Verzpertillio Grammar

Material:
Verzpertillio
Verzpertillio Vocabulary

Verzpertillio, the ancient Vampire language once used among Vampires centuries ago in Europe is similar in structure to Latin and the Romance languages. That said, the language (like all the other languages stemming from Latin) changed and evolved into a unique speech. Here is written the foundation of the Verzpertillio language.

Part I

Nouns. Gender and the Definite Article "the" and the Indefinite Article "a".

In the simplest sense, nouns identify people, places, objects, qualities, and ideas.

"Justin found the book on his desk."

In Verzpertillio, nouns are inflected to show number, gender, and case. Vampiric noun cases will be explained much later.

Number

Verzpertillio nouns are inflected to show number - also called the plural. The plural is denoted by adding -ae to the noun:

Singular Translation
iluminir vampire
Plural Translation
iluminirae vampires

Most nouns in Verzpertillio end in a consonant, but if the noun ends in a vowel only -e is added:

Singular Translation
mieruna house
Plural Translation
mierunae houses

Gender and the Definite Article "the"

Nouns in Verzpertillio are attributed with a gender quality that 'defines' them as either only masculine or only feminine. But some nouns in Verzpertillio can be both. Consequently, the definite article "the" agrees in gender, meaning it will change form if the noun is masculine or feminine:

Masculine Form Translation
diero sarom the boy
Feminine Form Translation
dierti fermiz the leg

How do we know which nouns are masculine, feminine, or both? Genderized nouns in Verzpertillio follow a particular rule that define them as either masculine, feminine, or both. Nouns ending in -m, -s, -l, and -r* are always masculine:

Masculine Nouns Translation
diero sarom the boy
diero sempus the time
diero sol The Sun
diero iluminir* the vampire

Nouns ending in -z, -a, and -i* are always feminine:

Feminine Nouns Translation
dierti fermiz the leg
dierti vena blood
dierti iluminiri* the vampire

*Nouns that can be either masculine or feminine end in -r. But these nouns are neutrally in the masculine until adding -i to the noun:

Masculine Translation
diero iluminir the vampire
diero luzinir the human
Feminine Translation
dierti iluminiri the vampire
dierti luziniri the human

The Indefinite Article "a"

"A" is indefinite, meaning it can be used to generalize the noun. "A" agrees in gender also:

Masculine Form Translation
ume sarom a boy
Feminine Form Translation
umi luziniri a human

Article Agreement in Number

Verzpertillio articles "the" and "a" also agree in number. The Definite agreement in number is:

Definite Article Singular Translation
diero sarom the boy
dierti fermiz the leg
Definite Article Plural Translation
dierom saromae the boys
diertim fermizae the legs

Indefinite agreement in number is:

Indefinite Article Singular Translation
ume sarom a boy
umi fermiz a leg
Indefinite Article Plural Translation
umerum saromae boys
umirum fermizae legs

*A Note on the Gender
The gender attribute of Verzpertillio may at first be slightly perplexing to new learners, especially to speakers who are not accustomed to the gender formation of a language. But it is imperative to realize now that the gender in Verzpertillio is absolutely required to use; the usage was highly common among the Vampires in ancient times due to its more precise communication. The advantages can clearly be seen by looking at the examples above. Saying "diero iluminir" you are clearly stating that the Vampire is male. It is impossible to do that in English with "the vampire" which is not explicitly stating if it is male or female. Likewise saying "dierti iluminiri" you are clearly stating that the Vampire is female, and again that is not possible in English "the vampire" without adding extra information to the sentence. Another worthy note is that only nouns ending in -r are to be attributed with sexuality. In other words, "fermiz", "leg", is a noun in the feminine, but it is used to describe a male's leg, or a female's. But "iluminir" is stating the object is male in sexuality and nature unless -i is added to change it into the feminine.

There is also a gender generalization to be made when referring to large numbers (crowds, groups, etc.) that include either sex. For example, if there is a group of 10 males one is required to say "dierom iluminirae". And when there is a group of 10 females one is required to say "diertim iluminirie". But now let's say that the group contains 5 males and 5 females, one is required to say "dierom iluminirae", which is in the masculine (regardless of the 5 females in the group). Now, let's say that there are 9 females in the group and only 1 male in the group, one is still required to say "dierom iluminirae". It is not until all the males in any given group leave that one may say "diertim iluminirie".

Part II

Pronounciation.

