Æbbro syntax

Main article: Æbbro

This page gives an extensive description of Æbbro syntactical features.

Main clause and word order

Æbbro is an almost strictly SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) language.

tterni woohano tuurkarom 
the man sees the dog

The quite rich case system allows every other possible word order, but most of them prove to be very marked and infrequently used. The only word order with a clear role and a frequent usage is OSV (Object-Subject-Verbs), which marks the so-called passive construction.

woohano tterni tuurkarom
it's the dog the man sees → the dog is seen by the man

The other elements in the sentence are usually placed in the order “place-manner-cause-time”, although they are basically freer than the main elements. An object in the dative case, when conveying the indirect object, tends to be placed before the direct object of the sentence.

A peculiar feature is the verbal infinitival agreement: infinitival forms, as semi-nominal forms of the verbs, can have a different subject from the one of the conjugated verb which supports them. In this case, this subject is declined in the ablative case.

roo kaažimom taaśu mikpimeśinneti
I say he went away.

Nouns

The noun cluster is formed by a noun, carrying the main meaning, and by other noun-type forms, namely adjectives, which specify this meaning or add other meanings to the main noun. Inside of a noun cluster, the noun can be replaced by a pronoun.

The noun usually closes the noun cluster, being preceded by every other specifying form. Thus, other elements conveying possession and belonging are always placed before the noun, as well as every attributive adjective.

tternirræ kooto
the man’s house

roorra tankaa
my hand

kiibe oobu  
the young woman

The role of the noun cluster in the sentence and its number are marked by case and number endings. These endings mark also other adjectival elements inside the noun cluster, resulting this in the process called nominal agreement.

Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree in case and number with the noun they specify. Other elements, which convey possession or belonging do not agree with the main nominal form.

kiibe tterni kootomo pimeśem
the young man is going home

roožorra kootomu
in our house

kiibeže oobužo 
the young women

oobužo kiibeže 
the women are young

The grammar role of noun clusters can be further specified by postpositions, which are placed after the cluster. Thus, it can be stated that the noun cluster can be closed by a postposition.

roo kootomo suz pimeśem
I am going towards the house

The cases

The grammatical role of the noun cluster in a sentence is conveyed by some endings. These endings are bound to grammatical cases, with usually well-defined roles.

The cases in Æbbro language are 16:

• Nominative
• Accusative
• Genitive
• Dative
• Ablative
• Instrumental
• Locative
• Allative
• Delative
• Benefactive
• Causative
• Abessive
• Essive
• Comparative
• Contrastive
• Partitive

The grammatical roles and all possible differences in usage among similar cases are enlisted below: