Sevvufery

Sevvufery [sɛgyfɛre] is a language spoken by the Sevvuferýkilý of Sevvuferý, a country at the centre of contemporary maps of the fictional planet Erad. Its inhabitants are similar to humans, apart from differences in intellectual capacity. Though there has been some change in the language, not much has evolved over time, which is why this page's information was taken from a time when the language had lived for about 200 years.

Phonology

Consonants

Sevvufery has 27 consonants. Some of these are represented using two of the same letter, but they are treated as one letter in writing, and would be considered as such to a native speaker. The same applies for "ΔΓ". Where two consonants are in the same cell, the one on the left represents the voiceless version.

NOTE: Where brackets are used, the letter outside of the bracket indicates the romanisation of the letter as it would be used in writing, whereas the letter inside the brackets indicates the sound as it would be transcribed using IPA.

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal
Plosive	p b		t d					k [k]* vv [g]*
Nasal	m	ɱ*		n		ɳ*		ΔΓ [ŋ]
Trill				r
Affricate					g[ʧ]		yy [dʑ]
Fricative		f v	å [θ] ð [ð]	s [s] x [z]	rr [ʃ] ii [ʒ]				hh [χ]	h/ʰ [h]* [ɦ]*
Lateral Fricative				∞ [ɬ]
Approximant		w [ʋ]					j
Lateral Approximant				l

[k] is not released if preceding another consonant, even between words. For example, the phrase "nek got" (/nɛk̚ ʧɔt/) meaning "I don't know". [g] is reduced in the same way before another consonant, and is also devoiced, with some exceptions. See the list of currently existing Sevvuferyn words for further information.

[n] is reanalysed as [ɳ] before another consonant.

[m] is reanalysed as [ɱ] before another consonant.

[h] is reanalysed as [ɦ] if it is the last letter of a word or before [t]. ʰ is pronounced as a weaker version of [h] and cannot appear at the start or end of words.

[ʋ] can sometimes be assimilated to [ʷ] if a consonant is either before or after it. For example, in the word "ywtar" (/eʷtar/) meaning "weather". Similarly, other consonants, especially in clusters, can be assimilated to affecting the previous letter's point of articulation. As another example, the word "silnif" (/siˡnif/) meaning "son".

Letters representing consonant clusters

The cluster [ks] is represented by the letter 'z'

The cluster [zχ] is represented by the "letter" 'zz'

Monopthongs

Sevvufery uses 18 letters to represent vowel/dipthong sounds. Of these, 13 represent monopthongs. Where two sounds are included in the same row, the one on the left represents the unrounded version

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i/ý [i]* u [y]		ö [u]
Near-close	í [ɪ]
Close-mid	y [e]	ä [ɵː]
Mid			õ [o̞ː]
Open-mid	e [ɛ]		o [ɔ]
Near-open		ú [ɐ ~ ə]*
Open	a		ã [ɑː]

i and ý both make the [i] sound, but ý is pronounced [ĭ], being shorter than 'i' in length. the value of 'ý' also varies between just [ĭ] and [ĭʔ], with the latter being less common in normal speech but more so when someone is speaking slowly/emphatically or in works of literature.

ú officially is the central near-open [ɐ]. However, in common usage its pronunciation varies between this and schwa [ə]

Dipthongs

Vowel clusters are banned in Sevvufery, so other letters are used for dipthongs, as are shown below:

• ÿ [ai]
• ø [aɔ]
• ë [ɛi]
• ï [ɪi]
• ü [ɐi ~ əi]

Although long consonants usually do not occur in Sevvufery, there is one exception: [j], when following [ai], as the result is a contraction from [aij] to [ajː]. This is still spelled with "ÿj", however...

Where other sounds occur next to each other, when using ʰ (see below for further information), they are pronounced as separate syllables. For example, in the word "zzãʰýn" (zχɑːĭn), meaning 'heavy', the long /ɑː/ vowel and the short /ĭ/ vowel are pronounced individually despite different vowel lengths – importantly, they are NOT combined into a dipthong.

Stress

Emphasis always falls on the penultimate syllable of a word, which, for words shorter than three syllables, will simply be the first syllable. For example, even for a very long word such as "esopobynbölebimemas" /εsɔpɔbeɳbulεbimεmas/ (we might have been used), stress falls on the "me" syllable. It is also marked by rising intonation, as is familiar for most languages, and there is no pitch accent.

Morphology

Sound clusters

Start of a word

Most sound clusters are banned at the start of words, but there are three which are permitted: kr, tr and kw, although the latter is rarely used since it would replace the "q" sound, a sound which is virtually absent in Sevvufery to begin with.

For example, in the word 'krut' (/kryt/) meaning 'synagogue'

Middle

However, in the middle of words, consonant clusters are allowed, if they are no longer than two letters (with one exception : ntr), provided that a vowel both preceeds and proceeds them.

For example, the word 'ysry' (/esre/) meaning 'voice'.

End of a word

There is some more lenience at the end of words, although not much. Again though, the clusters must not be any longer than 2 letters. The following are permitted: ns, nt, nk. And here the effect I mentioned earlier occurs, where the n shifts to being pronounced as [ɳ] because it precedes another consonant.

For example, the word 'nunk' (/nyɳk/) meaning 'to notice'.

Uses of ʰ

Vowel lengthening

Now, with the exception of 'i' and 'ý', Sevvufery does not distinguish between long and short vowels with the use of different letters. In order to lengthen another vowel, two of the same vowel are placed on either side of the letter ʰ.

For example: the word "hyliʰi" (/heliː/) meaning 'certain' or 'specific'

Although this is rare, this can also occur for vowels that are already long, so they are lengthened exaggeratedly.

For example: the word "ãʰãsi" (/ɑːːsi/) meaing 'to annoy'

Joining vowels in a very weak dipthong

The other use of ʰ is less subtle, and places more importance on its pronunciation. When two vowels occur next to each other whose dipthong is not already covered by one of the letters mentioned earlier, ʰ is used to connect these since it does act as a consonant, just a weakly pronounced one.