Verzpertillio has very similar pronounciation values compared to Italian and Spanish. But there are differences to note. Now that we have covered very basic grammar, we can begin learning how Verzpertillio should be verbally spoken. This section contains more straightforward information.

The first thing to note is that the letters k, w, and x, do not exist in Verzpertillio. However, the letter c always has a k equivalent such as in English "can", or "carry". H is not pronounced. Intsead of pronouncing the h in "huste", 'to like', one pronounces it as "uste".

The second thing to note is the trilled r's and sharp z's. R in Verzpertillio is trilled (trilled even more harshly during heightened anger or heightened physical or emotional states of being). Z is also pronounced clearly as in English "zone" and it is also pronounced more harshly during heightened physical or emotional moments. It was during these times that Vampires were known to strike an unforgettable fear into the hearts of those that heard the language be spoken so loudly and clearly and yet somehow still so calmly.

The third thing to note (and this one is rather important, otherwise you'll sound like a Newblood) is that for the most part, e's at the end of words are always pronounced. Unless otherwise noted, there are no silent e's in Verzpertillio.

That being said, the language (outside of 'heightened emotional moments') was spoken softly, something just above a whisper. The result of this is that all z's in the language are pronounced differently depending on a person's mood. A lot could be deduced about a Vampire's current emotional state by listening to how a Vampire would pronounce their z's in a sentence. If a z sounded more like an s one could deduce that the Vampire was calm, and possibly in a good mood. If the z sounded like a mix between z and s, one could assume that the Vampire was in an energetic mood and yet still calm and speaking above whispering (as usually happened just after feeding). But if the Vampire was pronouncing the z in each word sharply, it could mean the Vampire was extremely excited or extremely angry or agitated.

The letters a, e, i, o, u, and y, are all vowels in Verzpertillio (though y is not common in the language). These vowels have almost identical values to their Italian and Spanish equivalents. It helps to get the idea of their sounds if you have ever heard Italian or Spanish be spoken. Here are examples for each vowel. Simply compare the highlighted vowels to get an idea of what the vowel should sound like:

a as in "father"
e as in the name "Eddy"
i as in the Biblical name "Eve"
o as in "hope"
u as in "rude"
y as in the Biblical name "Eve"

Part III

Pronouns.

Pronouns are the parts of speech that substitute for nouns in a sentence:

"Justin found the book on his desk."

Pronouns in Verzpertillio are classified under personal, relative, interrogative, demonstrative, indefinite, and intensive and reflexive. Personal pronouns will be covered here and the others will be explained later in other sections.

Personal Pronouns

The stem sol- plays a major role in Vampiric personal pronouns, possibly owing to their longing for The Sun from which the stem derives.

The Subjective Pronoun:

Subjective Singular Translation
soló I
solu you
vedu (also vedo) he
vidi she
Subjective Plural Translation
solio/neus/nos we
vobus you
leus they (Masculine)
lies they (Feminine)

The Objective Pronoun:

Objective Singular Translation
eo me
eum you
vede him
vi her
Objective Plural Translation
neus (or also) nos us
eus them (Masculine)
ies them (Feminine)

The stem sol- is a fixed "value carrier". Meaning that it does not carry meaning other than being there phonologically. The important pieces to learn are the endings: -o, -u, -io, and -ie. These correspond to "I", "you", "we", and "they", respectively. It is imperative to learn now however, that these 'pronominal endings' that when used in verbs (as will be shown in the Verb section) correspond to "me", "you", "us", and "them", respectively.

Part IV

Verbs. The Three Basic Tenses. Irregular Verbs. The Perfect Tense. Pronominal Endings and Word Order. The Conditional Mood.

Verbs denote action in a language.

"Taryn found his diary on the desk."

Vampiric verbs are highly conjugative. That is, the verbs can be modified to show tense, mood, and pronominal possessive qualities. Most verbs in Verzpertillio end in -e. This is their Infinitive Form and this is the form used to conjugate tenses unless a pronominal ending is added to the verb in which case the pronominal ending take the place of the -e. The basic tenses are the Infinitive, Present, Past, and Future. English does not have a true future tense in the 'conjugation' sense, as it requires auxilliary verbs such as "will" to conjugate the tense, but Verzpertillio like other Romance languages does indeed have a true future tense.

The Infinitive

We'll use two verbs for the examples. Here are the examples in their basic Infinitive Form:

Verb Stem Translation
noste nost- to love
vide vid- to see

The Infinitive Form is the 'starter' form of any verb. This is the beginning point from which to begin conjugating verbs in Verzpertillio. The stem is the form that is used to conjugate a verb with a pronominal ending and this will be shown later.

