The basic rules of Pandunia
These are the basic rules of the Pandunia language. They are described in more detail later in this document.
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World words
Pandunia is an evenly global language. International words are borrowed from all parts of the world to Pandunia. They are adapted to the pronunciation and orthography of Pandunia. One basic word is admitted and additional words are built from it according to rule 12.
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Spelling and pronunciation
Spelling is simple and regular. Every word is pronounced exactly as it is written. Almost every letter and letter-combination indicates always the same sound.
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Regular stress accent
Root words are stressed on the syllable that is before the last consonant of the word, f.ex. háo ('nice'), dúnia ('world'), bása ('language'), amén ('amen'). Derived words and compound words are stressed according to their components so that the main component carries the primary stress and other components may carry secondary stress, f.ex. trabása ('translate'), dúnialìsme ('globalism'), bàsa skóle ('language school'). Primary accent is indicated here by an acute accent (á) and secondary accent by a grave accent (à).
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Word classes
Pandunia is an analytical language. It means that its words do not inflect or change their form because of grammar. Therefore the same word can function in different grammatical roles, for example as noun, verb, adjective or adverb, without any change in form. Word forms change only when the word's meaning changes.
This consistent system is a key factor for Pandunia's grammatical simplicity as it allows for direct communication without formal grammatical errors.
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Pronouns
The personal pronouns are:
mi 'I', tu 'you' (singular), ho 'he, she, it', mimen 'we', tumen 'you' (plural), homen 'they'.The possessive pronouns are:
mi su 'my', tu su 'your', ho su 'his or her', mimen su 'our', tumen su 'your', homen su 'their'.The interrogative pronouns are: ke 'what', ke jen 'who', ke su ~ ke jen su 'whose'.
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Nouns
Nouns have only one form, always the same. Their form is not affected by number, gender or case. Number is indicated by number and quantity words. Their role is indicated by word order or by a preposition.
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Numerals
The cardinal numbers are:
0 nil, 1 un, 2 du, 3 tri, 4 car, 5 pen, 6 luk, 7 set, 8 bat, 9 nau, 10 des.
Greater than ten: 11 des un, 12 des du, 13 des tri, etc.
Tens: 20 du des, 30 tri des, 40 car des, etc.
Hundreds: 100 un cen, 200 du cen, 300 tri cen, etc.
Thousands: 1000 un kil, 2000 du kil, 3000 tri kil, etc.When a number is put after the noun, it becomes the corresponding ordinal number:
parte un – part one, the first part
parte du – part two, the second part
parte tri – part three, the third part -
Adjectives
Adjectives modify nouns. The adjective modifier is before the noun that it modifies.
un rapid loge
'a fast speech' -
Adverbs
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs and complete sentences. They come before the word that they modify or very last in the sentence.
tre rapid loge – very fast speech
tu rapid loge. – You talk fast. -
Verbs
Pandunia verbs do not change in person, number, tense or any other grammatical category. Therefore a plain verb can be understood in many ways (though usually only one interpretation is fitting in the context of the discussion).
mi darse pandunia.
'I study ~ studied ~ will study Pandunia.'Auxiliary verbs can be used to indicate the moment, the duration and the lasting impact of an action.
- sta indicates an ongoing event.
- ha indicates a completed event, which has an effect on the present situation.
- le indicates a past event.
- fu indicates a future event.
mi ha darse pandunia.
'I have studied Pandunia.' -
Word order in clauses
The word order is subject–verb–object. The same order is used in declarations and questions.
A passive sentence is created with the help of the passive auxiliary verb bi.
pandunia bi loge. – Pandunia is spoken.
bi loge pandunia. – One speaks Pandunia.In the pivot construction, the object of the transitive verb functions as the subject of the following verb.
mi ples tu loge pandunia.
'I ask you to speak Pandunia.'Pronouns can be left out when they are obvious and redundant.
mi kue tu basa pandunia? → kue tu basa pandunia?
'Do you speak Panlingue?'me ples tu loge klar. → ples loge klar.
'Please speak clearly.' -
Word building
Compound words are made by combining the elements that form them by putting one element after another so that the main element stands at the end.
poste ('mail') + kase ('box') = postekase ('mailbox')
The linking vowel, -o-, can be inserted between the elements especially in compound words that stem from the Greek language.
dem ('people') + kratia ('government, rule') = demokratia ('democracy, rule by the people')