B. Syntax

                        B1. Verb Use

            The temporal system

            Gomain tense usage is governed by a simple rule: use the tense that fits the time frame in which the action occurred, whether that is the past, present, or future. This includes the use of perfect-aspect tenses, which generally refer to completed actions.

            Multiple verbs in a given sentence will all be in the same tense, if they refer to actions occurring in the same timeframe. While the English tendency is to use the present tense for verbs, even when the first verb is in the future tense, Gomain puts all verbs occurring in the future in that tense. When referring to past events relative to other events, the perfect form of that tense is used. When the main clause is in the past tense, other, later past events in subordinate clauses take the future tense. In addition, it is common convention to use the perfect tenses to refer to events that happened before those of the main clause; these subordinate verbs agree with the main verb in tense, with perfection being the main difference.

            Mood usage

            The desiderative mood is used to express a desire for the action to occur. Regardless of the subject pronoun used, this wish is always relative to the speaker; to express a desired action relative to a second or third person, the desired action must be placed in the infinitive and preceded by the appropriate conjugation of móssí, “to want”. Compare the following examples:

                        Hwebálsúzhúdhak stáfl^e úráshídhou ís únégledhou.

                        May you be [or I hope you are] blessed in coming and leaving.

                        ¿Hwemósil stir ólkhódhí óyúsh ót ná?

                        Do you want to get the money or not?

            The desiderative is also used as a genteelism in place of the humble imperative, to which it is related:

                        Deglóktak án ójúmgló.

                        I would like to drink some wine.

                        Oilkhedhak án ójúmgló zoi.

                        Please give me some wine.

            The obligative mood is used to indicate that the action is required, and is therefore translated with the modals “must” or “have to”.

            The cohortative encourages the subject to perform the action, and is translated variously with either “should” or “let”:

                        Ís Youá gepraikhweing: “Zhechoingók ókaif stáfl^e úmisshémblézh.”

                        And God said, “Let Us make man in our likeness.”

            The dubitative mood is often considered a conditional form of the potential, as it expresses that the action is possible, but not factual. As such, “could” is most commonly used to translate it:

                        Dhíz shádzá gásnówób, ¿yúhól khepraikhweióm?

                        If walls could speak, what would they say?

                        Deruvób dhíz doidháléd khevéhóm sákú.

                        I could fly if my bones were smaller.

            Verbs following the complementizer vírt “lest” also occur in the dubitative (as well as the future tense), in which case the morpheme is best translated with “might” or the English subjunctive mood:

                        Zhechoingók fou ró úm óbách vírt zhekhógöwuedhób góth úzath oich.

                        Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered across the whole land.

            The potential indicates the ability of the subject to perform the action, and so is invariably translated with the modal “can”:

                        Degétká ló deruvóf. Degétká ló depódlóf ówerúyú.

                        I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky.

            The conditional expresses a state whose factuality depends on a certain condition, which is often expressed with an “if” clause. By using certain combinations of the indicative and conditional moods, it is possible to differentiate between a few degrees of the condition’s certainty. First, if the condition is either completely factual or certain, both the “if” and “then” clauses use the indicative, as is appropriate:

                        Dhíz lúthoidh, devéchoit ówósh.

                        If it rains (lit. “If it will rain”), I will get wet.

            If the condition is less certain, the conditional is used in the “then” clause; the “if” clause remains in the indicative, and the verbs of both clauses use the appropriate tenses:

                        Kám dhíz mevé ám Youá, hwegóthaimbób ná mim.

                        But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it.

(This example also demonstrates an important rule of mood suffix attachment: a verb in the potential mood does not have the conditional suffix added to it; instead, both moods are replaced by the dubitative mood.)

            If the condition is impossible, and always was so, the conditional is used in both clauses, and the present tense is used throughout:

                        Dhíz Youá gemósóm ókaif stir ruvdhí, gehoilkhóm ógáruengá ró.

                        If God wanted man to fly, He would have given us wings.

            When an imperative depends on a condition, the indicative is used if the condition is likely; if it isn’t likely, the conditional is used instead.

