, due to their frequent use, making it more convenient for placing other modifiers after the noun. Unlike the natural Romance languages, adjectives in LFN do not have gender or plural forms, i.e. they don't "agree" with the nouns they describe.
The comparative
is made with plu (more) or min (less). "The most" is la plu and "the least" is la min:
Equivalence is indicated with tan... como:
Like verbs, adjectives can be used as nouns. For example, bela means "beautiful", but un bela means "a beautiful one" or "a beauty." This works with participles, too: la studiante and la studiada mean "the student" and "the studied," respectively, from the verb studia, "study."
An adjective can be made into an abstract noun by adding -ia (-ity, -ness, -ship, -hood). In this way bela becomes belia, meaning beauty. This can also be used with nouns: madre (mother) becomes madria (motherhood).
s. Instead, any adjective can be used as an adverb by placing it after a verb or at the very beginning of the sentence. Un om felis for example means "a happy man", whereas el dansa felis means "he/she dances happily". Adverbs used to modify adjectives precede the adjective. Here are examples of common adverbs:
is placed after the noun being modified, or, if used adverbially, after the verb or at the beginning of the sentence. There are 22 basic prepositions in LFN:
A few participles can also be used as prepositions. For example:
Some prepositions can be used as adverbs by placing a before them. For example:
in LFN:
For example:
s that are used to introduce question
s:
(Most of these are also used to introduce subordinate clauses, discussed below.)
For example:
Questions may include one of these words or may be indicated by rising intonation alone. One may also express questions by beginning the sentence with the interrogative particle esce ("is it that... ?") or by adding no (no) or si (yes) to the end of the sentence, after a comma. In writing, questions always end with a question mark (?):
Relative clauses follow the noun or noun phrase that they modify:
Relative pronouns may be preceded by prepositions:
There are also five relative adverbs:
Like relative pronouns, these are used to introduce adjective clauses:
Noun clauses function the same way that nouns and noun phrases do in a sentence. Two subordinating conjunctions commonly introduce noun clauses:
For example:
The relative pronouns and adverbs mentioned above can also introduce noun clauses:
Adverbial clauses function like adverbs, modifying the verb or the sentence as a whole. Some are introduced by these subordinating conjunctions:
Adverbial clauses usually follow the main clause:
Some of the same adverbs used for relative and noun clauses can be used to introduce adverbial clauses:
Do and cuando are often preceded by prepositions:
For example:
Higher numbers are constructed as follows:
Numbers that express the order of things are the same, except that they follow the noun, e.g. la om tre, "the third man," instead of la tre omes, "the three men." For "the third", one uses "numero tre".
Fractions are constructed with -i, e.g. dui, tri, cuatri,... desi, senti, mili, etc.
Multiples and groups can be referred to with -uple, as in duple - double, duo, couple, pair.
The most common suffixes are -or, -ador, and -eria, which refer to a person, a device, and a place respectively. They can be added to any noun, adjective, or verb. For example:
Another useful suffix is -i which, added to an adjective and some nouns, means "to become" or "to cause to become." It is also used with names for tools, machines, or supplies with the meaning "to use." For example:
Two more common suffixes are -eta, which means a small version of something, and -on, which means a large version of something. (They are not, however, simply synonyms for small and large!) For example:
There are a few suffixes that turn nouns into adjectives: -al means "pertaining to...," -in means "similar to...," -os means "full of..." For example:
Other suffixes include -able (-able), -isme (-ism), and -iste (-ist).
There are also three common prefixes. Non- means not or un-, re- means again or in the opposite direction, and des- means to undo. For example:
Other prefixes include pos- (post-), pre- (pre-), supra- (super-), su- (sub-), media- (mid-), vis- (vice-), and auto- (auto-, self-)
Words may also be created by joining two existing words (compounds)
. Most compounds in LFN are nouns constructed from a verb and its object:
Similarly, bon (good) and mal (bad) can be joined to other words:
Two nouns are never joined (as they often are in English), but are linked with de or other prepositions instead:
A complete list of LFN affixes can be found at the LFN wiki.