For example, in the word 'yʰale' (/ealɛ/) meaning 'phase'. Here, the 'h' sound is almost not pronounced, but it is not entirely absent. However, it is so weakly pronounced that it is not included in the IPA transcription.

affixes

Sevvufery employs the use of prefixes, suffixes, and, rarely, infixes, these can be added to a word to change its meaning, and will often change the pronunciation of the part of the new word that was inherited from its affixless form.

The most common examples of this occur with numbers, as is further explained in the section with that title. However, it can happen for regular words as well. Common patterns are shown below, along with examples:

• Initial and/or final vowels, and even whole syllables, may be elided. For example, most words that stem from [concept + "ekil" (meaning "man" or "human being")] have elided the initial [ε] of ekil. This is reflected in spelling.
  

  Thus, for example, "uhiju" (music) becomes "uhijukil" (music-man, i.e musician). 

  This kind of elision also tends to occur for concepts related to "silif" (child), "neftam"(sibling), "gëhom" (parent), "ibajo" (its meaning is further covered in the section Regular Nouns and Adjectives) and many others.

• Consonant and vowel clusters tend towards a monophthong – with some exceptions.
  

  Hence, the archaic form of the number 126, "oiidojxis"*, becomes "oiioyyis": [d] is elided after [ʒ], and [ɔjz]/[ɔiz] is reduced and palatalised to [ɔdʑ]

• As just mentioned, consonants following [ʒ] are usually elided.
  

  "dúiijad"* (red stone) becomes "dúiiad" (brick): [j] is elided such that [ʒj] becomes [ʒ], so /dɐʒad/

• Consonants before [j] are usually elided, EXCEPT FOR [s].

  "sut" (obvious) + "jak" (certain) becomes "sujak" from the archaic form "sutjak"*: [t] is elided such that [tj] (or [tʲ]) becomes [j]. 

  Note: the ablative of this noun (more on this in the next section) is used as a means of saying "surely" (because the ablative of this means, approximately, "in an obviously certain way", which is close to "surely").

• Sometimes, two consonants may be joined together which do not fit, such as [ʧ]+[t] ([ʧt is difficult to pronounce for the average Sevvuferýkil]). What usually happens in this case is that a short [ɵ] is added inbetween. Due to the limitations of Sevvuferyn phonology, this [ɵ] lengthens over time to [ɵː]
  

  "õnf-" (from "onÿfunk", meaning "to defend") + "ry" (thing) becomes "õnfäry": an extra [ɵː] was added to prevent a cluster of three sounds, [ɳfr], as this would not fit with Sevvuferyn phonology. Thus, [o̞ːɳfre] became [o̞ːɳfɵːre].

Interverbal rules

Features such as /n/ shifting to /ɳ/ before another consonant also apply between words. Thus, a phrase such as "Tofanen rul" (I hit the ball) is pronounced [tɔfanɛɳ ryl]. The fact that this occurs at the end of a word does not matter.

Another, more colloquial, rule, is that vowels at the end and start of words may be pronounced together as a dipthong. However, this can only occur when it is permitted under Sevvuferyn phonetics. For example, in the phrase "Na oheå" (and this), those speaking quickly or informally will pronounce it as if it was written "nøheå".

Something else which may occur is that, when the two sounds at the end of a word and the start of the next one are identical, rather than being pronounced as a longer version of the same letter, they are pronounced together as if only one letter was written. For example, the phrase "MËÏRen nekytïkuman" (he deceives you) would, when speaking quickly/informally, be pronounced [mɛjɪirɛnɛketɪikyman].

Writing System

So far, only the romanisation of the Sevvuferyn script is known, but one feature which is certainly present in the original script is that there is a unit larger than a sentence, indicated by two brackets [].

However, this feature may not be included in certain types of documents and/or written works. For example, Frathwiki's main page in Sevvufery does not use these brackets, because what would be indicated by the two brackets is already clearly shown.

Grammar

Nouns and Adjectives

Nouns in Sevvufery employ a highly inflectional structure, where each case, apart from the nominative singular, is marked with a suffix. Adjectives precede the noun they describe, and must agree with it in number, but not in case (so, for example, an adjective in the dative plural does not need to be followed by a noun in the dative plural, but the noun must still be in the plural form, and not the singular). This will be explained further in the section 'Articles' burden'. All nouns and adjectives decline differently depending on whether they end in a consonant, or a vowel.

Regular nouns

Nouns in Sevvufery can have eight cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, possessive*, dative, ablative, locative, resultant, which serve the following purposes:

The Nominative acts as the subject of the sentence. Some prepositions, such as "nas" meaning "against", are followed by the nominative.

The Accusative acts as the object of a sentence.

The Genitive indicates possession, as does the Possessive, but the latter can be combined with any case, to achieve meanings such as 'of my' or 'to his' etc.

The Dative can be used in either a locative sense, or to indicate the recipient of an action.

The Ablative can be used in four different ways:

1. By itself, without an article. In this case, it means 'in' or 'on'
2. By itself, with an article. Either the article is in the ablative, or the noun is, but it is the presence In this case, it indicates an instrumental sense (i.e 'by [insert noun]')
3. With the word 'ibajo', without an article. In this case, it means 'from' or 'out of'
4. With the word 'ibajo', with an article. In this case, it means 'with', both in an instrumental sense and in a sense of companionship.