            If the “if” clause is omitted, as it can be, the conditional must be used in the “then” clause, though it makes no judgment of the condition’s likelihood. Verbs in this situation take the tense suffix appropriate for the timeframe of the action, unless the action is impossible, in which case the present tense is used.

            It is improper to use the conditional in a wish; instead, the desiderative is used. Similarly, it cannot be used as a genteelism, which also relies on the desiderative (or the related humble imperative). In a logical “if/then” sentence, the indicative is used, as the sentence expresses no doubt. Lastly, as has been mentioned before, when the main clause is in the past tense, the future tense is used for later (but still past) events, not the conditional.

            Auxiliaries

            While Gomain is a very agglutinative language, certain distinctions are expressed analytically with special auxiliaries, which act like adverbs; one of them originally was an adverb. They are explained below.

            The auxiliary oulán indicates the progressive aspect, when actions are, were, or will be ongoing. It immediately follows its parent verb, just like correlative pronouns.

                        Debúshóng oulán hón úgákai fúm depáloing ókazách óbólsíhí.

                        I was walking down the street when I saw the strangest thing.

            When used with a perfect tense, it can also refer to the action’s habitual or repetitive nature:

                        Geyoung oulán óg úLaiá.

                        He used to eat at the Star. or He had been eating at the Star.

            When oulán is used for this purpose, it is permissible to replace it with bákáf, “always”, as the two words mean roughly the same thing in this context.

            Góstí is used when the action occurs very close to the present. Its translation varies with different tenses: it means “just” in the past tense, “right now” in the present tense, and “about to” in the future tense.

                        Hwegétkáhoidh ná khól depáloing góstí.

                        You won’t believe what I just saw.

                        ¡Zhenéglehoidh gósti!

                        We’re about to leave!

            To emphasize the action, yó is added before the verb; to weaken or deemphasize it, sé is added.

                        Yó gegásnó úmá óchóchá.

                        He indeed speaks lies.

                        Sé deshkóthóng ódhóndlé óvŕláhí.

                        I kind of broke your favorite mug.

                        Fou úvailou ám Youá, aiYúkìshyou, sé mevé úm ófyöjéndze.

                        For the love of God, Michael, it’s only a minor injury.

            Derived forms

            A verb that follows another verb is placed in the infinitive, with no preceding preposition:

            Demós éngjí.

            I want to eat.

            Yó gedhéskoungók ná páloidhé.

            He really should not have tried to be seen.

            When the infinitive represents an aspect of intention, it is preceded by poi:

            Hwehékkánhróvénoidhleit poi yundhí.

            You will have to get up [in order] to work.

Also, in cases where either the subject or an object of the main clause syntactically controls a following relative clause (where that clause contains a silent PRO subject to fulfill the theta criterion), the infinitive verb of the relative clause is preceded by stir:

            Depálbekóng óYágaldhín stir áví bék ró sim úwóhweich.

            I persuaded John to go with us to the arena.

The verbs which require stir before a following infinitive are: vök “allow, permit”, khoedz “ask”, níyú “cause”, lŕt “command”, híg “demand”, véx “fail”, shubú “force, make something happen”, thárkh “help”, angkrí “hope”, pálbek “persuade, convince”, ébég “plan”, övlö “plot”, uel “proceed”, thíⁿ “require”, bérrás “begin, start”, kóntor “struggle”, bleisou “tell”, dhésk “try, attempt”, andá “wait”, mós “want”, mözér “wish, desire”.

            When the first verb in such a series is a conjugated form of káj "have", it acts to indicate the prospective aspect for the second verb:

            Dekoung vúsmikdhí óyákai ŕngal fesimhrŕng.

            I was going to visit the priest before you all arrived.

            Whole verb phrases can be in the infinitive, but when a reference to the subject is necessary, it must be placed in the dative and follow the verb (a helping preposition may also be used between the verb and subject).