Car la nonconose e la despeta de la diretos umana ia porta atas de barbaria cual ofende la consiensa de umania, e car la veni de un mundo do la esentes umana va es libre per parla e crea e librida de temia e de miseria, es proclamada como la aspira la plu alta de esentes umana;
Car es esensal ce la diretos umana es protejeda par un sistem de diretos, afin no person es forsada, como un recurso ultima, a la rebelia contra tirania e oprimi;
Car es esensal promove la developa de relates bonvolente entre nasiones;
Car en la Carta, la poplas de la Nasiones Unida proclama se fida en la diretos umana fundal, en la dinia e la valua de la person umana, en la egalia de diretos de omes e de femes, e car los ia decide promove la progresa sosial e leva la cualia de vive con un libria plu completa;
Car la statos cual es membros promete securi, en coopera con la Nasiones Unida, la respeta e la oserva universal de diretos umana e libria fundal;
E car un conseta comun de esta diretos e librias es la plu importante per la completi plen de esta promete -
La Asemblea Jeneral proclama esta Declara Universal de Diretos Umana como un ideal comun per la aspira de tota la poplas e nasiones, afin cada person e cada organo sosial, con esta Declara en mente constante, va promove la respeta de esta diretos e librias par eleva e instrui, e par mesuras progresante, e nasional e internasional, va securi la reconose e aplica universal e produinte, entre la poplas de la statos parteninte e de la teritorios su se autoria legal.
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
created by Dr. C. George Boeree of Shippensburg University, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Its vocabulary is based on the Romance languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, and Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
. The grammar is highly reduced and similar to the Romance creoles. The language has phonemic spelling, using 22 letters of either the Latin
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
or Cyrillic
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
alphabets.
History and community
Boeree began working on LFN in 1965, with the goal to create a simple, creole-like international auxiliary languageInternational auxiliary language
An international auxiliary language or interlanguage is a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language...
. He was inspired by the Mediterranean Lingua Franca
Mediterranean Lingua Franca
The Mediterranean Lingua Franca or Sabir was a pidgin language used as a lingua franca in the Mediterranean Basin from the 11th to the 19th century.-History:...
, a pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
used in the Mediterranean in centuries past, and by creoles
Creole language
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
such as Papiamento
Papiamento
Papiamento is the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean ABC islands, having the official status on the islands of Aruba and Curaçao. The language is also recognized on Bonaire by the Dutch government....
, Haitian Creole, and Bislama. He used French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, and Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
as the basis for his new language.
LFN was first presented on the Internet in 1998. A Yahoo! Group
Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups is one of the world’s largest collections of online discussion boards. The term Groups refers to Internet communication which is a hybrid between an electronic mailing list and a threaded Internet forum, in other words, Group messages can be read and posted by e-mail or on the Group's...
was formed in 2002 by Bjorn Madsen and today has more than 250 members. Group members have contributed significantly to the further evolution of the language. Stefan Fisahn created a wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
for the language in 2005. A few issues of a journal called Orizones Nova (New Horizons) were published online by David MacLeod in late 2006 and early 2007. Also in 2007, Igor Vasiljevic began a Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page, which now has over 70 members. LFN was given an ISO 639-3 designation (lfn) by SIL in January 2008. The site moved to Wikia
Wikia
Wikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...
in 2009. It has over 1800 articles and 42,000 edits as of January 1, 2011.
Introductions and "LFN for Travellers" are available in 12 languages. The searchable "master" dictionary (LFN - English / English - LFN) was updated by Simon Davies in 2008. As of January 1, 2011, it has over 15,000 entries. There is also a LFN - French dictionary and seven small dictionaries available in other languages as well as a wikibooks tutorial in eight languages. Many texts have been translated and included in the wiki, including Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's Alice in Wonderland. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , officially Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint Exupéry , was a French writer, poet and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of France's highest literary awards, and in 1939 was the winner of the U.S. National Book Award...
's The Little Prince, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' Christmas Carol, and Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
's Letters from the Earth. There are also many poems, both translated and original.
Pronunciation and orthography
LFN can be written with either the LatinLatin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
or Cyrillic alphabet:
| Latin | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | l | m | n | o | p | r | s | t | u | v | x | z |
| Cyrillic | а | б | к | д | е | ф | г | х | и | ж | л | м | н | о | п | р | с | т | у | в | ш | з |
| IPA | [a] | [b] | [k] | [d] | [e] | [f] | [ɡ] | [h] | [i/j] | [ʒ] | [l] | [m] | [n/ŋ] | [o] | [p] | [r] | [s] | [t] | [u/w] | [v] | [ʃ] | [z] |
| Names | a | be | ce | de | e | ef | ge | hax | i | je | el | em | en | o | pe | er | es | te | u | ve | ex | ze |
Vowels
LFN vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) are pronounced as in Spanish (approximately as ah, eh, ee, oh, and oo.) In IPA:| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
|
|---|---|---|
| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i | u |
| Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel... |
e | o |
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a | |
Because there are only five vowels, variations in pronunciation rarely cause problems.
Diphthongs are ai [ai], au [au], eu [eu], and oi [oi] (approximately as in my, cow, "eh-w," and boy).