The Locative indicates a locational sense where the observer is 'at' their destination. So, indeed, it means 'at [insert noun]'

The Resultant has two uses:

1. Following comparatives, to achieve the meaning 'than [insert noun]'
2. Indirect statements, to achieve the meaning 'that [insert noun]'

	Consonant		Vowel
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-	-ý	-	-jý
Accusative	-en	-ýjen	-mon	-kýmon
Genitive	-ime	-ölig	-jetöd	-zze
Possessive	-tel*
Dative	-aiiu	-ajahh	-fodyl	-kömë
Ablative	-ymal	-ýmal	-byn	-býn
Locative	-gúd	-mød	-úd	-ød
Resultant	-ymuvv	-imuvv	-bylø	-belø

 -el after [ʧ], [zχ], [d] or consonant clusters

It is also worth mentioning that when the possessive is used, it is permissible in some contexts to refer to someone by just using the ending 'tel' without mentioning the possessor. This should be reserved for contexts where it is obvious, however.

For example, "Nosen got, na tel rehöm enid soran" (I know the king, and his (referring back to that same king) mother is nice).

Adjectives

Adjectives decline identically to regular nouns, so that will not be covered in this section.

Table of Contractions

Letter	e-contraction	i-contraction	ú-contraction
a	y	ÿ	ø
ä	ä	ú	o
e	e	i	í
ö	õ	u	ö

ë, ï and ü have not been included here, since they would just be reduced to e + j, í + j, and ú + j respectively, after which they follow the consonant endings.

Rules of formation

Although adjectives may end in any consonant, they cannot end in any vowel. Only the following are permitted, due to the way this plays into comparatives, superlatives and absolutives, having mentioned the table of contractions in the previous section: a, ä, e, ë, ï, ö, ü.

Comparative

This is the mode adjectives take in order to, well, compare nouns to others, as is the case for many natural languages. Comparatives decline like regular adjectives. They are formed by adding -egan to consonant endings, and adding the e-contracted version of the last vowel of the adjective + gan if the adjective ends in a vowel. Refer to the Table of Contractions. Comparatives are followed by the resultant case to achieve the meaning 'than [insert object]'

For example, "dögegan TËIRymuvv mo."

I am better than him.

Superlative

This is the mode adjectives take only to indicate a substantial amount of the adjective's quality, not per se to indicate the highest possible amount of it. The latter function is taken up by the absolutive.

The Sevvuferyn superlative is formed by adding either '-ivvino' to adjectives ending in consonants, or the adjective's last vowel's i-contracted version + -vvino to adjectives ending in vowels.

Take this sentence, for example:

Oheå sytejýn dögivvino soran.
Oheå	sytejýn	dögivvino	soran
This	bread	good.SUPER	be.IND.ACT.3rd.SING

This bread is very good.

Absolutive

As mentioned previously, adjectives take this mode to indicate the highest possible amount of an adjective's quality. They are formed either by adding 'úme' to adjectives ending in consonants, or by adding the adjective's last vowel's ú-contracted version + -me to adjectives ending in vowels.

For example:

Soran et nagríme Sevvuferÿl* ediga.
Soran	et	nagríme	Sevvuferÿl	ediga
be.IND.ACT.3rd.SING	the.NOM.SING	big.ABS	Sevvuferý.ABL.SING	bridge.NOM.SING

It is the biggest bridge in Sevvuferý.

*you may notice that the ablative of 'Sevvuferý' is not what you would expect. This is covered in the section "Irregular Terminations of 'Sevvuferý' and 'Sevvufery'"

Numbers

Number System

The way Sevvufery deals with numbers is... more mathematical than most languages can be bothered to include. But to begin, the numbers 0-10 are just direct translations (and the ordinals are also shown here):

English	Sevvufery	Sevvuferyn ordinal
zero	nihilil	nihilal
one	oiienzzi	oiienal
two	dojeni	dojenal
three	trezeni	trezenal
four	ereja	erejal
five	kwinkwa	kwinkwal
six	xis	xisal
seven	pente	pentejal
eight	ohhoj	ohhojal
nine	xande	xandejal
ten	zortýn	zortyjal

However, for numbers greater than 10, Sevvufery actually just says the digits, in base 10, of the number, starting with the biggest. However, it does not use these forms of said numbers. It uses the shortened stems instead. The other stems which are shown here will be explained afterwards, but here is a list of said stems:

Number	Shortened stem(s)	Root
nihilil	níh,* ní,* íh,* í*	n/a
oiienzzi	oii	o
dojeni	doj	id
trezeni	trez	ter
ereja	erej	er
kwinkwa	kwin	ki
xis	xit	i
pente	pen	e
ohhoj	ohh	y
xande	xan	ax
zortýn	n/a	zo

Those for 0 will vary based on the phonetics of the numbers before and after it. For example, 204 is dojíhereja, but 505 is peníkwinkwa. Granted, the "n" here was already part of the shortened stem for the number 5, but the stem is still different in that it does not have the "h" that the stem in dojíhereja had.

Another useful thing to note is that this does not apply to multiples of ten. For these, we simply add -anos to the shortened stems (and -anal for the ordinal form).

For multiples of 100, we add -oðe to the shortened stems, with the exception of 100 itself, which has the name 'xendato' (ordinal: xendatal)

And for greater numbers, we use this formula:

S + R + -mil

Where S is the shortened stem and R is the root, or combination of roots. ʰ will sometimes be necessary in said combination.

For example, the current estimate for the number of atoms in the universe, in Sevvufery, is 'xendatidimil' (/zɛndatidimil/) which can be broken down into 'xendat' + 'id' 'i' + mil i.e 100 x 10^(3(20 + 6)) or 10^2 x 10^78, which equals 10^80.

Cases

Although numbers have an almost completely different declination system to regular nouns, they also do not decline for the accusative singular and plural. This can lead to some ambiguity, as, for example, the sentence "trezeni ivvuåÿhe" can mean either "three [people/beings] understand" or "they understand three [people/beings]". Granted, this can be avoided in most cases by switching the word order for the second example, and leaving the first to be understood from context.

