Mirad Version 2

Introduction

Mirad ( aka Unilingua ) is an artificially-constructed auxiliary language (conlang) developed and published by Paris-based author Noubar Agopoff as a serious medium for easy and logical international communication. Mirad is categorized by constructed language experts as 'philosophical' because its vocabulary is mapped letter-by-letter to a semantic ontology or thesaurus. Also, the word stock of Mirad is considered a priori, that is, there is no deliberate association with words or roots in existing natural languages. The vocabulary is "from scratch", yet based on internal lexical and semantic rules that help the learner to construct and deconstruct derivations logically, mnemonically, and consistently.

The author claims in his book Unilingua -- Langue universelle auxiliaire that this language is well-suited for universal, logical communication because it is based on principles already exploited globally by sciences like mathematics and chemistry where symbolic formulas are constructed in accordance with strict rules and a limited sequence of symbols understood by all practitioners.

Mirad is constructed on the following principles:

• Every vowel has numeric, vectorial, scalar, or semantic value.
• Every consonant is meaningful either lexically or grammatically.
• Word derivation is systematic, consistent, analogical, and mnemonic.
• Words are as ontologically unambiguous as possible.
• Words are as short and as easy to pronounce as possible.
• Inflection and derivation of words is regular and predictable.

This book contains Version 2 of the language with additions and modifications to the original. The principal changes are:

• The letter w was added, mainly to indicate the passive voice of verbs.
• The letter s was changed to sound like the s in English sun
• The letter x was changed to sound like the sh in English show
• The letter c was changed to sound like the ch in English chair
• Grammatical cases were eliminated and replaced by prepositions.
• The deictic proforms like "this, that, such, which" were modified and systematized.
• Some prepositions and conjunctions were changed or added.
• A definite article was introduced.
• Much new vocabulary was added and some words were altered.
• The writing system now consists only of letters, with no diacritics.

Alphabet

Mirad uses the Roman alphabet as English does, except that the letters H, Q, and C are only used in foreign borrowings or attempts to spell foreign words or names. There is an upper case (majuscules or capital letters) and a lower case (miniscules or small letters). The upper case letters are used much as in English (see Orthography). Mirad, at least natively, uses no diacritic marks such as breve, accent aigu, or diairesis. The order of the alphabet is the same as in English.

A	B	C*	D	E	F	G	H*	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q*	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
a	b	c*	d	e	f	g	h*	i	j	k	l	m	n	o	p	q*	r	s	t	u	v	w	x	y	z

* Not used in native Mirad words.

Pronunciation

Each letter in Mirad is a phoneme and has only one basic pronunciation. The sounds can be divided into vowels and consonants.

Vowels

The vowels are pronounced as they are in many European Latin-based languages. The table below gives their phonetic values and some examples.

Vowel	Spanish	French	English
a	mano	la	ah!
e	hecho	été	day (without the y-glide)
i	si	oui	see (without the y-glide)
o	no	eau	so (without the w-glide)
u	tu	vous	too (without the w-glide)

Vowel Diphthongs

Vowels in Mirad can be "post-iotated" with the consonant y to produce five vowel diphthongs. These diphthongs are pronounced as such only at the end of a word or before a syllable beginning with a consonant. For example, igay and eyna contain post-iotated vowel diphthongs, but maraya (ma-ra-ya) does not.

Mirad Diphthong	Pronunciation
ay	English I or Spanish hay
ey	English day (with y-glide) or French abeille
iy	English see (with y-glide) or French fille
oy	English boy or Spanish hoy
uy	English gooey or French mouiller

Consonants

The consonants in Mirad are pronounced not altogether differently from their English counterparts, except for x, which is sounds like English sh in ship and j which resembles the zh sound in Zhivago or mirage. However, the so-called stops p, t, and k sound more closely like their European equivalents in that they are not aspirated, i.e. their is no puff of breath following them as in English.

The consonants h, and q, and c are not native to Mirad and are used only to represent foreign names and expressions. In that case, c is used for the English ch sound in China.

The consonant w was not used before Version 2 of Mirad. It is now used to form the passive voice of verbs and is pronounced as in English or the ou in French oui.

Here is a table showing the pronunciation of Mirad consonants:

Mirad Consonant	Pronunciation
b	English boy
c	English child
d	English dog
f	English frog
g	English good (always hard, even before e and i)
h	English house (or other similar sounds like German Bach
j	French je or English mirage
k	English kite (without aspiration) or French comment
l	English love or French bel
m	English mother
n	English nobody
p	English pan (without aspiration) or French pas
q	(Only used in foreign words, where it has various pronunciations)
r	a dental flap as in Spanish mira or Italian Roma
s	Always hard as in English safe (never a z sound as in Rose)
t	English top (without aspiration) or French tous
v	English very
w	English water
x	English shape or French chanter
y	English yard
z	English zone

Stress

Stress in Mirad is not marked and not phonemic, i.e. not semantically distinctive. However, in all words of more than one syllable, the stress is applied to the last vowel followed by a consonant, or, in the case of words ending in more than one vowel, to the penultimate (next-to-last) vowel. The letter y is always treated as a consonant. Another, simpler rule is that the stress falls on the last, non-final vowel. The following chart gives some examples:

Mirad Word	With Stress and Syllabification Marked
teja vital	te-ja
igay quickly	i-gay
Mirad Mirad	Mi-rad
booka sick	bo-o-ka
bookan sickness	bo-o-kan
tejea alive	te-je-a

Orthography

Orthography has to do with the way words are spelled.

Capitalization

Words in Mirad are capitalized as in English. That is:

• The first word of a sentence is capitalized.
• Proper nouns, including names of places and persons, inhabitants of those places, and the languages spoken there, are capitalized. (This contasts with usage in most European languages.)
• All the letters of an acronym are upper case.

The following chart illustrates this:

Mirad	English
Amerikam	America
Amerikama	American
Amerikat	an American
Amerikad	American English
Ivan	Ivan
Dropek ay Poos	War and Peace
At Mirade.	I speak Mirad.
Yadut be ad mir Mirado glojo.	Everyone in the world will speak Mirad soon.
Yat tameya Boston.	We were living in Boston.
Id se Fransa vafil.	This is a French wine.
Ad Anxwa Doobi gey dyunwe ad AD.	The United Nations is also called the UN.

Punctuation

Punctuation and the rules governing it are the same as in English.

Syllabification

Syllables in Mirad are shaped according to the following Consonant-Vowel patterns:

Pattern	Mirad Examples
V[y]	o, ay
C[lrwy]V	va, xwa, gyo, gla, gre
V[y]C	iyt, ad
C[lrwy]V[y]C	dud, glas, glays, dren, toyb, xwer

A syllable cannot contain more than one vowel. For example, booka (tired) contains three syllables: bo-o-ka and is pronounced bo-o-ka with the stress on the second o following the normal stress rule.

Double consonants are split syllabically and are pronounced separately. For example, yaggorbun (slit) is syllabified as yag-gor-bun (Lit. long-cut-application).

Nouns

In Mirad, all native nouns (i.e. substantives encompassing nouns, pronouns, and words nominalized from other parts of speech like gerunds and participial forms) end in a consonant. Only nouns per se are discussed here, while other words having substantive properties such as pronouns, proforms, gerunds, nominalizations of other parts of speech, etc. will be discussed in later sections.

Noun-modifying Articles

In Mirad, there is only a definite article, ad* the. No indefinite article like a / an is expressed. A noun is considered indefinite or general unless modified by the definite article ad (which in reality is a DEFINITE DEICTIC ADJECTIVE, discussed with other deictic proforms in the later section on Deictic Adjectives). This definite article never changes form and is used exactly as in English. It is positioned before the noun and before any other adjectives or modifiers.

Mirad	English	Specificity
tam	a house	indefinite, no article
ad tam	the house	definite
ad tej	life	general, no article
ad tej	the life (...I lead)	specific
ad Fransad	French	general, no article
ad Ivan	Ivan	person's name, no article

Speakers of French and other European languages should take note that general concepts like love, life, freedom do not employ the definite article unless they refer to a specific instance, such as in the phrases the love that dare not speak its name or the life well-lived or the freedoms we possess. The names of languages and countries are also considered general, and so as in English, they do not take a definite article as they might in some European languages. Names of persons do not take the definite article as they do in modern Greek, unless in a phrase like "the Ivan I once knew."

Proper nouns, such as names of people, places, languages, etc., are capitalized as in English. The formation of country names and languages will be discussed in a later section. It can be said here, though, that country names for the most part end in -am; the inhabitants of those places end in -at or pl. -ati; and the languages they speak end in -ad.

* The definite article is technically an adjective and should end in the adjectival suffix -a. However, this ending is optional for the definite article and other adjectival deictic proforms in the interest of brevity. So, both ad and ada are acceptable.

Pluralization

Nouns are pluralized by adding the suffix i. Any noun modifiers, such as the definite article ad, are left unchanged, because there is no agreement in gender and number as there commonly is in many European languages like French, German, and Italian.

Singular	Plural
ad tam the house	ad tami the houses
pat a bird	pati birds
ad fia toyb the good woman	ad fia toybi the good women
fia tob a good man	fia tobi good men

Modifiers: Placement and Agreement

Nouns can be modified by various qualitative, quantitative, and deictic adjectives, which all precede the noun. These modifiers come in the same order as in English. There is no gender or number agreement between the modifiers and the noun. A complete discussion of prepositions can be found in the section Prepositions.

Mirad	English
ad ewa aga tami	the two big houses
gla ifa taxi	many pleasant memories
yad fia tob	every good man
ad yaga via mepi	the long, beautiful roads
gra vua sexen	too much ugly construction
ata aja tej	My past life

Linking

Nouns can be linked by connective morphemes like ay and, ey or, oy but not, as well as with prepositions like av for, bay with, bu to, and bi from. Connectives and prepositions come before the noun and before all other noun modifiers. More informatiion on these connective words can be found in the sections on Prepositions and Conjunctions.

Mirad	English
Ivan ay Maria	Ivan and Maria
ad tam ey ad par	the house or the car
yaduti oy ad toybi	all but the women
boy eta dyun	without your name
bi ida domep bu uda domep	from this street to that street
ja ad ujna osexen	before the final destruction

Genitive Association

Nouns can be linked in a genitive association with the preposition bi of, from or nouns can simply be compounded or stacked, in which case the base noun is last. Examples:

• tej bi nasuk a life of poverty
• ad tam bi Maria Mary's house (= the house of Mary)
• job bi aga ivan a time of great joy
• dom ditpar a city bus
• toj fan a death wish
• dropek jaxeni war preparations

The X bi Y construction must always be used for possession by a named person. The two methods of genitive association follow the English pattern in all other cases. Pronominal possession such as his car is discussed in the section on personal pronouns.

Other Associations

Other associations like a book on science, a meal for two, the bridge across the Seine are expressed with various prepositions, which are discussion in the section on Prepositions.

How nouns are formed will be discussed in the section on Word Formation.

Modifiers

Types of Modifiers

Modifiers consist of various types of adjectives, adverbs, proforms, and participles, as shown in the table that follows:

Category	Examples
Qualitative Adjectives	big, white, tough, personal
Qualitative Adverbs	well, poorly, mainly, quickly
Quantitative Adjectives	much, some, enough
Quantitative Adverbs	very, quite, more
Numerical Adjectives	one, two, second
Deictic Adjectives	the, this, any, which, other, any kind of
Deictic Adverbs	here, there, then, now, so, however
Pronominal Adjectives	my, your own, whoever's, whose, everyone's
Deverbal Adjectives ( = Participles)	running, conversant, dead, living, inquiring

The difference in the above table of modifiers between adjectives and adverbs, is that adjectives modify nouns, while adverbs modify verbs (or whole verb clauses), adjectives, and even other adverbs.

Qualitative/Associative Adjectives and Derived Forms

Qualitative/Associative Adjectives

Qualitative/associative adjectives are modifiers that describe or lend attributes to nouns. In Mirad, all such adjectives end in the suffix a. Many are pure, descriptive adjectives like iga fast, while others (associative adjectives) are formed from nouns, such as sana formal from san form, shape. In fact, the adjectival suffix a can often be affixed to a noun to derive an associative adjective of that noun. Here are some examples:

Noun	Qualitative/Associative Adjective
taam home	taama domestic
tej life	teja vital
tob man	toba human
pat bird	pata avian

Adjective Word Order

Qualitative/associative adjectives immediately precede the noun they modify.

• ad aga tami the big houses
• fia tej a good house
• ad oga pat the little bird
• yata teja yivani our vital freedoms

Qualitative/Associative Adverbs

Adverbs can be derived from qualitative adjectives by suffixing the letter y. For example:

Adjective	Adverb
fia good	fiay well
yeva just	yevay fairly
uja final	ujay finally
joga new	jogay newly
teyda maternal	teyday maternally

At the end of sentences or clauses, common adverbs can be shortened by removing the ay ending:

• Iyt deuze fi. She sings well.
• At upo ig. I'll come quickly.

Word Order of Adverbs

The word order of adverbs is fairly free, as in English. But, to avoid ambiguity, the adverb should be placed immediately before or after the sentence element it modifies, eg.:

• It deuze viay. He sings beautifully.
• Et yefe xer ad gya ig. You must do it as quickly as possible.
• Et yodjob ako firxa ivan. You will never gain perfect happiness.

Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs by Degree

As in English, qualitative adjectives and adverbs can be modified by degree. To do this, a quantitative specifier of degree (ga, ge, etc.) is placed before the qualitative adjective or adverb, producing positive / negative comparative, equalitative, superlative, and other degree expressions as in the following table. The quantitative adverbs used in these comparative expressions are discussed in detail in a later section on quantitative specifiers.

Quantitative Specifier	Example
ga more	ga fia better
ge as, equally	ge fia as good
go less	go fiay less well
gla very	gla fia very good
gle rather	gle fia rather/quite good
glo not very	glo fia not very/slightly good
gra too	gra fia too good
gre enough	gre fiay well enough
gro not enough	gro fia insufficiently good
gya most	gya fia best
gye average	gye fia good on average
gyo least	gyo fiay least well, the worst

The relative morpheme ev is used to translate English as in an equalitative comparison; than in a non-equal comparison; or of / in in a superlative expression. Examples:

• Ata tam se ga aga ev etas. My house is bigger than yours.
• Id tam voy se ge aga ev atas. This house is not as big as mine.
• Id se ad gya aga tam bi yata yubem. This is the biggest house in our neighborhood.

Unlike in English, where comparative forms can be irregular (smaller, more intense, better), there are no exceptions in the comparison of Mirad adjectives and adverbs.

Abstract Nouns Derived from Adjectives

Nouns referring to abstract qualities can be derived from qualitative adjectives by suffixing the letter n. For example:

Adjective	Abstact Noun
fia good	fian goodness
yeva just	yevan justice
uja final	ujan finality
joga young	jogan youth
teyda maternal	teydan motherhood, maternity

Nouns Denoting Persons and Things Derived from Adjectives

Nouns referring to persons and things can be derived from qualitative adjectives by suffixing t for persons, and s for things, as in the following table:

Adjective	Person Pronoun	Thing Pronoun
fua bad	fuat bad person	fuas something bad
joga young, new	jogat youth, young one	jogas novelty, something new
aga big	agat big one	agas something big

These derived person and thing nouns can, in turn, be pluralized, eg. fuasi bad things.

Verbs can be derived from qualitative adjectives, too, such as agaxer to magnify from aga big, but this will be discussed in the section on Verbs and in sections under Word Formation.