Consonants
Most of the consonants are pronounced as in English, except that c is always pronounced k as in cat (even before e or i), g is always ɡ as in go, j is pronounced as in French (ʒ like the z in azure), r is pronounced as in Italian, and x is pronounced like sh ʃ. In IPA:| Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
Labio- dental Labiodental consonant In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.-Labiodental consonant in IPA:The labiodental consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Post- alveolar Postalveolar consonant Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | k | ɡ | ||||||||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
f | v | s | z | ʃ | ʒ | h | |||||||
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | ŋ1 | |||||||||||
| Trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular.... |
r | |||||||||||||
| Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
w2 | l | j3 | |||||||||||
- 1 The letter n before c or g is pronounced [ŋ] as in ring, as is final -ng in a few borrowed words.
- 2 The letter u is pronounced as w [w] between vowels or initially before a vowel. Cu and gu before a vowel are pronounced as cw [kw] and gw [gw].
- 3 The letter i is pronounced as y [j] between vowels or initially before a vowel. Li and ni between vowels are pronounced as ly [lj] and ny [nj].
The letters k, q, w, and y may be used in proper names from other languages and are pronounced [k], [k], [u] or [w], and [i] or [j], respectively. They are placed in their usual positions in the alphabet. The letter h is seldom used and may be left unpronounced if the speaker finds it difficult. It is also used to represent [x] as in "Bach" and similar fricatives in borrowed words.
Stress
Although stressStress (linguistics)
In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...
is not a critical factor in LFN, there are a few standards.
- In most cases, stress is on the vowel before the last consonant:
- abeon [a be 'on] - bumblebee
- varia ['va ri a] - vary
- If there is no vowel before the last consonant, the stress falls on the first vowel:
- te ['te] - tea
- tio ['ti o] - uncle
- In words that end in double vowels (except ia, ie, io, ua, ue, or uo), the stress is on the first of the two vowels:
- cacau [ka 'kau] - cocoa
- produi [pro 'du i] - produce
- Between two other vowels and in cu or gu before another vowel, i and u are actually consonants, and the accent is placed accordingly:
- maio ['ma jo] - May
- sangui ['saŋ gwi] - bleed
- The plural in -s or -es does not alter the original stress:
- casas ['ka sas] - houses
- ideas [i 'de as] - ideas
Overview
LFN is an SVOSVO
SVO is an acronym for several terms:* Mustang SVO, a car developed by Ford Motor Company* Saturn Valley Online, an EarthBound MMORPG.* Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, IATA Airport Code...
(subject-verb-object) language. Modifiers generally follow what they modify, as do prepositional phrases and subordinate clauses
Clause
In grammar, a clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. In some languages it may be a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in other languages in certain clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase,...
.
Nouns are usually preceded by articles
Article (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
(la or un) or other determiners. Other than the plural in -s or -es, nouns are invariant. A noun's role in a sentence is determined by word order and prepositions.
The personal pronouns are invariant: me, tu, el, nos, vos, los. Possessive determiners are the same except for the third person, which uses se. A variety of other pronouns are identical to or derived from the determiners.
Verbs are invariant. Tense
Tense
Tense may refer to:*Grammatical tense, a temporal linguistic quality expressing the time at, during, or over which a state or action denoted by a verb occurs...
and mood
Mood
Mood may refer to:*Mood , a relatively long lasting emotional state*Grammatical mood, one of a set of morphologically distinctive forms that are used to signal modality*Mood , a city in Iran*Mood District, a district in Iran...
are indicated by preceding particles: ia for the past, va for the future, and ta for the conditional (optional). The active participle
Participle
In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier...
ends in -nte and the passive participle in -da. The infinitive
Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
is the same as the basic verb.
Adjectives are invariant, and adverbs are not distinguished from adjectives. The comparative
Comparative
In grammar, the comparative is the form of an adjective or adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person, thing, or other entity has a property or quality greater or less in extent than that of another, and is used in this context with a subordinating conjunction, such as than,...
is formed with plu or min, the superlative
Superlative
In grammar, the superlative is the form of an adjective that indicates that the person or thing modified has the quality of the adjective to a degree greater than that of anything it is being compared to in a given context. English superlatives are typically formed with the suffix -est In...
with la plu or la min.
Complete detailed grammars of LFN are available in English, French, Russian, Esperanto, and LFN
Word order
LFN has a strict word orderWord order
In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
. The general word order is:
- subject noun phrase - verb phrase (- object noun phrase)
- Joan core - "John runs"
- Maria oia Joan - "Maria hears John"
A noun phrase
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
has this order:
- (determiners -) noun (- adjectives)
- La tre omes grande... - "The three large men..."
- La multe femes peti... - "The many small women..."
