Maghrebi Azalic
Maghrebi Azalic (lit. [the language] of those who say đâu [for '2']) is an Azalic language. It is closer to English than other Azalic languages are, but still a separate language. It is inspired by Vietnamese.
Morphology
Nouns
Two cases (nominative and genitive), no gender
- Genitive singular is always -x or -ơx
- Plural is always nom. -i, gen. -xi
Umlaut, known in Lõis as affection, is used for some plurals.
Verbs
Only the imperative/infinitive survives in lexical verbs.
Auxiliaries
Maghrebi Azalic has an auxiliary verb system similar to Colloquial Welsh. In addition, there is a T-V distinction: the 2nd person plural u is also used as a polite pronoun.
- Re Dovíð ngaw šun. = David is about to sleep.
- Biuth re Dovíð ngaw šun = When David is about to sleep
| → Person | I | thou | he | she | it | we | blotp | they | Non-pronominal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present (sêu is from *seq̇ 'see') | im | dur | khês | sis | its | giar | ulơr | dar | sêu |
| Interrogative | am i | ar du | is khê | is si | is it | ar gia | ar ul | ar da | is |
| Past (from perfect of עָשָׂה 'to do') | si ni, sit i, sit ni | sit to | sit te | so u | sto hi | sin nu | sit tem | su'm | so/sto |
| Future/Subjunctive (from imperfect of עָשָׂה 'to do') | ąs i | tąs to | tąs te | yąs u | tąs hi | nąs nu | tąsu tem | yąsu'm | yąs/tąs |
| Passive present (from imperfect of עָבַר 'to pass') | ur ni, ur i | tur to | tri te | yur u | tur hi | nur nu | tru tem | ru'm | yur/tur |
| Passive past (from perfect of עָבַר 'to pass') | var ni, var i, vart i | vart to | vart te | var u | vro hi | varn nu | vart tem | vru'm | var/vro |
| "May" (from imperfect of לָקַח 'to take') | kekh i | tkekh to | tkekh te | kekh u | tkekh hi | kekh nu | tkekhu tem | kekhu'm | kekh/tkekh/kekhu |
| "Do X more" - present (from imperfect of הוֹסִיף 'to add') | usif i | tusif to | tusif te | yusif u | tusif hi | nusif nu | tusif tem | yusifu'm | usift/tusif/yusifu |
| "Do X more" - past (from perfect of הוֹסִיף 'to add') | seft i | seft to | seft te | sif u | sifø hi | sef nu | seft tem | sifu'm | sif/sifu |
| Cautionary (from imperfect of זָמַם 'to scheme') | zum i | tøzum to | tøzum te | zum u | tøzum hi | nøzum nu | tøzmu tem | zmu'm | zum/tøzum/zmu |
| "X well" - present (from imperfect of הֵיטִיב 'to do well') | attev i | tattev to | tattvi te | yattev u | tattev hi | nattev nu | tattev tem | yattevu'm | yattev/tattev/yattevu |
| "X well" - past (from perfect of הֵיטִיב 'to do well') | ettevt i | ettevt to | ettevt te | ettev u | ettivø hi | ettev nu | ettevt tem | ettevu'm | ettev |
Cautionary future
The auxiliary for the cautionary future comes from the Biblical Hebrew verb *zāmam 'to scheme'. It's used to:
- warn the listener of a future event or contingency:
- Zum sąraz tha lovu fu kol ngeth. = 'The storm might come here any moment.'
- Zum tafkestaz mul lith kovuą hettev! = 'The map might not be well-defined! [in a hypothetical math lecture, cautioning against a tacit assumption the audience might make]'
- often used in a threatening manner, for example: Lakh to mul yedhą ma zum i ląsuth lakh to! = 'You have no idea what I'm gonna do to you!'
Object pronouns
Object pronouns are not different from subject pronouns, except kho/khe/khem may be found instead of to/te/tem in some dialects.