Quantitative Adjectives and Derived Forms

Quantitative adjectives qualify singular nouns for relative amount and plural nouns for relative number, and as adverbs, modify adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs answering the question to what degree?. Derived from these are pronouns for persons and things. The pronouns are formed by adding s for things and t for persons, plus the plural ending i, if the referent is plural. The following table presents most of these word forms:

Adverb	Adjective	Thing	Things	Persons
How... (+ adj./adv.)?	How much... (+ s. noun) / How many... (+ pl. noun)?	How much?	How many?	How many (people)?
ga more (...eager(ly))	ga more (...money/coins)	gas more (of it)	gasi many (things)	gati many (people)
ge as	ge as much/many	ges as much	gesi as many	geti as many people
go less	go less / fewer	gos less	gosi fewer	goti fewer (people)
gla very	gla much, many, a lot of	glas much	glasi many	'glati many (people)
gle rather	gle quite a lot of	gles quite a lot	glesi quite a lot	qleti quite a few (people)
glo slightly	glo little / few	glos a little bit	glosi a few	gloti few (people)
gra too	gra too much / too many	gras too much	grasi too many	grati too many (people)
gre enough	gre enough	gres enough	gresi enough (things)	greti enough (people)
gro insufficiently	gro too little / too few	gros too little	grosi too few	groti too few (people)
gya most	gya the most	gyas the most	gyosi the most	gyoti most people
gye so	gye so much / so many	gyes so much	gyesi so many (things)	gyeti so many (people)
gyo least	gyo the least amount of / the least number of	gyos the least	gyosi the least (number of)	gyoti the least number (of people)

Numerical Adjectives

Numerical adjectives are number words that modify nouns, such as one, fifty, a hundred. They are based on the cardinal numbers, which are explained here:

Cardinal Numbers

The cardinal numbers are words used in counting. These words are based on the vowels of Mirad and are crucial to any hierarchical ordering of lexical concepts.

The units are given below:

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
o	a	e	i	u	yo	ya	ye	yi	yu
zero	one	two	three	four	five	six	seven	eight	nine

The formative letter l + o zero is used to form the decades, seen below:

10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90
alo	elo	ilo	ulo	yolo	yalo	yelo	yilo	yulo
ten	twenty	thirty	forty	fifty	sixty	seventy	eighty	ninety

By changing the o zero in lo to other cardinal unit numbers, the numbers between the decades can be generated as follows:

alo	elo	ilo	ulo	yolo	yalo	yelo	yilo	yulo
ala 11	ela 21	ila 31	ula 41	yola 51	yala 61	yela 71	yila 81	yula 91
ale 12	ele 22	ile 32	ule 42	yole 52	yale 62	yele 72	yile 82	yule 92
...	...	...	...	...	...	...	...	...
alyu 19	elyu 29	ilyu 39	ulyu 49	yolyu 59	yalyu 69	yelyu 79	yilyu 89	yulyu 99

By changing the decades marker l to s, you get the hundreds:

100	200	300	400	500	600	700	800	900
aso	eso	iso	uso	yoso	yaso	yeso	yiso	yuso
ten	twenty	thirty	forty	fifty	sixty	seventy	eighty	ninety

All the numbers in between the hundreds, can be generated by modifying the so ending, for example:

• asa 101
• asale 112
• usyulyu 199

The thousands are generated with the formative letter r:

The millions are generated with the formative letters ml:

The billions are generated with the formative letters mr;

The numbers composed with r, ml, and mr keep the o and are separated from the other numbers by a space.

• iro asyulyo 3,195
• yamlo asyulyo 6,000,195
• alomro yelyomlo asyilyaro yusele 10,075,186,922

Quantitative Numerical Adjectives

Quantitative numerical adjectives are numbers that modify a noun as to quantity. In a sequence of adjectives, the numerical adjective goes first. Numerical adjectives are the same in form as cardinal numbers, but a special counter morpheme wa is added simply to aid in the comprehension and disambiguation of the words. If the numerical adjective is one syllable, the wa is suffixed; otherwise it stands alone. If the numerical adjective is 2 or more, then the noun is pluralized.

Mirad	English
owa tam ← singular!	no houses, zero houses
awa tam ← singular!	one house, a house
ewa tami ← plural!	two houses
iwa tami	three houses
uwa tami	four houses
yowa tami	five houses
yawa tami	six houses
yewa tami	seven houses
yiwa tami	eight houses
yuwa tami	nine houses
alo wa tami ← alo is not monosyllabic!	ten houses
ase wa tami	a hundred two houses
ero iwa tami	two thousand three houses
iro alo wa tami	three thousand ten houses

Ordinal Numerical Adjectives and Their Derived Adverbs and Pronouns

Ordinal numerical adjectives like first, second, etc. are formed from the cardinal numbers by adding the adjectival ending a to the cardinal number.

Cardinal Number	Ordinal Numerical Adjective
o zero	oa zeroth
a one	aa first
e two	ea second
i three	ia third
alo ten	aloa tenth
asu 104	asua 104th

The word nap order can be inserted in these words to make them more comprehensible in speech:

• anapa first, first in order
• alapa eleventh, elevnth in order

Ordinal numerical adverbs can be derived by adding the suffix y to the adjective counterparts:

Adjective	Adverb
aa first	aay firstly
anapa first	anapay firstly
ea second	eay secondly

Ordinal numerical adjectives can be converted to animate pronouns (persons) with the suffix t and inanimate pronouns (things) with the suffix s:

• ad aas the first thing
• ad aat the first person
• ad aati the first people
• ad eas the second thing
• eat another / a second person
• ad anapa jubi the first days
• ad aati so ujna the first shall be last

Again, in the sequencing of stacked adjectival elements, the order is as in English, that is: <deictic or pronominal adjective> | <ordinal numerical adjective> | <quantitative numerical adjective> | <qualitative adjective>

• ud uwa aga tami those four big houses
• ad aa alo wa oga tami the first ten little houses
• ata aa ewa oga tobobi my first two little children

Fractions like half and multiples like "triple are discussed later under Word Formation.

Deictic Adjectives and Derived Forms

Deictic Adjectives are modifiers which point out or specify other words. They include demonstratives like this, that, those, specifiers like any, some, all, the, etc. Derived from these are animate and inanimate pronouns like this one, those things, something, everyone, etc. Also derived from these are adverbs of time like when, now; adverbs of place like there, here, somewhere; adverbs of manner like how, thus, somehow; adverbs of kind, age, direction, reason, and so forth.

Table of Deictic Adjectives and Derived Pronouns

There are ten deictic base morphemes used to generate many specifiers, including adjectives, pronouns, and adverbs. Here is a table showing adjectives and pronouns built off of these ten deictic base morphemes. The base morphemes can be used a prefixes or adjectives or "thing" pronouns. As adjectives, the suffix -a is optional.

	Base Morpheme	Adjective of Kind	Thing Pronoun	Things Pronoun	Person Pronoun	Persons Pronoun
Interrogative	od(a)? which?	odyena? what kind of?	od? what?	odi? what things?	odut? who?	oduti? who?
Definite	ad(a) the	adyena? the kind of	ad it	adi the things	adut he	aduti they
Indefinite	ed(a) some	edyena some kind of	ed something	edi some things	edut someone	eduti some people
Proximal	id(a) this	idyena this kind of, such (a)	id this	idi these (things)	idut this person	iduti these people
Distal	ud(a) that	udyena that kind of, such (a)	ud that	udi those (things)	udut that person	uduti those people
Negative	yod(a) no	yodyena no kind of, no such	yod nothing	yodi nothing	yodut nobody	yoduti none
Distributive	yad(a) every	yadyena every kind of	yad everything	yadi all things	yadut everyone	yaduti all (people)
Indiscriminate	yed(a) any	yedyena any kind of, whatever kind of	yed anything	yedi whatever things	yedut anyone	yeduti whoever
Identive	yid(a) the same	yidyena the same kind of	yid the same thing	yidi the same things	yidut the same person	yiduti the same people
Alternative	yud(a) the other	yudyena some other kind of	yud something else	yudi other things	yudut someone else	yuduti other people

Note: The definite deictic morpheme ad or ada is used as what is more commonly referred to as the definite article the. As mentioned before, if the definite article or any other deictic morpheme is omitted before a noun, than it has the effect of the English indefinite article a / an with a singular noun or some with a plural noun. For example:

• Yat tilia ad tilyeb bi vafil. We drank the glass of wine., vs.
  • Yat tilia tilyeb bi vafil. We drank a glass of wine.

• Yat tilia ad tilyebi bi vafil. We drank the glasses of wine., vs.
  • Yat tilia tilyebi bi vafil. We drank (some) glasses of wine.

• Yat tilia awa tilyeb bi vafil. We drank one glass of wine., vs.
  • Yat tilia ad awa tilyeb bi vafil. We drank the one glass of wine.

• Yat tilia ewa tilyebi bi vafil. We drank two glasses of wine., vs.
  • Yat tilia ad ewa tilyebi bi vafil. We drank the two glasses of wine., vs.
  • Yat tilia yadewa tilyebi bi vafil. We drank both glasses of wine.

• Yat tilia owa tilyeb bi vafil. We drank no/zero glasses (=not a single glass) of wine.

• Yat tilia ea tilyeb bi vafil. We drank another/a second glass of wine., vs.
  • Yat tilia ad ea tilyeb bi vafil. We drank the second glass of wine., vs.
  • Yat tilia ea tilyebi bi vafil. We drank second glasses of wine., vs.
  • Yat tilia ad ea tilyebi bi vafil. We drank the second glasses of wine.

Derivation of Possessive Forms

The above pronoun persons can be made into adjectival possessives with the addition of the adjectival ending a, eg.:

• odut? who? → oduta? whose?, eg. Oduta dyen se id? Whose book is this?
• yadut? everyone → yaduta everyone's, eg. Yaduta tej ujo. Everyone's life will end.
• uduti those people → udutia those people's, their, eg. At gafe udutia utbyeni. I prefer those people's manners.

Such adjectival possessive forms can be further nominalized into possessive pronouns with the addition of s for thing, eg.:

• Odutas et bia? Whose did you take?
• At bia idutasi. I took theirs (= these people's things).

Similar pronominalizations can be made with the adjectives of kind:

• yadyenati all kinds of people
• udyenas such a thing
• yedyenasi any kinds of things
• idyenat such a person, something like this, this kind of person
• yudyenasi other kinds of things

Here are some examples of how these deictic adjectives and pronouns can be used:

• Od se eta dyun? What is your name?
• Odut aka ad igpek? Who won the race?
• Yad uja fi. Everything ended well.
• Yod yoka at. Nothing surprised me.
• Yodut ta odut ako. Nobody knew who would win.
• Oduti fu pier yefe. Those who would like to leave may.
• Yedut yefe eker id ifek. Anyone can play this game.
• Udyena utbyen voy afwo. Such behavior will not be permitted.
• Ud tob voy taxe id tob. That man does not remember this man.
• Uduti yanyexe fi. Those guys work well together.
• At jay teataye idyenasi. I've seen such things before.
• Udyena toyb voy vabiwu. Such a woman would not be accepted.

Placement of Deictics

In a sequence of adjectives before a noun, deictic adjectives go first, as in English. For example:

• Oduta ewa oga nyefi se idi? Whose two small bags are these?

In interrogative sentences, the interrogative word often starts out the sentence, as in English.

• Od se eta dyun? What is your name?
• Odut et teata aay idjub? Who(m) did you see first today?

Interrogative deictics can also go at the end of sentence:

• Eta dyun se od? What is your name? Lit. Your name is what?

Deictics Incorporating Numerical Information

Sometimes, a deictic adjective or pronoun contains numerical information. This chart shows those forms:

Adjective	Pronoun Thing	Pronoun Person
yadawa each	yadawas each one	yadawat each person
yadewa both	yadewasi both (things)	yadewati both (people)
yadiwa all three	yadiwasi all three (things)	yadewati all three (people)
yodawa not a single	yodawas not a single thing	yodawat not a single person
yedawa any single	yedawas any single thing	yedawat any single person
yedewa any two	yedewasi any two things	yedewat any two people
yedowa neither	yedowas neither one	yedowat neither person

The above person pronouns and be converted into possessive adjectives by adding the adjective suffix a, eg.:

• Yadawata tej se ge glatedea ev yudutas. Each one's life is as important as another's.

The preposition bi of, from can be used in an alternative expression of the above sentence:

• Ad tej bi yadawat se... The life of each person is...

Table of Deictic Adverbs

This tables shows a correlated set of adverbial expressions built on the basic deictic morphemes. This is not all-inclusive, because their are other expressions relating to age, frequency, and so forth.

Category	Manner	Place	Time	Degree	Reason
Interrogative	odyen? how?, in what way?	odem? where?	odjob? when?	odnog? how?, to what degree?	odav? why?
Definite	adyen the way	adem the place	adjob the time	adnog as, to the degree	adav because
Indefinite	edyen somehow, in some way	edem somewhere	edjob sometime	ednog somewhat	edav for some reason
Proximal	idyen this way, so	idem here	idjob now	idnog so, this, to this extent	idav for this reason, therefore
Distal	udyen that way, thus	udem there	udjob then	udnog so, that, to that extent	udav for that reason, therefore
Negative	yodyen in nowise	yodem nowhere	yodjob never	yodnog not at all	yodav for no reason
Distributive	yadyen totally, in every way	yadem everywhere	yadjob always	yadnog totally	yadav for every reason
Indiscriminate	yedyen anyway	yedem anywhere, wherever	yedjob whenever	yednog however, to any degree	yedav for whatever reason
Identive	yidyen likewise	yidem the same place	yidjob at the same time	yidnog as, to the same extent	yidev for the same reason
Alternative	yudyen otherwise	yudem somewhere else	yudjob some other time	yudnog not as	yudav for some other reason

It should be noted that all of these deictic forms, unless used as nouns, such as in the sentence Iyt iyfe idem. She likes this place (or) She likes it here., are really abbreviations of longer expressions with mostly the preposition be at. For example, At tameya udem., meaning I used to live there. is ignoring the preposition be from the longer, more explicit version At tameya be udem., lit. I used to live at that-place. The proper preposition must be explicitly present if something other than be at. For example, from where? is expressed as bi odem? Similarly, until then would be expressed as ji udjob.

Note: idyen is an abbreviated form that can be used adjectivally to mean like this, such a (idyena), adverbally to mean in this way, so (idyenay), and as a pronoun to mean this way, this manner, such.

• Xu idyen. Do (it) this way/so
• Su idyen. Amen. (=Let it be this way/thus.)

Here are some examples of how adverbial deictics are used:

• Odem et tame? Where do you live? (Equivalent to Be odem et tame? (At) what place...?)
• At tame udem. I live there.
• Et tame adem ad mep uje. You live where the road ends.
• Udem yet peye? Where are you guys going?*
• Et yafe per yedem et fu. You can go anywhere you'd like.
• Idem se adem at tamaye glaju. This place is where I've lived for a long time.
• Bi odem et se? Where are you form?
• Odjob et taja? When were you born?
• At taja adjob Kennedy sa ad doebeb. I was born when Kennedy was the president.
• Et teato ud pansin yodjob. You will never see that movie.
• Odyena tej et fe? What kind of life do you want?
• Udyena tej voy se av at. Such a life is not for me.
• Yat voy xe udyenasi. We don't do such things.
• Odav et tadsa udnog jwa? Why did you marry so late?
• Anay adav at yefa bikier ata ted. Only because I had to take care of my dad.
• Ad tob pia yodav. The man left for no reason.
• Odyen it xa ud? How did he do that? (Equivalent to Be odyem...? In what way...?)
• Et texe yidyen at. You think the same way (as) I do.
• Id son se yudyenas. This issue is a different sort of thing.
• Odyena et se? How are you?
• Odnog iyfla et se! How nice you are! (=Odgla..., Odyen(ay)...)

* Bu odem (to where, whither) is not required here, since the verb per go (to) has the to idea built in.

