Foħθīrix morphology

Main article: Foħθīrix

This page gives an extensive description of Foħθīrix morphological features.

Nouns

Nouns in Foħθīrix language end almost exclusively in a vowel. A certain number of nouns, mostly loanwords, may unusually end in a consonant; in this case the typical nominal vowels, -e- in the singular and -ē- in the plural, are added at the end of noun before the normal declension endings.

Nouns are grouped into two declension classes: animate nouns or class I and inanimate nouns or class II. The first class generally includes nouns indicating animate beings, namely capable of intentional motion or action, while the second class includes inanimate objects or entities. As a rule, we can sketch out the following scheme:

• class I: human beings, animals, deities
• class II: plants, objects, ideas, feelings, senses, perceptions

A noun is not irreversibly included in one of the two classes, as nouns lack clear morphological marks for each class. For example, the word lūrex, light, shifts from a class to the other during the history of the language, as the noun pākex, love, depending on the overall cultural perception of the noun’s animateness degree.

Despite the general lack of morphological markers in the basic forms, being thus unable to distinguish the two classes, the declension patterns depend on which class a noun belongs to.

There are two morphological numbers for almost all nouns, singular and plural.

Cases

Foħθīrix nouns do decline, according to an nominative-accusative system with 7 cases:

Case	Meaning
Nominative	This case marks the subject of a verb. It is regarded as the citation form of the noun.
Accusative	This case marks the direct object of a verb. It is also used with some preposition. It also marks the direct object (i.e. the patient) in a passive construction and with participles. It is regarded as the base form of the noun, and it is used as the vocative form.
Genitive	This case marks possession and belonging, either intentional, unintentional, or indirect.
Dative	This case marks primarily the indirect object. It can also mark, to a limited extent, the final purpose of an action or a state.
Ablative	This case marks the origin of an action or a state. It also marks the subject (i.e. the agent) in a passive construction and with participles.
Instrumental	This case marks the tool or the instrument which are used to perform an action or to be in a certain state. It can be used only with nouns belonging to class II.
Locative	This case marks the place where an action is performed, or a certain state exist (stative location). It can also have a temporal value. It can be used only with nouns belonging to the class II.

Other types of clause complements are conveyed using various prepositions, which can select one or more cases.

A class I noun, referring thus to an intrinsically animate entity, cannot generally be declined in the instrumental or locative case.

Numerals

The numeral system relies on a decimal base.

The first ten cardinal numbers are forms on their own:

digit	full form
1:	ɕere
2:	moše
3:	bīne
4:	šāre
5:	ħœfe
6:	kage
7:	ňuħe
8:	tūhe
9:	pēte
10:	lūme

Numerals from 11 to 19 are built with the construction NUM + ňe + lūme:

digit	full form
11:	ɕereňelūme
12:	mošeňelūme
13:	bīneňelūme
14:	šāreňelūme
15:	ħœfeňelūme
16:	kageňelūme
17:	ňuħeňelūme
18:	tūheňelūme
19:	pēteňelūme

The numerals for (one) hundred and (one) thousand are forms on their own:

digit	full form
100:	ħūxe
1000:	xāħe

These numerals are treated as adjective-like forms: They precede a noun cluster and decline according to their adjoining nouns in case, but they do not agree in number. Numerals do decline only in singular number and their nominative form is identical to the accusative form.

ɕere ǧenex
one man

ħœfešu sārēšu
to the five women

The numerals for tens, hundreds and thousands are the plural forms of the numerals for ten, (one) hundred and (one) thousand:

tens:	lūmē
hundreds:	ħūxē
thousands:	xāħē

The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM (without the final -e) + lūmē / ħūxē / xāħē, with some irregularities:

	tens	hundreds	thousands
2x:	mošlūmē	mošħūxē	mošxāħē
3x:	bīnlūmē	bīnħūxē	bīnxāħē
4x:	šārlūmē	šārħūxē	šārxāħē
5x:	ħœflūmē	ħœfħūxē	ħœfxāħē
6x:	kaglūmē	kaħūxē	kaxāħē
7x:	ňuħlūmē	ňuħūxē	ňuxāħē
8x:	tūhlūmē	tūħūxē	tūxāħē
9x:	pētlūmē	pēħūxē	pēxāħē

All cardinal numerals above the form for 19 are meant as invariable, except for the numeral for 100 and the numeral for 1000.

Composite numbers are built by just putting them beside, without any conjunction, in descending order:

• 1985: xāħe pētħūxē tūhlūmē ħœfe

When a composite numeral has a declined adjoining number, only its declinable numeral forms do decline in agreement.

Numbers above the multiples of thousands have no name and are specified by the lesser numerals.

Ordinal numerals are formed by replacing last vowel of the cardinal numeral form, -e or -ē, with the the adjectival ending -iri-:

ɕere → ɕeririx
one → first

tūhlūmē → tūhlūmirix
eighty → eightieth

The first ten ordinal numerals, with some examples of additional numerals, are:

digit	adjective form
1st:	ɕeririx
2nd:	moširix
3rd:	bīnirix
4th:	šāririx
5th:	ħœfirix
6th:	kagirix
7th:	ňuħirix
8th:	tūhirix
9th:	pētirix
10th:	lūmirix
11th:	ɕereňelūmirix
12th:	mošeňelūmirix
20th:	mošlūmirix
30th:	bīnlūmirix
600th:	kaħūxirix
9000th:	pēxāħirix

If the numeral form is composite, the comparative ending is added to every form, and they agree with their adjoining noun in case and number:

• 378^th: bīnħūxirix ňuħlūmirix tūhirix