The Present Tense

The Present Tense is denoted by adding -re to the verb. Pronouns go before verbs:

Infinitive Form + Present Tense Translation
noste -re soló nostere I love
vide -re solu videre you see

The Past Tense

The Past Tense is denoted by adding -va to the verb:

Infinitive Form + Past Tense Translation
noste -va solio nosteva we loved
vide -va solie videva they saw

The Future Tense

The Future Tense is denoted by adding -zum to the verb:

Infinitive Form + Future Tense Translation
noste -zum solu nostezum you will love
vide -zum soló videzum I will see

Irregular Verbs and their Tense Formation.

As explained, most verbs in Verzpertillio end in -e. But there are also verbs in Verzpertillio ending in -re and -mus in the Infinitive Form; these are irregular verbs. They are not as common, but they follow their own set of conjugation.

Verbs ending in -re

Infinitive/Present Form Stem Translation Example Translation
setire setir- (to) agree solu setire you agree
nauzere nauzer- (to) tempt solie nauzere they tempt

As shown in the two examples, the -re ending verbs are already in their Present Tense form in their Infinitive Form. However, the -re ending is maintained even when conjugating the other tenses:

Tense Verb Form Translation Verb Form Translation
Infinitive/Present setire (to) agree nauzere (to) tempt
Past (Infinitive + -va) setireva agreed nauzereva tempted
Future (Infinitve + -zum) setirezum will agree nauzerezum will tempt

Verbs ending in -mus

Verbs ending in -mus, like -re ending verbs, are also shown in the Present Tense in their Infinitive Form:

Infinitive/Present Form Stem Translation Example Translation
senzimus senzi- (to) expect soló senzimus I expect
vertamus verta- (to) discuss solio vertamus we discuss

As with -re ending verbs, -mus ending verbs also have their own rules for conjugating tenses. However, they do not use the Infinitive Form to inflect its tense, but rather the stem of the verb:

Tense Verb Form Translation Verb Form Translation
Infinitive/Present senzimus (to) expect vertamus (to) discuss
Past (Stem + -mustem) senzimustem expected vertamustem discussed
Future (Stem + -zitem) senzitem* will expect vertazitem will discuss

*Note
You may have noticed that the Future Tense of the verb "to expect" was not conjugated as "senzizitem" since the rules logically explain that it should have been conjugated as such. However, since the verbal stem already contains -zi, a quality called "assimilation" between the verbal stem "senzi-" and the tense formation "-zitem" occurs, similar to to -re ending verbs and their Present Tense formation. Since verbs can be modified so much, assimilation usually occurs in verbs so they do not end up with repeated word clusters within the word and thus eliminates possible confusion.

In other words, Vampires had adopted to say "senzitem" instead of "senzizitem" purely for phonologically aesthetic reasons; though some ancient Vampire poets with a great mastery in the language were known to use the latter formation in highly archaic Verzpertillio writings…

The Perfect Tenses.

Whereas the three basic tenses Present, Past, and Future denote a fixed action in time, the three Perfect Tenses; Present Perfect, Past Perfect, and Future Perfect, denote ongoing actions within their time tense:

Tense Example
Infinitive to see
Present Perfect have seen
Past Perfect had seen
Future Perfect will have seen

The Perfect Tenses require the use of pronouns to conjugate the forms. Pronouns here are inflected to show the tense.

Present Perfect

The Present Perfect Tense is denoted by adding -ver to the pronoun and changing the verb to the Past Tense. Here is an example in the simple Present Tense:

Example Translation
soló nostere I love

Here’s the same example conjugated into the Present Perfect Tense:

Pronoun + -ver and Verb (in Past Tense) Translation
solover nosteva I have loved

The same rule is used to conjugate this tense with -re and -mus ending verbs:

Examples Translation
soliover nauzereva we have tempted
soluver senzimustem they have expected

Past Perfect

The Past Perfect Tense is denoted by adding -va to the pronoun and changing the verb to the Past Tense:

Pronoun + -va and Verb (in Past Tense) Translation
soliova videva we had seen
soluva setireva you had agreed
solova vertamustem I had discussed

Future Perfect

The Future Perfect tense is denoted by adding -vezum to the pronoun and changing the verb to the Past Tense:

Pronoun + -vezum and Verb (in Past Tense) Translation
soliovezum videva we will have seen
solovezum nauzereva I have tempted
soluvezum vertamustem you will have discussed

Subjective Verbal Pronominal Endings.

