Macedonian grammar
Encyclopedia
Macedonian grammar refers to the morphology
and syntax
of the Macedonian language
, which is, in many respects, similar to the grammar
of some other Balkan
languages (constituent languages of the Balkan sprachbund) – especially Bulgarian
and Serbian
. The first printed Macedonian grammar is from Gjorgjija Pulevski, which was published in 1880.
Macedonian exhibits a number of grammatical features that distinguish it from most other Slavic languages
, such as the elimination of case declension
, the development of a suffixed definite
article
, and the lack of an infinitival
verb, among others.
and punctuation
of the Macedonian language.
, who based their alphabet on the phonetic alphabet of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić
, though a similar writing system was used by Krste Misirkov
in the late 19th century. The Macedonian language had previously been written using the Early Cyrillic alphabet
and later using the Cyrillic alphabet
with local adaptations from either the Serbian
or Bulgarian alphabets.
The following table provides the upper and lower case forms of the Macedonian alphabet, along with the IPA
value for each letter:
(интерпункција) marks are one or two part graphical marks used in writing, denoting tonal progress, pauses, sentence type (syntactic
use), abbreviation
s, et cetera.
Marks used in Macedonian include period
s (.), question mark
s (?), exclamation mark
s (!), commas
, semicolon
s , colons
(:), dash
es (–), hyphen
s (-), ellipses
(...), different types of inverted commas and quotation mark
s ( ‚‘, „“), bracket
s (, [], {}) (which are for syntactical uses), as well as apostrophes (',’), solidi
(/), equal signs (=), and so forth.
of Macedonian is SVO (subject–verb–object), but word order is variable. Word order may be changed for poetic effect (inversion
is common in poetry
).
s (именки) belong to one of three genders
(masculine, feminine and neuter) and are inflected
for number
(singular and plural), and marginally for case
. The gender opposition is not distinctively marked in the plural .
The Macedonian nominal system distinguishes two numbers
(singular and plural), three genders
(masculine, feminine and neuter), case
and definiteness
. Definiteness is expressed by three definite article
s pertaining to the position of the object (unspecified, proximate and distal) which are suffixed to the noun.
(определен член) is postfixed, as in Bulgarian
, Albanian
and Romanian
. One feature that has no parallel in any other standard Balkan language is the existence of three definite articles pertaining to position of the object: unspecified, proximate (or close) and distal (or distant).
Examples:
is formed by adding the endings –o (for feminine nouns), –u (for masculine monosyllabic nouns), and –e (for masculine polysyllabic nouns). For example, пријател (ˈprijatɛl, "friend") takes the form of пријателе ([priˈjatɛlɛ], "friend!"). The vocative is used almost exclusively for singular masculine and feminine nouns.
('падеж'), i.e., their function in a phrase as subject
(ex. јас 'I'), direct object (него 'him'), or object of a preposition (од неа 'from her').
Based on their meaning and their function in a sentence, pronouns fall into in one of the following categories:
: tense, mood, person, type, transitiveness, voice, gender and number.
According to the categorization, all Macedonian verbs are divided into three major subgroups: a-subgroup, e-subgroup and i-subgroup. Furthermore, the e-subgroup is divided into three more subgroups: a-, e- and i-subgroups. This division is done according to the ending (or the last vowel) of the verb in the simple present, singular, third person.
Simple verb forms
Complex verb forms
The Present tense in Macedonian (сегашно време, segašno vreme) is used to express present actions and actions that overlap with the moment of speaking and this meaning is expressed with the use of imperfective verbs. Besides that, the Present tense can be formed with the perfective verbs as well, but then it is not true present action, but more likely future in the past. Besides the present action, with the forms of present tense there is possibility to express:
The forms of the Present simple
in Macedonian are made by adding suffixes to the verb steams. In the following tables are shown the suffixes that are used in Macedonian and one example for each verb subgroup.
Note: ∅ indicates a zero ending.
Here are some examples where the usage of Present tense in Macedonian is applied:
The imperfect or in Macedonian called as past definite incomplete tense (минато определено несвршено време, minato opredeleno nesvršeno vreme) is used to express past actions where the speaker is a witness of it or took participation in it. In order to express such an action or state, imperfective verbs are used. Also, there is a possibility to express an action with perfective verbs, but then before the verb there should be some of these prepositions or particles: ако (ako, if), да (da, to) or ќе (kje, will). It is important to mention that when perfective verbs are used, then there is expression of conditional mood, past-in-the-future or other perfective aspects, but not witnessed past actions. Besides the basic usage of the Imperfect, with this tense in Macedonian can be expressed and:
The suffixes used to make the Imperfect are:
* - The suffix -ja is used for verbs of I- and E-subgroups where the word steam ends on vowel,
for example mie - mieja (wash - were washing), pee - peeja (sing - were singing).
As an exemplification of the mentioned usages, here are some sentences:
The aorist
or in Macedonian called as past definite complete tense (минато определено свршено време, minato opredeleno svršeno vreme) is a verb form that is used to express past finished and completed action or event, with or without speakers participation in it. The duration of the action that is expressed with the aorist can be long or short. For aorist, in Macedonian are used perfective verbs, but sometimes, though very rarely, in non-standard folk speech there may be usage of imperfective verbs. Besides this basic usage, the aorist also can be used to express:
The formation of the aorist for most verbs is not complex, but there are numerous small subcategories which must be learned. While all verbs in the aorist (except сум) take the same endings, there are complexities in the aorist stem vowel and possible consonant alternations.
