Essanian

Essanian (/ɪˈseɪniən/, native: xanhán /ʃaˈɲan/) is an Iberian Romance language descended from Mozarabic.

Essanian
La lengua xanhana لَلَِانْغُوَه شَنَّانَه
Pronunciation	[la ˈleŋgwa ʃaˈɲana]
Created by	Shariifka
Language family	Indo-European Romance Western Romance Iberian Romance Pyrenean–Mozarabic Essanian
Early forms	Mozarabic Old Essanian Middle Essanian

Introduction

Etymology

The endonym xanhán is derived from the place name Xanha, from Latin Hispānia.

The English name Essanian is derived from Medieval Latin Essanianus, a Latinization of Middle Essanian exanyán.

Features

Phonological

• Initial I-, DI- (before vowels), G- (before front vowels) become /dʒ ~ ʒ/.
  • Shared with Catalan and Portuguese.
  • E.g. IUVENE(M) > joven /ˈdʒoven/ "young" (Catalan jove, Portuguese jovem vs. Spanish joven, Asturian xoven, Galician xove, Aragonese choven)
• Intervocalic -I-, -DI- become /j/.
  • Differs from Catalan and (sometimes) Galician/Portuguese.
  • E.g. MAIORE(M) > mayor /maˈjor/ "bigger" (Spanish, Asturian mayor, Galician/Portuguese maior vs Catalan major).

HODIE > wey /wej/ "today" (Spanish hoy, Asturian, Aragonese güe, Catalan vui vs Portuguese hoje, Galician hoxe).

• Diphthongization of stressed Ŏ & Ĕ to /we/ and /je/.
  • Shared with Aragonese, Astur-Leonese, Spanish (except before yod),Catalan (only before yod).
  • E.g. PŎNTE(M) > puent /pwen/ (Spanish, Asturian puente vs Catalan pont, Galician/Portuguese ponte)

ŎCTO > weito /ˈwejto/ "eight" (Aragonese ueit(o), obsolete Asturian uecho, Catalan vuit vs Spanish ocho, Galician/Portuguese oito)

FĔRRU(M) > fierru /ˈfjeru/ "iron" (Spanish hierro, Aragonese fierro, Asturian fierru vs Galician/Portuguese, Catalan ferro)

• Preservation of initial F-.
  • Differs from Spanish and some varieties of Astur-Leonese.
  • E.g. FĔRRU(M) > fierru /ˈfjeru/ "iron" (Galician/Portuguese, Catalan ferro, Aragonese fierro vs Spanish hierro)
• Preservation of initial L-.
  • Differs from Astur-Leonese and Catalan.
  • E.g. LUNA(M) > luna /ˈluna/ (Spanish, Aragonese luna, Portuguese lua vs Catalan, Asturian lluna)
• Preservation of initial N-.
  • Differs from some varieties of Astur-Leonese.
  • E.g. *NARICE(M) > narich /naˈɾitʃ/ "nose" (Spanish, Galician/Portuguese, Aragonese nariz, Catalan nariu vs Asturian ñariz)
• Preservation of intervocalic -L- and -N-.
  • Differs from Galician/Portuguese.
  • E.g. LUNA(M) > luna /ˈluna/ "moon" (Spanish, Aragonese luna, Catalan, Asturian lluna vs Portuguese lua, Galician lúa)

COLŌRE(M) > color /koˈloɾ/ "colour" (Spanish, Aragonese, Catalan color vs Galician/Portuguese cor)

• Monophthongization of falling diphthongs.
  • Shared with Spanish, Catalan, and some varieties of Astur-Leonese.
  • E.g. AURU(M) > or /oɾ/ "gold" (Spanish, Aragonese oro, Asturian oru, Cataln or vs Galician/Portuguese, Mirandese ouro)

E(G)O > yo /jo/ "I" (Spanish, Aragonese, Asturian yo, Catalan jo vs Galician/Portuguese eu, Mirandese/Leonese you)

• -LT- (after U) and -CT- become /jt/ after stressed vowels and /tʃ/ after unstressed vowels.
  • The outcome after unstressed vowels is shared with Spanish and some varieties of Astur-Leonese, while the outcome after stressed vowels is shared with the remaining Iberian Romance languages (except Catalan in the case of -LT-).
  • E.g. MULTU(M) > muit /mujt/ "much, many" (Galician moito, Portuguese muito vs Spanish mucho, Asturian munchu, Catalan molt)

LACTŪCA > lechuca /leˈtʃuka/ "lettuce" (Spanish lechuga, Asturian llechuga vs Galician/Portuguese leituga, Catalan lletuga)