	Vowel		Consonant
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-	-mý	-	-emý
Accusative	-	-mý	-	-emý
Genitive	-jÿ	-mlÿ	-ÿ	-emÿ
Dative	-lo	-lmo	-ilo	-emo
Ablative	-byn	-býn	-ymal	-ýmal
Locative	-ú	-ö	-ú	-ö
Resultant	-eΔΓ	-eΔΓý	-eΔΓ	-eΔΓý

Note that for the locative and resultant, vowel and consonant endings are the same. This is because, if the number ends in a vowel, said vowel is lost in place of the ending: for example, "ereja" becomes "erejú" in the locative singular.

Combining Cases with the Possessive

Remember how there are two ways to express possession in Sevvufery? Well, the possessive can, as stated earlier, be combined with other cases. It declines like any regular noun that ends in a consonant, but the stem now has "-tel" added to it.

For example, the word "nostelymuvv" (/nɔstɛlemyg/), meaning "that the king's".

For plural subjects, the letter 'ý' is added before '-tel' to the stem. Thus, for the plural form of the same word, we have "nosýtelymuvv" (/nɔsĭtɛlemyg/) meaning "that the kings'".

Articles' burden

This refers to the fact that, in Sevvufery, the definite and indefinite articles do not need to agree with the noun they describe, similar to adjectives, in case. They will need to agree in number, however. Thus, you might as well say that the article "takes the burden" of the case upon itself so that the following noun does not have to.

This also applies to the 2nd and 4th uses of the ablative (see the section Regular Nouns for more information).

For example: Sytejýnen gafus (I eat bread) becomes "eten sytejýn gafus (I eat the bread).

Irregular Terminations of 'Sevvuferý' and 'Sevvufery'

These irregularities are due to the influence of neighbouring languages such as North-East Sevvufery and Cathlushenian, since those humans would more commonly use these words than the Sevvuferýkilý.

	Sevvuferý	Sevvufery	+possessive
Nominative	Sevvuferý	Sevvufery	n/a
Accusative	Sevvuferýj	Sevvuferyj	n/a
Genitive	Sevvuferýn	Sevvuferyn	SevvuferýΔΓ	SevvuferyΔΓ
Possessive	Sevvuferýn	Sevvuferyn	n/a
Dative	Sevvuferým	Sevvuferem	Sevvuferýmní	Sevvuferymne
Ablative	Sevvuferyl	Sevvuferÿl	Sevvuferýle	Sevvuferyle
Locative	Sevvuferu	Sevvuferø	Sevvuferun	Sevvuferøn
Resultant	Sevvuferýd	Sevvuferyd	Sevvuferýnde	Sevvuferynde

Verbs

Sevvuferyn verbs fall into four categories, and these have distinctly different endings. The standard form used for study, and for giving explanations about verbs, is the present infinitive.

Simplest verb

Historically, this was the first word added to Sevvufery, when its first ruler had just arrived and before the language merged with those of its neighbours. It means 'to' but without indicating what the action is. It declines irregularly and its present tense is the source of Sevvuferyn pronouns. 'Yr' (/er/) was originally the present tense infinitive, but over time that has contracted into 'yk' (/ek/). A table of the past and future tenses will be shown below ― since the pronouns are, well, nouns, these will be omitted, being the present tense of 'yk'.

	Past	Future
INFINITIVE	arre	kyzzø
1st person singular	errø	ixo
2nd person singular	rrolú	jilu
3rd person singular	minzze	dizz
1st person plural	ösö	ximar
2nd person plural	rrúntis	kyzzö
3rd person plural	zzøme	ezzi

Since Sevvufery can turn verbs into participles in the present, past and future (as is shown in the section Participles), these will also be shown here.

	Active	Passive
Present	nin	ne*
Past	sa	kaå*
Future	bölyb	böleb*

*The passive forms of these participles are actually used as the participles for the word 'si' (to be), since they technically align in meaning.

Indicative Mood

Nothing unusual to see here. This is just what you would expect, the mood used to indicate a statement or fact.

Active Voice

Present Tenses

Let us begin with something basic, the Simple Present Tense. The four example verbs mean "to appear (in the sense of making an apparition, not as a synonym of "to seem")", "to say", "to go", and "to notice", respectively, and these will also be used as examples for all other tenses. The parts in bold are the endings, whereas the regular parts indicate the stem.

	1st conjugation	2nd conjugation	3rd conjugation	4th conjugation
Infinitive	apar	ysi	nigon	nunk
1st person singular	apa	ys*	nigot	nul
2nd person singular	apal	ysora	nigo	nu
3rd person singular	apansí	ysoran	nigotamunt	numan
1st person plural	aparamnes	ysoranos	nigotus	nuta
2nd person plural	aparasí	ysojilo	nigotis	nutys
3rd person plural	aparante	ysorajyn	nigotinen	nuåÿhe

*some verbs instead use the ending -mo for the 1st person singular, which is also the irregular 1st person singular form of the verb "si". Verbs that do this are either those that combine prepositions with it (e.g "tiposi" (to be present) --> "tipomo") or verbs for which the stem would otherwise contain two consonants (e.g "pelsi" (to sleep) --> "pels"* --> "pelmo").

The verb "si", meaning "to be", belongs in the second declension. However, aside from its irregular participles, it can also be used to form compound and continuous tenses through what are called mutations. Below are the present ones, which are used for the following tenses:

Present continuous

Perfect

Near-Future

And these work in what I would consider to be a very intuitive way: first the stem includes a participle of the first part of this tense (think about the imperfect in English, for example: "I was" is part of the ending, and "doing" is part of the stem), such that the present continuous is literally "doing I am", the perfect is "having done I am", and the near-future is "about to do I am", when transliterated.

	mutation
	vowel	consonant
1st person singular	-s*	-ís
2nd person singular	-ra	-a
3rd person singular	-ran	-an
1st person plural	-nos	-os
2nd person plural	-ilõ*	-õ
3rd person plural	-jyn	-y