            Participles are used just like regular adjectives, and so must be placed in the proper case. Note that the present participle most commonly carries an active connotation, while the past participle usually has a passive meaning. However, what connotation they and the future participle carry depends largely upon the verb and the context. Thus the participle páloiméz may mean “seeing” or “being seen,” depending on context. Often a following noun phrase’s case makes the correct meaning obvious; a noun phrase bearing the instrumental case makes it obvious that the participle is being used in a passive sense.

Yáshúwét, páloiméz éhíppákkhei, gedhésk oulán stir pándhí.

            Joshua, being seen by the guard, is trying to hide.

            A verb transformed into an agentive noun of any gender declines like any other noun, taking the plural suffix and case prefixes as required by the grammatical situation.

            The gerund is also a regular noun, and cannot be used as an adjective as in many other languages. In particular, the Latin gerundive expressions are roughly equivalent to the Gomain obligative mood.

            Reflexive verbs

            When the subject and object of a verb refer to the same thing, the reflexive suffix is added to the end of the verb root, regardless of the number or person of the subject:

            Note that the reflexive is not used for reciprocal actions in the plural; instead, expressions meaning “each other” and “one another” are used and will be discussed later. Also, unlike the Spanish or French reflexive, the Gomain reflexive is not used to express the passive voice, which is part of the tense inflections.

            Transitivity

            Whereas English verbs do not possess intrinsic transitivity, Gomain verbs do. If a verb is intransitive by default, it can be made transitive by putting it in the infinitive and adding the appropriately-conjugated verb níyúdhí “to cause” before it. Other verbs are made transitive by prefixing ek- to them. These derived verbs are (or will soon be) listed in the dictionary under the verbs from which they derive. Certain verbs, meanwhile, are indifferently transitive or intransitive, and do not need any special construction to be made one way or the other.

            Minor points

            The rules of etiquette impose restrictions on which imperative form can be used in various situations. When making requests to one’s elders or equals, to God, or to vendors, the humble imperative is expected; it might also be used in requests directed to children or servants, although in these situations it is not required. The forceful imperative, meanwhile, is common for giving orders to servants, children, and any group members (including soldiers and monks) under one’s authority; it is also acceptable in advertisements.

            When a verb has no real subject, it is simply used in the appropriate tense, with no dummy subject:

            Lúthóng ŕlásh, kám ádhók ógírkín zhólákh.

            It rained yesterday, but it should be pleasant today.

            Gomain possesses no subjunctive mood; in situations where it would be used in English, the indicative is used instead, with the subordinate verb in the same tense as the main verb.

            To express situations where something causes something else to perform an action, níyúdhí follows the causer, the causee is in the accusative, the action caused follows in the infinitive, and any following indirect object is, appropriately, in the dative:

            Hweníyúf zífú zoi yújedhí válaidhí chíyó.

            You can never make me stop loving you.

                        B2. Noun Use

            The nominative (gófínt)

            Nouns are primarily used in the nominative case when they are the subject of a sentence or subordinate clause:

            Úm einíf yekhoedzóng zoi úfúnim.

            A woman asked me the time.

            The nominative is also used within genitive phrases, regardless of the head noun’s case:

            Yeveng úm ótúshedhekeis lóm úPéshedhón ám Kaikól Ánhrushlér.

            She was a student from the University of Ánhrush City.

            Finally, it is used with proper names in situations where they would otherwise take case prefixes.

            The vocative (tólówínt)

            The use of the vocative case is quite simple: it is used only in a direct address, regardless of the type of noun. If a noun phrase includes a pronoun, the vocative prefix must be applied to it as well as the head noun: aikhú aiÁrgôllágyöhá “O you [enemy] Argôllans.”

            The genitive (kájínt)

            All three forms of the genitive are used to show simple possession. The analytic form, which is by far the most common, follows the possessor noun.

            Depáloing ópódá ám Youá.

            I saw the hand of God.

            Yúkìshyou gepálshehóng ózath óroishín Sárúlér.

            Michael explored Sāru's eastern land.

            More complicated genitive expressions may make use of more than one form of the case:

            Deduendár óweingá ójóská ám oudléd.

            I remember my father’s last words.

            An object’s composition is expressed with the special partitive genitive, án. The same marker is used, oddly enough, for partitive expressions:

            Hwekájil án ónön ótárung?