• Palatalization of -LI-, -C'L-, -T'L-, -G'L- to /ʎ/.
  • Differs from Spanish and some varieties of Astur-Leonese.
  • E.g. ŎCULU(M) > welh /weʎ/ "eye" (Portuguese olho, Galician ollo, Aragonese güello, Catalan ull, Mirandese uolho vs Spanish ojo, Asturian güeyu, Leonese güechu)
• Palatalization of -LL- to /ʎ/.
  • Differs from Galician/Portuguese.
  • E.g. ILLA > elha /ˈeʎa/ "she" (Spanish, Aragonese, Asturian, Catalan ella, Mirandese eilha vs Galician/Portuguese ela)
• Palatalization of -NN- to /ɲ/.
  • Differs from Galician/Portuguese.
  • E.g. ANNU(M) > anh /aɲ/ "year" (Catalan any, Spanish, Aragonese año, Mirandese anho, Asturian añu vs Galician/Portuguese ano)
• -M'N- becomes /m/.
  • Differs from Spanish.
  • E.g. HOMINE(M) > weme /ˈweme/ "man" (Catalan, Asturian, Galician home, Portuguese homem vs Spanish, Aragonese hombre)

NOMEN > nueme /ˈnweme/ "name" (Galician/Portuguese nome, Catalan, Aragonese nom, Asturian ñome vs Spanish nombre)

• Palatalization of -X-, -PS-, -SC- (the latter before front vowels) to /ʃ/.
  • Differs from Spanish.
  • E.g. COXA > cuexa /ˈkweʃa/ "thigh" (Catalan, Aragonese cuixa, Galician/Portuguese coxa, Mirandese coixa vs Spanish cuja)
• Preservation of initial CL-, FL-, PL-.
  • Shared with Catalan and Aragonese.
  • E.g. CLAMARE > clamar /klaˈmaɾ/ "to call" (Catalan, Aragonese clamar vs Spanish, Asturian llamar, Galician/Portuguese chamar
• Preservation of intervocalic -T-, -P-, -C-.
  • Shared with some Aragonese dialects.
  • E.g. *SAPĒRE > saper /saˈpeɾ/ "to know" (Central Aragonese saper vs Catalan, Spanish, Galician/Portuguese, Asturian saber)
• Insertion of (or, in some cases, preservation of) /j/ before or after a front vowel to avoid hiatus.
  • Shared with Aragonese and some varieties of Astur-Leonese.
  • E.g. CADERE > cayer /kaˈjeɾ/ "to fall" (Asturian, Aragonese cayer vs Spanish, Galician caer, Portuguese cair)
• Dropping of final -U(M) in many environments.
  • Shared with Catalan.
  • E.g. CATTU(M) > gat /ɡat/ "cat" (Catalan gat vs Asturian gatu, Spanish, Galician/Portuguese gato)
• Preservation of non-dropped final -U(M) as /u/.
  • Shared with Astur-Leonese and Portuguese (though it is likely a secondary development in the latter).
  • E.g. FĔRRU(M) > fierru /ˈfjeru/ "iron" (Asturian fierru vs Spanish hierro, Aragonese fierro, Catalan ferro)
• Dropping of final -E(M) in many environments.
  • Shared with Aragonese, Catalan, and (to some extent) Spanish.
  • E.g. GRANDE(M) > grand /ɡɾan/ "big" (Aragonese gran vs Spanish, Aragonese, Galician/Portuguese grande)
• Preservation of voiced fricatives/affricates.
  • Shared with Catalan, Portuguese, and Mirandese.
  • E.g. UNDECI(M) > onge /ˈondʒe/ "eleven" (Catalan, Portuguese, Mirandese onze vs Aragonese, Asturian, Spanish once)
• Preservation of the distinction between /b/ and /v/.
  • Shared with some varieties of Catalan and most varieties of Portuguese.
  • E.g. HABĒRE > aver /aˈveɾ/ "to have" (Portuguese, Catalan haver vs Spanish, Asturian, Aragonese, Galician haber)
• The following features are unique to Essanian among the Iberian Romance languages:
  • -ST- becomes /θ/ - e.g. CŎSTA(M) > cueça /ˈkweθa/ "slope" (Spanish cuesta).
  • -STR- becomes /ð/ - e.g. STRATA(M) > zata "street" (Portuguese estrada)
  • -SC- (non-palatalized) and -SP- become /ʃ/ - e.g. SPATULA(M) > xalha /ˈʃaʎa/ "shoulder" (Catalan espatlla); SCHOLA(M) > xuela /ˈʃwela/ "school" (Spanish escuela).
  • Palatalization of C (before front vowels) and -TI- (before vowels) to /tʃ/ - e.g. RATIŌNE(M) > rachón /raˈtʃon/ "reason" (Spanish razón).
  • Insertion of /w/ before or after a rounded vowel to avoid hiatus - e.g. TUA(M) > tuwa /ˈtuwa/ "your" (Portuguese tua).
  • Preservation of W- in loanwords - e g. WARDARE > wardar /waɾˈdaɾ/ "to guard" (Aragonese guardar).