Note: ∅ indicates a zero ending. The suffix -ja is used for verbs of the I-division of I-subgroup and for the division of E-subgroup without vowel, i.e. izmi - izmija (wash - washed)
The following tables show the paradigm of the aorist for all three major verb subgroups and their divisions:
In the following section are given some examples about the mentioned usage above:
The Macedonian tense known as минато неопределено свршено време/ minato neopredeleno svršeno vreme ("past indefinite complete tense") functions similarly as the English Present Perfect Simple. The forms of the Macedonian present perfect are formed with the forms of "to be" in present tense plus the L-form of the conjuncted verb, which is always perfective. Important to note is that for third person singular there is no presence of the verb "to be". The declination of one perfective verb in Macedonian looks as the following one, which is the verb прочита (read):
As an example of this tense, the sentence "I have read the book" is taken and translated in Macedonian:
The English tense Present Perfect Continuous functions similarly as the Macedonian tense минато неопределено несвршено време/ minato neopredeleno nesvršeno vreme ("past indefinite incomplete tense"). This perfect tense is formed similarly as the Present Perfect Simple i.e. with the forms of "to be" in present tense plus the L-form of the conjuncted verb, but this time the verb is imperfective. Important to note is that for third person singular there is no presence of the verb "to be". The declination of one imperfective verb in Macedonian looks as the following one, which is the verb чита (read):
As an example of this tense, the sentence "I have been reading the book" is taken and translated in Macedonian:
With the forms of Future tense in Macedonian are expressed actions that are planned to happen in future. Usually, when we speak about future, we mean expressing events that should happen soon, however, there is a special form in Macedonian to express future events from past perspective, or event that happened after some other event and this is treated as separate tense called Future-in-the-past.
The simple future tense is formed by adding the clitic ќе (kje or ḱe) to the inflected present tense form of the verb. In this respect, both Macedonian and Bulgarian differ from other South Slavic languages
, since in both the clitic is fixed, whereas in Serbo-Croatian
it inflects for person and number . The negative form of the future tense in Macedonian is made by adding the particles нема да (nema + da) or just не (ne) before the verb patter, where as the interrogative form is made by adding the question word дали (dali), also before the verb pattern. When we use the negative form nema da, there is not presence of the clitic ḱe. Usually, ḱe in English is translated with the modal verb will, and vice versa. When an event is expressed with the use of ḱe, then it is considered normal future, but there is a stronger future event as well which is made with the construction: има (ima, have) + да (da, to) + present simple form of the verb.
Besides the main usage, the future tense is used to express:
Some of these mentioned rules, can be recognized in the following examples:
Future-in-the-past is expressed by means of the same clitic and a past tense inflected form of the verb:
In this respect, Macedonian is different from Bulgarian: Macedonian is consistent in the use of ќе as a clitic, whereas the equivalent Bulgarian construction involves the inflection of the clitic for tense, person and number as a regular verb (щях да дойда, "I would [have] come"; щеше да дойде, "he would [have] come").
An interesting fact is that a past tense form of the verb can be used in a future sense as well, although this construction is mostly limited to older speakers.
Examples:
s (придавки) agree with nouns in gender
, number
and definiteness
with their noun and usually appear before it.
(степен на придавки) – positive
, comparative
and superlative
. The positive form is identical to all the aforementioned forms. The other two are formed regularly, by prepending the particle
по and the word нај directly before the positive to form the comparative and superlative, respectively, regardless of its comprising one or two words.
Macedonian only has one adjective that has an irregular comparative – многу.
A subtype of the superlative – the absolute superlative – also present in some other South Slavic languages
and Romance languages
(such as Italian
and Spanish
), expresses the highest quality without comparison. It is formed by prefix
ing the particle пре to an adjective, roughly corresponding to the English
very + adjective or too + adjective combinations.
or in Macedonian фразеологизми (frazeologizmi). The phraseological units have special linguistic characteristics and meaning. Within one sentence, the words may be joined together in order to create units of various types. For instance, the word nut can be combined with many adjectives, such as big nut, small nut etc. Moreover, the word nut can be combined with other parts of speech as well, such as with verbs as in the sentence I ate a nut.
These types of combinations are led by the general principles of the phraseology
, which states that the words in the sentences can be freely combined. Within these combinations or collocations, each word keeps its original meaning, so the meaning of the whole construction is equal to the meaning of its constituents.
Besides the word construction with loose connections, in Macedonian there are word constructions that are not freely combined, which means they are permanently combined together. As an illustration of these two types of connections are the following sentences, where the noun phrase "hard nut" is used:
In the first sentence, "hard nut" is a common collocation, where the words are connected freely and can be changed with other words in different contexts. On the other hand, in the second sentence the noun phrase "hard nut" (i.e. a hard nut to crack) is an expression that means "strong, unbreakable" and the words are in strong connection and they are not changed with other words. If these words are changed, the meaning of the phrase will be lost.
that studies the names, surnames and nicknames of the Macedonian language
and people. This is relatively new linguistic discipline. In Macedonia, and in the Macedonistics in general, it developed during the 19th century, where the first few research results have been provided. The Onomastics for a long period of time has been considered as part of various different scientific disciplines, such as Geography
, History
or Ethnography
, until it became a discipline on its own in the 20th century. The Macedonian Onomastics, generally speaking, is divided into toponomastics and anthroponomastics.
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
and syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
of the Macedonian language
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
, which is, in many respects, similar to the grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
of some other Balkan
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
languages (constituent languages of the Balkan sprachbund) – especially Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
and Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
. The first printed Macedonian grammar is from Gjorgjija Pulevski, which was published in 1880.
Macedonian exhibits a number of grammatical features that distinguish it from most other Slavic languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
, such as the elimination of case declension
Grammatical 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...
, the development of a suffixed definite
Definiteness
In grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context and entities which are not ....
article
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...
, and the lack of an infinitival
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...
verb, among others.
Orthography
The Macedonian orthography (правопис, pravopis) encompasses the spellingSpelling
Spelling is the writing of one or more words with letters and diacritics. In addition, the term often, but not always, means an accepted standard spelling or the process of naming the letters...
and punctuation
Punctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...
of the Macedonian language.
Alphabet
The modern Macedonian alphabet was developed by linguists in the period after the Second World WarWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, who based their alphabet on the phonetic alphabet of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić
Vuk Stefanovic Karadžic
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić was a Serbian philolog and linguist, the major reformer of the Serbian language, and deserves, perhaps, for his collections of songs, fairy tales, and riddles to be called the father of the study of Serbian folklore. He was the author of the first Serbian dictionary...
, though a similar writing system was used by Krste Misirkov
Krste Misirkov
Krste Petkov Misirkov was a philologist, slavist, historian, ethnographer, publicist author of the first book and scientific magazine in Macedonian, where he for the first time outlined the principles of the literary Macedonian language...
in the late 19th century. The Macedonian language had previously been written using the Early Cyrillic alphabet
Early Cyrillic alphabet
The Early Cyrillic alphabet is a writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th or 10th century to write the Old Church Slavonic liturgical language...
and later using the Cyrillic alphabet
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...
with local adaptations from either the Serbian
Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...
or Bulgarian alphabets.