Quantitative Expressions Built on Deictic Morphemes

The deictic morphemes can be combined with gla to form quite a few quantitative expressions:

+adj./+object/+objects	Thing	Things	Persons
odgla? how?/how much?/how many?	odglas? how much?	odglasi? how many	odglati? how many (people)?
adgla how?/as much/as many	adglas as much	adglasi as many	adglati as many (people)
edgla somewhat/some/some	edglas some	edglasi some	edglati some (people)
idgla this/this much/this many	idglas this much	idglasi this many	idglati this many (people)
udgla that/that much/that many	udglas that much	udglasi that many	udglati that many (people)
yodgla not at all/no/no	yodglas none of it	yodglasi none of them	yodglati none
yadgla totally/all/all	yadglas all of it	yadglasi all of them	yadglati all
yedgla however/any/any	yedglas any of it	yedglasi any of them	yedglati any number of them
yidgla as/as much/as many	yidglas the same amount	yidglasi the same number	yidglati as many (people)
yudgla not as much/not as much/not as many	yudglas a different amount	yudglasi a different number of things	yudglati a different number of people

Here are some examples showing how these quantitative deictics are used:

• Odgla pati et teata idjub? How many birds did you see today?
• At teata vyavay udgla tami. I saw exactly that many houses.
• Iyt fe yidglas ev et. She wants the same amount as you.
• Odglati yantexe yet? How many (people) agree with you?
• Yodglati yantexe. None agree.
• Yit fu edglasi. They would like some (of them).

Reversing the Semantics of Adjectives

Adjectives can be negated by the prefixation of the vowel o (or ol before adjectives that begin with a vowel). This has the effect of English un- in words like unlike, unhappy, and undetermined or the Greek private prefix a(n)- in words like asymmetric or anomalous.

Prefixing the syllable yo has an even stronger semantic effect. It denotes the polar opposite of the adjective.

Here are some examples:

NORMAL	NEGATED
ega normal	olega abnormal
twa known	otwa unknown
geyla similar	ogeyla dissimilar
iva happy	oliva unhappy
tatyena angelic	otayena unangelic, yotatyena devilish

Adjectival Suffixes

All qualitative adjectives end in at least the suffix a.

The suffix yena makes a noun into an adjective having the meaning like, -ish, -ly, having the qualities of, eg.:

• tot god → tota divine → totyena godly, godlike
• tob man → toba human → tobyena virile, manly, human-like
• pot animal → pota animal → potyena bestial, animal-like

The suffix aya or ika means full of like the English endings -ful, -ous, -y, eg.:

• mil water → milaya or milika watery
• meb mountain → mebaya or mebika mountainous
• mel soil → melaya or melika soily, dirty
• tex thought → texaya or texika thoughtful

The opposite of this suffix is oya or uka meaning empty of, -less, eg.:

• mil water → miloya or miluka waterless
• teb head → teboya or tebuka headless
• ivan joy → ivanoya or ivanuka joyless

The suffix ina adds the notion of given to thinking like or an -ism much like English -istic, eg.:

• tob human → tobin humanism → tobina humanistic
• kyeoj' fate → kyeojin fatalism → keyojina fatalistic
• yautin communism → yautina communistic

The suffix tuna adds the notion of pertaining to the study of like English -ological, eg.:

• tob human → tobtun anthropology → tobtuna anthropological
• vob plant → tobtun botany → vobtuna botanical

The suffix ea, which makes an present active participle from a verb stem, is like English -ant, -ent, -ing, eg.:

• agser to grow → agsea growing as in the growing grass
• oker to lose → 'okea losing as in the losing team
• kyaxer to mutate → kyaxea mutant as in a mutant gene

The suffix (a)wa, which makes a past passive participle from a verb stem, is like English -ed, eg.:

• oker to lose → okwa lost as in the lost child
• akler' to defeat → aklawa defeated as in the defeated enemy
• anxer' to unite → anxwa united as in the United States

The suffix oa, which forms a future active participle from a verb stem, means apt to, liable to, eg.:

• tojer to die → tojo will die → tojoa moribund, about to die
• puer to arrive → puo will arrive → puoa about to arrive, next

The suffix u(w)a, which forms a conditional active (or passive) participle from a verb stem, means "supposed to, able to, eg.:

• tojber to kill → tojbu would kill → tojbua lethal
• teler to eat → telwu would be eaten → teluwa edible
• belker to cure → belkwu would be cured → belkuwa curable

The suffix yea adds a sense like the present active participle, but a more repetitive or habitual one like the English suffix -ive, eg.:

• toxer to forget → toxyea forgetful
• ifer to love → ifyea amiable, loving
• daler to talk → dalyea talkative

Pronouns

Pronouns are words that substitute for explicit nouns. For example, the pronoun I stands for the person standing at this place. The pronoun this stands for the thing or person nearest.

In Mirad, pronouns can be:

• personal or deictic
• ordinary or reflexive
• animate or inanimate
• specific or generic
• ungendered or feminine

Basic Animate Personal Pronouns

Basic animate personal pronouns in Mirad have three person-levels (first, second, third), two numbers (singular, plural), and two genders (ungendered, feminine), and three specificities (specific, generic, and reflexive). Pronouns do not have case forms like English he / him or she / her but they can be adjectivized to form what are known as possessive adjectives in English like his or my or possessive pronouns like hers or mine. Here is two charts showing the basic personal, split into ungendered and feminine.

Masculine-or-common	Singular	Plural
First	at I, me	yat we, us
Second	et you	yet you, you all
Third Specific	it he, him, she, her	yit they, them
Third Generic	ot one	yot they, them
Third Reflexive	ut oneself

Feminine	Singular	Plural
First	ayt I, me (female)	yayt we, us (females)
Second	eyt you (female)	yeyt you, you all (females)
Third	iyt she, her	yiyt they, them (females)

The third person generic pronouns ot and oti are of common gender and are used as English one and they (means unspecifed persons), as in the following examples:

• Ot yefe xer ad yakwas. One must do what is expected.
• Yot de lav et vyode yodjob. They say you don't lie.

The person specific ungendered pronouns refer by default to males, but can serve as gender-neutral pronouns referring back to either males or females. If the vowel stem is iotated with a y, the pronoun then refers specifically to a female.

The first person plural pronoun wa(y)t can be either inclusive or exclusive, i.e. it can mean "you and I" or "you and the others."

There is no distinction of case in Mirad, so at can mean I or me. For example:

• Xu at fibun. Do me a favor.
• At so eta dat. I will be your friend.
• Lov tojbu it. Don't kill him/her..
• At ta lav iyt upo. I knew she would come.
• Fadilu av yayt. Pray for us (women).

Note: The English pronoun it is inanimate (refers to a thing or abstaction) and is not included in the above set of animate personal pronouns. This inanimate pronoun is explained later.

Reflexive Personal Pronouns

Reflexive personal pronouns like English myself, yourself, etc. are formed by adding the reflexive person pronoun ut (self) to the end of the basic personal specific pronouns, as follows:

Reflexive	Singular	Plural
First	atut myself	yatut ourselves
Second	etut yourself	yetut yourselves
Third Specific	itut himself, iytut herself	yitut themselves
Third Generic	otut oneself

Possessive Adjectives Derived from Personal Pronouns

Add the adjectival ending a to convert basic and reflexive personal pronouns to possessive adjectives:

	SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR REFLEXIVE	PLURAL REFLEXIVE
FIRST PERSON	ata my	yata our	atuta my own	yatuta our own
SECOND PERSON	eta your	yeta your	etuta your own	yetuta your own
THIRD PERSON SPECIFIC	ita his, iyta her	yita their	ituta his own, iytuta her own	yituta their own
THIRD PERSON GENERIC	ota one's		otuta one's own

Nominalized Possessive Personal Pronouns

The above pronominal adjective forms can be nominalized as follows:

+ THING	+ THINGS
atas mine	atasi mine, my things
etas yours	etasi yours, your (things)
itas his, iytas hers	itasi his (things), iytasi her (things)
otas one's	otasi one's , one's things
yatas ours	yatasi ours, our things
yetas yours	yetasi yours, your things
yitas theirs	yitasi theirs, their things
atutas my own	atutasi my own, my own things
etutas your own	etuyasi your own, your own things
itutas his own, iytutas her own	itutasi their own (things), iytutasi their own
otutas one's own	otutasi one's own (things)
yatutas our own	yatutasi our own (things)
yetutas your own	yetutasi your own (things)
yitutas their own	yitutasi their own (things)

The Inanimate and Abstract Pronoun it

The pronoun it is a special case in Mirad. When it refers back to a previously-specified inanimate object or non-human subject such as book or dog, the definite deictic pronoun ad is used. The possessive form of ad is ada its. For example:

• At eke bay ad epet adav at iyfe ad. I play with the dog because I like it.
• At ifye ad epet ay at ife ada dyun. I like the dog and I love it's name.

If it introduces a non-previously-mentioned abstraction, then the it is left unexpressed in Mirad. For example:

• Mamilo. It will rain. ( = Will rain.)
• Se fia lav et upa. It is good that you came. ( = Is good that you came.)
• Sa via jub bay et. It was a beautiful day with you. ( = Was a beautiful day...)
• Voy se gyua yarper ida meb. It is not easy to climb this mountain. ( = Is not easy...)

Referring to Third Persons with Proximal and Distal Deictic (Demonstrative) Pronouns

The definite, proximal, distal deictic (demonstrative) pronouns can be used for third person pronouns. These forms can be animate or inanimate, masculine or feminine, singular or plural, definite, proximal (near to the speaker) or distal (remote from the speaker). The general forms of these specifiers are given in a previous section, but they are elaborated here for their use as third person pronouns:

	Thing	Things	Person	Persons
DEFINITE	ad it, the thing	adi they, them, the things	adut he, she, him, her, the person	aduti they, them, the persons
PROXIMAL	id it, this	idi they, them, these things	idut he, she, him, her, this person	iduti they, them, these people
DISTAL	ud it, that	udi they, them, those things	udut he, she, him, her, that person	uduti they, them, those people

By iotating the first vowel, the above pronouns can be made feminine. For example, iydut she, her. These pronouns can also be converted to possessive adjectives by suffixing the adjective ending a, for example, uduta their, those people's. Furthermore, the possessive adjectives can be nominalized by suffixing s, for example, idutas theirs, these people's or idutasi theirs, these people's (things).

Here are some examples using the above pronouns:

• Uydut voy se tadsa. She (that woman) is not married.
• At yodjub teataye iduti. I have never seen them (these people).
• Udutasi se ga aga ev atasi. Theirs are bigger than mine.
• Odem et oka ad? Where did you hid it (the thing)?
• Odyen et ijtya adut? How did you meet him (the person)?

The above pronouns answer the questions od?' what?, odi? what things?, odut? who(m)?, or oduti? what things?, but there is another set of deictic selective pronouns that answer the questions odat? which one?, odati? which one?, odas? which thing?, and odasi? which things?:

SELECTIVES	Thing	Things	Person	Persons
DEFINITE	adas the one	adasi the ones	adat the one	adati the ones
PROXIMAL	idas this one	idasi these	idat this one	idati these
DISTAL	udas that one	udasi those	udat that one	udati those

Here are some examples using these selective deictic pronouns:

• Lev et fu idas ey udas? Would you like this one or that one?
• Udut se adat et gyafe. He (that person) is the one you love most.
• At iyfe idasi ga ev udasi. I like these more than those.

Table of Deictic Pronouns

Here is a full table of deictic pronouns:

	THING	THINGS	PERSON	PERSONS	SELECTIVE THING	SELECTIVE THINGS	SELECTIVE PERSON	SELECTIVE PERSONS	POSSESSIVE THING	POSSESSIVE THINGS
INTERROGATIVE	od? what?	odi? what things?	odut? who(m)?	oduti? who(m)?	odas? which one?	odasi? which ones?	odat? which one?	odati? which ones?	odutas? whose?	odutasi? whose?
DEFINITE	ad it	adi they, them	adut he, him	aduti they, them	adas the thing	adasi the things	adat the one	adati the ones	adutas his	adutasi his (things)
INDEFINITE	ed something	edi some things	edut somebody	eduti some (people)	edas some thing	edasi some things	edat some person	edati some people	edutas someone's	edutasi some one's things
PROXIMAL	id	idi	idut	iduti	idas	idasi	idat	idati	idutas	idutasi
DISTAL	ud this	udi these	udut this person, he	uduti they, them	udas this one	udasi these	udat this one	udati these	udutas his	udutasi his things
NEGATIVE	yod nothing	yodi no things	yodut nobody	yoduti none	yodas none	yodasi none	yodat no one	yodati none	yodutas nobody's	yodutasi nobody's
DISTRUBUTIVE	yad everything	yadi all things	yadut everybody	yaduti all people	yadas each one	yadasi all	yadat each one	yadati all people	yadutas everyone's	yadutasi everyone's
INDISCRIMINATE	yed anything	yedi whatever things	yedut whoever	yeduti any people	yedas whichever one	yedasi whichever ones	yedat whichever person	yedati whichever people	yedutas whoever's	yedutasi whoever's things
INDENTIVE	yid the same thing	yidi the same things	yidut the same person	yiduti the same people	yidas the same one	yidasi the same ones	yidat the same one	yidati the same ones	yidutas the same person's	yidutasi the same person's
ALTERNATIVE	yud something else	yudi others	yudut someone else	yuduti others	yudas another one	yudasi other ones	yudat another person	yudati other people	yudutas somebody else's	yudutasi somebody else's

Pronominalization of Adjectives

Qualitative adjectives can be pronominalized by adding s for things and t for persons. These, in turn, can be pluralized by adding i.

ADJECTIVE	THING PRONOUN	PERSON PRONOUN
fia good	fias a good thing, fiasi good things	fiat a good person, fiati good persons
aga big	agas something big, agasi big ones	agat a big person, agati big persons
joga young, new	jogas, something new, novelty, jogasi new ones	yogat young person, youth, yogati youngsters
jaga old	jagas antique, jagasi, old ones	jagat elderly person, jagati oldsters

Examples:

• Id tyoyaf voy gre aga. At fu ga agas. This shoe is not big enough. I'd like a bigger one.
• Yat fu daler bay ad gya jogati. We would like to speak with the youngest ones.
• At fe teaxer ad jogas, voy ad jagas. I want to look at the new one, not the old one.
• Ad ujnati so ad aati. The last shall be the first.

Verbs

Verbs in Mirad are listed in the dictionary under the present infinitive (see Infinitives), such as bayser to have. The infinitive minus the er ending is the stem. The stem is used as the base for all other verbal instantiations. All Mirad verbs are conjugated in the same way and there are no exceptions.

Verb Categories

Conjugated forms of verbs can be described with the following categories:

• STATES: finite, non-finite
• TENSES: present, past, future tenses
• ASPECTS: simple, progressive, perfect, imminent, conditional
• VOICES: active, passive
• MOODS: indicative, hypothetical
• PERSONS: 1st singular, 2nd singular, 3rd singular, 1st plural, 2nd plural, 3rd plural

In addition, lexically, verbs can be described as transitive, intransitive, reflexive, inchoative, or causative.

Non-finite Forms

Non-finite verb forms are not conjugated for person, cannot form a predicate, and do not have a subject. There are three kinds of non-finite verb forms in Mirad:

• INFINITIVES -- the dictionary reference form of a verb, ending in er
• GERUNDS -- verbal nouns, ending in en
• PARTICIPLES -- verbal adjectives, ending in a

Infinitives

Verbs are listed in the dictionary under the present active infinitive form, which always ends in er and means to X, or sometimes the present passive infinitive form, which ends in wer and means to be Xed. The part of the verb form minus this er or wer ending is the VERB STEM.

STEM	INFINITVE ENDING	INFINITIVE
agas	er	agaser to grow
agax	er	agaxer to magnify
p	er	per to go
xw	wer	xwer to happen, be done

The infinitive in Mirad is used just as its counterpart in English. The infinitive can be marked for two tenses (present, past) and two voices (active, passive), as shown in the chart below, where the respective endings are underlined:

INFINITIVE	ACTIVE	PASSIVE
PRESENT	agaxer to magnified	agaxwer to be magnified
PAST	agaxayer to have magnified	agaxawer to have been magnified

Gerunds

The gerund is a verbal noun like English mating in mating rituals. It is formed by suffixing en to the verb stem for the active voice and wen for the passive voice (The consonant w is used in Mirad for indicating the passive voice).

