Intralingua/Morphology: Difference between revisions

The definite articles are is ''{{C|le}}'' or ''{{C|la}}'' and indefinite articles are ''{{C|un}}'' or ''{{C|una}}'' (the same as the number "one"). They are invariable and are used roughly as in English. The prepositions ''{{C|a}}'' 'to' and ''{{C|de}}'' 'of' can optionally be fused with the definite articles into  ''{{C|del}}'' and ''{{C|al}}'', the masculine and feminine respectively.

Nouns inflect for number. Plural nouns take ''{{C|-s}}'' after a vowel, ''-es'' after a consonant (but final ''-c'' changes to ''-ches'' to preserve the {{IPA|[k]}} sound of ''c'').

:''{{C|catto}}''   'cat'  →  ''cattos''  'cats'

:''{{C|can}}''  'dog'  →  ''canes''  'dogs'

:''{{C|roc}}''   'rook' [chess]   →  ''roches''  'rooks'

Intralingua has grammatical gender, like all Romance languages. Animate nouns are sex-neutral, unless they refer specifically to a male or a female in the lexicon. Thus, ''{{C|jornalista}}'' 'journalist' and ''{{C|scientista}}'' 'scientist' are usable of both men and women, even though ''{{C|rege}}'' 'king' and ''{{C|regina}}'' 'queen' are sex-specific. Feminine forms can be created by substituting final ''{{C|-a}}'' for a final ''-o'' or ''-e'' or by adding the suffix ''{{C|-essa}}''.  So it is that gender refers more to the form (i.e. ending) than to sex.

:''{{C|puero}}''   'boy'   →  ''puera''  'girl'

:''{{C|tigre}}''   'tiger'   →  ''tigressa''  'female tiger'

Comparative degree is expressed by ''{{C|plus}}'' or ''{{C|minus}}'' preceding the adjective and superlative degree by ''le plus'' or ''la minus''.

The suffix ''{{C|-issime}}'' may be used to express the absolute superlative degree.

The adjectives ''{{C|bon}}'' 'good', ''{{C|mal}}'' 'bad', ''{{C|magne}}'' 'great', and ''{{C|parve}}'' 'small' have optional irregular forms for the comparative and superlative.

There are two types of adverbs, primary and secondary. Primary adverbs are a closed class of grammatical operators, such as ''{{C|quasi}},'' 'almost'; ''{{C|jam}}'', 'already'; and ''{{C|totevi}},'' 'anyway'. Secondary adverbs are an open class derived from corresponding adjectives by adding the suffix ''{{C|-menti}}'' (''-amenti'' after final ''-c'').