The following table provides the upper and lower case forms of the Macedonian alphabet, along with the IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
value for each letter:
| Cyrillic IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic... |
А а A (Cyrillic) A is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents an open front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨a⟩ in "father".The Cyrillic letter A is romanized using the Latin letter A.-History:... /a/ |
Б б Be (Cyrillic) Be is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It commonly represents the voiced bilabial plosive , like the English pronunciation of ⟨b⟩ in "bee"... /b/ |
В в Ve (Cyrillic) Ve is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiced labiodental fricative , like the pronunciation of ⟨v⟩ in "very".... /v/ |
Г г Ge (Cyrillic) Ge is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It is also known in some languages as He. In Unicode this letter is called "Ghe".It commonly represents the voiced velar plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨g⟩ in "go".... /ɡ/ |
Д д De (Cyrillic) De is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.De commonly represents the voiced dental plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨d⟩ in admit.De is romanized using the Latin letter D.-History:... /d/ |
Ѓ ѓ Gje Gje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is used in Macedonian to represent the voiced palatal plosive or the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate , similar to the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jet".... /ɟ/ |
Е е Ye (Cyrillic) Ye is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. In some languages this letter is called E.It commonly represents the vowel or , like the pronunciation of ⟨e⟩ in "yes".Ye is romanized using the Latin letter E.... /ɛ/ |
Ж ж Zhe (Cyrillic) Zhe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiced postalveolar fricative , like the pronunciation of ⟨s⟩ in "treasure".Zhe is romanized as ⟨zh⟩ or ⟨ž⟩.-History:... /ʒ/ |
З з Ze (Cyrillic) Ze is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiced alveolar fricative , like the pronunciation of ⟨z⟩ in "zoo".Ze is romanized using the Latin letter ⟨z⟩.... /z/ |
Ѕ ѕ Dze Dze is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used in the Macedonian language to represent the voiced alveolar affricate , pronounced like ⟨ds⟩ in "pods".... /dz/ |
И и I (Cyrillic) I is a letter used in almost all ancient and modern Cyrillic alphabets.It commonly represents the close front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨i⟩ in "machine", or the near-close near-front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨i⟩ in "bin".-History:The Cyrillic letter I was... /i/ |
| Cyrillic IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic... |
Ј ј Je (Cyrillic) Je is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the palatal approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ in "yes".-Usage:-Related letters and other similar characters:... /j/ |
К к Ka (Cyrillic) Ka is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless velar plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨k⟩ in "king".-History:... /k/ |
Л л El (Cyrillic) El is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.El commonly represents the alveolar lateral approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨l⟩ in "lip".-Form:... /l/ |
Љ љ Lje Lje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.Lje represents a palatal lateral , a sound similar to the palatalized alveolar lateral which is represented by the digraph ЛЬ and pronounced like the ⟨ll⟩ in "million".Lje was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić... /ʎ/ |
М м Em (Cyrillic) Em is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.Em commonly represents the bilabial nasal consonant , like the pronunciation of ⟨m⟩ in "him".It is derived from the Greek letter Mu .... /m/ |
Н н En (Cyrillic) En is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the alveolar nasal consonant , like the pronunciation of ⟨n⟩ in "nice".-History:The Cyrillic letter En was derived from the Greek letter Nu .... /n/ |
Њ њ Nje Nje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is a ligature of the Cyrillic letters En ⟨Н⟩ and Soft Sign ⟨Ь⟩. It was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. It corresponds to the digraph ⟨nj⟩ in the Serbian Latin and Croatian alphabets.It is used in Macedonian and Serbian, where it represents a... /ɲ/ |
О о O (Cyrillic) O is a letter of the Cyrillic script.O commonly represents the close-mid back rounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨o⟩ in "go".-History:The Cyrillic letter O was derived from the Greek letter Omicron .... /ɔ/ |
П п Pe (Cyrillic) Pe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless bilabial plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨p⟩ in "pack".-History:... /p/ |
Р р Er (Cyrillic) Er is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the alveolar trill , like the "rolled" sound in the Scottish pronunciation of ⟨r⟩ in "curd".-History:... /r/ |
С с Es (Cyrillic) Es is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless alveolar fricative , like the pronunciation of ⟨s⟩ in "sand".-History:... /s/ |
| Cyrillic IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic... |
Т т Te (Cyrillic) Te is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless alveolar plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨t⟩ in "tick".-History:... /t/ |
Ќ ќ Kje Kje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used only in the Macedonian alphabet, where it It represents the voiceless palatal plosive , or the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate . Kje is the 24th letter In this alphabet... /c/ |
У у U (Cyrillic) U is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It commonly represents the close back rounded vowel , somewhat like the pronunciation of ⟨oo⟩ in "boot"... /u/ |
Ф ф /f/ |
Х х /x/ |
Ц ц Tse (Cyrillic) Tse is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless alveolar affricate , like the pronunciation of ⟨ts⟩ in "cats".In English, Tse is commonly romanized as ⟨ts⟩... /ts/ |
Ч ч Che (Cyrillic) Che or Cha is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless postalveolar affricate , like the pronunciation of ⟨ch⟩ in "change".... /tʃ/ |
Џ џ Dzhe Dzhe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet used in Serbian and Macedonian to represent the voiced postalveolar affricate , like the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jump"... /dʒ/ |
Ш ш Sha For other uses, see Sha .Sha is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It commonly represents the voiceless postalveolar fricative , like the pronunciation of ⟨sh⟩ in "sheep", or the somewhat similar voiceless retroflex fricative . It is used in every variation of the Cyrillic alphabet, for Slavic and... /ʃ/ |
Punctuation
PunctuationPunctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...
(интерпункција) marks are one or two part graphical marks used in writing, denoting tonal progress, pauses, sentence type (syntactic
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
use), abbreviation
Abbreviation
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...
s, et cetera.