INFINITIVE	STEM	ACTIVE GERUND	PASSIVE GERUND
agaxer to magnify	agax-	agaxen magnifying	agaxwen being magnified
per to go	p-	pen going	(no passive voice)
saxer to create, make	sax-	saxen creating, creation	saxwen being created

Some examples:

• Ad saxen bi ud mar efxa amroni bi jabi. The formation of this star took millions of years.
• Iyta deuzen sa gla via. Her singing was very beautiful.
• Popen se yex. Traveling is work.
• Teetwen fiay se glatedea av vyamekuti.' Being heard is very important for actors.

Participles

Participles are verbal adjectives and can modify nouns. Since they act as adjectives, they have the adjectival ending -a. Participles can be present, past, future, or hypothetical. They can also be active or passive. Here is a table of partiples:

TENSE-VOICE	INFINITIVE	STEM	ENDING	PARTICIPLE	EXAMPLE
PRESENT ACTIVE	deuzer to sing	deuz-	-ea	deuzea singing	ad deuza pat the singing bird
PRESENT PASSIVE	ebdaler to discuss	ebdal-	-ewa	ebdalewa being discussed	ad ebdalewa dyen the book being discussed
PAST ACTIVE	pier to depart	pi-	-aa	piaa departed	ad piaa topi the departed souls
PAST PASSIVE	azyujber to lock	azyujb-	-(a)wa	azyujbawa locked	ad azyubawa (or: azyubwa) mes the locked door
FUTURE ACTIVE	tajber to give birth	tajb-	-oa	tajboa about to give birth	ad tajboa toyb the woman about to give birth
FUTURE PASSIVE	osexer to destroy	osex-	-owa	osexowa about to be destroyed	ad osexowa tam the house about to be destroyed
HYPOTHETICAL ACTIVE	tojber to kill	tojb-	-ua	tojbua apt to kill	tojbua til a lethal potion
HYPOTHETICAL PASSIVE	tiler to drink	til-	-uwa	tiluwa drinkable	tiluwa mil potable water

Finite Forms

In Mirad, finite verb forms are those that can take a person subject, serve as a predicate, and be conjugated. Finite verb forms are conjugated by using suffixes indicating, through their presence or absence, the following categories:

• two MOODS (indicative and hypothetical)
• three TENSES (present, past, future)
• five ASPECTS (simple, progressive, perfect, imminent, conditional)
• two VOICES (active, passive)

Person and number are not marked on the verb form itself. For example, am, is, are, which change according to the person suject in English, are all expressed with the same verb form in Mirad: se. Thus, at se I am, et se you are, it se he is, etc.

Moods

There are two moods in Mirad: Indicative and Hypothetical.

Indicative Mood

The indicative forms of the verb indicate actions or states that occur in actual time, such as he went, he is going, he will go.

The indicative mood has three tenses, PRESENT, PAST, and FUTURE indicated by the suffixes -e, -a, and -o, respectively.

Hypothetical Mood

Wheras he indicative verb forms expresses actuality in time, the HYPOTHETICAL MOOD expresses one of the non-actuality situations below:

• a command , i.e. the IMPERATIVE (Go!)
• a wish or suggestion, i.e. the HORTATIVE or JUSSIVE (May the king live long!, Let's celebrate!)
• an imagined if-condition, i.e. the SUBJUNCTIVE (If I were a rich man...)
• an imagined then-situation, i.e. the CONDITIONAL (I would be happy.)

Aspects

There are four aspects in the Mirad verb system.

• the SIMPLE aspect (default), i.e. non-progressive, non-perfect, non-imminent, and non-conditional.
• the PROGRESSIVE aspect, i.e. an action or state immediating on-going in the particular tense.
• the PERFECT aspect, i.e. an action or state anterior or already completed.
• the IMMINENT aspect, i.e. an action or state about to happen.
• the CONDITIONAL aspect, i.e. an action supposed to happen.

The Simple Aspect (default)

Unless specifically marked, the default aspect is SIMPLE, i.e. non-progressive, non-perfect, and non-conditional.

Here is a chart showing the simple, active voice instantiations of two Mirad verbs (saxer to create and ser to be) with the endings underlined:

MOOD	TENSE	ASPECT	VOICE	VERB #1 saxer	VERB #2 ser
INDICATIVE	PRESENT	SIMPLE	ACTIVE	at saxe I create	at se I am
INDICATIVE	PAST	SIMPLE	ACTIVE	at saxa I created	at sa I was
INDICATIVE	FUTURE	SIMPLE	ACTIVE	at saxo I will create	at so I will be
HYPOTHETICAL	ATEMPORAL	SIMPLE	ACTIVE	at saxu I would create	at su I would be, Lav ad su. Let it be., Su fia! Be good!, Lav yadut su iva! Let everyone be happy!

The Simple Indicative Present Tense

The simple indicative present tense instantiation is marked with the vowel suffix e and has a non-progressive (habitual) aspect as in English I work or I live. Progressive aspect forms like I am studying are explained later.

The Simple Indicative Past Tense

The simple past tense intantiation is marked with the vowel suffix a and has a non-progressive (punctual) meaning as in English I did something at some particular point in time.

The Simple Indicative Future Tense

The simple indicative future tense is marked with the vowel suffix 'o and has the same meaning as in English I will do something at some particular point in the future.

The Simple Hypothetical Atemporal

A verb form ending in u like pu has no time value and is used to express unreal actions or states, such as the imperative, hortative, jussive, conditional, or subjunctive.

Generally, if a verb form ending in u begins a sentence, then it is probably an IMPERATIVE. For example, Ipu!, Go away!. If the verb form has a subject not preceded by the subordinating particles lav, lev, or lov, than it is probably a CONDITIONAL clause like At fu per. I would like to go.. If the subject of the verb is preceded by lev if, then it is a SUBJUNCTIVE clause as in Lev at su nasikat... If I were a rich man.. If the subject is preceded by lav that/let/may or lov don't, then it is a HORTATIVE wish like Lav et yagteju. May you live long. or a JUSSIVE suggestion like Lav yat fadilu. Let us pray..

Voices

Mirad has two voices, ACTIVE and PASSIVE.

Active Voice

The default voice is active, i.e. the subject of the verb is doing the action.

Passive Voice

A verb form is converted from active to passive by inserting a w just before the last vowel of the verb form. The past passive particle ending awa can be reduced to wa (done is xawa or xwa).

The following chart shows the distinction between active and passive voice of various verbs:

TENSE-MOOD	ACTIVE	PASSIVE	EXAMPLE
INFINITIVE	xer to do	xwer to be done	Ese yod xwer. There is nothing to be done.
PRESENT PARTICIPAL	sexea constructing	sexewa being constructed	Id se sexewa. This is under construction.
PRESENT	xe does	xwe is done	Idyeni yodjob xwe. Such things are never done.
PAST PARTICIPAL	xaa having done	x(a)wa done	Yad se xwa. Everything is done.
PAST	tojba killed	tojbwa was killed	Odjob it tojbwa? When was he killed?
HYPOTHETICAL	bakxu heal	bakxwu be healed	Lav it bakxwu. May he be healed.

Sometimes, the passive voice is used to represent a medio-passive or reflexive. For example, ujwer to open is used medio-passively in the expression Ad mes ujwa. The door opened., because there is no overt subject, as if the door opened itself. Many intransitive verbs cannot be made passive. For example, tajer to be born is intransitive (takes no object) and has no passive voice form.

Aspects Revisited

Mirad verbs have the following aspects:

• SIMPLE -- this is the default aspect, shown above, i.e. NON-PROGRESSIVE, NON-PERFECT, NON-IMMINENT, and NON-POTENTIAL.
• PROGRESSIVE -- this is an aspect where the verb describes an on-going action or state spread over time.
• PERFECT -- this presents the action or state as anterior, or completed prior to another action or state.
• IMMINENT -- this describes an action or state about to happen.
• POTENTIAL -- this refers to an action or state where something is possible.

The Simple Aspect

The following chart presents Mirad verbs in the Simple aspect. In the active voice, the tense vowels a, e, o, and u are affixed to the stem. In the passive voice, the passive marker consonant w is inserted between the stem and the final tense vowels. The simple present tense refers to actions or states that are habitual (I regularly go to school.), regular (The earth revolves around the sun.), or permanent (Blue is a color.). The simple past refers to actions or states that occurred at a fixed point in time (I did my homework last night.). The simple future refers to actions or states that will occur at some particular point in the future (The sun will rise tomorrow at dawn.). The simple conditional refers to an imagined action or state that has not be realized (You would make a good president.).

SIMPLE ASPECT	ACTIVE VOICE	PASSIVE VOICE
SIMPLE PRESENT	at xe I do	Ad xwe it is done
SIMPLE PAST	at xa I did	Ad xwa it was done
SIMPLE FUTURE	at xo I will do	Ad xwo it will be done
SIMPLE CONDITIONAL	at xu I would do	Ad xwu it would be done

The Progressive Aspect

The following chart presents Mirad verbs in the Progressive aspect. The present tense vowel e followed by a buffer consonant, are inserted between the stem and the final tense vowel. The buffer consonant is y in the active voice, or w in the passive voice.

PROGRESSIVE ASPECT	ACTIVE VOICE	PASSIVE VOICE
PRESENT PROGRESSIVE	at xeye I am doing	Ad xewe it is being done
PAST PROGRESSIVE	at xeya I was doing	Ad xewa it was being done
FUTURE PROGRESSIVE	at xeyo I am going to be doing	Ad xewo it will be happening
CONDITIONAL PROGRESSIVE	at xeyu I would be doing	Ad xewu it would be happening

The Perfect Aspect

The following chart presents Mirad verbs in the Perfect aspect. The past tense vowel a following by a buffer consonant are inserted between the stem and the final tense vowel. The buffer consonant is y in the active voice, or w in the passive voice.

PERFECT ASPECT	ACTIVE VOICE	PASSIVE VOICE
PRESENT PERFECT	at xaye I have done	Ad xawe it has been done
PAST PERFECT	at xaya I had done	Ad xawa it had been done
FUTURE PERFECT	at xayo I will have done	Ad xawo it will have been done
CONDITIONAL PERFECT	at xayu I would have done	Ad xawu it would have been done

The Imminent Aspect

The following chart presents Mirad verbs in the Imminent aspect. The future tense vowel o following by a buffer consonant are inserted between the stem and the final tense vowel. The buffer consonant is y in the active voice, or w in the passive voice.

PERFECT ASPECT	ACTIVE VOICE	PASSIVE VOICE
PRESENT PERFECT	at xoye I am going to do	Ad xowe it is going to be done
PAST PERFECT	at xoya I was going to do	Ad xowa it was going to be done
FUTURE PERFECT	at xoyo I will be about to do	Ad xowo it will be about to be done
CONDITIONAL PERFECT	(not used)	(not used)

The Potential Aspect

The following chart presents Mirad verbs in the Potential aspect. The hypothetical vowel u followed by a buffer consonant are inserted between the stem and the final tense vowel. The buffer consonant is y in the active voice, or w in the passive voice.

PERFECT ASPECT	ACTIVE VOICE	PASSIVE VOICE
PRESENT PERFECT	at xuye I am to do	Ad xuwe it is to be done, it is doable
PAST PERFECT	at xuya I was to do	Ad xuwa it was to be done, it was doable
FUTURE PERFECT	(not used)	(not used)
CONDITIONAL PERFECT	(not used)	(not used)

Putting It All Together: The Mirad Verb Conjugation System

The following chart presents the totality of the Mirad verb conjugation system using the verb xer to do and its passive xwer to be done, happen:

STATE	MOOD	ASPECT	TENSE	ACTIVE VOICE	PASSIVE VOICE
FINITE	INDICATIVE	SIMPLE	PRESENT	xe does	xwe is done, happens
FINITE	INDICATIVE	SIMPLE	PAST	xa did	xwa was done, happened
FINITE	INDICATIVE	SIMPLE	FUTURE	xo will do	xwo will be done, will happen
FINITE	HYPOTHETICAL	SIMPLE	ATEMPORAL	xu would do, do!	xwu would be done, would happen, be done!
FINITE	INDICATIVE	PROGRESSIVE	PRESENT	xeye is doing	xewe is being done, is happening
FINITE	INDICATIVE	PROGRESSIVE	PAST	xeya was doing	xewa was doing, was happening
FINITE	INDICATIVE	PROGRESSIVE	FUTURE	xeyo will be doing	xewo will be happening
FINITE	HYPOTHETICAL	PROGRESSIVE	ATEMPORAL	xeyu would be doing	xewu would be happening
FINITE	INDICATIVE	PERFECT	PRESENT	xaye has done	xawe has been done, has happened
FINITE	INDICATIVE	PERFECT	PAST	xaya had done	xawa had been done, had happened
FINITE	INDICATIVE	PERFECT	FUTURE	xayo will have done	xawo will have been done, will have happened
FINITE	HYPOTHETICAL	PERFECT	ATEMPORAL	xayu would have done	xawu would have been done, would have happened
FINITE	INDICATIVE	IMMINENT	PRESENT	xoye is about to do	'xowe is about to be done, is about to happen
FINITE	INDICATIVE	IMMINENT	PAST	xoya was to be done	xowa was to be done, was to happen
FINITE	INDICATIVE	POTENTIAL	PRESENT	xuye is supposed to do	xuwe is supposed to be done, is supposed to happen
FINITE	INDICATIVE	POTENTIAL	PAST	xuya was supposed to do	xuwa was supposed to be done, was supposed to happen
INFINITIVE			PRESENT	xer to do	xwer to be done, to happen
INFINITIVE			PAST	xaer to have done	xawer to have been done, to have happend
PARTICIPLE			PRESENT	xea doing	xewa being done, happening
PARTICIPLE			PAST	xaa having done	xawa or xwa done, happened
GERUND			ATEMPORAL	xen doing, deed	xwen being done, happening, event

Predicate Types

Predicate types, i.e. illocutions, refer to whether the verb, predicate, clause, or sentence is expressed as a question (INTERROGATIVE), a declaration (DECLARATIVE), a negation (NEGATIVE), affirmation (AFFIRMATIVE), or combinations of these.

Making Predicates Interrogative

To make a declarative predicate or sentence into a question, simply begin it with the Yes/No Question Introducer dulev Tell me whether...? or any other interrogative pronoun or adverb such as od? what?, odut? who?, or odem? where?.

DECLARATIVE	INTERROGATIVE
Et se tadsa? You are married.	Dulev et se tadsa? Are you married? (Lit: Say whether you are...)
Ad mari se maya. The stars are bright.	Dulev ad mari se maya? Are the stars bright?
It aka.	Odut aka? Who won?
It pa edem. He went somewhere.	Odem it pa? Where did he go?

Note that the question words introduce the sentence and do not alter the word order as seen in the declarative. Also, a declarative sentence can be made interrogative simply by adding a question mark at the end in writing or raising the voice inflection at the end in speaking, eg:

• Et tame be yubem? You live in the neighborhood?

Affirming/ Doubting / Negating Declarations

The following set of interjections and adverbs can be used to affirm, cast doubt on, or negate declarations:

	INTERJECTION	ADVERB	PROPOSITION
AFFIRMATIVE	va yes	vay indeed, really	Va. At vay yantexe Yes, I indeed/do agree.
DUBITATIVE	ve maybe, perhaps	vey possibly, may...	Ve. At vey po. Maybe. I may/possible will go.
NEGATIVE	vo no	voy not	Vo. At voy su iva. No. I would not be happy.