A verb phrase
Verb phrase
In linguistics, a verb phrase or VP is a syntactic unit composed of at least one verb and the dependents of that verb. One can distinguish between two types of VPs, finite VPs and non-finite VPs . While phrase structure grammars acknowledge both, dependency grammars reject the existence of a...
has this order:
- (tense -) (leading verb -) verb (- adverb)
- ...ia nesesa come rapida - "...needed to eat quickly..."
- ...va debe come lente - "...will have to eat slowly..."
A prepositional phrase
Adpositional phrase
An adpositional phrase is a linguistics term defining a syntactic category that includes prepositional phrases and postpositional phrases. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition in the head position and usually a complement such as a noun phrase...
generally follows what it modifies, and has this order:
- preposition - noun phrase
- ...en la cosina - "...in the kitchen"
- ...pos medianote - "...after midnight"
Nouns
The roles of nouns in a sentence are indicated through prepositions and word order. There are no casesGrammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
.
Plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
nouns are formed by appending -s to nouns ending in vowels or -es to nouns ending in consonants. This does not alter the stress:
- casa > casas - house > houses
- fem > femes - woman > women
Gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
is typically not indicated. If necessary, nouns may be followed by mas (male) or fema (female):
- un cavalo mas - a male horse, a stallion
- un cavalo fema - a female horse, a mare
A small number of traditional roles have a female form in -esa. For example:
- prinse / prinsesa - prince / princess
- conte / contesa - count / countess
A number of terms for family members have males ending in -o and females in -a. For example:
- fio / fia - son / daughter
- sposo / sposa - husband / wife
- xico / xica - boy / girl
And a few terms use distinct forms. For example:
- madre / padre - mother / father
- sore / frate - sister / brother
- fem / om - woman / man
Apposition
Apposition
Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side, with one element serving to define or modify the other. When this device is used, the two elements are said to be in apposition...
- the use of one noun to modify another - is mostly limited to names and titles:
- san Josef - Saint Joseph
- me sore Maria - my sister Mary
- Los ia nomi el Joan - "They named him John."
Determiners
Determiners in LFN precede the noun they modify. There are two articlesArticle (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
: la (the) and un (a). As in English, un is not used before plural nouns. One may use de (of) before mass nouns, if desired:
- la om, un fem, e enfantes - the man, a woman, and children
- Me come de pan e ceso - "I eat bread and cheese."
Pronouns serving as possessives are also used as determiners, as are numbers indicating quantity:
- me gato - my cat
- tre gatos - three cats
Other words function similarly:
| tota - all ambos - both esta - this, these acel - that, those ce - what cual - which cuanto - how many, how much cada - every, each cualce - whatever, whichever alga - some |
no - no, zero multe - many, much poca - few, little plu - more min - less, fewer otra - other mesma - same sola - only tal - such |
Pronouns
Personal pronounPronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...
s are invariant:
| me - I, me tu - you (singular) el - she, her, he, him, it |
nos - we, us vos - you (plural) los - they, them |
There are no gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
distinctions between "he", "she", and "it". If gender is significant, one can use words like la fem, la om, la xica, la xico, la cosa, la idea, esta, acel (the woman, the man, the girl, the boy, the thing, the idea, this, that), etc.
Unlike in the Romance languages, there is no polite/impolite contrast for the second person: tu is always used for the singular, vos always for the plural.
The reflexive pronouns are also me, tu, nos, and vos, which may be followed by mesma. For the third person, singular and plural, lfn uses se:
- Me ia lava me - "I washed myself."
- El ama se - "He loves himself."
There is an indefinite pronoun on, which is used like German "man" or French "on":
- On debe segue la regulas - "One must follow the rules."
Me, tu, nos, and vos become possessive
Possessive
Possessive may be:* Possessive case* Possessive adjective* Possessive pronoun* Possessive suffix* Possessive construction, pattern among words indicating possession * For possessive behavior in a relationship, see Attachment in adults...
by putting them in front of the noun possessed where they function as determiners. They are commonly preceded by la. The possessive determiner for the third person, singular and plural, is se:
- La tu gato es ala - "Your cat is over there."
- No, acel es se gato - "No, that is their cat."
- La me desira es fol - "My desire is foolish."
There are no separate possessive pronouns such as "mine". Instead one uses expressions such as de me and el de me, or repeats the noun:
- Esta es de me - "This is mine."
- El de me es plu grande ce el de tu - "Mine is bigger than yours."
- Me padre es plu grande ce tu padre - "My father is bigger than your father."