            Do you have any (or some) new grain?

            The partitive genitive refers to a portion of a group when it is used with quantifiers, thus acting as a determiner. Without it, the partitive expression does not refer to any specific group.

            Má kéfá khetúshedhung zóng úkálásét ám Árgôllágyöhá.

            Many people have learned about the tyranny of the Argôllans.

            Má án kéfá khetúshedhung zóng úkálásét ám Árgôllágyöhá.

            Many of the people have learned about the tyranny of the Argôllans.

            The group to which something belongs is put in the regular genitive. Likewise, a person’s geographical origin may be put in the genitive, although using lóm “from” with the location in the dative is also common.

            In nominalized phrases, the original subject is expressed in whichever genitive form is appropriate.

            The instrumental (kazhundínt)

            Direct objects of verbs in the passive voice are put in the instrumental case, as are any noun phrases that explain how, or with what, an action was done. This second usage eliminates the need to use prepositions such as “with” before such noun phrases.

            The accusative (kothínt)

            The direct objects of all other transitive verbs are put in the accusative case. Some verbs take accusative objects where English has prepositional phrases; these exceptions are (or will be) indicated in the dictionary.

            The dative (wóntsimínt)

            Indirect objects are expressed in the dative case, which is its main function. While dative noun phrases typically follow accusative ones, the case markers make this unnecessary; it is commonplace to put the indirect object first when the speaker wants to emphasize it.

            Due to their nature as indirect objects, nouns after prepositions are also put in the dative. This also applies to verbs of motion, which are intransitive and can therefore only take indirect objects. 

                        B3. The Noun Phrase

            The standard order of constituents within noun phrases is (with the head noun marked):

                        úm + (quantifier) + noun + number + (intensity) + adjectives + adverbs + genitive + prepositional/relative phrases

            Note that non-numerical quantifiers precede the head noun, while numbers follow it. Genitives and certain quantifiers make addition of úm redundant and ungrammatical. Furthermore, the intensity adverbs (zhi, jó, joe, and joi) are the only adverbs that can precede their respective adjectives. Here are some examples:

            mâkkhei “the neighbor”

            úm mâkkhei “a neighbor”

            mâkkheihá vú “more neighbors”

            úmá sól mâkkheihá “few neighbors”

            mâkkheihá fai “the five neighbors”

            úmá má mâkkheihá gírkíná “many pleasant neighbors”

            bou mâkkhei oi jó dlüvín “any single very foul-smelling neighbor”

            mâkkheihá uer pódainá ám Dhindrin “Aaron’s six adroit neighbors”

            mâkkheiléd oiksh bék úblundhásh “my good neighbor with a fever”

            mâkkhei oi rúyúwín praikíndí kou yehorg fou zoi “one noisily flatulent neighbor who cooks for me”

            All adjectives agree with the nouns they modify, as stated earlier, in case and number. However, predicate adjectives agree with the subject in number, but are in the accusative; likewise, complementary adjectives of the direct object are in the dative while agreeing with the object in number.

            Yágaldhín gevé ókŕdzónfégá; thárkhleit zoi ámblédhí ke.

            John is too heavy; help me carry him.

            In order to be used as substantives, an agentive suffix must be added to adjectives; the suffix must possess the appropriate gender for the desired noun, although a plural substantive uses the masculine agentive suffix regardless of the referents’ sexes. Once these suffixes are applied, the substantives are used just like regular nouns, and so they must take the proper case and number for their roles.

            Comparative and superlative adjectives in comparisons occur in the accusative, as with all predicate adjectives. They are then followed by the object used for comparison, which is in the dative. These rules are the same for comparative and superlative adverbs, as well as nouns followed by comparative adjectives.

            While English nouns can modify other nouns, other measures must be taken in Gomain. Instead, nouns can only be modified by adjectives or genitive expressions. As such, if one wishes to modify a noun with another noun, one must either turn the modifying noun into an adjective or make it part of a genitive clause. Compounding new nouns is also an option. 