Mixing Them Up

The above interrogative words and the words of affirmation / doubt / negation can be used in various combinations, for example:

• Dulev et se voy tadsa? Aren't you married? (Lit: say-whether you are not married?)
• Odav iyt se voy tadsa? Why isn't she married?
• Vey voy mamilo. It may not rain.
• At vay voy tadso iyt. I certainly will not marry her.
• Et peyo, va ey vo? You will go, yes or no?
• Vo. Ud ve vay se vyoa.' No. That may indeed be wrong.

Imperative and Hortative Expressions

An imperative expression is a command. In Mirad, a verb in the hypothetical without a subject is assumed to an imperative referring to you. For example:

• Ipu! Go away!
• Tiju! Wake up!
• Su fiat! Be a good person!

Hortative expressions like Let's go. or May he win. use the hypothetical form of the verb with the clause introduced by the positive factual particle lav that, may, let.

• Lav yat fadilu. Let's pray.
• Lav et aku id ifek. May you win this game.
• Lav ad edeb yagteju. Long live the king. (Lit. That the king long-live-would.)

The negative version of imperative and hortative expressions is introduced with the negative factual particle lov don't, lest.

• Lov dalu at udyen. Don't speak to me that way.
• Lov yit oku. May they not lose.
• Lov yat toxu it. Let's not forget him.

Conditional Expressions

A conditional clause is introduced with the conditional particle lev if, whether. The if-clause can be a real tense or a hypothetical. If the if-clause is hypothetical, the then-clause is also hypothetical. Here are the possible variations:

• Lev et pio [SIMPLE FUTURE], at so [SIMPLE FUTURE] uva. If you leave, I will be sad.
• At voy ta [SIMPLE PAST] lev it upo. [SIMPLE FUTURE]. I didn't know whether he would come.
• Lev ot yexe [SIMPLE PRESENT] gla, ot akxe [SIMPLE PRESENT]. If one works hard, one succeeds.
• Lev at su [SIMPLE HYPOTHETICAL] nasika, at nusbiu [SIMPLE HYPOTHETICAL] aga tam. If I were rich, I'd buy a new house.
• Lev at tayu [PERFECT HYPOTHETICAL]. at dudayu [PERFECT HYPOTHETICAL] yudyen. If I had known, I would have responded differently.

Relative Clauses

Relative clauses work as in English. The wh-word in Mirad is replaced with a singular-plural-matching od-word (interrogative deictic pronoun). The od-word is omitted where there is no ambiguity.

• Ad toyb odut teapa at tye et. The woman who visited me knows you.
• Ad yexuti oduti uvda oyixwa. The workers who complained were fired.
• Ud tobot (odut) iyt tajba agsa ser bektut. That child (that/which) she bore grew up to be a doctor.
• Ad dun od tede gya se idas. The word that means the most is this one.
• At dyeaye yad dyeni (odi) it dra. I have read all the books (that/which) he wrote.
• Ad tam yoz od it upa osexaye. The house out of which he came / he came out of has been demolished.
• At voy te odem et tame. I don't know where you live.
• It voy da ut odjob it puo. He did not tell me when he would arrive.
• Et voy yafe teater yezbu oda nyem iyt ba ad zyun. You cannot see into which box she put the ball.
• At voy tide odyen et xa ud. I don't understand how you did that.
• Oduti xa id tobtojben se otwas. Who all committed this homicide is a mystery.
• Dulev et te oduta til id se? Do you know whose drink this is?

Indirect and Direct Discourse

As in English, Mirad has both indirect discourse and direct discourse. Indirect discourse is when you know or say that something happened, whereas direct discourse is when you directly quote what someone has said.

Indirect Discourse

The positive subordinating conjunction lav that is used to introduce a subordinate that clause. The tense in the subordinate clause is a true tense, not a relative tense. Unlike in English, the lav conjunction cannot be omitted.

• At ta lav et upo. I knew (that)you would (Lit: will) come.
• Ata ted da lav it yexe yad ita tej gel fufut. My father said (that) he had worked (Lit: he worked) all his life as a plumber.
• Se vyaa lav at gra tele. It is true that I eat too much.

Direct Discourse

Direct discourse works exactly as in English. Double quotes are used to surround the directly quoted part of the sentence.

• Iyt da "At voy fe per." She said "I don't want to go."
• At dida it "Odut sa eta ted?". I asked him, "Who was your father?"

Transitivity

Verbs can be transitive, intransitive, or reflexive. Verbs in the passive voice are by nature intransitive.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Transitive verbs can take a direct object and oppose themselves to intransitive verbs, which do not take a direct object. Some verbs are marked overtly for transitivity.

Verbs that end in xer (to do, -ify, -ize) are by nature transitive, and often have intransitive counterparts in ser (to be, become, -ify, -ize). Likewise, verbs ending in ber (to put, take) are transitive and have intransitive counterparts in per (to go). Here are some examples:

TRANSITIVE	INTRANSITIVE
xer do	ser be
agxer grow (something)	agser grow (up)
amxer heat, make hot	amser become hot, heat up
buxer push	buser jump
per go	ber put
aber put on	aper get on
yaber raise	yaper rise
poxer stop (something)	poser (come to a) stop
yuber bring near	yuper approach
yezber introduce	yezper enter

• At agxe vobi. I grow [TRANSITIVE] plants.
• Ad vobi agseye ig. The plants are growing [INTRANSITIVE] fast.

• Poxu ad par! Stop [TRANSITIVE] the car!
• Ad par posa. The car stopped [INTRANSITIVE].

• At yaba ad mis. I raised [TRANSITIVE] the window.
• Ad yapaye. The sun has risen [INTRANSITIVE].

Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs, where the object refers back to the subject, work just as in English, where the object is a reflexive pronoun, eg.:

• At tujboye atut. I am going to kill myself.
• Tu etut! Know thyself!
• It gorba itut bay gorbar. He cut himself with a knife.
• Ot yefe yuxer otut. One must help oneself.

Sometimes, verbs incorporate the reflexivity in the actual verb form using ut as the prefix:

• uttujber commit suicide
• utboler support oneself

Sometimes, verbs are used reflexively in Mirad even though they are used simply intransitively in English, eg.:

• Et efe vyimiler etut. You need to wash up [= wash yourself].

Omission of Prepositions After Certain Verbs

• Some verbs inherently incorporate a preposition and so it is not necessary to use that assumed preposition before what would normally be an indirect object.

PREPOSITION-INCORPORATING VERB	EXAMPLE
per go (to)	Pu tam! (Not: Pu bu tam!) Go home., It pa Paris. He went to Paris.
der say (to), tell	Du at eta dyun. Tell me your name., Du at ad. Tell it to me.
peser wait (for)	Pesu at. Wait for me.
buer give (to)	Buu at ud dyen. Give me that book.

As in English, in omitting the inherent preposition in a sentence with both a direct object and an indirect object, place the indirect object before the direct object. If the direct object comes first, then the preposition must be overtly specified before the indirect object, eg. Buu ad bu at. Give it to me.

Causative and Inchoative Verbs

Adjectives can be converted into causative and inchoative verbs. A causative verb has the sense to make something have some quality, while an inchoative verb means to become or take on the quality of something. Causative verbs are always transitive, while inchoative verbs are intransitive. English causative / inchoative verbs often end in -ify like magnify, or -ate, liberate, or ize, like sensitize.

To derive a causative verb from an adjective, add the suffix xer to do to either the stem or the whole adjective (with the a ending). Whether you do the former or the latter depends on several factors, but the end result is slightly different in nuance. A verb with stem + xer is slightly more idiomatic or less literal than the adjective + xer, such as justify, condensate, etc..

• aga big → agaxer to magnify, make bigger, agxer to grow
• ana one → anaxer to unify, make one, anxer to unite
• yona apart → yonaxer to separate, break apart, yonxer to divide, divorce

To derive an inchoative verb from an adjective, add the suffix ser to be to either the stem or the whole adjective.

• aga big → agaser to get bigger, agser to grow
• ana one → anaser to come together as one, unify, anser to unite
• yona apart → yonaser to separate, break apart, yonser to divide, divorce

Be careful to use the transitive, causative verb form when you have a direct object, and the intransitive, inchoative verb form when no direct objects are present or possible, eg.:

• Ansu [INTRANSITIVE] ey yet yonxwo. Unite or you will be divided.
• At yonsa [INTRANSITIVE] adjob at sa eta jag. I got divorced when I was your age.
• Idi agaxo [TRANSITIVE] od et teate. These will magnify what you see.
• Id tobob agseye [INTRANSITIVE] ig. This child is growing up fast.
• Ata tayd agxe [TRANSITIVE] vosi be zoyozem.' My wife grows flowers out back.

Causative and inchoative verbs can also be formed from nouns. The sense of the former is to make someone be something and of the latter, to become something.

• yuglal pulp, mash → yuglalxer to crush, mash, pulp, malt, mill [CAUSATIVE]
• mog ash → mogxer to incinerate [CAUSATIVE]
• vos' flower, bloom → vosser to bloom, flourish [INCHOATIVE]

Verbal causatives like have/get my car washed, make/force him go, get one's hair cut are formed by suffixing the causative verb stem ux (active) or uxw (passive) to the stem of the verb signifying the action to be arranged or caused, eg.:

• At gorbuxer ata tayeb zamaj. I will get my hair cut tomorrow.
• Et voy yafe puxer at. You cannot make me go.
• It uxa tojbuxa yit. He had them killed.
• At efe milabuxer at par. I need to have my car washed.
• Et upuxwa idem edav. You were made to come here for some reason.
• At bakambuxo et. I will have you hospitalized.
• Et voy yafe deuzuxer at. You cannot make me sing.
• At ivteuduxwa. I was made to laugh.
• Eta deuz ivteuduxa yat. Your song tickled us. (= Made us laugh.)
• Lav edut ivasuxu et. May someone get you to be happy.

Directional Verbs

The directionality of some verbs can be distinguished by the ending ier for an action or motion toward the speaker and uer for an action or motion away from the speaker toward some object, eg.:

SUBJECT-DIRECTED	OBJECT-DIRECTED
bier to take	buer to give
nusbier to buy	nisbuer to sell
telier to eat	teluer to feed
gonbier to participate	gonbuer to share
tilier to drink	tiluer to water, give to drink
teubier to swallow	teubuer to spit out
teatier to observe, watch	teatuer to show
taxier to memorize	taxuer to remind
alier to breathe in	aluer to breathe out, expire
ilier to absorb	iluer to leak, soak
ifier to enjoy	ifuer to please
dier to ask	duer to suggest
dider to question	duder to respond
tamier to take up residence	tamuer to lodge
tier to study	tuer to teach
pier to depart	puer to arrive
nier to consume	nuer to supply
kebier to choose	kebuer to distribute
tujier to fall asleep	tujuer to put to sleep
tojier to fall dead	tojuer to kill
byier to originate	byuer to target
mempier to take off	mempuer to land
simbier to take a seat, sit	simbuer to seat
xier result	xuer cause

Prepositions and Directional Adverbs as Verbal Prefixes

Prepositions and directional adverbs can be prefixed to verbs in order to change their semantics. A preposition ending in b will assimilate to p before the verb per to go and a preposition ending in b will lose the b before a verb beginning with b. Here are some examples:

PREPOSITION/ADVERB	TRANSITIVE VERB	INTRANSITIVE VERB
ab on	aber apply	aper get on, mount
ob off	ober remove	oper get of, dismount
yab up	yaber raise	yaper rise
yob down	yober take down	yoper descend
yez in	yezber insert	yezper enter
yez in	yezpuxer throw in	yexpuser jump in
yoz out	yozber expose	yozper exit
yoz out	yozpuxer eject	yozpuser jump out
zyu around	zyuber rotate	zyuper revolve
zya throughout	zyaber spread	zyaper tour
yub near	yuber bring near	yuper approach
ov against	ovber oppose	ovper countervene
yan together	yanber compose	yanper meet
iz direct	izber lead	izper head
uz crooked	uzber divert	uzper diverge

Note:

The prefix eg- again is used like the English prefix re-, eg.:

• ember to position → egember to reposition, replace
• der to say → egder to repeat
• sanxer to shape, form → egsanxer to reshape, reform

The prefix lo- reverses the semantics of a verb and is like English dis-, de-, or un-, eg.:

• saxer to build, construct → losaxer to destroy, deconstruct
• yonxer to unite → loyonxer to disunite
• xer to do → loxer to undo

The prefix vyo- is used as the counterpart to the English mis-, meaning wrongfully, eg.:

• nadxer to align → vyonadxer to misalign
• der to say → vyoder to misstate, lie
• utbier to appropriate → vyoutbier to misappropriate

The prefix yan- together is used as the English co-, eg.:

• exer to operate → yanexer to cooperate
• tamer to dwell → yantamer to cohabit
• napber to put in order → yannapber to coordinate

The prefix zay- is used as the English re-, meaning back, eg.:

• teaper to visit → zayteaper to revisit
• uper to come → zayuper to return, come back
• buxer to push → zaybuxer to repel, push back
• puxer to throw → zaypuxer to reject, throw back, jettison

Modal Verbs

Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs that are usually followed by the main verb in the infinitive or a subjunctive dependent clause and have to do with wanting, permitting, prohibiting, being able, being unable, needing, being obliged to do something, etc.

Principal Modal Auxiliary Verbs

Here is a chart showing the main modal auxiliary verbs in Mirad:

POSITIVE		NEGATIVE
afer may	efer need	ofer may not
ifer love	fer want	ufer hate
iyfer like		uyfer dislike
yafer can, be able	yefer must, have to	yofer cannot
	yeyfer should, ought
yifer dare		yufer be afraid
yiver have a right, be free		yuver be bound

Here are some examples showing how these modal verbs are used as auxiliaries:

• Et afe yezper ay ifeker. You may go out and play.
• Yat efa tujer. We needed to sleep.
• Ot ofe mavier idem. One is not permitted to smoke here.
• At <y>ife dyeer. I love to read.
• Dulev et fe yezuper? Do you want to come in?
• At fu teaper et. I would like to visit you.
• It ufaye yadjob teaxwer. He has always hated being looked at.
• Dulev et iyfe per tilami? Do you like going to bars?
• At uyfe tijer gra jwa. I dislike waking up too early.
• Et yafe xer yed et fu. You can do whatever you like.
• Et yefer xer ad vyaas. You must do the right thing.
• Et yeyfe voy daler udyen azay. You should not talk so loud.
• At yeyfa ter ga fi. I should have known better.
• At voy yifu der fua yed. I would not dare say anything bad.
• Lov yufu der od et tede. Don't be afraid to say what you mean.
• Et yive dier yevanavdut. You have a right to ask for a lawyer.
• Yat voy yuve kyoejer. We are not bound to stick around.

Subject-oriented vs. Object-oriented Modal Verb Forms

All of these modal verbs can be passive, in which case they are "object-oriented" rather than "subject-oriented", eg:

SUBJECT-ORIENTED VERB	SUBJECT-ORIENTED ADJECTIVE	OBJECT-ORIENTED VERB	OBJECT-ORIENTED ADJECTIVE
afer may	afa allowed	afwer be permitted	afwa permissable
efer need	efa needful	efwer be necessary	efwa necessary, required
ofer be unallowed	ofa prohibited	ofwer be prohibited	ofwa banned
yafer be able	yafa able	yafwer be possible	yafwa possible
yefer must	yefa obliged	yefwer be obligatory	yefwa obligatory
yofer be unable	yofa unable	yofwer be impossible	yefwa impossible
fer want	fa willing	fwer be desirable	fwa desirable, wanted
yifer dare	yofa daring, brave	yifwer be safe	yifwa safe
yufer be afraid	yifa afraid	yufwer be a danger	yufwa frightning

• Afwe (= se afwa) mavier idem. It is permissible to smoke here.
• Ofwe (= se ofwa) puxer ofwasi idem. It is prohibited to throw litter here.
• Fwe (= se fwa) lav yet dolu. It is desired that you stop talking.
• Voy yafwe beser idem gajob. It is not possible to remain here any longer.
• Yofwa av at ivteuder. It was not possible for me to laugh.
• Yefwe lav et piu ig. It is essential that you leave quickly.
• Dulev yeyfwe ober ata tyoyafi? Is it obligatory to remove my shoes?
• Ga yux efwo. More help will be needed.