Many of the determiners can also be used as pronouns:
| esta, estas - this, these acel, aceles - that, those otra, otras - other, others tota - all ambos - both |
cada - each cualce - any alga - some multe - many, much poca - few, little |
Other pronouns and pronomial expressions, derived from determiners, include the following:
| cadun - everyone, everybody algun - someone, somebody cualcun - whomever, anyone, anybody nun - no one, nobody la un la otra - one another, each other |
cada cosa - everything alga cosa - something cualce cosa - whatever, anything no cosa - nothing la un con la otra - together |
Verbs
There are no conjugationsGrammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
of verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s in LFN. The basic form remains the same regardless of person, number, or tense.
The present tense
Present tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
is represented by the basic verb:
- La om come - "The man eats", "The man is eating."
The present tense is also used to indicate habitual actions and states, facts of nature, and as a "historical" tense, such as when relating a story that has been clearly established as occurring in the past:
- La sol leva en la este - "The sun rises in the east."
- Me labora a la universia - "I work at the university."
The past tense
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
is indicated by the particle ia:
- Maria ia come - "Maria ate."
The future tense
Future tense
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
is indicated by the particle va:
- Joan va come pronto - "John will eat soon."
There is an optional particle ta, which indicates unreality and can be used where other languages might use a conditional
Conditional mood
In linguistics, the conditional mood is the inflectional form of the verb used in the independent clause of a conditional sentence to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event, that is contingent on another set of circumstances...
or subjunctive mood:
- Me ia duta ce el ta vade - "I doubted he would go."
- Me ta es felis si la sol brilia – "I would be happy if the sun were shining."
Certain adverbs and verbal constructions add precision to the tenses:
- Me come aora - "I am eating now."
- Me ia come resente - "I ate recently."
- Me va come pronto - "I will eat soon."
- Me ia come a ante - "I ate before."
- Me va come a pos - "I will eat afterwards."
- Me ia fini leje la libro - "I finished reading the book."
- Me ia comensa leje la libro - "I began to read the book."
The adverb ja, meaning "already," may be used to express what in other languages is the perfect:
- Me ia come ja - "I ate already", "I have eaten", "I had eaten."
Negation is indicated by putting no before the tense particle or (in the present tense) the verb. Double negatives should be avoided:
- El no ia pensa ce algun es asi – "He didn't think anyone was here."
- Me no parti - "I'm not leaving."
Commands are indicated by dropping the subject pronoun:
- Vade! - "Go!"
- Boli la acua! - "Boil the water!"
Verbs that do not have true subjects, such as weather terms and expressions such as "it's" (es) or "there are" (ave), are also used alone:
- Va pluve - "It's going to rain."
- Es tro calda en esta sala - "It is too hot in this room."
- Pare ce tu es coreta - "It seems that you are correct."
- No ave pexes en esta lago - "There aren't fish in this lake."
Verbs can be made into adjectives: The active participle
Participle
In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier...
is formed by adding -nte to the verb. For example, come becomes comente, meaning "eating". This should never be used as a gerund, as it often is in English.
The active participle can follow the verb "to be" and can be used to express what in other languages is the continuous aspect, which emphasizes the idea that the subject is in the midst of an activity or process:
- Nos ia es comente cuando la tempesta ia comensa - "We were eating when the storm began."
The passive participle
Participle
In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier...
is formed by adding -da to the verb. For example, come becomes comeda, meaning "eaten". This should not be confused with the past tense.
The passive participle can also follow the verb "to be" and be used to express the passive voice:
- Si los no es cauta, los va es comeda par selacos - "If they are not careful, they will be eaten by sharks."
Verbs can be used as nouns without change. For example, dansa, as a verb, means "dance/dances", but un dansa is "a dance" and la dansa is "the dance." Without an article, the word serves as an infinitive
Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
or gerund
Gerund
In linguistics* As applied to English, it refers to the usage of a verb as a noun ....
, so "to dance is good" and "dancing is good" are both translated as dansa es bon. This is also the form used when one verb follows another. "I want to dance," for example, is simply me vole dansa.
In LFN, verbs often come in pairs. Some "leading" verbs are like modal verbs in English. However, the idea of leading verbs goes beyond modals to include attitudinal verbs:
| atenta - try debe - should, must espera - hope espeta - expect finje - pretend gusta - like menasa - threaten |
nesesa - need odi - hate osa - dare pare - seem pote - can, may teme - fear vole - want |
There is no equivalent to the word "to," and the following verb is left in its simplest form:
- Me va atenta vola doman. - "I will try to fly tomorrow."
- On debe brosi la dentes a cada dia. - "One should brush one's teeth every day."
Adjectives
AdjectiveAdjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s follow the noun they modify, with two exceptions: Bon (good) and mal (bad) may come before the noun, due to their frequent use, making it more convenient for placing other modifiers after the noun. Unlike the natural Romance languages, adjectives in LFN do not have gender or plural forms, i.e. they don't "agree" with the nouns they describe.