Marks used in Macedonian include period
Full stop
A full stop is the punctuation mark commonly placed at the end of sentences. In American English, the term used for this punctuation is period. In the 21st century, it is often also called a dot by young people...
s (.), question mark
Question mark
The question mark , is a punctuation mark that replaces the full stop at the end of an interrogative sentence in English and many other languages. The question mark is not used for indirect questions...
s (?), exclamation mark
Exclamation mark
The exclamation mark, exclamation point, or bang, or "dembanger" is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume , and often marks the end of a sentence. Example: “Watch out!” The character is encoded in Unicode at...
s (!), commas
Comma (punctuation)
The comma is a punctuation mark. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline of the text. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight but inclined from the vertical, or...
, semicolon
Semicolon
The semicolon is a punctuation mark with several uses. The Italian printer Aldus Manutius the Elder established the practice of using the semicolon to separate words of opposed meaning and to indicate interdependent statements. "The first printed semicolon was the work of ... Aldus Manutius"...
s , colons
Colon (punctuation)
The colon is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line.-Usage:A colon informs the reader that what follows the mark proves, explains, or lists elements of what preceded the mark....
(:), dash
Dash
A dash is one of several kinds of punctuation mark. Dashes appear similar to hyphens, but differ from them primarily in length, and serve different functions. The most common versions of the dash are the en dash and the em dash .-Common dashes:...
es (–), hyphen
Hyphen
The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. The hyphen should not be confused with dashes , which are longer and have different uses, or with the minus sign which is also longer...
s (-), ellipses
Ellipsis
Ellipsis is a series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word, sentence or whole section from the original text being quoted. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence...
(...), different types of inverted commas and quotation mark
Quotation mark
Quotation marks or inverted commas are punctuation marks at the beginning and end of a quotation, direct speech, literal title or name. Quotation marks can also be used to indicate a different meaning of a word or phrase than the one typically associated with it and are often used to express irony...
s ( ‚‘, „“), bracket
Bracket
Brackets are tall punctuation marks used in matched pairs within text, to set apart or interject other text. In the United States, "bracket" usually refers specifically to the "square" or "box" type.-List of types:...
s (, [], {}) (which are for syntactical uses), as well as apostrophes (',’), solidi
Slash (punctuation)
The slash is a sign used as a punctuation mark and for various other purposes. It is now often called a forward slash , and many other alternative names.-History:...
(/), equal signs (=), and so forth.
Syntax
The canonical 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...
of Macedonian is SVO (subject–verb–object), but word order is variable. Word order may be changed for poetic effect (inversion
Inversion (linguistics)
In linguistics, grammatical inversion is any of a number of different distinct grammatical constructions in the languages of the world. There are three main uses in the literature which, unfortunately, have little if any overlap either formally or typologically: syntactic inversion, thematic...
is common in poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
).
Nouns
Macedonian nounNoun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
s (именки) belong to one of three genders
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...
(masculine, feminine and neuter) and are inflected
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
for number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
(singular and plural), and marginally for case
Grammatical 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...
. The gender opposition is not distinctively marked in the plural .
The Macedonian nominal system distinguishes two numbers
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
(singular and plural), three genders
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...
(masculine, feminine and neuter), case
Grammatical 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...
and definiteness
Definiteness
In grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context and entities which are not ....
. Definiteness is expressed by three definite article
Definite Article
Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...
s pertaining to the position of the object (unspecified, proximate and distal) which are suffixed to the noun.
Definiteness
The articleArticle (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...
(определен член) is postfixed, as in Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
, Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
and Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
. One feature that has no parallel in any other standard Balkan language is the existence of three definite articles pertaining to position of the object: unspecified, proximate (or close) and distal (or distant).
| The definite articles | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||||
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Unspecified | -от | -та | -то | -те | -те | -та |
| Proximate | -ов | -ва | -во | -ве | -ве | -ва |
| Distal | -он | -на | -но | -не | -не | -на |
Examples:
- Јас го видов човекот. (I saw the man. The noun, 'man', is known to the speaker and hearer.)
- Јас го видов човекон. (I saw that man. The noun is in distance, it is not near the speaker or hearer.)
- Јас го видов човеков. (I saw this man. The noun is closer to the speaker and hearer.)
Vocative case
Macedonian lost the traditional (Slavic) grammatical cases during its development and became an analytic language. The case endings were replaced with a complex system of prepositions; however, there are still some traces left of the vocative case in the contemporary Macedonian. The vocative caseVocative case
The vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence...
is formed by adding the endings –o (for feminine nouns), –u (for masculine monosyllabic nouns), and –e (for masculine polysyllabic nouns). For example, пријател (ˈprijatɛl, "friend") takes the form of пријателе ([priˈjatɛlɛ], "friend!"). The vocative is used almost exclusively for singular masculine and feminine nouns.
Pronouns
Macedonian pronouns decline for caseGrammatical 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...
('падеж'), i.e., their function in a phrase as subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
(ex. јас 'I'), direct object (него 'him'), or object of a preposition (од неа 'from her').