Deriving Causatives from Modal Stems

Various causative verbs can be formed from modal stems, as shown in the chart below:

PERSON-ORIENTED	THING-ORIENTED
afxer allow	afwaxer permit
efxer require	efwaxer necessitate
ofxer prohibit	ofwaxer prohibit
yafxer enable	yafwaxer make possible
yefxer oblige	yefwaxer make obligatory
yofxer cripple	yofwaxer disable
yifxer embolden	yifwaxer make safe
yufxer intimidate	yufwaxer make frightening
ifxer please	ifwaxer make pleasant

Creating Adjectives with Modal Stem Suffixes

Verb stems can be suffixed with modal participles to produce related adjectives:

POSITIVE	NEGATIVE
teatyafa able to see, sighted	teatyofa blind
teatyafwa visible	teatyofwa invisible
teetyafa able to hear, hearing	teetyofa deaf
teetyafwa audible	teeyofwa inaudible
dalyafa able to speak	dalyofa mute, dumb
tobobifa child-loving	tobobufa child-hating
pyafa ready (= able to go)	pyofa unready (= unable to go)
tosyafwa palpable (= possible to feel)	tosyofwa numb
yudutifat zenophile	yudutufat zenophobe

Prepositions

Prepositions are words that connect and show a relationship between a noun or noun phrase and the rest of the sentence. In Mirad, prepositions are simple monosyllables or phrases. Prepositions, as in English, are positioned before the noun or noun phrase they connect.

Single-word Prepositions

Here is a chart of simple prepositions. Most are spatial, but some are temporal, relational, or mathematical.

SPATIAL
ab on, upon	eb between	ob off, off of
ayb over, above	eyb among, amid	oyb under, below
bu to	be at	bi from, of
byu as far as, up to		byi since, beginning with
bay with	bey by	boy without
ub toward		ib away from
yub near (to)		yib far (from)
yaz along	yez in	yoz out of
yuz around		yiz beyond
za in front of	ze at the middle of	zo behind, in back of
zu (to the) left (of)	zey across	zi (to the) right (of)
zya throughout	zye through
TEMPORAL
ja before	je during, while	jo after
ju until		ju since
RELATIONAL
av for, about	ev than, as	ov against
ay and	ey or	oy but, except
MATHEMATICAL
gal times, x	gel like	gol, ÷ divided by
gar to the power of	ogel unlike	gol to the root of

Examples showing how these single-word prepositions are used:

• Ad dyen se ab ad sem. The book is on the table.
• Lov et pyosu ob ad abtamas! Don't fall off the roof!
• Ad pati papa ayb ata tam. The birds flew over my house.
• It kosa oyb ad yagsim. He hid under the bench.
• Simbiu eb udut ay at. Take a seat between that person and me.
• Yat teje eyb fiati. We live among good peeople.
• Od se nax bi pop bu ay bi Boston? What is the cost of a trip to and from Boston?
• Id se ifek bi kyen. This is a game of luck.
• Dulev et sa be ud duzun zomoj? Were you at that concert last night?
• Yit se embwa be ad zenod bi ad mapil. We are positioned at the hub of this storm.
• Iyt tyoyapa byu ad mis. She walked up to the door.
• Ad tob tojbwa bey gobar. The man was killed with/by a knife.
• Et xu ga fiay ser bay at ev boy at. You would do better to be with me than without me.
• Teaxu ib ad amar. Look away from the sun.
• Lov teaxu iz ub ad man. Don't look directly toward the light.
• Et efe tyoyaper yuz ad ovon. You need to walk around the obstacle.
• Yat yofe per yiz id nod. We are prohibited from going beyond this point.
• Iyt simpa za at. She sat in front of me.
• Et yeyfe simbier zo ud toyb. You should sit in back of that woman.
• Embu ad zu ad mis. Put it to the left of the door.
• At simbio zi et. I will sit to the right of you.
• Ad pat poosa ze ad tim. The bird stayed in the middle of the room.
• Diwe lav et poosu yez ad tam. Please stay in the house.
• At so yozdom av yoga joob. I will be out of town for a short while.
• Ad mimpar mimpa yaz ad mip. The boat sailed along the river.
• Id xwa zya ad doob. This happened throughout the nation.
• Mil upeye zye ad mes. Water is coming through the door.
• Id xwo ja zajub. This will happen before tomorrow.
• Esa mapil je ad moj. There was a storm during the night.
• Ju zamaj. Until tomorrow morning.
• At voy teataye et ji zoyejub. I have not seen you since last week.
• Diwe lav et xu ed av at. Please do something for me.
• Id dyen se din av ewa fiuti. This book is a story about two lovers.
• Datan se ga fia ev nas. Friendship is better than money.
• Yod se ge fua ev od yat soa zojab. Nothing is as bad as what we underwent last year.
• Yit yexeya ov yat. They were working against us.
• Et ay at yeyfe ser dati. You and should be friends.
• Odut ako, et ey at? Who will win, you or I?
• Yadut oy udut ta ad dud. Everyone but that guy knew the answer.
• Et voy se gel at. You are not like me.
• Et se yadgla ogel at. You are totally unlike me.
• E gab e gese u. Two plus two equals four.
• U gob e gese e. Four minus two equals two.
• E gal e gese u. Two times two equals four.
• E gol e gese a. Two divided by two equals one.
• U gar e gese asya. Four squared equals sixteen. (Lit: Four to the power of two...)
• Asya gor e gese u. The square root of sixteen is four. (Lit: Sixteen to the root of two...)

Directional Adverbs

There are certain directional adverbs that can play a part in forming complex prepositions:

yub near	yib far
yab up	yob down
zay forward, ahead	zoy back
iz directly, straight	uz indirectly, roundabout

Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional phrases contain one or more prepositions in some combination with either a noun or an adverb. This chart shows some examples:

COMPLEX PREPOSITION	EXAMPLE
yub bu near to, close to	At fe tujer yub bi et. I want to sleep close to you.
yib bi far from	Ad amar se yib bi ad meir. The sun is far from the earth.
yab bu up to	It fu paper yab bu ad mam. He would like to fly up to the sky.
yab bi up from	Su yab bi ad sim. Get up from the bad.
yob bu down to	Igpu yob bu ad obmos. Run down to the cellar.
yob bi down from	Ad tat upa yob bi ad mam. The angel came down from the sky.
yob ab down on top of	Ad kawa yob ab eta oybmos. It was found down on your floor.
zay bu on to, forth to	Ad elyanaadpar popa zay bu zona doym. The train traveled on to the next town.
zey bi across from	Iyt simbia zey bi yat. She sat across from us.
zoy bi back from	At se zoy bi ad yexim. I am back from the office.
iz bu straight to	Pu iz bu fom! Go straight to hell!
iz zoy bi right back from	It upu iz zoy bi ad yexim. He came right back from the office.

Idiomatic Prepositional Phrases

The following chart shows other prepositional phrases that are considered idiomatic, because they are somewhat abbreviated by the omission of the definite article ad in front of the noun in these phrases:

OTHER PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
be abem bi at the top of	bu abem bi to the top of	bi abem bi from the top of
be obem bi at the bottom of	bu obem bi to the bottom of	bi obem bi from the top of
be ebem bi in the area between	bu ebem bi to the area between	bi ebem bi from the area between
be aybem bi above, over	bu aybem bi to the area above	bi aybem bi from the area above
be oybem bi below, under	bu oybem bi to the area below	bi oybem bi from the area below
be eybem bi amid	zye eybem bi through the midst of	yez eybem bi in the midst of
be zam bi at the front of	bu zam bi to the front of	bi zam bi from the front of
be zem bi at the middle of	bu zem bi to the middle of	bi zem bi from the middle of
be zom bi at the back of	bu zom bi to the back of	bi zom bi from the back of
be yubem bi in the vicinity of	bu yubem bi to the vicinity of	bi yubem bi from the vicinity of
be yibem bi at a distance from	bey azon bi by dint of	be avon bi in favor of
be ubem bi in the direction of	bay ux bi with assistance from	be byux bay in touch with
be yabem bi in the upper reaches of	be vyen bu in relation to	doytaxwa bay associated with
be yobem bi in the bottom area of	be ned bi on the level of	be mep bu on the way to, en route
bey mep bi by way of, via	be kum bi beside, at the side of	be ij bi at the start of
be uj bi at the end of	bey uxun bi by means of	be kunad bi at the edge of
be nod bi at the point of	be yezem bi at the interior of, inside	be yozem bi at the exterior of, outside
be nad bay in line with	yaz kunad bi alongside	be ted bi in the sense of
be teas bi in the guise of	be san bi in the form of	be yanx bi in conjunction with
be bol bi in support of	be gab bu in addition to	be dyun bi in the name of

Syntax

Greetings and Other Polite Expressions

MIRAD	ENGLISH
Lay!	Hello!
Ley!	Hey!
Loy!	Bye!
Fijub!	Good day!
Fimaj!	Good morning!
Fimoj!	Good evening!
Odyen et se?	How are you?
Baka. Ay et?	Well. And you?
Iftaxwo.	Thank-you.
Sa yod.	You're welcome.
Diwe.	Please.
Yovobu at.	Excuse me.
Fipop!	Bon voyage!
Su valta!	Be safe!
Egbaksu ig!	Get well soon!
Ivadwu!	Congratulations!
Iva Tajjub!	Happy Birthday!

Word Formation

In order for every word to express the maximum information and so that it is easily codified and decodified (that is, so that word formation is simple, easily decipherable and apprehensible, certain meanings have been attached to consonants and certain values to vowels.

The vocabulary of Mirad is composed of core words and derived words.

Guiding Principles for Word Formation

The vocabulary is built on core words. The choice of the root of these words (formed generally from two or three letters) is determined by:

• The meaning of each letter of the word.
• The importance of the group of ideas that this word evokes in its proper sense and in the sense that is directly opposite it, eg.: fixed vs. variable.
• How frequently the word and its derivations are used in the language.
• The geometric system of vocabulary construction (see a later section on what this is all about).
• The logic of its composition.
• The mnemonic associations this word suggests.

The words derived from the core words in turn follow very simple laws called vocabulary-building rules.

Core Words

The core words are divided into two groups:

• 1st Group: Nouns
• 2nd Group: Prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, and verbs.

Core Words of the 1st Group: Nouns

All noun core words are composed of three letters:

• The first, a consonant called the classifier
• The second, a vowel called the ordinal
• The third, a consonant called the generic

Examples:

CLASSIFIER	ORDINAL	GENERIC	MEANING
t	o	b	man
d	o	t	society
f	o	b	plant

The classifier and generic letters are consonants, so one needs to be familiar with the general meaning of the consonants in the Mirad alphabet, as shown in the following chart:

Consonants and Their Meanings

CONSONANT	1st Group Core Words (NOUN)	1st Group Core Words (NOUN)	2nd Group Core Words	Numeric Value
	CLASSIFIER	GENERIC	CLASSIFIER
b	organ, illness, body, etc.	organism	gesture, manner, movement
p	animal, vehicle		movement
s	thing, furniture		form, thing	hundred
x	do, action		do, action
d	society	person, thing	reading, writing
t	person	person	intelligence, knowing
f	vegetation	clothing	volition
v	plant, color	linen
g			quantity
k
j	time	time	time
z		jewel, precious
l		element, liquid		ten
m	nature	place, building		ml = million
n	mechandise
r		tool		thousand, mr = billion

Vowels and Their Meanings

The stem vowel in core words has various meanings.

Numeric Value of Vowels

The numeric value of vowels is shown here:

o	a	e	i	u	yo	ya	ye	yi	yu
0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
zero	one	two	three	four	five	six	seven	eight	nine

Positional Value of Vowels

The positional value of vowels is shown below (Rule nr. 10):

	a up, superior, north
u left, west	e center, middle	i right, east
	o down, inferior, south

Geophysical Value of Vowels

o	outer space, nature
a	air, gas, sky
e	land, soil, earth
i	liquid, water, juice
u	underground, minerals

Value of Vowels in Core Words of the 2nd Group

• a, ya oppose o, yo
• e, ye intermediate
• i, yi oppose u, yu

Directional Value of Vowels

a-	free movement	from above onto
-a	movement with contact	from above onto
ya-	free movement	upward
-ya	movement with contact	upward
o-	free movement	from below upward
-o	movement with contact	from below onto
yo-	free movement	downward
-yo	movement with contact	fall
u-	free movement	toward the center
-u	movement with contact	toward the center
yu-	free movement	near
-yu	movement with contact	near
i-	free movement	away
-i	movement with contact	away
yi-	free movement	far away
-yi	movement with contact	far away
e-	stop
-e	pause
ye-	in
-ye	in

Special Value of Certain Vowels

• The prefixes a-, an- have to do with one, single, singular and are opposed to:

• The prefixes ya-, yan- meaning together, plural.

• The prefix yan- contrasts with yon- meaning apart.

Meaning of Core Words: 1st Group

The meaning of the 1st Group core words comes from the combination of the values of the classifier consonant and the generic consonant, eg.:

FULL WORD	CLASSIFIER CONSONANT	GENERIC CONSONANT
tob = man	t = human, animal	b = organism
tod = family	t = human, animal	d = society
tof = clothes	t = human, animal	f = tissue
tov = lingerie	t = human, animal	v = linen
tol = food	t = human, animal	l = liquid, food
tom = building	t = human, animal	m = place
dob = state	d = communication	b = organism
dom = city	d = communication	m = place
som = furniture	s = thing	m = place

Meaning of Core Words: 2nd Group

The meaning of the 2nd Group core words comes from a combination of the classifier consonant and the stem vowel. Here is a chart showing the principal core words of this group.

POSITIVE	INTERMEDIATE	NEGATIVE
ja before	je during	jo after
aja past	eja present	oja future
jwa early	jwe on time	jwo late
ij beginning		uj end
ji since		ju until
yija open		yuja closed
ga more	ge same	go less
gyaa fat	gye enough	gyoa thin
aga big	ega normal	oga small
iga fast		uga slow
gia sharp		gua dull
gin point		gun angle
gyia easy		gyua difficult
yaga long		yoga short
yiga hard		yuga soft
ak gain	ek risk	ok loss
kaer find	keer seek	koer lose
yaker expect	yeker try	yoker be surprised
kyaa variable	kyea random	kyoa fixed
ika full		uka empty
kia oblique		kua lateral
kyia heavy		kyua light
yika fragile		yuka solid
ika full		uka empty
va yes	ve maybe	vo no
vay indeed	vey possibly	voy not
av for	ev than	ov against
vyaa true	vyea relative	vyoa false
yava innocent	yeva fair	yova guilty
via beautiful		vua ugly
iva happy		uva sad
yiva free		yuva bound
vyia clean		vyua dirty
yafa able	yefa obliged	yofa unable
afa allowed	efa needful	ofa prohibited
fyaa proud		fyoa ashamed
faa holy		foa profane
fia good		fua bad
ifer love		ufer hate
fyia useful		fyua harmful
yifa brave		yufa afraid
ab on	eb between	ob off
ayb above	eyb amid	oyb below
yab up		yob down
bay with	bey by	boy without
bi from	be at	bu to
byi since		byu up to
ib away		ub toward
yib far away		yub near
yaz along	yez in	yoz out
yaza vertical	yeza horizontal	yoza perpendicular
iza straight		uza crooked
zyia flat		zyua round
yiz beyond		yuz around
za in front of	ze at the middle of	zo behind
aza strong	eza medium	oza weak
zyaa wide	zye through	zyoa narrow
zay ahead	zey across	zoy' back
zi right		zu left
	ber put
	per go
	xer do
	ser be
	der say
	ter know
	fer want

Each core word of the 2nd Group is composed of one letter or two letters not counting the grammatical suffixes a for an adjective, ay for an adverb, er for a verb, and the enhancer consonant y. These two letters are: either a consonant and a vowel, or a vowel and a consonant. The simplification that results from this is evident.

