Piedmontese

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Nouns[edit]

It may be surprising, but there are no plurals for some 95% of male nouns, only those ending in -L take a plural -J end. There are also a good number of invariant female names, like la/jë stra or la/le fior. Basically all is decided by context. You can always tell a foreign import: it's got a plural form (unless it ends in -L or female ending in vowel, when not truncated before the last Latin syllable, as in stra from strata = road).

Prefixed Schwa[edit]

Schwa is written Ë. When certain words follow another that ends in consonant they get a Schwa to avoid collision. These words are those beginning with:

  • S+consonant (la Spagna / an Ëspagna)
  • Any consonant+n (në fnoj / set ëfnoj) with the exception of the group GN-

Verbal structure[edit]

The reason names are that simple is that our brains are too busy with pronouns and verbs to have free CPU for gender/number declination, methinks :))))

Expressing a subject[edit]

We have a pronoum nobody else is using, the verbal pronoum. Plus... pronounized articles.

So you can have a LOT of expressed subjects, depending on how much you want to underline things. Since we have this constant doubt about gender/number and the verbal pronoun is non-gendered, usually female subjects add a pronounized article. The verbal pronoun is mandatory, but forbidden in interrogative (with the exception of 2nd plural, where it's mandatory) and imperative forms.

"She does" can translate as:

  1. Chila a la fa (pers. Pron/verb pron/pron.art.) very clear, much attention on the subject, not much on the action itself
  2. Chila a fa (pers. Pron/verb pron) equilibrium, both subject and action have the same relevance, gender is expressed
  3. A la fa (verb pron/pron.art.) gender expressed, the action is more important than the subject
  4. A fa (verb pron only) no gender expressed, weakly defaults to male, only dealing with the action itself.

Version 4) is non-gendered, and it's quite rare when the subject really is a female, although formally correct.

Some verbs always require an euphonic pronounized article.

Example: I have

  • I l'heu

Tenses[edit]

We have no past tense anymore (last written occurrences are from the end of the XVIII century and declinate much like Old French), so now verbal modalities are: 1) indicative 2) imperative (present only) 3) conjunctive 4) conditional

Let alone imperative, all modes have the following tenses: 1) present 2) future 3) imperfect 4) present perfect

Interrogative forms[edit]

All forms have an interrogative version, in which an enclitic interrogativ pronoun is appended, and the 2nd singular has the original latin stem. So

Example, to want

Affermative, interrogative

  • I veuj / veuj-ne?
  • It veule / veus-to?
  • A veul / veul-lo(a) (yes, the third singular interrogative is alse gendered)
  • I voroma /vorom-ne?
  • I veule / I veule?
  • A veulo / veul-ne?

Fine? No... you can also make a weaker interrogation by simply using a question mark at the end of the affermative form, as in most languages.

Negative imperative[edit]

Affermative followed by a negation (pa or nen, pa is stronger)

Phonetic varieties[edit]

Equivalent forms[edit]

Many verbs can be rendered in equivalent forms. Example: I have

  • I l'hai = I l'heu

This is hell, because since it happened before future tenses where formed by adding a terminal +have auxiliary, we basically ALWAYS have two equivalent forms for all future tenses... Example: I will have

  • I l'avreu = i l'avrài

We all mix them, depending on what sounds better, I cannot give a rule for choosing one or another and I'm not aware of any particular meaning in choosing one form or the other.

Mobile EU[edit]

All EU (pron like in french) can exist only in tonic position. When they loose this position they become O.

Example: To die

  • Mi i meuiro -> present indicative
  • Mi i moirerìa -> present conditional