Morphological

• Pronouns and adjectives form a neuter in -o
  • Shared with Asturian.
• Words ending in -a form their plural in -es.
  • Shared with Asturian and Catalan.
• Words ending in -u form their plural in -os.
  • Shared with Asturian.
• Most masculine words ending in a consonant form their plural in -os.
  • Shared (to a limited extent) with Catalan.
• Final -TIS in second person plural verbs became /θ/.
  • Shared with Aragonese.
• -B- in imperfect preserved as /v/ in all verb classes.
  • Shared with Aragonese, which preserves it as /β/.

Phonology

Orthography

Latin orthography

Alphabet

Letter Name IPA A a a [ä] B b be [be̞] C c ce [t͡ʃe̞] Ç ç çe [θe̞] D d de [d̪e̞] E e e [e̞] F f efe [ˈe̞fe̞] G g ge [d͡ʒe̞] Gh gh ghen [ʕe̞n] H h haca [ˈhäkä]

Letter Name IPA I i i [i] J j jota [ˈd͡ʒo̞t̪ä] K k ka [kä] L l ele [ˈe̞le̞] Lh lh elhe [ˈe̞ʎe̞] M m eme [ˈe̞me̞] N n ene [ˈe̞ne̞] Nh nh enhe [ˈe̞ɲe̞] O o o [o̞] P p pe [pe̞]

Letter Name IPA Q q cu [ku] R r erre [ˈe̞re̞] S s esse [ˈe̞se̞] T t te [t̪e̞] U u u [u] V v ve [ve̞] W w we [we̞] X x exe [ˈe̞ʃe̞] Y y ye [je̞] Z z zeta [ˈðe̞t̪ä]

Consonants

Consonants

Letter	Context	IPA	Examples	Remarks
b	word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩	[b]	buen "good"; ambos "both"
	elsewhere (i.e. after a vowel, even across a word boundary, or after any consonant other than ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩)	[β̞]	sobre "over"
	utterance-final	[p] or [ɸ̞]	ob "where"
c	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩	[tʃ] or [ʃ] (depending on the dialect)	ceto "early; in the morning"
	elsewhere	[k]	canta "song"
	before voiced consonants	[ɣ̞]	anécdota "anecdote"
	in the cluster ⟨ct⟩	[ɣ̞] or [x̞]	actual "current"
ch	everywhere	[tʃ] or [ʃ] (depending on the dialect)	xuchar "to listen"
ç	everywhere	[θ], [s], or [tʃ] (depending on the dialect)	cueça "slope"
d	word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨l⟩ or ⟨n⟩	[d̪]	dar "to give"; caldu "hot"
	after ⟨n⟩ word-finally	Ø	mond "world"
	elsewhere	[ð̞]	modos "ways, modes"
	utterance-final	[t̪] or [θ̞]	mod "way, mode"
f	everywhere	[f]	formica "ant"
g	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ not before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[dʒ]	germán "brother"
	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ʒ]	viage "journey"
	not before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[ɡ]	gat "cat"
	not before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ɣ˕]	suegru "father-in-law"
	utterance-final	[k] or [x̞]	zigzag "zigzag"	In loanwords.
gh	everywhere	[ʕ]	ghada "tradition, custom"	In Arabic loanwords
gu	before ⟨a⟩ or ⟨o⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[ɡw]	lengua "tongue, language"
	before ⟨a⟩ or ⟨o⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ɣ̞w]	Paraguay "Paraguay"	In loanwords.
	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[ɡ]	guitarra "guitar"
	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ɣ̞]	magues "witches, female Zoroastrians"
gü	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[ɡw]	lengües "tongues, languages"
	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ɣ̞w]	següey "Segway"	In loanwords.
h	everywhere	[h] or [ħ] or [x]	horru "free"	Generally occurs in loanwords.
	everywhere (rare)	Ø	honestu "honest"	Occurs in loanwords where the letter is silent in the original language. May be pronounced [h] as a spelling pronunciation.
j	either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[dʒ]	ja "already"
	elsewhere	[ʒ]	viajar "to travel"
	utterance-final	[tʃ] or [ʃ]	alhaj "Hajj"	In loanwords.
k	rare; only occurs in a few loanwords and sensational spellings	[k]	kilogramu "kilogram"	Can generally be replaced with c or qu.
l	everywhere	[l]	lengua "tongue, language"
lh	everywhere	[ʎ]	vielh "old"
m	everywhere except word-finally	[m]	mesa "table"
	word-final	[n] or [ŋ] (depending on the dialect)	Adam "Adam"
n	everywhere but before other consonants and word-finally	[n]	manes "hands"
	before other consonants	[m]; [ɱ]; [n]; [n̪]; [ɲ]; [ŋ]	lengua "tongue, language"	Assimilates to the following consonant’s place of articulation.
	word-finally	[n] or [ŋ] (depending on the dialect)	man "hand"
nh	everywhere	[ɲ]	suenh "sleep, dream"
p	everywhere	[p]	padre "father"
	in the consonant cluster ⟨pt⟩	[β̞] or [ɸ̞]	aptu "apt"
q	everywhere	[k]	Qátar "Qatar"	In loanwords.
qu	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩	[k]	que "what"
	elsewhere	[kw]	quatro "four"
qü	only occurs before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩	[kw]	aqües "waters"
r	word-initial, morpheme-initial, or after ⟨l⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨s⟩, or ⟨z⟩; in emphatic speech may also be used instead of [ɾ] in syllable-final (especially before ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨s⟩, ⟨t⟩, or ⟨d⟩) and word-final positions (before pause or consonant-initial words only)	[r]	rat "rat"
	elsewhere	[ɾ]	plorar "to cry"
rr	only occurs between vowels	[r]	carru "car"
s	word-initial, morpheme initial, before a voiceless consonant, or utterance-final	[s]	salá "prayer"
	everywhere else	[z]	mesa "table"
ss	only occurs between vowels	[s]	passar "to pass"
t	everywhere	[t̪]	tu "you"
	before voiced consonants	[ð̞]	atmósfera "atmosphere"
	after ⟨n⟩ word-finally	Ø	vient "wind"
v	everywhere	[v]	vient "wind"
w	everywhere	[w]	welh "eye"
x	everywhere	[ʃ]	xuchar "to listen"
	between vowels and word-finally	[ks]	toxina "toxin"	In words of Latin or Greek origin; may be replaced with ⟨cs⟩ or ⟨s⟩ (with the associated pronunciation change).
	before a consonant	[ks] or [s]	textu "text"	In loanwords; may be replaced with ⟨s⟩ (and pronounced accordingly).
	in the prefix ex-	[z]; [s] before a plosive	examen "exam"
y	everywhere except when acting as a vowel	[j]	yerva "grass"
z	utterance-final or before a voiceless consonant	[θ] or [s] (depending on the dialect)	arroz "rice"
	everywhere else	[ð] or [z] (depending on the dialect)	zagal "boy"