Vowel Patterns in Core Words

Note that that in 2nd Group core words there is a three-way contrast with the root vowels a, e, o and a two-way contrast with the root vowels i and u, as in the chart below, where the root vowels are underlined:

PATTERN TYPE	POSITIVE	INTERMEDIATE	NEGATIVE
3-WAY (a-e-o)	aza strong	eza medium	oza weak
2-WAY (i-u)	fia good	--	fua bad

Meaning of the Classifier Consonant in 2nd Group Core Words

Most human qualities are presented in the 2nd Group core words that contain the consonants f or v.

Core words relating to time all have the letter j.

The letters g and k relate mostly to physical qualities, measurements, and actions.

Parallelism in Core Words

Core words exhibit both vertical and horizontal parallelism in meaning as shown in some sample charts below:

aza	za	va	vyaa	yava
strong	front	yes	true	innocent
eza	ze	ve	vyea	yeva
moderate	middle	maybe	relative	fair
oza	zo	vo	vyoa	yova
weak	back	no	false	guilty

ja	jwa1	aja	kaer	aker
before	early	past	find	win
je	jwe1	eja	keer	eker
during	on time	present	seek	play
jo	jwo1	oja	koer	oker
after	late	future	hide	lose

¹: jwa, jwe, and jwo were originally spelled as jya, jye, and jyo, but the need was felt to change the y to w in Version 2 of Mirad for ease of pronunciation.

fia	via	vyia	fyia	iva	yiva	ifer
good	beautiful	clean	proud	happy	free	to love
fua	vua	vyua	fyua	uva	yuva	ufer
bad	ugly	dirty	ashamed	sad	bound	to hate

tab	tib	tub	tyob	tayob	tayeb	tyab
body	trunk	arm	foot	skin	hair	ovary
fab	fib	fub	fyob	fayob	fayeb	fyab
tree	tree trunk	branch	root	bark	leaf	fruit
vab	vib	vub	vyob	vayob	vayeb	vyab
plant	stem	twig	root	peel	leaf	seed

Derived Words

Derived words, that is, words that are built from core words, are formed following certain very simple rules of vocabulary-building:

These rules govern:

1. Compouding whole words
2. Affixation
3. Ordinal number codification
4. Compounding partial words
5. Word-building by adding ordinal vowels
6. Swapping endings
7. Scientific Word-building
8. Feminizing words
9. Geophysical vowel codification
10. Directional and positional vowel codification
11. Mnemonic markers
12. Harmonic word-building

Rule #1: Compounding Whole Words

Compound words are formed by the combination of two or more words. When compounding, the determining word is placed very simply in front of the determined word.

• mar star + tun science → martun astronomy
• mag fire + meb mountain → magmeb volcano
• tul meal + dren document → tuldren menu
• nax cost + aga big → naxaga expensive
• nax cost + oga small → naxoga cheap
• amar sun + yap ascent → amaryap sunrise
• amar sun + yop descent → amaryop sunset
• mam sky + par vehicle → mampar airplane
• map wind + yaf power → mapyaf windpower
• dom city + teas view → domteas cityscape
• tej life + tun science → tejtun biology
• man light + tam house → mantam lighthouse

Rule #2: Affixation

Affixes can be prefixed or suffixed to verbs, nouns, and other parts of speech.

Prefixes

Adverbs and prepositions can serve as prefixes, especially for forming new verbs, eg.:

PREFIX	BASE VERB	COMPOUNDED VERB
go less	ber put	gober subtract
yez in	ber put	yezber introduce
yoz out	ber put	yozber oust
yuz around	ber put	yuzber surround
ob off	ber put	ober1 remove
ig fast	xer do	igxer accelerate
ug slow	xer do	ugxer brake
ja before	xer do	jaxer prepare
je during	xer do	jexer continue
oj future	xer do	ojxer plan
ab on	per go	aper1 get on
yez in	per go	yezer enter
yoz out	per go	yezer exit
zay ahead	per go	zayper advance
zoy back	per go	zayper retreat
ja before	per go	japer precede
jo after	per go	joper follow
yuz around	per go	yuzper circulate
va yes	der say	vader affirm
vo no	der say	voder deny
fi good	der say	fider praise
fu bad	der say	fuder malign
ja before	der say	jader predict
ja before	dren writing	jadren preface
jo after	dren writing	jodren postscript

Note: If the prefix is an adverb or preposition ending in b and is being affixed to the verb per go or ber put, then the b of the prefix is dropped:

Prefixes Ending in b with Verbs per and ber

PREFIX	BASE VERB	NEW VERB
yab up	ber put	yaber raise
yab up	per go	yaper rise
ab on	ber put	aber put on, apply
ab on	per go	aper get on, mount
yob down	ber put	yober take down
yob down	per go	yoper descend
ob off	ber put	ober take off, remove
ob on	per go	oper get off, dismount

Prefixing Core Words

The two or three first letters of a core word can serve as prefixes. The adjective ending a is often dropped¹, as is the er or prefixes taken from verbs. Longish noun prefixes are sometimes clipped.

PREFIX	BASE VERB	COMPOUND VERB
oza weak	der say	ozder whisper
yaga long	der say	yagder ramble
aja past	der say	ajder evoke
yoga short	der say	yogder summarize
tyoyab foot	per go	tyoyaper walk
dreer write	sar tool	dresar pencil
tuyob hand	dren writing	tuyodren manuscript
mam sky	mil water	mamil rain

¹: Sometimes, the adjective ending a is retained when an adjective is compounded with xer or ser. This device may be used to distinguished two differently nuanced verbs.

Prefixes Per Se

PREFIX	MEANING	EXAMPLES
o	un-, expresses negation, opposition, opposite meaning	data friendly → odata unfriendly
lo	un-, same as o but used where o is not clear	gla many → logla rare
yo	un-, same as o but more intense	dat friend → yodat enemy
ey(n)	semi-, hemi-, half-	eyseuz demi-tone, eylevelbaya semi-sweet, eyntepa half-wit
e(n)-	bi-, duo-, two-	ejaba biennial, entyoba biped, enteba two-headed
i(n)-	tri-, three-	invoza tricolor, ijib trimester, inzyun tricycle
u(n)-	quadri-, four-	untyoba quadriped, unkuma quadrilateral, ungona quadripartite
a(n)-	uni-, singular	anxer unite, asana special, auta individual, private
ya(n)-	multi-, together, plural	yanxer assemble, yasana general, yauta common, public
yo(n)-	dis-, se-, apart	yonxer separate, yoniler unstick, youta alone, isolate
eg-	re-, again	eganxer reunite, egder repeat, egvader reaffirm

Comparison of Prefixes in English and Mirad

Here is a chart of the most productive prefixes in English of Latin, Greek, and Germanic origin and their most common counterparts in Mirad:

ENGLISH PREFIX	MEANING	ORIGIN	ENGLISH EXAMPLE	MIRAD EXAMPLE
a-, an-	without, un-, -less	GREEK	atonal	oseuza
ab-	away	LATIN	absence	ibsen
ab-	not, un-	LATIN	abnormal	olega, ozeta
ad-	to, toward	LATIN	advent	upen < ub-
after-	after	GERMANIC	aftermath	joxwas
anti-	against	GREEK	antidote	ovbokil
arch-	chief, first	GREEK	archangel	aatat
auto-	self	GREEK	autocracy	utdab
back-	back	GERMANIC	backstairs	zomus
bene-	well	LATIN	benefactor	fixut
bi-	two	GREEK	bicameral	entima
by-	beyond	GERMANIC	bypass	yizper
cent(i)-	hundred	LATIN	century	sojab
circ(um)-	around	LATIN	circulate	yuzper
co-	together	LATIN	cooperate	yanexer
con-, com-, cor-, col-	with	LATIN	convene	yanuper
counter-, contra-	against	LATIN	contradict	ovder
cross-	across	GERMANIC	crosswind	zeymep
de-	un-, reverse	LATIN	desalinate	omimolxer, mimolober
de-	down	LATIN	descend	yoper < yob + per
deci-	ten	LATIN	decimeter	alonag
di-	two	GREEK	diode	enmep
dia-	throughout	GREEK	diachronic	zyajoba
dicho-	double	GREEK	dichotomy	engorbun
di(s)-	apart, un-	LATIN	disappear	oteaser
dys-	bad	GREEK	dysfunction	fuexen
ec(to)-	out	GREEK	ectomorph	yozsan
en-, em-	in	GREEK	endemic	yezdita
endo-	within	GREEK	endomorphic	yezsana
equi-	equal	LATIN	equilateral	gekuma
eu-	good, nice	GREEK	euphemism	vidun
ex-, e-	out	LATIN	extract	yozbixer
extra-	outside	LATIN	extraordinary	yozega
fellow-	fellow	LATIN	fellow-traveler	yanpoput, dat-
fore-	front	GERMANIC	foreskin	zatayob
gyro-	round, wheel	LATIN	gyroscope	zyunzebar
half-	half	GERMANIC	half-dead	eyntoja
hemi-	half	GREEK	hemisphere	eynzyunid
hect(o)-	hundred	GREEK	hectometer	asonak
hept(o)-	seven	GREEK	heptogonal	yeguna
hetero-	different	GREEK	heterogeneous	yudsauna
hexa-	six	GREEK	hexagongal	yaunguna
high-	high	GERMANIC	high-flying	yabpapea
homo-	same	GREEK	homogeneous	yidsauna
hyper-	over, too much	GREEK	hyperactive	graaxeya
hypo-	under, too little	GREEK	hypothermia	groaman
idio-	peculiar	GREEK	idiopath	asanbak
ill-	poorly	GERMANIC	ill-mannered	fubyena
in-	in	LATIN/GERMANIC	incoming	yezupea
in-	not, un-	LATIN	inadequate	ogrea
infra-	below	LATIN	infrared	oybivoza
inter-	between	LATIN	international	ebdooba
intra-	amid	LATIN	intramural	eybmasa
intro-	into	LATIN	introduce	yezber
iso-	equal	GREEK	isometric	genaga
kilo-	thousand	GREEK	kilogram	arokyik
macro-	big	GREEK	macrometer	agnagar
magn(i)-	big	LATIN	magnify	agaxer
mal-	badly	LATIN	malformed	fusana
many-	many	GERMANIC	many-hued	glavoza
maxi(m)-	biggest	LATIN	maximize	gyaxer
mega(lo)-	big	GREEK	megacephalic	agteba
meso-	middle	GREEK	mesomorph	zesanat
meta-	beyond	GREEK	metaphysical	yizmula
micro-	little	GREEK	microcosm	ogmir
mid-	middle	LATIN	midday	zejub
milli-	thousand	LATIN	milligram	arokyik
mini(m)-	tiny	LATIN	miniskirt	gyotyoyf
mis-	wrongly	LATIN	misunderstand	vyotider
multi-	many	LATIN	multilateral	glakuma
neo-	new	GREEK	neophyte	jogagsat
non-	not	LATIN	nonentity	oseas
nona-	nine	GREEK	nonagon	yuungun
oct(a)-	eight	GREEK	octagon	yigun
omni-	all	LATIN	omniscient	yadtea
ortho-	correct	GREEK	orthodontist	izteupibtut
out-	better	GERMANIC	outplay	gafieker
over-	too much	GERMANIC	overeat	grateler
pan-	all	GREEK	pantheon	yadtotyan
para-	alongside	GREEK	paraphrase	yaztuder
penta-	five	GREEK	pentagon	youngun
per-	through	LATIN/GREEK	perpendicular	zyepyonada
poly-	many	GREEK	polyandry	glatadan
post-	after	LATIN	postscript	jodren
pre-	before	LATIN	preview	jateaxer, za-
pro	for	LATIN	pro-life	avtejina
pro-	forward	LATIN	progress	zaynogper
pseudo-	falsely	GREEK	pseudonym	vyodyun
quadri-	four	LATIN	quadrilateral	unkuma
quasi-	resembling, nearly	LATIN	quasi-scientific	yubtuna
quint-	five	LATIN	quintet	younatyan
re-	again	LATIN	redo	egxer
rect(i)-	straight	LATIN	rectilinear	iznada
retro-	backwards	LATIN	retrogress	zoynogser
semi-	half	LATIN	semi-sweet	eynlevelaya
sept-	seven	LATIN	septempartite	yegona
sext-	six	LATIN	sextuplicate	yaungeyxwas
sub-, sup-, sur-	below	LATIN	submarine	oybmimpar
super-, supra-	above	LATIN	superscript	aybdren
syn-, sym-, syl-	with	GREEK	symphony	yanduzutyan
tele-	far	GREEK	telephone	yibdalar
tetra-	four	GREEK	tetragon	ungun
trans-	across	LATIN	transfer	zeyber
tri-	three	GREEK/LATIN	trigram	indresin
ultra-	beyond, extremely	GREEK	ultranationalist	gyadoobina
un-	not	LATIN	untie	oyanxer
under-	below	LATIN	underarm	oybtub
under-	not enough	LATIN	underactive	groaxeya
uni-	one	LATIN	unicycle	azyus

Suffixes

Mirad has semantic suffixes, grammatical suffixes, and part-of-speech-changing suffixes

Semantic Suffixes

Semantic suffixes are generally formed from the two last letters of a core word. They serve to put a word into some category, such as liquid, place, person, or material.

CORE WORD	SUFFIX	SUFFIXED DERIVATIONS
mil water	-il liquid	teabil tear < teab eye
		teubil saliva < teub mouth
		tayebil sweat < tayeb skin
		mamil rain < mam sky
tam house	-am house	apatam chicken coop < apat chicken
		apelatam beehive < apelat bee
		melyexam farmhouse < melyex agriculture
		datibam hostel < datib guest-reception
nem place	-em place	vobyexem plantation, farm < vob plant + yex work
		vabem field < vab grass
		abem top, surface < ab above, upper
		obem bottom < ob below
nof cloth	-of material	tof clothes < t- human
		misof curtain < mis window
		faof wood < fa(b)- tree
		tayof leather < tayo(b) skin
sar tool	-ar instrument	par vehicle < p- motion
		zyupar rotor < zyup turn
		gorbar knife < gorb cut
		syaagar computer < syaag computation
sun thing	-un thing	dun word < d- utter, say
		gorfun piece, scrap < gorfer rip, shread, tear
		zyiun plaque, plate < zyia flat
		vyun spot < vyua dirty
tin doctrine	-in -ism	totin theism, religion < tot- god
		Kristin Christianity < Krist Christ
		vyisatin puritanism < vysiat puritan, clean person
		otofin nudism < otofa nude
fuf pipe	-uf cylinder object	manuf candle < man light
		tiibuf artery < tiib heart
		miluf toilet < mil water
		movuf cheminee < mov smoke
yel oil	-yel oil, gel, wax, pulp	kafyel olive oil < kaf olive
		apelatyel wax < apelat bee
		levyel jam, jelly, confiture < leve sugar, sweet
		bekyel salve < bek care, treatment
		megyel cement < meg stone
		yanyel paste < yan together

Grammatical Suffixes

Mirad has only a few grammatical suffixes:

GRAMMATICAL SUFFIX	CORE WORD	SUFFIXED DERIVATION
-er (present active infinitive)	sag cipher	sager to count
	nab rank	naber to rank
	yex work	yexer to work
-wer (present passive infinitive)	teat sight	teatwer to be seen
-ayer (past active infinitive)	toj death	tojayer' to have died
-wayer (past passive infinitive)	ux cause	uxwayer to have been caused
-en (active veral noun)	yex work	yexen working
-wen (passive noun)	sayag calculus	sayagwen being calculated
-a (adjective)	yib far away	yiba remote
	mor universe	mora universal
-ay (adverb)	iga quick	igay quickly
	yiba remote	yibay remotely

