A lo kisau kekatheya ngamatelesaiacha, o lo marekama ai tekikuma siku ka theyapa kekagheiza pialaicha. Tiraya anutiseitu gacha aiu tirayapa telete xaxama.Masiachase kisau o tiraya taimakiucha. Tiraa yo tiraya o jo "Kang@ yahafochal@. Yana o kang@ adhai masiachata." yabiucha.
Siku o tira pialaicha aiu o jo "Yanapa aikana ohakiuchahiri, aiu kang@ o tira masian@mu." yabiucha.
Kisau o jo "Vesi gacha ga? Tozutu vesi gacha?" sachaicha.
Tiraya yo tiraa o jo "Tira kekanira gacha, aiu o yanapa ronyo suzurau kiachiecha ta." losiriucha.
a fronting particle adhai certain, certainly ai and (used to connect words) aikana spouse aiu and (used to connect clauses) an near (in time) ga question particle gacha is, are (irregular) gheiza side hafo to frighten -hiri more jo introduces direct quotes ka prepositional phrase marker kang@ you (singular) kek at, on kiache look after, take care of kisau worker lo relative clause marker losiru answer mareka hurt, injure masa help (verb) nira house, home ngam during, while o object marker ohaku need piali see ronyo three sachi ask siku woman suzurau daughters (irregular) ta reason particle taimaku approach tekiku fall (this verb is semi-deponent; it's probably best to translate it as active) telesaiacha walk (present active, irregular) telete leg theya road tira he/she/it tiraa he/she/it (first referent, here referring to kisau) tiraya he/she/it (second referent, here referring to siku) tiseitu death (also return) tozutu why vesi so, thus xaxa break (verb) yabu say yana I, me yo indirect object marker
Ziotaki uses the present tense for stories, unlike most languages.Ziotaki grammar relies heavily on particles placed before phrases to clarify relationships.
The particle 'o' is placed before a direct object phrase, the particle 'yo' is placed before a direct object phrase, and the particle 'jo' is placed before direct speech. These cannot be dropped.
The particle 'lo' is placed before relative clauses, like "that" in English, and like "that" it may be dropped, but only if the relative clause consists of only the verb. Relative clauses drop the word they modify, so "lo yana
The particle 'a' is used to pull a phrase or clause modifying the verb to the front of the sentence, and may not be dropped.
Another class of particles is placed at the end of the sentence. The only two here are 'ga', making a question, and 'ta' giving a reason.Ziotaki prepositions fuse with their objects (either nouns or verbs) and copy the last vowel of the object. Prepositional phrases are introduced by 'ka'.
Ziotaki nouns form the possessive with -pa. suzuru "daughter" > suzurupa "daughter's"; suzurau "daughters" > suzuraupa "daughters'"
Ziotaki pronouns act like nouns, except that they form different plurals (a feature not seen here). They have no special case forms, and do not distinguish gender.
Since the third-person pronoun "tira" is very general, the first possible antecedent is assigned the form "tiraa" and the second "tiraya" when there is the possibility of confusion. When there is none, "tira" alone is used.Ziotaki verbs do not distinguish aspect, but they distinguish two voices, four tenses, and many moods.
Verbs are negated by the prefix ya-.
The base form of the verb is the passive; to form the active insert -i- between the last consonant and the last vowel. If the last vowel is i, change it to ai.tena "to write" > tenia "writes"
gasi "to join" > gasai "joins"The present tense is formed with the suffix -cha, the past with -ma, and the future with -n@.
tena > teniacha "writes, is writing"
gasi > gasaima "joined"
metani "to greet" > metanin@ "will be greeted"Moods are shown by adding a mood suffix after the tense suffix. The indicative mood has a zero suffix. The only other moods in this story are potential -ta, optative -se, "commendative" -l@ (like English "should", Spanish "deber", Japanese "...no hou ga ii"), and speculative -mu (English "may, might, maybe").
tena > teniamal@ "should have written"
gasi > gasain@mu "may join"
metani > metanaichase "want to greet"
chanu "to eat" > chanuta "can be eaten"The verbs gachu "to be" and telesei "to walk" are irregular; their present active forms are listed in the wordlist.
A worker was walking along a road, and he saw an injured woman who had fallen alongside the road. She was about to die, and her leg had been broken.The worker, who wanted to help, approached her. He asked her, "You shouldn't be afraid. I can certainly help you."
The woman looked at him and said, "Actually, my husband needs much more, and will you help him?"
The worker asked, "Is that so? Why is that so?"
She answered him, "He is at home, and looking after my three daughters."