Vowels

Monophthong Vowels

Letter	IPA	Examples	Remarks
a	[ä]	gat "cat"
e	[e̞]	mesa "table"
i	[i]	felich "happy"
y		y "and"	Rare. Only commonly used as a vowel in the conjunction y and the homonymous adverbial pronoun.
o	[o̞]	ora "hour, time"
u	[u]	amicu "friend"

Vowel letters in diphthongs

Letter		IPA	Examples	Remarks
In rising diphthongs
i	⟨i⟩ before a vowel	[j]	bien "well"; viage "journey"
u	⟨u⟩ before a vowel (but silent in ⟨qu⟩ and ⟨gu⟩ before an ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩)	[w]	cueça "slope"; quatro "four"
ü	⟨ü⟩ before a vowel (only used in ⟨qü⟩ and ⟨gü⟩ before an ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩)	[w]	lengües "tongues, languages"
In falling diphthongs
i	⟨i⟩ after a vowel	[j]	feit "made"
y	⟨y⟩ after a vowel	[j]	rey "king"	Almost always word-final. ⟨-iy⟩ is pronounced [i].
u	⟨u⟩ after a vowel	[w]	autobús "bus"
w	⟨w⟩ after a vowel	[w]	ochaw "eighth (fraction)"	Almost always word-final. ⟨-uw⟩ is pronounced [w].

Notes:

1. ⟨iu⟩ and ⟨ui⟩ are ambiguous, since they may either be used for rising diphthongs (/ju/ and /wi/ respectively) or falling diphthongs (/iw/ and /uj/ respectively). In most cases, they represent rising diphthongs unless followed by ⟨t⟩. ⟨iw⟩ and ⟨uy⟩ always represent falling diphthongs.
2. When a vowel (almost always ⟨e⟩) is both preceded and followed by a glide, a triphthong is formed - e.g. nueit, nueu, buey.

