Longwer grammar notes

3Sing of the u-stem verbs

It is formed by the lengthening of the final -u to -ú (ex. : enwabu - enwabú). The 3rdSing form of the verb is only used when the subject is a pronoun, else the basic form of the verb is used.

Negation

Negative forms are formed with the prefix t(e)- (ie. before vowels or w it is t- but everywhere else it is te-)

Past tenses

Past tense is formed by means of the suffixes -ya and -de. '-ya' indeicates a longer or unfinished action while -de stands for a dhort and point-like one. The latter can be translated as the Englidh present Perfect tense. These suffixes come away from the verb when the subject comes just after it and go after the subject. Ex. 'tú embe ya'

Passive

It is formed by the suffix -qilu. It is also a splittable suffix, just as the tense markers, though in this text it is not at a splitted position. The subject of a passive construction is in the accusative case.

Number

LW has threee numbers: singular, dual, plural .The singular form hes no endings. The dual is not used in this text. The original plural ending was -u which sometimes fused into word-final vowel. The plural of the - í -stems is -e, as in ihyí > pl. ihye

Cases

Longwer has a lot of cases but in this text there are only examples of cases:

• Nominative
• Accusative
• Locative
• Sociative

The attaching vowel which comes between the stem and the suffixes when a forbidden consonant cluster arises can be -e- or -a- depending on the form of the stem.

The Nominative case is a piece of cake, it denotes the subject of the noun. It has no endings at all.

The Accusative case denotes the object of the active or the subject of the passive sentences. It has the ending -nna. If the object of the verb is a pronoun then suffix accusativepronouns can be used that are put at the very end of the verb form. The only form used here is the 3plur suffix pronoun:

P/3 -nwu "them"

The Locative case denotes a place or time where/when the action took place. Ending: -d or -nd. The basic locatival ending can be refined by means of auxiliary endings. One of them is -ish "near"

Sociative: this is a multifunctional case. Basically it means that the action is done with or by the help of the noun-in-sociative. But it has many other meanings with auxiliary endings, like -yo "as, like". It is formed by the suffix -ss + the reduplicated stem-vowel [=last vowel] of the word.

Adverb forming

Adverbs are formed from adjectives by means of the suffix -an.

The present participle

is formed with the suffix -ah. It is more or less the -ing-form in a construction like "the jumping dog" Ex. ant- + antah

Stem variation

Some nouns and verbs change to an older stem before endings. (ex.: enga --> engan-)

Indirect Genitive

Sometimes the genitive ending is left out and a single nominative can stand with genitival meaning.