Based on their meaning and their function in a sentence, pronouns fall into in one of the following categories:
| Types of pronouns | Examples |
|---|---|
| Demonstrative pronouns Demonstrative In linguistics, demonstratives are deictic words that indicate which entities a speaker refers to and distinguishes those entities from others... |
ова (this), она (that), овде (here), таму (there) |
| Indefinite pronoun Indefinite pronoun An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun that refers to one or more unspecified beings, objects, or places.-List of English indefinite pronouns:Note that many of these words can function as other parts of speech too, depending on context... s |
некој (somebody), нешто (something) |
| Interrogative pronouns Interrogative 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-... |
кој (who), кого/кому (whom), што (what) |
| Personal pronoun Personal pronoun Personal pronouns are pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common nouns. All known languages contain personal pronouns.- English personal pronouns :English in common use today has seven personal pronouns:*first-person singular... s |
јас (I), ти (you), тој (he), таа (she), тоа (it), ние (we) |
| Possessive pronoun Possessive pronoun A possessive pronoun is a part of speech that substitutes for a noun phrase that begins with a possessive determiner . For example, in the sentence These glasses are mine, not yours, the words mine and yours are possessive pronouns and stand for my glasses and your glasses, respectively... s |
мој (my), твој (your), нејзин (her), негов (his), наш (our) |
| Relative pronoun Relative pronoun A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause within a larger sentence. It is called a relative pronoun because it relates the relative clause to the noun that it modifies. In English, the relative pronouns are: who, whom, whose, whosever, whosesoever, which, and, in some... s |
кој, којшто (which), што (that), чиј, чијшто (whose) |
| Reflexive pronoun Reflexive pronoun A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that is preceded by the noun, adjective, adverb or pronoun to which it refers within the same clause. In generative grammar, a reflexive pronoun is an anaphor that must be bound by its antecedent... and reciprocal pronoun Reciprocal pronoun The reciprocal pronouns in English are one another and each other. Together with the reflexive pronouns — myself, yourself, ourselves, yourselves, and others — they are classified as anaphors.... s |
себе (himself, herself), се (self) |
| Universal pronouns Indefinite pronoun An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun that refers to one or more unspecified beings, objects, or places.-List of English indefinite pronouns:Note that many of these words can function as other parts of speech too, depending on context... |
сите (all), секој (everybody, each), сешто (everything), секаде (everywhere) |
Verbs
Macedonian has a complex system of verbs. Generally speaking Macedonian verbs have the following characteristics, or categories as they are called in the MacedonisticsMacedonistics
Macedonistics or sometimes called Macedonian Studies is a science that studies the Macedonian language. The person that studies the Macedonian language is called Macedonist or in Macedonian Македонист / Makedonist...
: tense, mood, person, type, transitiveness, voice, gender and number.
According to the categorization, all Macedonian verbs are divided into three major subgroups: a-subgroup, e-subgroup and i-subgroup. Furthermore, the e-subgroup is divided into three more subgroups: a-, e- and i-subgroups. This division is done according to the ending (or the last vowel) of the verb in the simple present, singular, third person.
Simple verb forms
- Present tensePresent tenseThe 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...
- Сегашно време - Imperfect (Past definite incomplete tense) - Минато определено несвршено време
- AoristAoristAorist is a philological term originally from Indo-European studies, referring to verb forms of various languages that are not necessarily related or similar in meaning...
(Past definite complete tense) - Минато определено свршено време - ImperativeImperative moodThe imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
- Заповеден начин - Verbal l-form - Глаголска л-форма
- Verbal adjective - Глаголска придавка
- Verbal nounVerbal nounIn linguistics, the verbal noun turns a verb into a noun and corresponds to the infinitive in English language usage. In English the infinitive form of the verb is formed when preceded by to, e.g...
- Глаголска именка - Verbal adverb - Глаголски прилог
Complex verb forms
- PerfectPerfectPerfection is a philosophical concept.Perfect may also refer to:- Music :* Perfect interval, a type of interval used in music* Perfect * Perfect , a band from Poland* "Perfect" , 1988 single...
of imperfective verbs (Past indefinite incomplete tense) - Минато неопределено несвршено време - PerfectPerfectPerfection is a philosophical concept.Perfect may also refer to:- Music :* Perfect interval, a type of interval used in music* Perfect * Perfect , a band from Poland* "Perfect" , 1988 single...
perfective verbs (Past indefinite complete tense) - Минато неопределено свршено време - Past perfect tense - Предминато време
- Future simple tenseFuture tenseIn 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,...
- Индо време - Future-in-the-past - Минато-идно време
- Future perfect tense - Минато прекажано
- Potential mood - Можен начин
- Have-construction - Има-конструкција
- Be-construction - Сум-конструкција
- To-construction - Да-конструкција
Present tense
The Present tense in Macedonian (сегашно време, segašno vreme) is used to express present actions and actions that overlap with the moment of speaking and this meaning is expressed with the use of imperfective verbs. Besides that, the Present tense can be formed with the perfective verbs as well, but then it is not true present action, but more likely future in the past. Besides the present action, with the forms of present tense there is possibility to express:
- past events - the forms are the same, but the meaning refers to certain past event. This usually occurs when telling stories or retelling events.
- future events - the forms are the same, but the meaning refers to the future. Usually, these types of events are time-table or schedule of tasks that are planned.
- general facts - expressing common knowledge that is always same.
- routines and habits
- expressing preparedness and events that occur at same time - the speaker expresses that (s)he is ready to do certain tasks and expressing two actions that occur at the same time.
The forms of the Present simple
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...
in Macedonian are made by adding suffixes to the verb steams. In the following tables are shown the suffixes that are used in Macedonian and one example for each verb subgroup.
| singular | plural | |
| 1. | − м − m |
− ме − me |
| 2. | − ш − š |
− те − te |
| 3. | ∅ | − ат − at |
Note: ∅ indicates a zero ending.
| A-subgroup гледа (see) |
I-subgroup носи (carry) |
E-subgroup јаде (eat) |
|
| Јас I |
гледам gledam |
носам nosam |
јадам jadam |
| Ти You |
гледаш gledaš |
носиш nosiš |
јадеш jadeš |
| Тој, таа, тоа He, she, it |
гледа gleda |
носи nosi |
јаде jade |
| Ние We |
гледаме gledame |
носиме nosime |
јадеме jademe |
| Вие You |
гледате gledate |
носите nosite |
јадете jadete |
| Тие They |
гледаат gledaat |
носат nosat |
јадат jadat |
Here are some examples where the usage of Present tense in Macedonian is applied:
- Јас јадам леб. (Jas jadam leb.) – I eat bread.
- Додека тој јаде, ти чисти ја собата. (Dodeka toj jade, ti čisti ja sobata.) – While he eats, you clean the room.
- Автобусот за Скопје тргнува во 5 часот. (Avtobusot za Skopje trgnuva vo 5 časot.) – The bus for Skopje leaves at 5 o'clock.
- Ако ја грееш водата, таа врие. (Ako ja greeš vodata, taa vrie.) – If you heat the water, it boils.
- Секој ден јас гледам сериски филм. (Sekoj den jas gledam seriski film.) – Every day I watch a serial film.