So far we have shown the verbal possession in Verzpertillio. That being "I love", "we saw", or "you have discussed". These are called possessive (subjective), or personal endings, because the pronouns are the who of the verbal action. Something always has to be doing the verbal action. But so far, we have only shown these pronouns independent of the verb. But Verzpertillio has a pronominal ending quality that can take the place of the individual pronoun. Here are some examples:

Pronoun and Verbal Form Translation
soló nostere I love
Verbal-Pronominal Ending Translation
nostereo I love

Pronominal endings have their own tense conjugation rules, -e and -re ending verbs having the same form of conjugation while -mus ending verbs have their own conjugation forms.

The Present Tense (for Pronominal Ending Verbs)

For -e and -re ending verbs, the present tense must be conjugated and then the pronominal endings must be added. Here are two examples:

noste (nost-) to love

Present Tense (-e Ending Verb) + Pronominal Ending Form Translation
nostere -o nostereo I love
nostere -um nostereum you love
nostere -mo nosteremo we love
nostere -n nosteren they love

imizire (imizir-) to copy

Present Tense (-re ending Verb) + Pronominal Ending Form Translation
imizire -o imizireo I copy
imizire -um imizireum you copy
imizire -mo imiziremo we copy
imizire -n imiziren they copy

For -mus ending verbs the stem is required to form the Pronominal Ending:

edomus (edo-) to improve

Stem (-mus Ending Verb) + Pronominal Ending Form Translation
edo- -mo edomo I improve
edo- -mas edomas you improve
edo- -meus edomeus we improve
edo- -mes edomes they improve

The Past Tense (for Pronominal Ending Verbs)

For Past Tense (-e and -re ending verbs), the Infinitive Form is used to conjugate the Pronominal Endings:

vene (ven-) to meet

Infinitive (-e Ending Verb) + Pronominal Ending Form Translation
vene -vo venevo I met
vene -vus venevus you met
vene -vorem (or also: viores) venevorem (or also: veneviores) we met
vene -verem veneverem they met

cazire (-cazir-) to kiss

Infinitive (-re Ending Verb) + Pronominal Ending Form Translation
cazire -vo cazirevo I kissed
cazire -vus cazirevus you kissed
cazire -vorem (or also: viores) cazirevorem (or also: cazireviores) we kissed
cazire -verem cazireverem they kissed

-mus ending verbs require the stem of the verb to conjugate the Pronominal Ending:

azomus (azo-) to face (to confront)

Stem (-mus Ending Verb) + Pronominal Ending Form Translation
azo- -mavo azomavo I faced
azo- -mavus azomavus you faced
azo- -morem azomorem we faced
azo- -musterem azomusterem they faced

The Future Tense (for Pronominal Ending Verbs)

For Future Tense (-e and -re ending verbs) the Infinitive Form is used to conjugate the Pronominal Endings:

verzpe (verzp-) to speak

Infinitive (-e Ending Verb) + Pronominal Ending Form Translation
verzpe -vor (or also: -ovar) verzpevor (or also: verzpeovar) I will speak
verzpe -varis verzpevaris you will speak
verzpe -varem verzpevarem we will speak
verzpe -vant verzpevant they will speak

teclare (teclar-) to draw

Infinitive (-re Ending Verb) + Pronominal Ending Form Translation
teclare -vor (or also: -ovar) teclarevor (or also: teclareovar) I will draw
teclare -varis teclarevaris you will draw
teclare -varem teclarevarem we will draw
teclare -vant teclarevant they will draw

-mus ending verbs require the stem to conjugate the Pronominal Endings:

vertamus (verta-) to discuss

Stem (-mus Ending Verb) + Pronominal Ending Form Translation
verta- -zureo vertazureo I will discuss
verta- -zireum vertazireum you will discuss
verta- -ziteus vertaziteus we will discuss
verta- -ziterem vertaziterem they will discuss

Objective Pronominal Endings in Verbs and Word Order.

So far we have covered subjective pronouns and how they interact with verbs. Subjective meaning that they are the 'subjects' of the verb. They are the who does the action of the sentence. The missing piece now is who is the action being directed to? These are the objective pronouns. They are the 'objects' of the verb, they are the who is the verbal action being done to of the sentence:

You see me.
I like you.
they bite us
we teach them

The red pronouns are called subjective pronouns, and the blue pronouns are called objective pronouns. In English, this is the subject - verb - object word order. Verzpertillio however, uses the subject - ver(object)b and subject - object - verb word order.