Stress

Stress in a word can be determined from the way it is written via the following rules:

• If there is any vowel with an acute accent, that vowel is stressed.
• If there is no vowel with an acute accent:
  • The penultimate vowel is stressed if the word ends in a vowel, vowel + -n, or vowel + -s.
  • The ultimate vowel is stressed if the word ends in any consonant other than -n or -s.
• Note that:
  • Diphthongs are always treated as one syllable.
  • iV and uV (where V represents any vowel other than i or u) are treated as diphthongs, and therefore count as one syllable.
    • The exception to this is if the i or u has an accent. However, this is rare since words that would have íV and úV are usually written as iyV and uwV.
  • Final -y and -w are treated as consonants, and they shift the stress to the final syllable.

Prosody

Stress

Primary stress may occur in any of the last three syllables of a word.

Phonological history

• Final vowel dropping:
  • -u and -e dropped after post-vocalic ç, d, l, lh, n, nh, r, s, ss, t, z.
  • -e but not -u dropped after post-vocalic c(h), t, x, y, nd, nt.
  • -u but not -e dropped after post-vocalic w.
  • Sometimes vowels are dropped irregularly.

Morphology

Articles

Definite Article

Essanian definite article

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	el, l' (before vowels), 'l (after vowels)	los
Feminine	la, l' (before a)	les
Neuter	lo, l' (before vowels)	–

Notes:

1. The definite article precedes the noun it modifies.
2. The neuter definite article is generally used with nominalized neuter adjectives or relative clauses that have an abstract/inanimate referent - e.g. lo bueno "the good/that which is good"; lo que pienso "what I think/that which I think".

Indefinite Article

Essanian indefinite article

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	un	unos
Feminine	una	unes
Neuter	uno	–

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Essanian personal pronouns

Person, Number, Formality, Gender				Independent				Clitic
				Subject	Object	Reflexive Object	Possessive	Direct object	Indirect object	Reflexive	Possessive
1st	Singular			yo	mi		miyu/miyos, miya/miyes, miyo	me, m'1			mo(n)2/mos, ma(n)2/mes, mo(n)2
	Plural		Masculine	nós; nosotros			nues/nuesos, nuesa/nueses, nueso	nos			–
			Feminine	nós; nosotres
2nd	Singular	Informal		tu	ti		tuw/tuwos, tuwa/tuwes, tuwo	te, t'1			to(n)2/tos, ta(n)2/tes, to(n)2
		Formal	Masculine	vucé		sí	suw/suwos, suwa/suwes, suwo	lu, l'1, -l3	lhi	se, s'1	so(n)2/sos, sa(n)2/ses, so(n)2
			Feminine					la, l'4
	Plural	Informal	Masculine	vós; vosotros			vues/vuesos, vuesa/vueses, vueso	vos			–
			Feminine	vós; vosotres
		Formal	Masculine	vucés		sí	lor/loros, lora/lores, loro	los	lhis	se, s'1, -sen5	–
			Feminine					les
3rd	Singular		Masculine	elh			suw/suwos, suwa/suwes, suwo	lu, l'1, -l3	lhi, lh'1	se, s'1	so(n)2/sos, sa(n)2/ses, so(n)2
			Feminine	elha				la, l'4
			Neuter	elho				lo, l'1
	Plural		Masculine	elhos			lor/loros, lora/lores, loro	los	lhis	se, s'1, -sen5	–
			Feminine	elhes				les
Impersonal				wemo			suw/suwos, suwa/suwes, suwo	lo, l'1	lhi, lh'1	se, s'1	so(n)2/sos, sa(n)2/ses, so(n)2

Notes:

¹ Preverbal before vowel.

² -n is appended to the singular clitic possessives when the following word begins in a vowel. Also note that in more archaic forms of Essanian, a glide may be added after the initial consonant of the clitic possessives in both the singular and plural. This glide is -i- in the first person and -u- in the second and third persons.

³ Post-verbal after vowel.

⁴ Preverbal before a.

⁵ Post-verbal after non-finite form (infinitive, participles, etc.).

Note that post-verbal clitic pronouns are always separated from the verb with a hyphen.

The neuter gender is used to refer to abstract ideas, infinitives, que clauses, inanimate interrogatives and indefinites, and similar.

When a verb has multiple clitic object pronouns, they combine in the following order: reflexive OP + indirect OP + direct OP + adverbial OP (see below).

Adverbial object pronouns

The following adverbial clitic object pronouns are used:

• y, b' (pre-verbal before vowels), -y (post-verbal) = equivalent to French y
• en, n' (pre-verbal before vowels), -ne (post-verbal) = equivalent to French en

Note that when post-verbal, the clitic pronouns are separated from the verb with a hyphen.

When both adverbial object pronouns are used at once, they combine as en b' preverbally before vowels and n'y otherwise.