Imperfect
The imperfect or in Macedonian called as past definite incomplete tense (минато определено несвршено време, minato opredeleno nesvršeno vreme) is used to express past actions where the speaker is a witness of it or took participation in it. In order to express such an action or state, imperfective verbs are used. Also, there is a possibility to express an action with perfective verbs, but then before the verb there should be some of these prepositions or particles: ако (ako, if), да (da, to) or ќе (kje, will). It is important to mention that when perfective verbs are used, then there is expression of conditional mood, past-in-the-future or other perfective aspects, but not witnessed past actions. Besides the basic usage of the Imperfect, with this tense in Macedonian can be expressed and:
- conditional mood - as it is mentioned with perfective verbs,
- weak command - usually a polite request,
- past actions that were repeated for some period
- preparedness - the speaker expresses that (s)he is ready to do certain tasks.
The suffixes used to make the Imperfect are:
| singular | plural | |
| 1. | − в − v |
− вме − vme |
| 2. | − ше − še |
− вте − vte |
| 3. | − ше − še |
− а / − jа* − a / − ja |
for example mie - mieja (wash - were washing), pee - peeja (sing - were singing).
| A-subgroup гледа (see) |
I-subgroup лови (hunt) |
E-subgroup јаде (eat) |
|
| Јас I |
гледав gledav |
ловев lovev |
јадев jadev |
| Ти You |
гледаше gledaše |
ловеше loveše |
јадеше jadeše |
| Тој, таа, тоа He, she, it |
гледаше gledaše |
ловеше loveše |
јадеше jadeše |
| Ние We |
гледавме gledavme |
ловевме lovevme |
јадевме jadevme |
| Вие You |
гледавте gledavte |
ловевте lovevte |
јадевте jadevte |
| Тие They |
гледаа gledaa |
ловеа lovea |
јадеа jadea |
As an exemplification of the mentioned usages, here are some sentences:
- Јас ловев зајаци. (Jas lovev zajaci.) – I was hunting rabbits.
- Ако не брзаше, ќе немаше грешки. (Ako ne brzaše, ḱe nemaše greški.) – If you weren't rushing, you would not make mistakes.
- Да ми помогнеше малку? (Da mi pomogneše malku?) – What about helping me a bit?
- Секој ден стануваше во 7 часот и готвеше кафе. (Sekoj den stanuvaše vo 7 časot i gotveše kafe.) – He was getting up every day at 7 o'clock and making coffee.
Aorist
The aorist
Aorist
Aorist is a philological term originally from Indo-European studies, referring to verb forms of various languages that are not necessarily related or similar in meaning...
or in Macedonian called as past definite complete tense (минато определено свршено време, minato opredeleno svršeno vreme) is a verb form that is used to express past finished and completed action or event, with or without speakers participation in it. The duration of the action that is expressed with the aorist can be long or short. For aorist, in Macedonian are used perfective verbs, but sometimes, though very rarely, in non-standard folk speech there may be usage of imperfective verbs. Besides this basic usage, the aorist also can be used to express:
- future event - the form is standard aorist, but the meaning refers to the future, usually near future as a consequence of the previous action.
- condition - past condition
- general fact - rarely used, usually in popular proverbs.
The formation of the aorist for most verbs is not complex, but there are numerous small subcategories which must be learned. While all verbs in the aorist (except сум) take the same endings, there are complexities in the aorist stem vowel and possible consonant alternations.
| singular | plural | |
| 1. | − в − v |
− вме − vme |
| 2. | ∅ | − вте − vte |
| 3. | ∅ | − а / − ја − a / − ja |
Note: ∅ indicates a zero ending. The suffix -ja is used for verbs of the I-division of I-subgroup and for the division of E-subgroup without vowel, i.e. izmi - izmija (wash - washed)
The following tables show the paradigm of the aorist for all three major verb subgroups and their divisions:
| A-subgroup прочита (read) |
I-sugroup I-division прати (sent) |
I-subgroup E-division оздрави (heal) |
I-subgroup A-division издржи (hold on) |
|
| Јас I |
прочитав pročitav |
пратив prativ |
оздравев ozdravev |
издржав izdržav |
| Ти You |
прочита pročita |
прати prati |
оздраве ozdrave |
издржа izdrža |
| Тој, таа, тоа He, she, it |
прочита pročita |
прати prati |
оздраве ozdrave |
издржа izdrža |
| Ние We |
прочитавме pročitavme |
пративме prativme |
оздравевме ozdravevme |
издржавме izdržavme |
| Вие You |
прочитавте pročitavte |
пративте prativte |
оздравевте ozdravevte |
издржавте izdržavte |
| Тие They |
прочитаа pročitaa |
пратија pratija |
оздравеа ozdravea |
издржаа izdržaa |
| E-subgroup A-division стане (stand up) |
E-subgroup E-division сотре (wipe out) |
E-subgroup O-division дојде (come) |
E-subgroup without vowel измие (wash) |
|
| Јас I |
станав stanav |
сотрев sotrev |
дојдов dojdov |
измив izmiv |
| Ти You |
стана stana |
сотре sotre |
дојде dojde |
изми izmi |
| Тој, таа, тоа He, she, it |
стана stana |
сотре sotre |
дојде dojde |
изми izmi |
| Ние We |
станавме stanavme |
сотревме sotrevme |
дојдовме dojdovme |
измивме izmivme |
| Вие You |
станавте stanavte |
сотревте sotrevte |
дојдовте dojdovte |
измивте izmivte |
| Тие They |
станаа stanaa |
сотреа sotrea |
дојдоа dojdoa |
измија izmija |
In the following section are given some examples about the mentioned usage above:
- Ние прочитамве книга. (Nie pročitavme kniga) – We read a book.
- Го положив ли испитот, те честам пијачка. (Go položiv li ispitot, te čestam pijačka.) – Should I pass the exam, I'll treat you to a drink.
- Една вечер спав надвор (Edna večer spav nadvor.) – One night I slept outside.