To illustrate the subject - ver(object)b word order:

"soló nosture" which translates to "I love you"

Verzpertillio is modifying the pronominal ending into the verb.

And to illustrate the subject - object - verb word order:

"soló eum nostereo" which translates literally to "I you love" with 'you' being the objective word in the sentence. Notice that the subjective pronominal ending verb must be used in the subject - object - verb word order. To illustrate this:

Correct Form soló eum nostereo I love you
Incorrect Form soló eum nostere I love you

And if you wanted to say "I love him", using the simple rule, you know to place 'him' between the subject and the verb:

Form Translation
soló ve nostereo I love him

As illustrated, you can see that the verb maintains its pronominal ending even though a pronoun is being placed at the begining of the sentence. And the objective pronoun is being placed between the subject and verb, thus in agreement with the rule.

Using the subject - object - verb formation is self explanatory; the only rules being to use the objective form of a pronoun, and to conjugate the verb in the subjective form of the subject in the sentence.

The subject -ver(object)b simply requires to use the verbal stem to add the pronominal ending. Any other tense inflection must go after the pronominal ending. Essentially, the pronominal ending take the place of the -e ending of the verbs:

Verb and (Stem) Objective Form (Pronominal Ending added) Translation
noste (nost-) nostore love me
noste (nost-) nosture love you
noste (nost-) nostiore love us
noste (nost-) nostiere love them

Tenses are formed after the pronominal ending:

Verb and (Stem) Objective Form (different tenses) Translation
noste (nost-) nostuva loved you
vide (vid-) vidozum will see me

The Conditional

The conditional mood or tense is used in Verzpertillio to emphasize an action you would do if something else was possible. Basically, the verb is inflected to mean what you would like to do, but there is a condition behind doing that action:

"I would go to Chicago if I had time,"

The conditional can also be used to do an indirect quote, or a conditional desire:

"He said he would see you tomorrow,"
"I would like a drink,"

The conditional is conjugated by adding the corresponding endings to the infinitive form of the verb:

Infinitive (stem) Ending Form Translation
ire (ir-) -vero irevero e Chicago tierdo haberevo sempus I would go to Chicago if I had time
ire (ir-) -veru ireveru e Chicago tierdo haberevus sempus you would go to Chicago if you had time
ire (ir-) -veros (or also): verio ireveros (ireverio) e Chicago tierdo haberevorem sempus we would go to Chicago if we had time
ire (ir-) -verie ireverie e Chicago tierdo habereverem sempus they would go to Chicago if they had time

The word tierdo meaning "if" is usually used. It is formal and polite, but the informal form of the word "if", si, can also be used, among friends only:

Impolite Form Translation
irevero e Chicago si haberevo sempus I would go to Chicago if I had time

Part V

Stress Pronouns

Pronouns take a stress quality when comparing the same subject in a sentence multiple times. This is done by changing the form of the pronoun.

Singular Stress Pronouns Translation
eo me
teus you
vedus he
vidis she
Plural Stress Pronouns Translation
neus we
vobus you (collectively)
eus them (Masculine)
ies them (Feminine)

Formation of the stress is created by using the corresponding subjective pronoun.

Singular Form Translation
eo, soló velartereo pergo eo Me, I work for me.
teus, solu velartereum pergo teus You (Yourself), you work for you (yourself).
vedus, vedu velartere pergo vedus He (Himself), he works for he (himself).
vidis, vidi velartere pergo vidis She (Herself), she works for she (herself).
Plural Form Translation
neus, neus velarteremo pergo neus We (Us), we work for we (us).
vobus, vobus velarteren pergo vobus You (collectively), you work for you (collectively).
eus, leus velarteren pergo eus Themselves, they work for themselves. (Masculine. See note on Gender in Part I.)
ies, lies velarteren pergo ies Themselves, they work for themselves. (Feminine. See note on Gender in Part I.)

Part VI

Interjections.

Interjections are words that usually do not have grammatical connections to sentences. Thus, interjections can be placed anywhere in a sentence. Interjections in Verzpertillio follow a very carefull "polite" and "impolite" rule. Thus there are proper times to say one interjection, while inappropiate to say others during the same given situation. Note that interjections found (or not existing) in other languages will not always apply in Verzpertillio.