  * in the Perfect Tense, the first person singular is actually contracted from "ås" (θs) to "z" (ks), because the former would not be permitted in Sevvufery.
 * -ilõ starting with a vowel will cause the verbs formed to have a dipthong. For example, in the word "nösÿlõ" (/nusailo̞ː/) meaning "you all have noticed"

Past Tenses

Now Sevvufery has two Simple Past tenses – the Past Tense and the Historic Conditional – and five Compound Past tenses – the Imperfect Tense, the Perfect Tense, the Pluperfect Tense, the Future Perfect Tense and the Past Future Tense. The Historic Conditional Tense has its own section, therefore this one will be dedicated to the Past Tense.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
INFINITIVE	apavvÿ	yse	nigovõ	nö
1st person singular	apavv	ysele	nigov	nuv
2nd person singular	apavves	yselen	nigova	nöiieb
3rd person singular	apavven	yseres	nigovali	nöΔΓo
1st person plural	apavvemes	ysemas	nigovolis	nönuwös
2nd person plural	apavvejos	ysejil	nigovolon	nödeg
3rd person plural	apavvenÿ	yserelin	nigovalens	nöna

And the mutations, used for the following tenses:

Imperfect (was doing)

Pluperfect (had done)

Near-Future Past (was about to do)

	Mutation
	Vowel	Consonant
1st person singular	-le	-e
2nd person singular	-len	-en
3rd person singular	-res	-es
1st person plural	-mas	-as
2nd person plural	-il
3rd person plural	-lín	-ín

Historic Conditional Tense: Present

Now, this tense is NOT to be confused with the regular conditional, used for probable events. This tense is used to describe what would usually happen in the past, if you are speaking from the present. An example in English is "when he was sick, I would visit him in the hospital" or "If we had too much, we would usually give some of them back". Note the use of the word "usually" which is, pun not intended, usually used with this tense in English.

This is the only simple tense to have no infinitive and no participle, and its endings are slightly irregular, especially in the plural forms.

	1st Conjugation	2nd conjugation	3rd conjugation	4th conjugation
1st person singular	apagø	ysyle	nigorro	nüne
2nd person singular	apagøne	ysyla	nigorrimo	nújä
3rd person singular	apagi	ysysyn	nigoðo	nújø
1st person plural	apagolmes	ysemys	nigoðäm	numo
2nd person plural	aparëni	yselyn	nigorri	nunhi
3rd person plural	apahýnÿ	ysinyju	nigomä	niiie

Historic Conditional Tense: Past

This works the same as the present, but for saying "would have", rather than "would".

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st person singular	apa∞e	ysibin	nigozza	nëmti
2nd person singular	apa∞ík	ysibõ	nigozzep	nejule
3rd person singular	apa∞a∞	ysasÿn	nigozzamen	nulel
1st person plural	apaʰerr	ysøt	nigoläh	nate
2nd person plural	apaʰeii	ysote	nigozzahhe	nalade
3rd person plural	apaʰa	ysejena	nigoluʰa	nírry

Future tenses

There is one simple future tense, and there are 5 compound future tenses, the Future Continuous Tense, Future Perfect Tense, Near-Future Tense, Near-Future Past Tense and the Near-Future Future Tense. The simple future conjugations are shown below.

	1st conjugation	2nd conjugation	3rd conjugation	4th conjugation
INFINITIVE	apariiii	ysý	nigopobyn	nÿm
1st person singular	apari	ysýly	nigopot	nÿje
2nd person singular	aparite	ysýlan	nigopolo	nÿmena
3rd person singular	aparimam	ysýlal	nigoponis	nÿkada
1st person plural	aparimamos	ysýnamis	nigopoterem	nÿmos
2nd person plural	aparinat	ysýlol	nigopotitis	nÿlyn
3rd person plural	aparinoj	ysýryjun	nigopoja	nÿsija

And the mutations, used for the following tenses:

Future Continuous

Future Perfect

Near-Future Future

	Mutation
	Vowel	Consonant
1st person singular	-lý	ýl
2nd person singular	-lýn	-ýn
3rd person singular	-lal	-al
1st person plural	-mis	-is
2nd person plural	-ol*
3rd person plural	-jun	-un

* e + ol becomes 'el'

Passive Voice

Now, the passive voice is the same as its active counterpart, but this time the subject has the action done to it, rather than it doing the action. This is similar to most languages that have a passive voice. In the tables below, "nigon" (to go) has been replaced with "donon" (to give), because the latter makes more sense as having a passive form. Same goes for "apar" (to appear, make an apparition) being replaced with "myr" (to think, consider)

Present Tense

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
INFINITIVE	myåÿ	ysoåÿ	donoteåÿ	nuåÿ
1st person singular	mynawo	ysonawo	donotawo	nunawo
2nd person singular	mynawö	ysonawö	donotawö	nunawö
3rd person singular	mynada	ysonada	donotada	nunada
1st person plural	mynas	ysonas	donotas	nunas
2nd person plural	mynetas	ysonetas	donotetas	nunetas
3rd person plural	mynonas	ysononas	donotonas	nunonas

Past Tense

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
INFINITIVE	mykåÿ	yseåÿ	donoveåÿ	nöåÿ
1st person singular	myvvawo	ysenawo	donovawo	nönawo
2nd person singular	myvvawö	ysenawö	donovawö	nönawö
3rd person singular	myvvada	ysenada	donovada	nönada
1st person plural	myvvas	ysenas	donovas	nönas
2nd person plural	mynetas	ysenetas	donovetas	nönetas
3rd person plural	mynonas	ysenonas	donovonas	nönonas

Note that [g] is reduced to unreleased [k̚] before another consonant, hence the spelling of the 2nd declension infinitive is with 'k' even though 'vv' would be expected.