Present Perfect Simple
The Macedonian tense known as минато неопределено свршено време/ minato neopredeleno svršeno vreme ("past indefinite complete tense") functions similarly as the English Present Perfect Simple. The forms of the Macedonian present perfect are formed with the forms of "to be" in present tense plus the L-form of the conjuncted verb, which is always perfective. Important to note is that for third person singular there is no presence of the verb "to be". The declination of one perfective verb in Macedonian looks as the following one, which is the verb прочита (read):
| singular | plural | |
| 1. | Јас сум прочитал Jas sum pročital |
Ние сме прочитале Nie sme pročitale |
| 2. | Ти си прочитал Ti si pročital |
Вие сте прочитале Vie ste pročitale |
| 3. | Тој прочитал Toj pročital Таа прочитала Taa pročitala Тоa прочиталo Toа pročitalо |
Тие прочитале Tie pročitale |
As an example of this tense, the sentence "I have read the book" is taken and translated in Macedonian:
| Јаc | сум | ја | прочитал | книгата. |
| Jas | sum | ja | pročital | knigata. |
| I | am | it (clitic) | read | book-the |
Present Perfect Continuous
The English tense Present Perfect Continuous functions similarly as the Macedonian tense минато неопределено несвршено време/ minato neopredeleno nesvršeno vreme ("past indefinite incomplete tense"). This perfect tense is formed similarly as the Present Perfect Simple i.e. with the forms of "to be" in present tense plus the L-form of the conjuncted verb, but this time the verb is imperfective. Important to note is that for third person singular there is no presence of the verb "to be". The declination of one imperfective verb in Macedonian looks as the following one, which is the verb чита (read):
| singular | plural | |
| 1. | Јас сум читал Jas sum čital |
Ние сме читале Nie sme čitale |
| 2. | Ти си читал Ti si čital |
Вие сте читале Vie ste čitale |
| 3. | Тој читал Toj čital Таа читала Taa čitala Тоa читалo Toа čitalо |
Тие читале Tie čitale |
As an example of this tense, the sentence "I have been reading the book" is taken and translated in Macedonian:
| Јаc | сум | ја | читал | книгата. |
| Jas | sum | ja | čital | knigata. |
| I | am | it (clitic) | read | book-the |
Future tense
With the forms of Future tense in Macedonian are expressed actions that are planned to happen in future. Usually, when we speak about future, we mean expressing events that should happen soon, however, there is a special form in Macedonian to express future events from past perspective, or event that happened after some other event and this is treated as separate tense called Future-in-the-past.
The simple future tense is formed by adding the clitic ќе (kje or ḱe) to the inflected present tense form of the verb. In this respect, both Macedonian and Bulgarian differ from other South Slavic languages
South Slavic languages
The South Slavic languages comprise one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches by a belt of German, Hungarian and Romanian speakers...
, since in both the clitic is fixed, whereas in Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian language
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
it inflects for person and number . The negative form of the future tense in Macedonian is made by adding the particles нема да (nema + da) or just не (ne) before the verb patter, where as the interrogative form is made by adding the question word дали (dali), also before the verb pattern. When we use the negative form nema da, there is not presence of the clitic ḱe. Usually, ḱe in English is translated with the modal verb will, and vice versa. When an event is expressed with the use of ḱe, then it is considered normal future, but there is a stronger future event as well which is made with the construction: има (ima, have) + да (da, to) + present simple form of the verb.
| игра (igra, play) affriramtive |
носи (nosi, bring) ne-negation |
везе (veze, embroider) nema da-negation |
|
| Јас I |
ќе играм ḱe igram |
не ќе носам ne ḱe nosam |
нема да везам nema da vezam |
| Ти You |
ќе играш ḱe igraš |
не ќе носиш ne ḱe nosiš |
нема да везеш nema da vezeš |
| Тој, таа, тоа He, she, it |
ќе игра ḱe igra |
не ќе носи ne ḱe nosi |
нема да везе nema da veze |
| Ние We |
ќе играме ḱe igrame |
не ќе носиме ne ḱe nosime |
нема да веземе nema da vezeme |
| Вие You |
ќе играте ḱe igrate |
не ќе носите ne ḱe nosite |
нема да везете nema da vezete |
| Тие They |
ќе играат ḱe igraat |
не ќе носат ne ḱe nosat |
нема да везат nema da vezat |
Besides the main usage, the future tense is used to express:
- past events - expressing events that somehow refer to the future,
- orders - giving orders or commands to someone,
- prediction - predicting something,
- general facts - usually for proverbs or things that are considered as facts,
- events that repeat after some period,
- possibility - possible future events.
Some of these mentioned rules, can be recognized in the following examples:
- Јас ќе одам во Скопје. (Jas ḱe odam vo Skopje) – I will go to Skopje.
- Јас отидов во визбата и што ќе видам, сето вино беше на подот. (Jas otidov vo vizbata i što ḱe vidam, seto vino isteklo na podot.) – I went to the basement and, lo and behold, all of the wine was spilled on the floor.
- Ќе ме слушаш и ќе траеш. (Ḱe me slušaš i ḱe traeš.) – You will listen to me and you will say no words.
- Колку е стар твојот дедо? Ќе да има 70 години. (Kolku e star tvojot dedo? Ḱe da ima 70 godini.) – How old is your granddad? He'd have to be [at least] 70 years old.
- Ќе направам сè само да се венчам со Сара. (Ḱe napravam sè samo da se venčam so Sara.) – I'd do anything just to marry Sara.
- Ќе одиш на училиште и крај! (Ima da odiš na učilište i kraj!) – You will go to school, and that’s that!
Future-in-the-past
Future-in-the-past is expressed by means of the same clitic and a past tense inflected form of the verb:
| ќе | доjдеше |
| ḱe | dojdeše |
| will (clitic) | he came (imperfective aspect) |
- He would come/he would have come.
In this respect, Macedonian is different from Bulgarian: Macedonian is consistent in the use of ќе as a clitic, whereas the equivalent Bulgarian construction involves the inflection of the clitic for tense, person and number as a regular verb (щях да дойда, "I would [have] come"; щеше да дойде, "he would [have] come").
An interesting fact is that a past tense form of the verb can be used in a future sense as well, although this construction is mostly limited to older speakers.
Examples:
- Те отепав, штом те фатам. ("I have killed you, when I get you")
- Те фатам ли, те казнив. ("As soon as I grab you, I have punished you")
Adjective
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 (придавки) agree with nouns in 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...
, number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
and definiteness
Definite Article
Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...
with their noun and usually appear before it.
Comparison
Adjectives have three degrees of comparisonComparison
Comparison may refer to:-Language:* Comparison , a feature of many languages* Degree of comparison, an English language grammatical feature* Mass comparison, a test for the relatedness of languages-Mathematics:...