Nouns

Gender

Nouns may be masculine or feminine. Unlike adjectives and pronouns, nouns cannot have neuter gender.

Number

Nouns may be singular or plural. Nouns may also be used in the dual, which is borrowed from Arabic.

Regular plurals

Nouns are pluralized based on their ending and gender as follows:

Plural of nouns based on ending and gender

Ending	Gender	Plural	Dual	Remarks
Consonant	most M	-os	-én	An exception are nouns ending in -nt that do not refer to people. Such nouns are masculine in gender but take -es in the plural.
	F; some M	-es	-én	In addition to feminine nouns, masculine inanimate nouns ending in -nt take -es in the plural.
-a	M/F	-es	-atén	Most words ending in -a are feminine.
-u; -o	M/F	-os	-én	Most words ending in -u are masculine. Nouns ending in unstressed -o are rare.
-e; -i	M/F	-es	-én	Nouns ending in unstressed -i are rare.
Stressed vowel	M/F	-s	-tén	These endings are added after the final vowel, which is left unchanged.

Irregular plurals

Some words, mostly of Arabic origin, take a plural in -ín (masculine) or -(w)at (feminine). There are also some broken plurals.

For example:

• mumin "believer (m.)" → muminín "believers"
• múmina "believer (f.)" → muminat "believers (f.)"
• salá "prayer" → salawat "prayers"
• sultán "sultan" → salatín "sultans"

Adjectives

Endings

Adjectives take the following endings:

Essanian adjective declension

Type	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine
1	-u or consonant	-a	-o	-os	-es
2	-e	-e	-e	-es	-es
3	Stressed vowel	Same as masc.	Same as masc.	-s	-s

The neuter gender in adjectives is used for agreement with infinitives, neuter pronouns, impersonal pronouns, or que phrases. It can also be used as an adverb.

Comparatives and Superlatives

The comparative of adjectives ("more ___") is formed by placing plus "more" or menos "less" before the adjective for the positive and negative comparatives respectively.

The following adjectives have irregular positive comparatives:

• buen "good" → melhor "better"
• mal "bad" → peyor "worse"
• muit "much, many" → plus "more"
• pocu "little, few" → menos "less, fewer"
• joven "young", cicu "small" → menor "younger, smaller"
• vielh "old", grand "large" → mayor "older, larger"

The last four (joven, cicu, vielh, grand) can alternatively use regular comparatives.

The superlative ("most _____") is formed by placing the definite article before the corresponding comparative.

Absolute Superlative

In addition to the regular superlative, there is an absolute superlative formed with the suffix -íssimu (declined as a regular adjective). It means "very ______" or "extremely _______".

There are some irregular absolute superlatives. In all cases, the regular forms may also be used.

• buen "good" -> óptimu "very good, optimal"
• mal "bad" -> péssimu "very bad"
• grand "large" -> máximu "very large"
• cicu "small" -> mínimu "very small"
• altu "high" -> supremu "very high"
• baxu "low" -> ínfimu "very low"

Adverbs

Derivation from adjectives

Adverbs are commonly derived from adjectives by one of the following methods:

• The neuter form of the adjective - e.g. puro "purely"
• The feminine form of the adjective suffixed with -ment - purament "purely"

When adverbs formed with the suffix -ment are appended to each other, -ment is dropped from all but the last adverb.

Irregular adverbs

The following adverbs are not regularly derived from their corresponding adjectives:

• buen "good" → bien "well"
• mal "bad" → mal "badly"

Comparative

The comparative of adverbs is formed in the same way as adjectives: by placing plus "more" or menos "less" before the adverb.

The following adverbs have irregular comparative forms:

• bien "well" → melhor "better"
• mal "badly" → peyor "worse"
• muito "a lot" → plus "more"
• poco "a little" → menos "less"

Numerals

Essanian numerals

	Cardinal	Ordinal	Fractional
0	zero	zerén	—
1	un, una, uno	primer	—
2	dos, duwes	second	meyu
3	tres	tercer	tierchu
4	quatro	quartu	quartu
5	cinco	quint	quint
6	seis	sieç	sieç
7	siet	setén	setaw
8	weito	océn	ochaw
9	nueu	novén	novaw
10	diech	decén	dechaw
11	onge	ongén	onjaw
12	doge	dogén	dojaw
13	trege	tregén	trejaw
14	quatorge	quatorgén	quatorjaw
15	quinge	quingén	quinjas
16	sege	segén	sejas
17	deci-siet	deci-setén	deci-setaw
18	deci-weito	deci-océn	deci-ochaw
19	deci-nueu	deci-novén	deci-novaw
20	vint	vintén	vintaw
21	vinti-ún	vinti-unén	vinti-unaw
30	trenta	trentén	trentaw
40	quaranta	quarantén	quarantaw
50	cinquanta	cinquantén	cinquantas
60	sexanta	sexantén	sexantaw
70	setanta	setantén	setantaw
80	ochanta	ochantén	ochantaw
90	novanta	novantén	novantaw
100	cient	centén	centaw
200	dos-cientos	dos-centén	dos-centaw
1000	mil	milén	milaw
2000	dos-mil	dos-milén	dos-milaw
10⁶	milhón	milhonén	milhonaw
2×10⁶	duwes-milhones	duwes-milhonén	duwes-milionaw
10⁹	milhardu	milhardén	milhardaw
10¹²	bilhón	bilhonén	bilhonaw