Interjection Translation Formality
prestario "greetings" or "hello" formal and polite
virtemtio "goodbye" formal and polite
virti "bye" informal and impolite but friendly
vidurente "see you" or (loosely translated): "see ya" informal and impolite but friendly depending on tone
gredo "I thank you" formal and polite and thankful
gredi "thank you" or "thanks" informal but still polite and friendly
vregodeum "you are welcome" formal and polite, usually sometimes comes out cold or unfriendly
vreggo "you're welcome" informal but friendly
supplicatus "please" formal usually comes out cold and unfriendly
si supplireum…? "please" very formal and polite

Alternately, Verzpertillio is very flexible in the way one may greet or part, not needing to rely solely on interjections to express these thoughts:

Expression Translation
avero quez veneremo darem novus until we meet again
solio venere darem novus we meet again
veneremo vissidarom we meet at last

It should be noted however that Vampires do not (in Verzpertillio) have words or even expressions for "good morning", "good afternoon", or a literal "good night". Rather, they have formal and informal greetings and partings, and the only tangible "good night" they have is translatable to "have good dreams".

Also, depending on the way interjections are said they can come out formal or informal, polite or impolite. For example, if one were to say "solo serem vidurente" calmly and just above a whisper you are politely saying "I will be seeing you". But if said loudly and clearly (pronouncing the consonants sharply) it can be quite threatening. Alternately, if one were to say simply "vidurente" it is usually considered appropriate among friends only.

Part VII

Auxiliary Verbs. The Verb "to be" and the Progressive Form of Verbs.

Auxiliary verbs are literally 'helping verbs'. They help verbs inflect their meaning. Auxiliary verbs and the Progressive form of verbs go hand in hand to conjugate the 'progressive' tense. But to learn the progressive form of verbs, we must first learn the very important verb, "to be".

The Verb "to be"

In Verzpertillio, the verb "to be" is irregular. That is, it does not closely follow the established rules of verbal conjugation already covered. Rather, one must memorize each form the verb "to be" takes.

Infinitive Stem Translation
ere er- to be

Present Tense

Form Translation
ereo I am
ereum you are
vedus sere he is
vidis sere she is
erem we are
derente they are

Past Tense

Form Translation
arevo I was
aresteur you were
erevoram we were
erezieva they were

Future Tense

Form Translation
serem I will be
sereus you will be
serestem we will be
serestien they will be

As illustrated, the verb "to be" in Verzpertillio changes its form drastically. These are the forms that are used in conjunction with the progressive form of verbs to create the 'progressive' tense.

The Progressive Form of Verbs

The progressive form of verbs usually works in conjunction with the verb "to be". In many European languages, one says "I am seeing" rathar than "I seeing". In Verzpertillio, the progressive form is denoted by adding -rente to the infinitive form of the verb:

Example Translation
vide (vid-) to see
Form Translation
viderente seeing

Only -nte is added to -re ending verbs BUT -rente after a pronominal ending:

Example Translation
setire (setir-) to agree
Form Translation
setirente agreeing
Form (Pronominal Ending) translation
setirurente agreeing with you (literally "agreeing you")

Similarly, the stem ending for -mus ending verbs are used plus -rente to conjugate the progressive form:

Example Translation
senzimus (senzi-) to expect
Form Translation
senzirente expecting
Form (Pronominal Ending) Translation
senzierente expecting them

But the progressive form is fully utilized when used with the verb "to be". Simply adding the verb "to be" in any tense (and the individual pronouns, soló, solu, solio, solie, may be added for further clarification, if desired) before the progressive verb:

Form Translation
(soló) ereo vidurente I am seeing you
(solu) aresteur nostorente You were loving me
(solio) erevoram senzurente We were expecting you

Part VIII

Adjectives. Adjectival Agreement in Number, and Gender. Nouns as Adjectives.

Simply put, adjectives modify nouns and other adjectives:

"The tall vampire."

Descriptive adjectives add detail to nouns and pronouns. In Verzpertillio, descriptive adjectives go after the noun they are modifying, and NOT before (as in English grammar). But an adjective describing a pronoun goes last:

Example Translation
diero iluminir ezerento the tall vampire (the vampire tall)
vedus sere nozem he is beautiful

Adjectival Agreement in Number

Adjectives in Verzpertillio agree in number if the noun they are modifying is plural. -ores is added to the adjective if it ends in a consonant. If the adjective ends in a vowel, -res is added:

Plural Form Translation
dierom iluminirae nozemores the beautiful vampires (the vampires beautifuls)
dierom iluminirae ezerentores the tall vampires (the vampires talls)

