User:Node ue/Nauruan word list/Grammar
Using corpus analysis, we can draw up a very basic picture of Nauruan grammar.
I'll start with some example sentences, and their translations. As they are all from the Jehova's Witnesses website, most are religious in nature.
examples
Eiy bet orida ngabuna re ma.
- en : He even raised the dead.
Ibuok eow turit amen ranga imin ngabuna itsio.
- en : They are assisted by ministerial servants.
Ro eo oekae aura karawin me oekae ea ngabuna ibun.
- en : They do not dress differently from others.
auxiliaries
ata
- "ata dedaro", prayer, from "dedaro", to pray.
- "ata kamarar", mind, from "kamarar", to think or to plan.
What is your 'ata' meant to mean? Ata means us inclusive (you (plural) and me). But in your dictionary you have ata as 'ten'. Atai is ten.
imin
- "tamo imin", anything, from "tamo", any.
- "imin memak", living things, from "memak", to make.
Two corrections here:
imin memak or, inversely, memak imin means 'everything'. Memak means 'all'.
But tamo imin is correct. Also, there is both eko imin and ekeo imin, both of which mean 'nothing'.
Tamo means 'any' or 'random'.
morphology
posessives
Root: "tsimor", life
- i|tsimor -> life (in general)
- tsimor|it OR tsimor|in-> his life
- tsimor|ura -> their life
- tsimor|um -> your life
tsimor also means something like 'very nice'.
when adding possessives suffices in Nauruan, it is important to note that there nauruan also has trial forms.
1st pers sing, dual (incl.), dual (excl.), trial (incl.), trial (excl.), plural 2nd pers sing, dual (incl.), dual (excl.), trial (incl.), trial (excl.), plural 3rd pers sing, dual, trial, plural.