Augmentative Suffixes

AUGMENTATIVE SUFFIX	CORE WORD	SUFFIXED DERIVATION
-ag (augmentative)	tam house	tamag mansion
-ayg (affectionate augmentative)	sem chair	semayg big old chair
-yag (pejorative augmentative)	apet horse	apetyag nag

Diminutive Suffixes

DIMINUTIVE SUFFIX	CORE WORD	SUFFIXED DERIVATION
-og (diminutive)	tam house	tamog hut
-oyg (affectionate diminutive)	tam house	tamoyg cottage
-yog (pejorative diminutive)	tam house	tamyog shack

Suffixes Forming Nuanced Adjectives

ADJECTIVAL SUFFIX	MEANING	BASE WORD	SUFFIXED DERIVATION
-aya	full of, -ous, -y	miek dust	miekaya dusty
-oya	empty of, -less, -free	vyun spot	vyunoya spotless
-ika	full of, -ous, -y	miek dust	miekika dusty
-uka	empty of, -less, -free	miek dust	miekuka dust-free
-ea (present active particple)	doing X, -ing, -ant, -ent	ilp flow	ilpea flowing, fluent
-eya	given to doing X, -ive	vyod lie	vyodeya mendacious, given to lying
-wea (present passive participle)	being Xed	vyixer to clean	vyixwea being cleaned
-yena	like, -ly, -ic	tat angel	tatyena angelic
-(a)wa (past passive participle)	Xed	oter to ignore	otwa or otawa unknown
-uwa (potential passive participle)	-able, liable to be Xed	teater to see	teatuwa visible

Other Suffixes

SUFFIX	MEANING	BASE WORD	SUFFIXED DERIVATION
-an	abstract quality, -ness, -hood, -ity	iva happy	ivan happiness
		via beautiful	vian beauty
		ama hot	aman heat
-at	person who has the quality of	yova guilty	yovat guilty party
		oga little	ogat little person
-ut	agent, practitioner, one who does X, -er, -ant, -ent	yuxer to help	yuxut helper, assistant
		vyoder lie	vyodut liar
-eat	one who does X	vyixeat cleaning person
-(a)wat	one who has been Xed	tujber to kill	tujbwat or tujbawat murder victim
-(a)was	what is/was Xed	ter to know	twas or tawas what is known, fact
-et	a person a level down	ted father	tedet son
		tid uncle	tidet cousin
		tad spouse	tadet brother
-es	item of lesser importance	nas money	nases change, coin
-ob	child of, offspring	tob man	tobob infant
		apet horse	apetob foal
-un < sun	concrete thing	viber decorate	vibun ornament
-on < son	abstract thing	kyiser weight down	kyison problem
		ifer to love	ifon love
-tun	science, ...ology	tej life	tejtun biology
		tob man	tobtun anthropology
-in < tin	doctrine, -ism	tot god	totin theism, religion
		dot society	dotin socialism
-yan	collection, aggregate	fab tree	fabyan forest
		mar star	maryan constellation
-ar < sar	instrument, tool, device	per go	par vehicle
		teab eye	teabar eyeglasses
-ur < sur	machine	yalb lift	yalbur elevator

Many of the above suffixes and prefixes can be combined as in the following example:

• ov- against, anti-
• dot society
• -in ism
• -at person having the quality of
• -yena like, -ish
• → ovdotinatyena anti-socialistic

Rule #3: Ordinal Number Codification

Ordinal number codification applies only to core words of the 1st group. Ordinal numeration operates on the vowel of the core word stem. This classification, called primary numeration has as its criterion the decreasing importance of items relative to the object and the greatness with respect to the object.

Primary Ordinal Numeration

t...b	m...r	j...b	m...s	t...m	d...b	f...b
tob man	mor universe	job time	mos floor (1st,2nd,etc.)	tom building	dob state	fob plant
tab body	mar sun	jab year	mas wall	tam house	dab government	fab tree
teb head	mer planet	jeb season	mes door	tem hall	deb leader	feb treetop
tib trunk	mir earth	jib month	mis window	tim room	dib office	fib tree trunk
tub arm	mur moon	jub day	mus stairs	tum wing	dub ministry	fub branch
tyob leg		jyob* hour				fyob root
		jyab* minute
		jyeb* second

* Easier to pronounce as jwob, jwab, and jweb.

Seconday Ordinal Numeration

The order, the elements or details composing new words thus formed can have a secondary ordinal number classification. This second ordinal numeration, called secondary numeration, operates through the addition of a vowel immediately after the ordinal vowel of the word stem.

Examples:

mi...p	me...p	tu...b	tyo...b
mip river	mep way	tub arm	tyob leg
miap stream	meap road	tuab shoulder	tyoab hip
miep brook	meep path	tueb upper arm	tyoeb thigh
miip rivulet	meip trail	tuib elbow	tyoib knee
miup torrent	meup track	tuub forearm	tyoub shin
miyop trickle		tuyob wrist	tyoyob ankle
		tuyab hand	tyoyab foot
		tuyeb fist	tyoyeb heel
		tuyib palm	tyoyib sole
		tuyub finger	tyoyub toe
		tulob fingernail	tyolob toenail

Tertiary Ordinal Numeration

A third-level ordinal numeration can occur in order to indicated an order, type, or details. This operates by adding a third ordinal vowel to the front of the word.

Example:

...tuyub
tuyub finger
atuyub thumb
etuyub index
ituyub middle finger
utuyub ring finger
yotuyub pinky

So, to sum up, we have:

t...b	tob = man
PRIMARY NUMERATION	tub arm
SECONDARY NUMERATION	tuyub finger
TERTIARY NUMERATION	atuyub thumb

We can also obtain a very convenient classification for new words through prefixal numeration even though there is no primary or secondary numeration.

Example:

...dob	...pet
dob state	pet animal
adob empire	apet horse
edob kingdom	epet bull
idob principality	ipet ass
udob duchy	upet ram
yodob marquisate	yopet goat
yadob county	yapet pig
yedob dominion	yepet dog

Rule #4: Compounding Partial Words

When forming a compound word, the generic consonant (the last one) of the determinant (first word) is the same as the classifier consonant (first) of the determined (2nd word), the generic consonant is suppressed so as to avoid two of the same consonants in a row. This is also called portmanteau compounding.

• dom city + mep way → domep boulevard
• pat bird + teub mouth → pateub beak
• pat bird + tub arm → patub wing
• teb head + bok illness → tebok headache

When forming a compound word, the principal word has one or two prefixed vowels, this vowel or these vowels come at the beginning of the compound word.

Examples:

• tuyub finger → atuyub thumb → iatuyub right thumb

Codifying the Negative and Opposite Senses

In the codification of core words and derived words of the 1st group, the negative sense or opposite sense is obtained by adding the prefixes o and yo, the latter being more intense.

• mola natural → omola unnatural, artificial
• tobyena humane → otobyena inhumane
• data friendly → yodata inimical
• tat angel → yotat devil

In the codification of core words and derived words of the 2nd group, the opposite sense is obtained by prefixing lo dis-, un-, de- if followed by a consonant, or ol if followed by a vowel, eg.:

• fwa wanted → lofwa unwanted
• yuxer to tie up → loyuxer to untie
• axaxer to activate → olaxaxer to deactivate
• afwa allowable → olafwa disallowed

Rule #5: Codification by the Addition of Ordinal Vowels

a) When you wish to form a compound word with words from a same family of vowels, if the ordinal vowel is an o, you replace it with the ordinal vowel of the determinant word.

NUMERAL PREFIX	CLASSIFIER CONSONANT	ORDINAL VOWEL	GENERIC CONSONANT	MEANING
a	d	o	b	republic
	d	e	b	leader
a	d	e	b	president

NUMERAL PREFIX	CLASSIFIER CONSONANT	ORDINAL VOWEL	GENERIC CONSONANT	MEANING
i	d	o	b	kingdom
	d	e	b	leader
i	d	e	b	king

b) If, on the other hand, the two words are already subordinate, then the vowel of the determinant is placed between the ordinal vowel of the determined and the generic consonant.

Examples:

• mil water ↗ mal air ⇒ mial steam, vapor
• mel soil ↗ mil water ⇒ meil mud
• tul meal ↗ til drink ⇒ tuil soup

c) You can also form new compound words by applying the Rule # 6 above (a and b).

Examples:

• adob republic ↘ dab government ⇒ adab government of the republic
• adab government of the republic ↘ deb leader ⇒ adaeb president of the republic
• (Applying Rule #8 on feminizing words by post-iotation) ⇒ adaeyb Madam President of the Republic

Rule #6: Swapping Endings

When the generic consonant of a core word is replaced by that of another core word, all of the vowels of this latter word undergo the transformation required by the new generic consonant.

Examples:

TOB

man ↘

TOF

clothing

NOF ↗

cloth

TYOYAB

foot ↘

TYOYAV

sock

NOV ↗

linen

tob man	tof clothing	tov lingerie
tab body	taf suit
teb head	tef hat	tev scarf
teib nose		teiv handkerchief
tib' trunk	tif vest
tiab chest		tiav shirt
tyob leg	tyof pants	tyov underwear shorts
tyoyab foot	tyoyaf shoe	tyoyav sock
tuyob hand	tuyof glove

Rule #7: Scientific Vocabulary-building

Chemical Elements

The names of chemical elements are formed from a number representing the element's atomic number (number of electrons), followed by a letter combination indicating whether it is a metal or metalloid, and followed, if pertinent, by a combination of letters indicating whether it is a gas or liquid. The table that follows shows how this composition works:

ELEMENT	ELECTRON COUNT	METAL GENERIC = m
silver	47 = ulye	ulyem
aluminum	13 = ali	alim
iron	46 = elya	elyam
gold	79 = yelyum	yelyum
copper	29 = elyu	elyum
tin	50 = yolo	yolom
		METALLOID GENERIC = mc
phosophorus	15 = alyo	alyoms
carbon	6 = ya	yams
		GAS = al LIQUID = il
hydrogen	1 = a	amsal
nitrogen	7 = ye	yemsal
oxygen	8 = yi	yimsal
mercury	80 = yilo	yilomsil

The words amsal, yemsal, and yimsal each carry three pieces of information.

The first letter indicates their classification by number of electrons.

The two following letters: mc indicates metalloids; The two last letters: al indicates that they are a gas.

The word yilomil also carries three pieces of information:

The three first letters: 'yi-l-o show classification by number of electrons.

The fourth letter, m, indicates that it's a metal.

The two last letters, il, indicates that it's a liquid.

Other Non-elemental Substances

Non-elemental natural and man-made substances and alloys are formed using mnemonic components.

• steel = elyamyig < elyam iron + yig(a) hard
• plastic = sanyel < m- shape + -yel oil, wax, gel, gum
• rubber = yigyel < yig- soft + -yel oil, wax, gel, gum
• cement = megyel < meg stone + -yel oil, wax, gel, gum
• glass = zyev < zy(e) (see) through + (m)ev porcelain
• bronze = elyumyig < elyum copper + yig(a) hard
• paint = vozil < voz color + -il liquid
• ink = dril < dr(er) write + -il liquid
• coal = yamsmumun < yams carbon + mum mine + -un substance
• glue = yanil < yan together + -il liquid
• paste = yanyel < yan together + -yel oil, wax, gel, gum
• resin = defabyel < defab pine tree + -yel oil, wax, gel, gum
• wood = faof < fa(b) tree + (n)of material, tissue
• leather = tayof < tayo(b) skin + (n)of material, tissue
• concrete = yanmulmeg < yan together + mul matter + meg stone
• tar = movyik < mov smoke + yik(a) solid
• lava = magmebil < mag fire + meb mountain + -il liquid
• fuel = magil' < mag fire + -il liquid
• shampoo = tayevyiyel < taye(b) hair + vyi(a) clean + -yel oil, wax, gel, gum
• detergent = vyunobil < vyu(a) dirty + -(u)n substance + ob(er) remove + -il liquid
• soap = vyunobyel < vyu(a) dirty + -(u)n substance + ob(er) remove + -yel oil, wax, gel, gum
• cheese = bilyig < bil milk + yig(a) hard
• butter = bilyug < bil milk + yug(a) soft
• syrup = gyalevil < gya extremely + lev(el) sugar, sweet + -il liquid
• gravy = taobil < taob flesh, meat + -il liquid
• alcohol = fil < (levaf) ferment + -il liquid
• wax = apelatyel < apelat bee + -yel oil, wax, gel, gum
• honey = apelatil < apelat bee + -il liquid
• brick = mef < m(el) earthen + (no)f hard material
• porcelain = mev < m(el) earthen + (no)v soft material
• gem = mez < m(el) earthen + (no)z value, precious

Atomic and Subatomic Particles

From the word mul matter, substance, stuff, we get the following derivatives:

• mul matter, substance, stuff

• mula material, substantial, physical

• omula immaterial, unsubstantial, non-physical

• ovmul anti-matter
• omul nothingness, void, nihil

• omulxer anihilate

• moza mul black matter
• multun physics

• multuna physics-related
• multut physics scientist

• mulog particle

• muloga particulate
• mulogxer crush, crumble, pulverize
• amulog proton
• emulog neutron
• imulog electron

• imuloga electronic
• imulp electricity

• imulpa electrical

• imulpaxer electrify

• mules element

• mulesa elemental
• mulesyan compound

• yanmul mix, mixture, chemical

• yanmula chemical
• yanmultun chemistry

• yanmultuna chemical
• yanmultut chemist

• mulgyon atom

• mulgyona atomic

• obmulgyona subatomic

• mulgyonzen nucleus

• mulgyonzena nuclear

Rule #8: The Feminization of Words

To form the feminine of a word or to indicate that an object or thing belongs to females, iotate (add a y) to the ordinal vowel of the word.

Examples:

MALE-RELATED	FEMALE-RELATED
tob man	toyb woman
tad spouse, husband	tayd wife
tadet brother	taydet sister
ted father	teyd mother
tedet son	teydet daughter
tid uncle	tiyd aunt
tidet cousin	tiydet female cousin
apet horse	apeyt mare
epet bull	epeyt cow
tiav shirt	tiayv blouse
tyof pants	tayf skirt
tulyuxut waiter	tulyuxuyt waitress

Note that personal pronouns can be feminized as well. The unfeminized form is either masculine or neutral with respect to gender.

MASCULINE	FEMININE
at I / me	ayt we / us women
et you	eyt you gals
it he / him	iyt she / her
yat we / us	yayt we females / us women
yet you guys	yeyt you gals
yit they / them	yiyt they / them (f.)

This process works for the possessive adjective derivatives of these pronouns:

• iyta her
• yeyta you gals'

The pronouns ot one, yot they (generic) and (y)ut are not normally feminized.

Rule #9: Geophysical Vowel Coding

Geophysical vowel coding, as it's name indicates, occurs on vowels by giving them a particular geophysical meaning.

• a = air, gas, skyward
• e = soil, ground
• i = water, liquid, juice, etc.
• u = concrete thing, material, mineral, underground
• o = abstract thing, initial item, outer space

This codification occurs on the ordinal vowel of 1st Group core words only.

Examples:

m...m	m...p	d...p	p...t	m...l
mom outer space	mop galaxy	dop military	pot animal	mol nature
mam sky	map wind	dap air force	pat bird	mal air
mem land	mep way	dep army	pet (land) animal	mel soil
mim sea	mip river	dip navy	pit fish	mil water
mum underground	mup tunnel		put worm	mul mineral

Vowel coding also allows for arriving at other combined-concept word categories by placing a vowel having the value ascribed to it by Rule # 9 just a before the generic consonant of the initial word. (See Rule #5)

Examples:

COMBINED-CONCEPT WORD	CODIFICATION
pait aquatic bird	pat bird + liquid / sea
piat flying fish	pit fish + skyward / air
diap naval aviation	dip navy + skyward / air
'meil mud	mel' soil + liquid / sea