(степен на придавки) – positive
Positive (linguistics)
Positive is the form of an adjective or adverb on which comparative and superlative are formed, in English, with the suffixes -ier, -lier, -iest, or -liest, or the forms more/less for polysyllabic adjectives/adverbs. In English, good is a positive adjectival form corresponding to the comparative...
, 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,...
and 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...
. The positive form is identical to all the aforementioned forms. The other two are formed regularly, by prepending the particle
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
по and the word нај directly before the positive to form the comparative and superlative, respectively, regardless of its comprising one or two words.
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| тежок (heavy) | потежок (heavier) | најтежок (heaviest) |
| долг (long) | подолг (longer) | најдолг (longest) |
Macedonian only has one adjective that has an irregular comparative – многу.
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| многу (a lot) | повеќе (more) | најмногу (the most) |
A subtype of the superlative – the absolute superlative – also present in some other South Slavic languages
South Slavic languages
The South Slavic languages comprise one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches by a belt of German, Hungarian and Romanian speakers...
and 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...
(such as 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...
and 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...
), expresses the highest quality without comparison. It is formed by prefix
Prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:...
ing the particle пре to an adjective, roughly corresponding to the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
very + adjective or too + adjective combinations.
Numerals
The Macedonian numbers have gender and definiteness. The first ten cardinal and ordinal numerals in the Macedonian are:| Symbol | Cardinal numeral (masc.) |
Cardinal numeral (fem.) |
Cardinal numeral (neu.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | нула (nula) | нула | нула |
| 1 | еден (eden) | една (edna) | едно (edno) |
| 2 | два (dva) | две (dve) | две (dve) |
| 3 | три (tri) | три | три |
| 4 | четири (četiri) | четири | четири |
| 5 | пет (pet) | пет | пет |
| 6 | шест (šest) | шест | шест |
| 7 | седум (sedum) | седум | седум |
| 8 | осум (osum) | осум | осум |
| 9 | девет (devet) | девет | девет |
| 10 | десет (deset) | десет | десет |
| Symbol | Ordinal numeral (masc.) |
Ordinal numeral (fem.) |
Ordinal numeral (neu.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0. | нулти (nulti) | нулта (nulta) | нулто (nulto) |
| 1 | прв (prv) | прва (prva) | прво (prvo) |
| 2 | втор (vtor) | втора (vtora) | второ (vtoro) |
| 3 | трет (tret) | трета (treta) | трето (treto) |
| 4 | четврти (četvrti) | четврта (četvrta) | четврто (četvrto) |
| 5 | петти (petti) | петта (petta) | петто (petto) |
| 6 | шестти (šestti) | шестта (šestta) | шестто (šestto) |
| 7 | седми (sedmi) | седма (sedma) | седмо (sedmo) |
| 8 | осми (osmi) | осма (osma) | осмо (osmo) |
| 9 | деветти (devetti) | деветта (devetta) | деветто (devetto) |
| 10 | десетти (desetti) | десетта (desetta) | десетто (desetto) |
Phraseology
The group of words that are used in the language as one unit, word construction, are called phraseological unitsPhraseology
In linguistics, phraseology is the study of set or fixed expressions, such as idioms, phrasal verbs, and other types of multi-word lexical units , in which the component parts of the expression take on a meaning more specific than or otherwise not predictable from the sum of their meanings when...
or in Macedonian фразеологизми (frazeologizmi). The phraseological units have special linguistic characteristics and meaning. Within one sentence, the words may be joined together in order to create units of various types. For instance, the word nut can be combined with many adjectives, such as big nut, small nut etc. Moreover, the word nut can be combined with other parts of speech as well, such as with verbs as in the sentence I ate a nut.
These types of combinations are led by the general principles of the phraseology
Phraseology
In linguistics, phraseology is the study of set or fixed expressions, such as idioms, phrasal verbs, and other types of multi-word lexical units , in which the component parts of the expression take on a meaning more specific than or otherwise not predictable from the sum of their meanings when...
, which states that the words in the sentences can be freely combined. Within these combinations or collocations, each word keeps its original meaning, so the meaning of the whole construction is equal to the meaning of its constituents.
Besides the word construction with loose connections, in Macedonian there are word constructions that are not freely combined, which means they are permanently combined together. As an illustration of these two types of connections are the following sentences, where the noun phrase "hard nut" is used:
- It is a hard nut and it cannot be cracked easily.
- We will be hard nut for our opponent.
In the first sentence, "hard nut" is a common collocation, where the words are connected freely and can be changed with other words in different contexts. On the other hand, in the second sentence the noun phrase "hard nut" (i.e. a hard nut to crack) is an expression that means "strong, unbreakable" and the words are in strong connection and they are not changed with other words. If these words are changed, the meaning of the phrase will be lost.
Onomastics
The Macedonian is part of the MacedonisticsMacedonistics
Macedonistics or sometimes called Macedonian Studies is a science that studies the Macedonian language. The person that studies the Macedonian language is called Macedonist or in Macedonian Македонист / Makedonist...
that studies the names, surnames and nicknames of the Macedonian language
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
and people. This is relatively new linguistic discipline. In Macedonia, and in the Macedonistics in general, it developed during the 19th century, where the first few research results have been provided. The Onomastics for a long period of time has been considered as part of various different scientific disciplines, such as Geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
or Ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
, until it became a discipline on its own in the 20th century. The Macedonian Onomastics, generally speaking, is divided into toponomastics and anthroponomastics.
External links
- Slognica rečovska, the first printed Macedonian grammar by Gjorgjija Pulevski in 1880.
- Macedonian grammar by Victor FriedmanVictor FriedmanVictor A. Friedman is an American linguist. He is currently Andrew W. Carnegie Professor in the humanities at the University of Chicago. He holds a joint appointment in linguistics and Slavic languages and literatures with an associated appointment in anthropology...
. - Grammar of the Literary Macedonian language by Horace LuntHorace LuntHorace Gray Lunt was a linguist working in the field of Slavic Studies, Professor Emeritus at the Slavic Language and Literature Department and the Ukrainian Institute at Harvard University....
. - Macedonian grammar by Krume Kepeski.