Proto-Mila Coursebook Chapter 2: view article

Chapter 2 ‘to be’

Now that we can make dictionary forms from base forms and can work out the base form from the dictionary forms we can start to build some of the grammar to form basic sentences.

The simplest verb is ‘to be’ and all other verbs are based on a form of this verb. Unlike English, Mila expresses this verb by manipulating a base form of a word. The word for happy is ‘puhca’ (base form PHC). To say ‘I am happy’ we manipulate this base form by inserting ‘a’ in the initial position. This now gives us the manipulated base form ‘aPHC’ (shown as óιn with an accent over the first letter to show the first person). To form the word we need to apply the rules of syllabification, voicing and sound dropping as explained in chapter 1. This gives us the word ‘aphic’. The inserted ‘a’ takes the stress, which is not normally indicated, but will be shown here for ease. So the way we say ‘I am happy’ in Mila is ‘Áphic’. To say ‘you are happy’ this is done by inserting ‘a’ (with stress) between the first and second consonants of the base form and forming the word following the rules. So the manipulated base form for ‘you are happy’ is ‘PaHC’ giving the word ‘páhca’. Similarly, ‘he, she or it is happy’ is formed by inserting ‘a’ (with stress) between the second and third consonants of the base form giving the manipulated base form ‘PHaC’. Here we syllabify slightly differently. The first syllable starts with ‘p’ and is followed by a vowel, giving ‘pV’. The ‘h’ could theoretically form the final consonant of the this syllable, but Mila prefers to have initial consonants in syllables than final ones so this ‘h’ forms the start of the second syllable giving the word ‘puhác’. This syllabification is important as ‘ul’ and ‘ir’ will thus not simplify to ‘u’ and ‘i’ respectively in this situation, the ‘l’ and ‘r’ being the first sound in a syllable and not the final one.

So we have for the verb to be happy:

I am happy áphic
you (singular) are happy páhca
he, she, it is happy puhác

Given the form ‘mupca’ for hungry (so MPC is the base form) so the way we say to be hungry is:

I am hungry ámbic (note the ‘p’ is voiced to ‘b’)
you are hungry mápca
he, she, it is hungry mubác (again note the ‘p’ is voiced to ‘b’)

We can similarly form the verb to be for nouns as well as adjectives. To be a man is thus (man is ‘lura’ with base form LLR):

I am a man áli (from the syllabified form ‘allir’ the double ‘ll’ is simplified to ‘l’ and the syllable final ‘ir’ is simplified to ‘i’)
you are a man lálra
he is a man lulár (note that ‘ul’ is not simplified because the ‘l’ is the first sound in the second syllable and not the last sound in the first syllable)

For the sentence we are happy this is formed in the same way as I am happy but a ‘t’ is added to the base form in final position. This gives us the modified base form aPHCt which syllabifies as ‘áphicta’. You (plural) are happy is the same as you (singular) are happy with this ‘t’ added to the base form. This gives the modified base form PaHCt and the form ‘páhcit’. Likewise, they are happy is the same as he, she, it is happy with the ‘t’ added to the base form. Giving the modified base form PHaCt and the form ‘puhácta’. So the full verb is as follows:

happy hungry a man/men
I am ... áphic ámbic áli
you are ... páhca mápca lálra
he, she, it is ... puhác mubác lulár
we are ... áphicta ámbicta álida (note the ‘t’ is voiced to ‘d’)
you are ... páhcit mápcit lálrit
they are ... puhácta mubácta lulárda

Vocabulary (stress is not normally indicated, and always falls on the first syllable in the dictionary forms so is not indicated here)
beautiful cuba
boy lida
cold pizna
friend lubla
fruit mukha
girl lumda
green cijga
happy puhca
hungry mupca
man lura
new puhla
old pugla
together tuda
wet sidna
woman lu(l)ma

Exercise 1

Translate the following sentences into Mila:
1 I am old. (Ápku.)
2 She is a girl. (Lumát.)
3 You (singular) are wet. (Sádna.)
4 We are friends. (Álbuda.)
5 they are hungry. (Mubácta.)
6 You (plural) are cold. (Páznit.)

Exercise 2

Translate the following sentences into English:
1 Lálmit. (You (plural) are women.)
2 Cálba. (You (singular) are beautiful.)
3 Puhálda. (They are new.)
4 Ciják. (It is green.)
5 Ámbic. (I am hungry.)
6 Ádlita. (We are together.)

The forms given above are those for if we have a pronoun in English, so where the subject of the sentence is expressed as ‘I’, ‘you’ etc. If however we wish to express a subject, this is done quite simply. Again we need to modify the base form of the subject, but we do this by adding ‘c’ to the end. The subject is then placed initially in the sentence before the description of the subject. So if we wish to say, for example, the boy is cold, then this will be formed with the subject boy being LRTc giving ‘lídic’ and cold being formed as above for he is cold, so ‘pizán’. This gives ‘Lídic pizán’. Notice that plural forms are not shown on the subject, but rather by adding ‘t’ to the form of the describing word/verb.

This form is most commonly used with the third person, thou it can be used to express phrases such as I, the man, am hungry or You, Micha, are cold. Also note that there is no difference between expressing a man differently from the man.

Exercise 3

Translate the following sentences into English:

1 Lúmic culáp. (The woman is beautiful.)
2 Lúblic mápca. (You, friend, are hungry.)
3 Lúric ápkuda. (We men are old.)
4 Lúmdic tuláta. (The girls are together.)

Exercise 4

Translate the following sentences into Mila:

1 I, the boy, am wet. (Lídic ástin.)
2 The fruit (plural) is green. (Múkhic cijákta.)
3 The man is hungry. (Lúric mubác.)
4 You, women, are new (young). (Lúmic páhlit.)

In order to express more than one adjective we need to add an additional particle to the base form. To say The boy is wet we have ‘Lídic sidán’ and to say The boy is hungry we have ‘Lídic mubác’. However to say The boy is wet and hungry we need to add a linking particle onto the second (and any further) adjective(s), which is an addition of –l to the base stem after all other modifications have been made. This gives us the form ‘Lídic sidán mubáɟla’. In the same way, if we have two or more subjects then the second (and further) subject(s) will add this linking particle at the end after other modifications are in place. Thus The boy and the man are wet and hungry will be translated as ‘Lídic lúriɟla sidánda mubáctu’. Here note that the –l leaves a trace only in the vowel with the syllable final l disappearing.

Vocabulary
air hu(h)ha
big cuhpa
box titka
bright cicsa
clear cicta
dirty kijda
empty hiɟla
food midla
forest jijga
good puhsa
grey cuhta
helpful tupa
neighbour lidra
shoe lukta
tired huza

Exercise 5

Translate these sentence into English

1 Títkic cuháp hiɟála (The box is big and empty)
2 Líjdic lúktiɟla kijáta (The clothes and shoes are dirty)
3 Pázna hálzu mápcu (You are cold, tired and hungry)
4 Húhic ciɟát ciɟázla (The air is clear and bright)

Exercise 6

Translate these sentences into Mila

1 The food is good and fresh (new) (Mídlic puhás puhála)
2 I am old and grey (Ápku áchidla)
3 The forest is large and beautiful (Jíjgic cuháp culábla)
4 You, neighbours, are friendly and helpful (Lídric láblit tápidla) (Note the word for friendly is the same as the word for friend this is very common in Mila that words have many functions!) ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article

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