Verbs

Tenses and moods

Verbs conjugate in the following tenses and moods:

• Indicative mood (el mod indicativu):
  • Simple tenses (tiempos simples):
    • Simple present (el present simple)
    • Preterite (el passat perfeit)
    • Imperfect (el passat imperfeit)
    • Simple future (el futur simple)
    • Simple conditional (el condichonal simple)
    • Simple pluperfect (el plus-que-perfeit simple)
  • Compound tenses (tiempos compueços):
    • Present perfect (el passat compueç)
    • Compound pluperfect (el plus-que-perfeit compueç)
    • Future perfect (el futur compueç)
    • Conditional perfect (el condichonal compueç)
• Subjunctive mood (el mod subjuntivu)
  • Simple tenses (tiempos simples):
    • Present subjunctive (el present del subjuntivu)
    • Imperfect subjunctive (el imperfeit del subjuntivu)
    • Future subjunctive (el futur del subjuntivu)
  • Compound tenses (tiempos compueços):
    • Perfect subjunctive (el passat compueç del subjuntivu)
    • Pluperfect subjunctive (el plus-que-perfeit compueç del subjuntivu)
    • Future perfect subjunctive (el futur compueç del subjuntivu)
• Imperative mood (el mod imperativu)
  • Affirmative imperative (l'imperativu afirmativu)
  • Negative imperative (l'imperativu negativu)
• Non-finite forms (les formes nominales):
  • Infinitive (l'infinitivu)
  • Participle (el participiu')
  • Gerund (el gerundiu)

For convenience, each tense/mood combination will be referred to in this article as a "tense".

Verb classes

There are three verb classes:

• First conjugation/-ar verbs (la conjugachón primera)
• Second conjugation/-er verbs (la conjugachón seconda)
• Third conjugation/-ir verbs (la conjugachón tercera)

There are irregular verbs in each class.

Verb conjugation

Note that second person polite forms always take third person verb conjugations

Non-finite forms

Non-finite forms of regular verbs

Form	-ar verbs	-er verbs	-ir verbs
Infinitive	-ar	-er	-ir
Participle	-at/-atos, -ata/-ates, -ato	-it/-itos, -ita/-ites, -ito¹
Gerundive	-ando	-iendo²

Notes:

¹ -er verbs may form their past participle in -ut instead of -it (this is considered archaic). Additionally, many -er and -ir verbs have irregular past participles (which often are also considered archaic).

² Becomes -endo after palatal consonants. Merges with preceding -w- to form -yendo.

Simple tenses (indicative)

Simple indicative tenses (regular -ar verbs)

Person/ Number	Present	Imperfect	Preterite	Future	Conditional	Pluperfect
1S	-o	-ava	-é	-aré	-areva	-era
2S	-es	-aves	-és	-arás	-areves	-eres
3S	-a	-ava	-ó	-ará	-areva	-era
1P	-án	-aven	-én	-arén	-areven	-eren
2P	-az	-ávez	-ez	-arez	-arévez	-érez
3P	-en	-aven	-én	-arán	-areven	-eren

Simple indicative tenses (regular -er verbs)

Person/ Number	Present	Imperfect	Preterite	Future	Conditional	Pluperfect
1S	-o	-eva	-í	-eré	-ereva	-iera
2S	-es	-eves	-iés	-erás	-ereves	-ieres
3S	-(e)¹	-eva	-ió	-erá	-ereva	-iera
1P	-én	-even	-ién	-erén	-ereven	-ieren
2P	-ez	-évez	-iez	-erez	-erévez	-iérez
3P	-en	-even	-ién	-erán	-ereven	-ieren

Simple indicative tenses (regular -er verbs)

Person/ Number	Present	Imperfect	Preterite	Future	Conditional	Pluperfect
1S	-o	-iva	-í	-iré	-ireva	-iera
2S	-es	-ives	-iés	-irás	-ireves	-ieres
3S	-(e)¹	-iva	-ió	-irá	-ireva	-iera
1P	-ín	-iven	-ién	-irén	-ireven	-ieren
2P	-iz	-ívez	-iez	-irez	-irévez	-iérez
3P	-en	-iven	-ién	-irán	-ireven	-ieren

Notes:

¹ The final -e in the 3S present of -er and -ir verbs is dropped after certain consonants.