Historic Conditional Tense: Present

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st person singular	myjegawo	ysyjenawo	donoðarrawo	núiiinawo
2nd person singular	myjegawö	ysyjenawö'	donoðarrawö	núiiinawö
3rd person singular	myjegada	ysyjenada	donoðarrada	núiiinada
1st person plural	myjegas	y'syjenas	donoðarras	núiiinas
2nd person plural	myjegetas	ysyjenetas	donoðarretas	núiiinetas
3rd person plural	myjegonas	ysyjenonas	donoðarronas	núiiinonas

For the 4th declension formation, "úiiin" is a combination of "ú" + "ii" + "in", thus /ɐʒin/

Historic Conditional Tense: Past

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st person singular	ma∞ykawo	ysibønawo	donozzähawo	nëlatawo
2nd person singular	ma∞ykawö	ysibønawö	donozzähawö	nëlatawö
3rd person singular	ma∞ykada	ysibønada	donozzähada	nëlatada
1st person plural	ma∞ykas	ysibønas	donozzähas	nëlatas
2nd person plural	ma∞yketas	ysibønetas	donozzähetas	nëlatetas
3rd person plural	ma∞ykonas	ysibønonas	donozzähonas	nëlatonas

Future Tense

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
INFINITIVE	myriåÿ	ysýåÿ	donopeåÿ	nÿåÿ
1st person singular	myrinawo	ysýnawo	donopawo	nÿnawo
2nd person singular	myrinawö	ysýnawö	donopawö	nÿnawö
3rd person singular	myrinada	ysýnada	donopada	nÿnada
1st person plural	myrinas	ysýnas	donopas	nÿnas
2nd person plural	myrinetas	ysýnetas	donopetas	nÿnetas
3rd person plural	myrinonas	ysýnonas	donoponas	nÿnonas

Subjunctive Mood

The subjunctive is used to state a possibility, i.e what one 'might' do in a situation. Unlike some languages, Sevvufery distinguishes between the Future Subjunctive Tense and the 'Present Subjunctive Tense, as will be shown later.

It is formed by taking the genitive of the future participle as the stem, and adding mutations to it to determine tense and person.

Active voice vs Passive voice

This time, there is no separate section for the active and passive voice. The reason is that the only difference between them is that for the passive, the stem of the future passive participle is used instead of the future active. The difference between these two is a single letter: "bolybime" for the active stem and "bölebime" for the passive stem.

Note that the infinitive, which has no direct English translation but is close to "to possibly do..." can also convey an idea similar to saying, "for the possibility to exist".
For example, "Nek nekariiiibölybon øs."

Literally, "I don't want to be possibly killed" i.e "I don't want the possibility of me being killed to exist."

Present tense

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
INFINITIVE	apariiiibölybar	ysýbölybiʰi	nigopobynbölybon	nÿmbölybunk
1st person singular	apariiiibölybimes	ysýbölybimes	nigopobynbölybimes	nÿmbölybimes
2nd person singular	apariiiibölybimera	ysýbölybimera	nigopobynbölybimera	nÿmbölybimera
3rd person singular	apariiiibölybimeran	ysýbölybimeran	nigopobynbölybimeran	nÿmbölybimeran
1st person plural	apariiiibölybimenos	ysýbölybimenos	nigopobynbölybimenos	nÿmbölybimenos
2nd person plural	apariiibölybimëlõ	ysýbölybimëlõ	nigopobynbölybimëlõ	nÿmbölybimëlõ
3rd person plural	apariiiibölybimejyn	ysýbölybimejyn	nigopobynbölybimejyn	nÿmbölybimejyn

   e + i = ë

Past tense

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
INFINITIVE	apariiiibölybavvÿ	ysýbölybeʰe	nigopobynbölybovõ	nÿmbölybö
1st person singular	apariiiibölybimele	ysýbölybimele	nigopobynbölybimele	nÿmbölybimele
2nd person singular	apariiiibölybimelen	ysýbölybimelen	nigopobynbölybimelen	nÿmbölybimelen
3rd person singular	apariiiibölybimeres	ysýbölybimeres	nigopobynbölybimeres	nÿmbölybimeres
1st person plural	apariiiibölybimemas	ysýbölybimemas	nigopobynbölybimemas	nÿmbölybimemas
2nd person plural	apariiiibölybimël	ysýbölybimël	nigopobynbölybimël	nÿmbölybimël
3rd person plural	apariiiibölybimelín	ysýbölybimelín	nigopobynbölybimelín	nÿmbölybimelín

Future tense

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
INFINITIVE	apariiiibölybiiii	ysýbölybijý	nigopobynbölybopobyn	nÿmbölybÿm
1st person singular	apariiiibölybimelý	ysýbölybimelý	nigopobynbölybimelý	nÿmbölybimelý
2nd person singular	apariiiibölybimelýn	ysýbölybimelýn	nigopobynbölybimelýn	nÿmbölybimelýn
3rd person singular	apariiiibölybimelal	ysýbölybimelal	nigopobynbölybimelal	nÿmbölybimelal
1st person plural	apariiiibölybimemis	ysýbölybimemis	nigopobynbölybimemis	nÿmbölybimemis
2nd person plural	apariiiibölybimel	ysýbölybimel	nigopobynbölybimel	nÿmbölybimel
3rd person plural	apariiiibölybimejun	ysýbölybimejun	nigopobynbölybimejun	nÿmbölybimejun

Uses

As mentioned previously, Sevvufery distinguishes between the present and future subjunctive, which other languages, as far as I am aware, do not often do. Therefore, this and other features of the Sevvuferyn subjunctive will be discussed here.

The Present Subjunctive Tense is used for possibilities that exist in the present, in relation to when they are said.

For example, "GËÏRaiiu mixødopobynbölybimenos" (we might be helping you (right now)).

The Future Subjunctive Tense is used for possibilities that will exist in the future, in relation to where they are said. This is most familiar to many languages that use the subjunctive

For example, "hhanok bankaiiu nigopobynbölybimelý" (I might go to the bank today (later today i.e in the future))

The Past Subjunctive is used retrospectively, in regards to possibilities that may have existed previously, but for which a decision has already been made.