Adjectival Agreement in Gender

Adjectives also agree in gender if the noun they are modifying is genderized. In their basic form, all adjectives are in the masculine form and only need to add -ti to the adjective to inflect it into the feminine and -tires if it is plural:

Singular Form Translation
dierti iluminiri nozemti the beautiful vampire (in the feminine)
Plural Form Translation
diertim iluminirie nozemtires the beautiful vampires (in the feminine)

Nouns as Adjectives

Nouns in Verzpertillio can also be used as adjectives. This is common among European languages where two nouns can be used, one noun describing the other:

"A blood brother"

In Verzpertilliio, the preposition deis is usually placed in front of the noun that is being used as an adjective, and they are both placed after the noun that is being described:

Form Translation
ume adeum deis vena a blood brother (a brother of blood)
ume enzanter deis nozedeum a night child (a child of night)

Part IX

Noun Cases and the Five Declensions. The First Declension.

Possibly the most difficult and confusing aspect of Verzpertillio is that the language has retained the noun declension characteristic that Latin had. Verzpertillio nouns are highly inflective. The English language has lost most of the inflective noun characteristics it once had in its past. But to show an example of what declensions (or cases) are in English:

"The boy's book is on the desk,"

The -'s case ending is expressing that the noun is possessing something. This is similar to what happens when Verzpertillio nouns are inflected down their declensions; however, much more can be expressed in Verzpertillio with inflected nouns.

However, in Verzpertillio the declension system works in such a way that there are a total of five declension endings depending on the ending of the noun itself. In other words, the five declensions are grouped by the noun endings -m -a -i (first declension), -s (second declension), -l (third declension), -r (fourth declension), -z (fifth declension).

The Nominative Case. (First Declension).

The nominative case is the basic uninflected form of the Verzpertillio noun; it is the basic subject form.

"The boy [as the subject] is tall,"

Similarly in Verzpertillio, the nominative case is used with the basic form of the noun without inflecting it:

Number Nominative Translation
Singular [diero] sarom ere ezerento The boy is tall.
Plural dierom saromae derente ezerentores The boys are tall.
Singular [dierti] vena ere vorgo The blood is red.
Plural diertim venae derente vorgotores* Essentially The bloods are reds. (Verzpertillio never lost the plural when referring to blood)*

Remember that nouns ending in consonants form the plural by adding -ae to the noun, but that nouns ending in a vowel only add -e to the noun.

Additionally, there is a second form of the nominative case called the vocative case in Verzpertillio. This is the form that is used to pronounce the word vocally. The nominative form acts as the starting vocative case as the stems of Verzpertillio nouns rarely change in pronounciation save for the s and z characteristic.

The Genitive Case. (First Declension).

The genitive case, or the possessive case, inflects the noun to make it "the source of possession":

Number Genitive Translation
Singular dierti vena saromedeus diventareverem The boy's blood has poured (spilled) out.
Plural diertim venae saromederes hebereverem diventareverem The boys' blood have poured (spilled) out.
Singular seper venadeus The blood's flavor. (In the feminine -a ending nouns, the e from the genitive -edeus and -ederes is dropped, as shown here and in all other examples.)
Plural seperae venaderes* The bloods' flavor.*
Singular vena veuladeus The girl's blood.
Plural venae veuladeres The girls' blood.

Because the genitive case inflects the noun to always be possessing something, the word order in Verzpertillio - when using the formal form of the genitive case - is not important. Saying seper venadeus and venadeus seper gave the exact same meaning: "the blood's flavor," simply because the noun "blood" is the one with the inflected possessing case, so it does not matter where it is placed in the sentence. In any case, vampires seemed to always place the possessing noun at the end of the sentence, so seper venadeus would have been the common way of writing it. However, this word order rule is not true when using the impolite or informal form of the genitive case, as shown below.

The genitive case possesses an impolilte, or informal form:

Number Genitive Translation
Singular pertenis e deus sarom The boy's father. (Masculine)
Plural diero pertenis e deres saromae The boys' father. (Masculine)
Singular pertenis i deus veula The girl's father. (Feminine)
Plural pertenis i deres veulae The girls' father. (Feminine)

Word order is important in the impolite/informal form of the genitive case: saying pertenis e deus sarom (the boy's father), is NOT the same as saying sarom e deus pertenis (the father's boy). Again, as explained earlier, the formal form of the genitive case is much more precise, and as such, it does not need to follow a certain word order: pertenis saromedeus means "the boy's father," and saromedeus pertenis means the exact same thing. Only by saying sarom pertenisedeus would you be saying "the father's boy".