² When an ending begins in a rising diphthong (-i- + vowel), -i- is dropped after palatal consonants and merges with a preceding -w- to form -y-.

Simple tenses (subjunctive)

Simple subjunctive tenses (regular -ar verbs)

Person/ Number	Present	Imperfect	Future
1S	-e	-esse	-ere
2S	-as	-essas	-eras
3S	-e	-esse	-ere
1P	-én	-essan	-eran
2P	-ez	-éssaz	-éraz
3P	-an	-essan	-eran

Simple subjunctive tenses (regular -er and -ir verbs)

Person/ Number	Present	Imperfect	Future
1S	-a	-iesse	-iere
2S	-as	-iessas	-ieras
3S	-a	-iesse	-iere
1P	-án	-iessan	-ieran
2P	-az	-iéssaz	-iéraz
3P	-an	-iessan	-ieran

Imperative

• Affirmative:
  • 2S: Same as 3S present indicative.
  • 2P: Same as infinitive, with final -r replaced with -t.
  • Other persons: Same as corresponding present subjunctive.
• Negative: Same as corresponding present subjunctive.

Compound tenses

Compound tenses are formed with the verb aver "to have" followed by the past participle. They differ from each other according to the tense of the auxiliary verb.

• Non-finite forms:
  • Perfect infinitive: aver + participle
  • Perfect participle: participle of aver + participle
  • Perfect gerundive: haviendo + participle
• Indicative:
  • Present perfect: present of aver + participle
  • Compound pluperfect: imperfect of aver + participle
  • Future perfect: future of aver + participle
  • Conditional perfect: conditional of aver + participle
• Subjunctive:
  • Perfect subjunctive: present subjunctive of aver + participle
  • Pluperfect subjunctive: imperfect subjunctive of aver + participle
  • Future perfect subjunctive: future subjunctive of aver + participle

Irregular verbs

• Stem-changing verbs have predictable sound changes when the stem is stressed. Common varieties include:
  • -o- > -ue-
  • -e- > -ie-
  • -ch- > -it-
• Many verbs have an irregular 1S present indicative form. When this occurs, this irregular stem is also used to form the present subjunctive. In the case of stem-changing verbs, stem vowel changes still apply.
• The future may have an irregular stem before -r- formed by contraction. This happens especially often with -er verbs. The conditional always has the same stem as the future.
• The preterite may have an irregular stem, in which case the endings are as below (with a few exceptions):

Person/Number	Preterite ending
1S	-i
2S	-es
3S	-o
1P	-ién
2P	-iez
3P	-ién

The pluperfect indicative, imperfect subjunctive, and future subjunctive stems are always formed by removing -s from the 2S preterite and adding the appropriate endings starting from the consonant.

• Regular verbs whose stems end in -c-, -g-, -qu-, -gu-, -qü-, -gü-, -ch- have spelling changes in order to maintain the same pronunciation in front of front and back vowels, as per the table below.

Phoneme	Before front vowels	Before back vowels	Remarks
/k/	qu	c
/tʃ/	c	ch	Becomes -ch when word-final.
/ɡ ~ ɣ/	gu	g
/dʒ ~ ʒ/	g	j	This spelling change does not apply if the infinitive is spelled with -j-, in which case this spelling is maintained.
/kw/	qü	qu
/ɡw ~ ɣw/	gü	gu

Note that many verbs ending in -cer, -cir irregularly maintain their spelling in the 1S present indicative with the corresponding pronunciation change.

Example texts

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1)

La Declarachón Universala de los Dreitos Umanos (Artícul 1)

Totos los seros umanos naxen horros ed equalos en dinitá y dreitos. Son dotatos de rachón y conxencha, y deven comportar-sen los unos colos otros en ruhu de germantá.

توتس لس سارس أمانس نشن حرس ءاد ءاكوالس ءان دنتاه إي دريتس. سون دتاتس دا رچون إي كنشنچه، إي داڤن كمپرتارسن لس أونس كلس أترس ءان روح دا جرمانتاه

/ˈtotos los ˈseɾos uˈmanos ˈnaʃen ˈhoros ed eˈkwalos en diniˈta i ˈdreitos ‖ son doˈtatos de raˈt͡ʃon i konˈʃent͡ʃa | i ˈdeven kompoɾˈtaɾsen los ˈunos ˈkolos ˈotɾos en ˈruhu de d͡ʒeɾmanˈta/