                        B4. Pronounsns

            Personal pronouns

             All the rules for noun usage discussed above must also be applied to pronouns. Additionally, one must be careful to use the correct second-person pronoun; the speaker’s relationship to the listener must be taken into consideration, as well as the number of listeners. Often, speakers use different pronouns when referring to each other, as they frequently have different views of their relationship. An especially common situation is for a social inferior, such as a youth, to address a superior with the honorific pronoun ché/chi, while the superior will use the humble pronoun choi/cho. Alternatively, a parent will frequently use the familiar pronoun chai/chí when speaking to a descendant of theirs. NB: When addressing a group of people who may have various relationships to the speaker, one should use the plural humble pronoun khoi/kho (nominative/accusative forms have respectively been given throughout this paragraph).

            Gomain has no independent possessive pronouns such as “mine”; to express possession, the possessed object is placed in the genitive. Often such a genitive noun (or noun phrase) is fronted for emphasis. A less common option, which is largely limited to the youngest couple of generations of speakers, is to apply the appropriate possessive suffix to kazách “thing”, so that “mine” could be expressed as kazáchléd.

            Since subject pronouns are typically prefixed to the verb, independent forms are only used for emphasis, or when the prefix is not specific enough, as is common in the second and third persons. Also, when a pronoun is one of several subjects, it precedes any non-pronominal subjects, and the verb takes a plural subject prefix in the appropriate person.

            Object pronouns always follow the verb. Accusative pronouns generally come before dative pronouns (which must also follow a preposition, to mark them as dative), although this order may be switched if one wishes to emphasize the indirect object.

            Verbs with the reflexive suffix do not take object pronouns, since the object is identical to the subject. Since genitive reflexives do not exist in Gomain, ambiguity concerning ownership of an object can only be resolved with alternative constructions. Finally, since no independent reflexive forms like “myself” exist, emphasis on the subject is expressed by using both the independent and prefixed subject pronouns.

            Two constructions exist for expressing reciprocal subjects. When there are only two such subjects, the inherent object construction oi údhúngk “one to the other” is used to mean “each other”. In cases where more than two reciprocal subjects are present, bákai úbákai “everyone to everyone” is used to mean “one another.” Both of these are normally used as direct objects, although they can also be used in the genitive.

            Impersonal pronouns

            The singular impersonal pronoun oel is used in situations where there is no specific subject or object, and so is translated as “one”. It is increasingly being used as a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun, displacing the traditional usage of kai “he”.

            Similarly, the plural impersonal pronoun ól is used for lack of specific plural subjects or objects, much like “they” in English. However, it is never used in a gender-neutral way, unlike English “they”, since mixed- and common-gender plural pronouns already exist in Gomain. The genitive suffix forms of these pronouns are used in the same situations as the pronouns they stand for.

            Correlatives

            The correlatives take whatever case prefix is appropriate for their usage, but they do not agree with their head nouns in number. Most are nouns, but the time correlatives are adverbs, and some others are adjectives; refer to the table of correlatives for further information. Note that relative pronouns cannot be used as constituents, but must follow a personal or impersonal pronoun, or a regular noun, as the introduction to a relative clause.

            Demonstratives (the forms that translate into variations on “this,” “that,” “these” and “those”) can be used as whole constituents and can replace noun phrases. When they do so, no subject pronoun is affixed to the verb, and adjectives that modify them must agree with them in number. “This” is not used to introduce something; instead, the third-person subject pronoun of the same gender and number is prefixed to the verb.

            Adjectival anaphora

            The most common adjectival anaphor is míg “such”; it can be used as a standalone adjective or before a prepositional phrase describing the object that is the basis of comparison.

            Verbal anaphora

            The irregular verb nág “do” is the most common verbal anaphor, and is used for both indefinite and specific actions. It is also used in parallel constructions, where it is followed by wóx “also”. However, unlike English, it is not used to answer questions; instead, the verb is repeated. Idiomatic, non-anaphoric uses of “do” are often not the same in Gomain, as they do not use any form of nág. Their specific forms will be compiled at a later date.

