Dicontu Grandiu

Created to be an alternative to Esperanto. Dicontu Grandiu is supposed to be more easily spoken by speakers of gendered languages than Esperanto because of its simple-to-use quad-gender system.

Phonology

Vowels (stressed/unstressed)

front	back
i/i~ɪ	u/ʊ
e/ɛ	o/ɔ
a/a~ə

Note: Vowels marked with an acute accent (stressed syllable) always make their stressed sound.

Orthography

Letter	IPA	Notes
A	/a/	as in father but more frontal
B	/b/
C	/k/ or /s/	/s/ after s or before e or i, /k/ if not
Ć	/t͡ʃ/	as in check
D	/d/
E	/e/	as in egg
F	/f/
G	/g/	almost always as in goal
H	/h/, /∅/	as in house or silent
I	/i/	as in feet
J	/j/	as in yes
Ĵ	/d͡ʒ/	as in jet
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Syntax

SVO is used 75% of the time, but the only real word-order rule is that the subject must come before any object. Adjectives usually follow their head nouns. Indirect objects usually come before direct objects. Prepositional phrases do not usually start sentences.

Nouns

Nouns have four genders: masculine, feminine, common (or epicene), and neuter. Many nouns come in two or more different genders, and the gender changes the meaning. For example, a padro (masculine) is a father, but a padre (common) is a parent. And an enfante (common) is a baby, but an enfantu (neuter) is a child still in the womb. If a word appears in a gender it does not usually appear in, a general meaning is implied. If a living thing is strangely made neuter, it usually means the person or thing is deceased. If an inaminate object is made common, it is either being personified metaphorically or suddenly animate, like in a fairy tale. If a normally masculine or feminine thing is made common, it is being generalized. For example, florninas (feminine) are flower girls, but flornines would be a respectful way to refer to a group of flower girls and boys. They also come in two numbers (singular and plural) and four cases: oblique, for subjects, direct objects, and predicate nominatives; dative, for indirect objects; genitive, for possessors, composition, reference, and more; and ablative for intruments, causes, and comparisons. When speaking about specific places, the ablative changes to a locative case, meaning "at ____".

Noun declension chart

	Masculine	pl	Feminine	pl	Common	pl	Neuter	pl
Oblique	pádro	pádros	mátra	mátras	enfánte	enfántes	céilu	céilus
Genitive	pádroi	pádron	mátrai	mátran	enfántei	enfánten	céilui	céilun
Dative	padró	padrós	matrá	matrás	enfanté	enfantés	ceilú	ceilús
Ablative	pádrom	padróm	mátram	matrám	enfántem	enfantém	céilum	ceilúm

Verbs

Verbs conjugate according to 4 tenses (perfect, past, present, future), 2 numbers (singular/plural), 2 persons (1st person/other), 2 moods (indicative/jussive), 2 voices (active/passive), and 2 aspects in the active voice (perfective/imperfective).

Stem change: Voice

There are 2 voices: active and passive. These conjugate the same way, but with a stem change. For example, vider means "to see", while vuder means "to be seen." Vider is an example of the active voice, and vuder the passive.

Voice Change Chart

	Complex active	Comp. passive/Simp. active	Simple passive
a-stem	au	a	u
e-stem	éi	e	o
i-stem	ai	i	u