The comparative
Comparative
In grammar, the comparative is the form of an adjective or adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person, thing, or other entity has a property or quality greater or less in extent than that of another, and is used in this context with a subordinating conjunction, such as than,...
is made with plu (more) or min (less). "The most" is la plu and "the least" is la min:
- Jan es plu bon ce Jo. - "Jan is better than Jo."
- Ma Jil es la plu bon. - "But Jill is the best."
Equivalence is indicated with tan... como:
- Marco es tan grande como Mona. - "Mark is as big as Mona."
Like verbs, adjectives can be used as nouns. For example, bela means "beautiful", but un bela means "a beautiful one" or "a beauty." This works with participles, too: la studiante and la studiada mean "the student" and "the studied," respectively, from the verb studia, "study."
An adjective can be made into an abstract noun by adding -ia (-ity, -ness, -ship, -hood). In this way bela becomes belia, meaning beauty. This can also be used with nouns: madre (mother) becomes madria (motherhood).
Adverbs
LFN doesn't have an explicit way of marking adverbAdverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
s. Instead, any adjective can be used as an adverb by placing it after a verb or at the very beginning of the sentence. Un om felis for example means "a happy man", whereas el dansa felis means "he/she dances happily". Adverbs used to modify adjectives precede the adjective. Here are examples of common adverbs:
| ala - there alora - then ance - also, too ancora - still, yet aora - now asi - here bon - well denova - again doman - tomorrow |
ier - yesterday mal - badly nunca - never oji - today pronto - soon sempre - always sola - only tarda - late temprana - early |
Prepositions
Prepositions are placed before the noun or noun phrase, and the prepositional phraseAdpositional phrase
An adpositional phrase is a linguistics term defining a syntactic category that includes prepositional phrases and postpositional phrases. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition in the head position and usually a complement such as a noun phrase...
is placed after the noun being modified, or, if used adverbially, after the verb or at the beginning of the sentence. There are 22 basic prepositions in LFN:
| a - at, to ante - before, in front of asta - near, beside, until ce - than como - like con - with contra - against de - of, from, since en - in, into, during entre - between, among estra - out of, except |
longo - along par - by per - for, in order to pos - after, behind, according to sin - without sirca - around, approximately su - below, under, beneath supra - above, over sur - on, about, concerning tra - through ultra - beyond, past, across |
A few participles can also be used as prepositions. For example:
| consernante - concerning, about esetante - excepting, except |
incluinte - including, with seguente - following, according to |
Some prepositions can be used as adverbs by placing a before them. For example:
| a su - down, below, downstairs a en - in, inside, indoors a pos - afterwards |
a supra - up, above, upstairs a estra - out, outside, outdoors a ante - beforehand |
Coordinating conjunctions
There are several coordinating conjunctionsGrammatical conjunction
In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each...
in LFN:
| e - and o - or ma - but, yet donce - so, therefore |
e... e... - both... and... o... o... - either... or... no... no... - neither... nor... |
For example:
- Luis e me vole vade, ma Maria vole resta asi. - "Louis and I want to go, but Mary wants to stay here."
- No Luis no Maria vole vade, donce me no vole vade ance. - "Neither Louis nor Mary want to go, so I don't want to go either."
Questions
There are a number of interrogative wordInterrogative word
In linguistics, an interrogative word is a function word used for the item interrupted in an information statement. Interrogative words are sometimes called wh-words because most of English interrogative words start with wh-...
s that are used to introduce question
Question
A question may be either a linguistic expression used to make a request for information, or else the request itself made by such an expression. This information may be provided with an answer....
s:
| ce - what ci - who, whom cual - which de ci - whose, of whom cuando - when |
do - where como - how cuanto - how much, how many per ce - why |
(Most of these are also used to introduce subordinate clauses, discussed below.)
For example:
- Cuanto on paia per lete asi? - "How much does one pay for milk here?"
- Cual auto tu gusta la plu? - "Which car do you like the best?"
- Per ce tu no gusta esta? - "Why don't you like this one?"
- Cuando tu espeta ce el ariva? - "When do you expect him to arrive?"
Questions may include one of these words or may be indicated by rising intonation alone. One may also express questions by beginning the sentence with the interrogative particle esce ("is it that... ?") or by adding no (no) or si (yes) to the end of the sentence, after a comma. In writing, questions always end with a question mark (?):
- Como on construi un casa per avias? - "How do you make a bird house?"
- Tu vole dansa? - "Do you want to dance?"
- Esce tu parla Deutx? - "Do you speak German?"