                        B5. Prepositionsns

            The following reference chart may prove useful to the reader:

Noun phrases following prepositions are invariably in the dative case, except those following noi, which are in the instrumental. With zhoisó, however, a following subject of a verb is in the nominative; under this circumstance the preposition takes on its alternate meaning of "while".
            Certain Gomain idioms differ from their English counterparts in which prepositions they use, if any; some idioms use the dative or instrumental cases instead of a preposition. An example idiom is solb údápáloehá “in one’s eyes”.

                        B6. Sentences

            Constituent order

            The usual word order in Gomain sentences is SVO, though the case system allows for any order desired. Here is a more detailed sentence organization:

                        subject

                        verb

                        adverbs

                        direct object

                        indirect objects

instrumental object

other prepositional phrases

            If one wishes to emphasize the pragmatic topic of the sentence, regardless of its role as subject or object, it is spoken first, retaining any case marker it may have. When the topic is the possessor of a genitive object, the possessor is named first, and the possessed object has a genitive suffix added to it.

            VSO order is used to emphasize the verb, which often appears with the emphatic particle in this situation. OSV order is normal for subordinate clauses, and to emphasize either the direct or indirect object.

            Because they act similarly to adverbs, prepositional phrases serving as complements of the verb immediately follow it, as do all adverbs. For emphasis, they can be placed at the beginning of the sentence. The standard order of such phrases or adverbs, based on their semantic content, is time-manner-place, as it is in German.

            Genéglŕng ŕlásh éhapkour úzathók.

            He left for the coast in a hurry yesterday. (Lit: He left yesterday in a hurry for the coast.)

Cf. German Gestern er verließ in einer Hast für die Küste.

            Negatives

            The most basic and common negation technique is putting ná after the verb being negated. If one wishes to negate an adjective or adverb instead, the reverse particle is used before the word to be negated. Negative concord is not part of the standard (Ánhrush) dialect, though it is employed in a couple of fringe and rural dialects; the double negative is therefore taken to be a negation of a negation. Ná can also be used twice in a sentence to mean “neither … nor”, as in lúth ná, búlbó ná “neither rain nor snow”. Certain correlatives carry a negative meaning and can be used in place of ná to negate sentences; all of these are in the “None” row of the table of correlatives, in the section on morphology. These correlatives are much more commonly used than the equivalent constructions of an “any”-type correlative followed by ná – the Gomain equivalent of English’s “not ever” sort of constructions.

            Questions

            In most questions, the interrogative suffix –il is added to the verb that is being questioned. However, this is not the case when the question is formed with sentence-final tag words; in particular, those words are krép “true” or shai “yes” for negative sentences, and lókrép “false” or üng “no” for affirmative sentences. In addition, it is common for the voice to be inflected when speaking the interrogative verb or tag word, as well as at the end of the sentence. When a question is introduced by an interrogative pronoun or adverb, which is always fronted, a pronoun takes the normal place of the information being questioned, whether that involves the compulsory subject agreement on verbs or an independent object pronoun. Also, these interrogative words eliminate the need for an interrogative suffix in the question in which they occur. They do not take case prefixes.

            ¿Yúhól hwemoing mim fúm hweheing sim úmoiskoión?

            What did you buy when you went to the market?

            When multiple constituents are being questioned, the question words for all of them are fronted, similar to Bulgarian; the order they occur in is invariably subject-direct object-indirect objects. As with other constituent questions, pronouns take the place of object question words.

                        ¿Yúkai yúhól yúkai khebleisoing mim fo?

            Subclauses

            One way to form complex sentences is through the use of conjunctions. The most basic of these are ís “and”, kám “but”, ód “and/or” and ót “or (but not both)”. One must be careful when deciding which “or” to use, making sure that the options spoken are all simultaneously possible or not. Conjunctions can join constituents of any length.

            Those verbs that can take whole sentences as complements do so by introducing the complement phrase with ló “which, that”. Ló is required, unlike its English counterpart.

            Relative pronouns, which are different in form from the interrogative pronouns, do not replace their referents, but rather turn them into pronouns, as is the case with interrogatives. Relative clauses cannot stand as whole constituents; instead, they require an introductory noun phrase.

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