For example, "TËÏRen syjosýbölybimelín" (they could have saved her (in the past)).

There is no pluperfect subjunctive. Instead, other constructions are used to convey a similar meaning, such as the use of the word "tyfin" (meaning "maybe" or "perhaps").]

There is another use for the subjunctive, and that is with the word "wylin" (meaning "because", when the reason is uncertain). This achieves a meaning close to "for... to happen".

For example, "Nezigen tetamon evönuwös wylin vvyvitøpobynbölybimenos".
Literally meaning "We did not have enough food that we might survive" which can be translated as "we did not have enough food for us to survive."

If the Past Subjunctive were used instead, the result is "Nezigen tetamon evönuwös wylin vvyvitøpobynbölybimemas".
Literally meaning "We did not have enough food that we might have survived" i.e "we did not have enough food for us to have survived."

If the Future Subjunctive were used instead, the result is "Nezigen tetamon evönuwös wylin vvyvitøpobynbölybimemis".
Literally meaning "We did not have enough food that we might survive (in the future)" i.e "we did not have enough food for us to be about to survive".

Imperative Mood

Positive vs Negative Imperative

In Sevvufery, the way to give a negative command is simply with a different ending. Although one could use the word "nek" (not) to convey this meaning, the former method is quicker and much more common among the Sevvuferýkilý. Positive imperatives indicate a regular command, and are more familiar to speakers of most languages.

Below are the endings.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
POSITIVE ACTIVE	apareto!	ysoben!	nigotant!	nalate!
POSITIVE PASSIVE	apagome!	ysogome!	nigotogome!	nugome!
NEGATIVE ACTIVE	aparento!	yseben!	nigonent!	nelate!
NEGATIVE PASSIVE	apanege!	ysonege!	nigotenege!	nunege!

Single vs Repeated imperative

This is the only part of Sevvuferyn grammar where aspect plays a role. This feature was heavily inspired by Ancient Greek's aorist imperatives, as will be shown below.

The two aspects present are the Continuous Aspect and the Individual Aspect. Their names speak for themselves: the former is used to convey a command that should be repeated over time, whereas the latter is used for a command that is to be repeated once. Unlike Ancient Greek, the Individual Aspect is shown by the Future Imperative, not a past tense imperative. Since the Continuous Aspect has already been shown in the previous section, below are the formations for the Individual Aspect.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
POSITIVE ACTIVE	aparit!	ysýb!	nigopõ!	nÿl!
POSITIVE PASSIVE	aparigome!	ysýgome!	nigopogome	nÿgome
NEGATIVE ACTIVE	aparint!	ysifne!	nigonpõ!	nÿn!
NEGATIVE PASSIVE	aparinege!	ysýnege!	nigopenege!	nÿnege!

Double Imperative

Now, some verbs in Sevvufery are followed by an infinitive, whether for reasons relating to the literal meaning or things specific to Sevvuferyn syntax.

Take, for example, the word for "to cause": emunk (/ɛmyɳk/). This verb can either be followed by an infinitive, or a "wylin + subjunctive" clause (see Uses subsection of Subjunctive Mood for further information), although the latter is much less common. For example, take this sentence:

"Emul TËIRen elyfåyr"

Meaning: I cause him to subscribe.

Now, "double imperative" refers to what happens when, instead of "emul", this verb is changed into the imperative form.

One might expect something like "emalÿl TËIRen elyfåyr". After all, that would echo the literal meaning of the sentence. However, this is not what happens.

Instead, both verbs are made imperative, thus the result is this:

"emalÿl TËIRen elyfåyrit"

Note that the aspect of the second verb must mirror the aspect of the first.

General Mood

This construction is used for all kinds of sayings where, for example, the word "one" would be used in English. For example:

"One does not ask the richest man for one's own personal needs."

Note that the pronoun for 'one' in Sevvufery is "LËÏR" (/lεjɪir/), which will be useful for conditional phrases.

The way to form this construction in Sevvufery is to lengthen all the vowels of the ending of the 3rd person singular form of the verb. For example, to turn the word "apansí" (it appears) into the general mood, do NOT lengthen the first 'a' because that is still part of the stem. The stem 'ap' is left alone, but every other vowel is lengthened. Thus, the resulting verb is "apaʰansíʰí" (/apaːɳsɪː/)

For the 3rd declension, do not lengthen the first 'o' of the ending, because even amongst the Sevvuferýkilý it is not certain whether this should be included in the stem, or in the ending.

This works the same way for the past and future tense, as well as the historic conditional tense. However, this form does not exist for the compound tenses.

For example, "nöΔΓο" (it noticed) becomes "nöʰöΔΓoʰo" (nuːŋɔː) (one noticed); "ysysyn" (it would say) becomes "ysyʰysyʰyn" (/eseːseːn/) (one would say); and "nÿkada" (it will notice) becomes "nÿkaʰadaʰa" (/naikaːdaː/) (one will notice).
Notice, no pun intended, that the dipthong /ai/ is not lengthened, because it is already a long syllable to begin with, like all other dipthongs.

Participles

Participles exist in three tenses (present, past and future), two voices(active and passive), and one mood (subjunctive). Their uses will be shown later, but for now, here are the formations, which are each formed using the infinitive of a given tense, sometimes with a few modifiers for ease of pronunciation. Note that Sevvufery does not distinguish between long and short consonants, so any two that would go together are written and said as a single consonant. For example, this is why you will see that the 3rd conjugation's present participle is "nigonin" and not "nigonnin*"

Formation

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
Present Active	apanin	ysinin	nigonin	nunin
Present Passive	apane	ysine	nigone	nune
Past Active	apavvÿsa	ysesa	nigovõsa	nösa
Past Passive	apavvÿkaå	ysekaå	nigovõkaå	nökaå
Future Active	apariiiibölyb	ysýbölyb	nigopobynbölyb	nÿmbölyb
Future Passive	apariiiiböleb	ysýböleb	nigopobynböleb	nÿmböleb

Cases

The Past Active and Past Passive participles of the 4th conjugation will be shown here as examples, but this pattern is the same for participles of all tenses, only varying based on whether their last letter is a vowel or consonant.

		nösa	nökaå
Nominative	Singular	nösa	nökaå
	Plural	nösajý	nökaåý
Accusative	Singular	nösa	nökaå
	Plural	nösajý	nökaåý
Genitive	Singular	nösajetöd	nökaåime
	Plural	nösazze	nökaåölig
Possessive (Obsolete)	Singular	nösatel	nökaåel/nökaåtel
	Plural	nösajýtel	nökaåýtel
Dative	Singular	nösafodyl	nökaåaiiu
	Plural	nösakömë	nökaåajahh
Ablative	Singular	nösabyn	nökaåymal
	Plural	nösabýn	nökaåýmal
Locative	Singular	nösagúd	nökaåúd
	Plural	nösamød	nökaåød
Resultant	Singular	nösabylø	nökaåymuvv
	Plural	nösabelø	nökaåimuvv

Adjectival use and Temporal use

Now, all these cases are nice, but useless without, well, a use. And in Sevvufery, the way participles work changes with how they are used. They can be used in a temporal sense (i.e having destroyed the temple, the men laughed) or an adjectival sense (they looked at the [having been] destroyed temple). The latter is the only use for which participles decline, but for the former there is no changing of the participle: after all, the participle is describing an action, not an object. Thus, why would it need to agree with the doer of the action?

Here are some more examples:

Tüsä urökaå gafusenada.

The food, having been found, was eaten (no conjugation, because participle describes time and manner of action, so not linked to food specifically).

Gafuserelin eten etyldovõkaåime syjve tüsa.

We ate the food of the destroyed tree (participle conjugated as an adjective would be, because of specific link to tree).

Forming conditional phrases

When used with either of the words "fy" (if) or "eiiet" (yet, until now), a Future Participle can be used to achieve the meaning of "I would do..." and a Past Participle can be used to achieve the meaning "I would have done..." (replace "would" with "could" when "eiiet" is used). Here, the structure of the tense is more akin to an analytical language, like English, although Sevvuferyn structure usually does not behave in this way. In other words, you will need the pronoun of the

Here are some examples.

"Fy nekøkaåil kaåes, sut ekýl nekøkaåil RËÏR fy ãlnyzesa" (if you had been a foreigner, we would have treated you as a foreigner).
/fe nɛkaɔkaθil kaθɛs syt ɛkĭl nɛkaɔkaθil rɛjɪir fe ɑːˡneksɛsa/

"Fy MËÏR fy pøwopobynbölyb ËÏRen ãʰãsora, fifif nek ËÏR fy böleb" (If you would stop annoying me, I would not be angry)!
/fe mɛjɪir fe paɔwɔpɔbeɳbuleb ɛjɪirɛn ɑːːsɔra fifif nɛk ɛjɪir fe bulɛb/

Resultant Absolute

This carries the same meaning as latin's ablative absolute and ancient greek's genitive absolute (with... being done/having been done/about to be done, etc.). However, its formation is different, because only the participles adopt an absolutive form. Frankly, the reason for naming it the "resultant absolute" is simply that the endings resemble those of the resultant case.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
Present Active	apanym	ysinym	nigonym	nunym
Present Passive	apanuvv	ysinuvv	nigonuvv	nunuvv
Past Active	apavvÿsøg	ysesøg	nigovõsøg	nösøg
Past Passive	apavvÿkøå	ysekøå	nigovõkøå	nökøå
Future Active	apariiiibõly	ysýbõly	nigopobynbõly	nÿmbõly
Future Passive	apariiiibõle	ysýbõle	nigopobynbõle	nÿmbõle

Question vs statement

Note that this feature is not affected by tense, aspect or mood of any verbs used.

Yes/No Questions

For this type of question, an introductory word, "soå" is used, which has no meaning by itself but indicates that the sentence is a question. Note that this is only used for sentences containing a verb, not, for example, when a friend tells you they have a house and you ask, "Yn esu?" (which just means "a house?").

Compare
"Evu ynen esu."
and
"Soå evu ynen esu?"

The second statement is a question.

Other Questions

For other questions, nothing changes. This applies for questions that use any of the following words/phrases:

• mentan (when)
• er (where)
• ibajo erymal (from where)
• kekil (who)
• kikel (which)
• hhiju (what)
• ta (why)
• ÿx (to what extent)
• kikelymal wy (in which way i.e how)
• hhiju[jetöd] numer ([of] what number i.e how many)

Or, as mentioned in the previous section, emphatic/surprised questions.

For example, "er nigonina?" (where are you going?)

Other Features

Fylyn... Nalyn...

This construction is used when wanting to say things like "the more one asks, the more one shall receive".

There are two ways to use it.

The first involves using a comparative adjective after either word, in which case it is "the more greatly..."
For example, "Fylyn sutegan tünen ibenu, nalyn tuninegan tiposýnada."

"The more obviously I show interest, the more interesting it will become."

The second neglects the use of an adjective, in which case the meaning of "the more often..." is achieved.

To illustrate this, a translation of the first phrase into Sevvufery is shown. Note that the general mood is used here, which lengthens the vowel of the 3rd person singular form.

"Fylyn agaʰansíʰí, nalyn suwopoʰoniʰis".

Nok + dative

This construction is used to say "as ... as..." (e.g as far as 200m). For most concepts it is fine to just use the word "ux" twice to convey the same meaning, but there are some exceptions.

To form this, the concept is used to indicate the adjective, so to speak. For example, using this with 'distance' yields 'far' ; using 'length' yields 'long'; using 'wisdom' yields 'wise', etc.

Vocabulary

See here for an (as of yet incomplete) list of all Sevvuferyn words, with the IPA transcription of each word given in the middle.

Translations

The Bible