- Tu parla Italian, no? - "You speak Italian, don't you?"
Clauses
Relative clauses (or adjective clauses) function like adjectives. There are two relative pronouns which typically introduce relative clauses:- cual - which, what, that
- ci - who, whom
Relative clauses follow the noun or noun phrase that they modify:
- La fem ci me ama veni de Frans. – "The woman (whom) I love comes from France."
- La robot cual me ia construi no opera. – "The robot (that) I built doesn't work."
Relative pronouns may be preceded by prepositions:
- La cosa per cual me espera la plu es un bisicle nova. - "The thing I wish for the most is a new bicycle."
- La fem de ci nos parla labora a la me ofisia. – "The woman, of whom we speak, works at my office."
There are also five relative adverbs:
| cuando - when do - where como - how, as |
cuanto - how much per ce - why |
Like relative pronouns, these are used to introduce adjective clauses:
- Esta es la site do me vole abita. - "This is the city where I want to live."
- Me ia vade ala en la anio cuando me ia fini la me studias. - "I went there in the year when I finished my studies."
Noun clauses function the same way that nouns and noun phrases do in a sentence. Two subordinating conjunctions commonly introduce noun clauses:
- ce - that
- esce - whether
For example:
- Me pensa ce el es bela. - "I think that she is beautiful."
- La gato entra la sala sin ce algun vide el. - "The cat entered the room without anyone seeing it."
- Me demanda a me esce el ama me. - "I wonder whether she loves me."
The relative pronouns and adverbs mentioned above can also introduce noun clauses:
- Me no pote recorda ci me es. - "I can't remember who I am."
- El sabe cual me desira per natal. - "She knows what I want for Christmas."
- Me no sabe cuando me va parti. - I don't know when I will leave."
- Me no gusta como el parla. - "I don't like how he talks."
- Me comprende per ce tu odi el. - "I understand why you hate him."
Adverbial clauses function like adverbs, modifying the verb or the sentence as a whole. Some are introduced by these subordinating conjunctions:
- si - if
- afin - so that, in order that
- car - because
Adverbial clauses usually follow the main clause:
- Me ta pote vade si me ta ave un auto. - "I would be able to go if I had a car."
- Me no teme la can car el es multe peti. – "I am not afraid of the dog because it is very small."
- Me core afin la rinoseros no catura me. – "I'm running so that the rhinos don't catch me."
Some of the same adverbs used for relative and noun clauses can be used to introduce adverbial clauses:
- La lupos cria cuando los vide la luna - "The wolves howl when they see the moon."
- Me vole abitua do la clima es bon - "I want to live where the weather is good."
- Me vive como me vole vive. - "I live as I want to live."
- E me come cuanto me gusta. - "And I eat as much as I like."
Do and cuando are often preceded by prepositions:
| a do - to where, whither de do - from where, whence ante cuando - before pos cuando - after |
en cuando - while asta cuando - until de cuando - since |
For example:
- El ia pote sci ante cuando el ia pote pasea. - "He could ski before he could walk."
- Me gusta escuta a la radio en cuando me labora. - "I like to listen to the radio while I work."
Numbers
| 0 - zero 1 - un 2 - du 3 - tre 4 - cuatro 5 - sinco |
6 - ses 7 - sete 8 - oto 9 - nove 10 - des |
Higher numbers are constructed as follows:
| 11 - des-un 20 - dudes 100 - sento 101 - sento-un 321 - tresento-dudes-un |
1000 - mil 45 678 - cuatrodes-sinco mil sessento-setedes-oto 1 000 000 - milion 1 000 000 000 - mil milion |
Numbers that express the order of things are the same, except that they follow the noun, e.g. la om tre, "the third man," instead of la tre omes, "the three men." For "the third", one uses "numero tre".
Fractions are constructed with -i, e.g. dui, tri, cuatri,... desi, senti, mili, etc.
Multiples and groups can be referred to with -uple, as in duple - double, duo, couple, pair.
Affixes
LFN has a number of regular affixes that help to create new words.The most common suffixes are -or, -ador, and -eria, which refer to a person, a device, and a place respectively. They can be added to any noun, adjective, or verb. For example:
- carne (meat) + -or > carnor (butcher)
- carne + -eria > carneria (butcher's shop)
- lava (wash) + -eria > laveria (laundry)
- lava + -ador > lavador (washing machine)
Another useful suffix is -i which, added to an adjective and some nouns, means "to become" or "to cause to become." It is also used with names for tools, machines, or supplies with the meaning "to use." For example:
- calda (hot) + -i > caldi (to heat)
- telefon (telephone) + -i > telefoni (to telephone)
Two more common suffixes are -eta, which means a small version of something, and -on, which means a large version of something. (They are not, however, simply synonyms for small and large!) For example:
- bove (cow, cattle) + -eta > boveta (calf)
- tela (cloth) + -on > telon (sheet, tablecloth)
There are a few suffixes that turn nouns into adjectives: -al means "pertaining to...," -in means "similar to...," -os means "full of..." For example:
- nasion (nation) + -al > nasional (national)
- serpente (serpent) + -in > serpentin (serpentine)
- mofo (mold) + -os > mofos (moldy)
Other suffixes include -able (-able), -isme (-ism), and -iste (-ist).
There are also three common prefixes. Non- means not or un-, re- means again or in the opposite direction, and des- means to undo. For example:
- non- + felis (happy) > nonfelis (unhappy)
- re- + pone (place) > repone (replace)
- des- + infeta (infect) > desinfeta (disinfect)
Other prefixes include pos- (post-), pre- (pre-), supra- (super-), su- (sub-), media- (mid-), vis- (vice-), and auto- (auto-, self-)
Words may also be created by joining two existing words (compounds)
Compound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
. Most compounds in LFN are nouns constructed from a verb and its object:
- porta (carry) + candela (candle) > portacandela (candlestick)
- pasa (pass) + tempo (time) > pasatempo (pastime)
- para (stop) + pluve (rain) > parapluve (umbrella)
Similarly, bon (good) and mal (bad) can be joined to other words:
- bon + dise (say) > bondise (bless)
- mal + dise > maldise (curse, badmouth)
Two nouns are never joined (as they often are in English), but are linked with de or other prepositions instead:
- avia de mar - seabird
- casa per avias - birdhouse
- xef de polisia - police chief
A complete list of LFN affixes can be found at the LFN wiki.
Useful phrases
| Lingua Franca Nova | English |
|---|---|
| Serjo: Bon dia, seniora. | Good day, miss. |
| Maria: Alo. | Hello. |
| S: Como es tu? | How are you? |
| M: Bon, e tu? | Good, and you? |
| S: No mal. Ce es tu nom? | Not bad. What is your name? |
| M: Me nom es Maria. | My name is Maria. |
| S: Tu gusta un bir? | Would you like a beer? |
| M: Si, per favore. Grasias! | Yes, please. Thank you! |
| S: No problem! | You're welcome! |
| M: Joia! | Cheers! |
| S: Tu es multe bela. | You are very beautiful. |
| M: Pardona? | Excuse me? |
| S: Me pensa ce me ama tu. | I think I love you. |
| M: Me debe vade aora. | I must go now. |
| S: Asta la ora? | See you later? |
| M: Adio. | Goodbye. |
| S: Bon sera, me cara. | Goodnight, my dear. |
| M: Bon fortuna! | Good luck! |
La Preambul a la Declara Universal de Diretos Umana
Car la reconose de la dinia inerente e la diretos egal e nonalienable de tota la membros de la familia umana es la funda de libria, justia, e pas en la mundo;Car la nonconose e la despeta de la diretos umana ia porta atas de barbaria cual ofende la consiensa de umania, e car la veni de un mundo do la esentes umana va es libre per parla e crea e librida de temia e de miseria, es proclamada como la aspira la plu alta de esentes umana;
Car es esensal ce la diretos umana es protejeda par un sistem de diretos, afin no person es forsada, como un recurso ultima, a la rebelia contra tirania e oprimi;
Car es esensal promove la developa de relates bonvolente entre nasiones;
Car en la Carta, la poplas de la Nasiones Unida proclama se fida en la diretos umana fundal, en la dinia e la valua de la person umana, en la egalia de diretos de omes e de femes, e car los ia decide promove la progresa sosial e leva la cualia de vive con un libria plu completa;
Car la statos cual es membros promete securi, en coopera con la Nasiones Unida, la respeta e la oserva universal de diretos umana e libria fundal;
E car un conseta comun de esta diretos e librias es la plu importante per la completi plen de esta promete -
La Asemblea Jeneral proclama esta Declara Universal de Diretos Umana como un ideal comun per la aspira de tota la poplas e nasiones, afin cada person e cada organo sosial, con esta Declara en mente constante, va promove la respeta de esta diretos e librias par eleva e instrui, e par mesuras progresante, e nasional e internasional, va securi la reconose e aplica universal e produinte, entre la poplas de la statos parteninte e de la teritorios su se autoria legal.
See also
- Lingua francaLingua francaA lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
- Lingua Franca Nova tutorial in Wikibooks
- International auxiliary languageInternational auxiliary languageAn international auxiliary language or interlanguage is a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language...
- List of constructed languages