Also note how in the plural sentence that the article (dierti), and noun (vena), agree with the plural saromederes.

*A Note on the Plural of Blood
Verzpertillio - while seemingly odd - retains the pluarlization of the noun "blood" for one crutial reason: vampires seemed to have a psychological reason or need to distinguish the blood of individuals. For them, if there were seven cups each filled with the blood of seven different humans, they had an innate need to distinguish that in a spoken manner. To them, it would have been, "the bloods in the cups," and not, "the blood in the cups,"; for to many ancient vampires… it was as if they were speaking of the humans from which they took the blood. Out of some form of respect, or honor, or maybe even guilt, or a mixture of these, no one now knows why.

The Dative Case. (First Declension).

In the dative case, something is being given to the noun, this can be in the form of another noun - a book, a flower, or even a kiss, a lecture, etc.

Number Dative Translation
Singular derevus diero vivlo saromibus You gave [to] the boy the book. (Or more accurately: You gave the book to the boy.
Plural derevus diero vivlo saromius You gave [to] the boy the book. (Or more accurately: You gave the book to the boys.
Singular vertireverem saromibus They lectured [to] the boy.
Plural vertireverem saromius They lectured [to] the boys.

Names, being nouns, were also inflected in the dative case. Since modern names were for the most part spelled and pronounced differently during ancient times (when Verzpertillio would have been used), there will be times when modifications will have to be made in order to make a more accurate translation:

For example, in the sentences "Taryn gave Justin the book," and "Taryn kissed Justin," the names would have to be modified to their closest Verzpertillio approximations, "Tarin" and "Justus". The y in Taryn would not be phonologically correct in Verzpertillio because a y never proceeded or followed a consonant, only another vowel. Justin can simply be translated to its ancient Latin origin. Then the sentences could be formed: tarin dereva diero vivlo justusibus, and tarin cazireva justusibus.*

*A Note on the Pronounciation
Justus is pronounced as in "who-stoos", whereas if the j came before an a it would be pronounced with a sharpness such as in "the cookie jar,"

The Ordinal Noun Case.

Verzpertillio nouns can be inflected to show ordinal numbers instead of including an ordinal number separately. This is the ordinal noun case. The inflections closely follow the phonology of the actual ordinal numbers in Verzpertillio:

Ordinal Number Translation
enus First or 1st
sendus Second or 2nd
terius Third or 3rd
qertius Fourth or 4th
cintus Fifth or 5th
sizus Sixth or 6th
septus Seventh or 7th
hezotivo Eighth or 8th
nuevis Ninth or 9th
diovis Tenth or 10th

The ordinal case is conjugated differently depending on the ending of the noun. There are seven different possible nominative endings for nouns: -m, -s, -l, -r, -i, -z, and -a. Each one conjugates the ordinal case differently.

For nouns ending in -m, -l, -r, the ordinal is inflected simply by adding the ending to the noun:

Ordinal Particle Form Translation
-eo diero saromeo The first boy.
-us diero saromus The second boy.
-erius diero saromerius The third boy.
-ertius diero saromertius The fourth boy.
-intus diero saromintus The fifth boy.
-izus diero saromizus The sixth boy.
-eptus diero saromeptus The seventh boy.
-otivo diero saromotivo The eighth boy.
-evis diero saromevis The ninth boy.
-vis diero saromvis The tenth boy.

For nouns ending in -s the ordinal case is inflected differently. The the last vowel (usually proceeding the -s) and the -s endings are removed on all ordinal inflections except the first:

Noun Ordinal Particle Form Translation
sempus -eo sempuseo First time.
semp- -undus sempundus Second time.
semp- -erius semperius Third time.
semp- -ertius sempertius Fourth time.
semp- -intus sempintus Fifth time.
semp- -izum sempizum Sixth time.
semp- -ptus semptus Seventh time.
semp- -otivo sempotivo Eighth time.
semp- -evis sempevis Ninth time.
semp- -vis sempvis Tenth time.

The Diminutive Noun Case.

Along with the other cases, Verzpertillio nouns can also employ the diminutive case, which is used in two forms: polite (or normal), and impolite. The polite, or normal form of the case is formed by adding -ide to nouns ending in consonants.

Noun Form Translation
sarom diero saromide The little boy.
mordeum ume mordeumide A little bite.

However, nouns ending in -s, -a, and -z are dropped before adding -ide to the noun:

Noun Form Translation
animalis ume animalide A little animal.
adara umi adaride A little condition.
fermiz umi fermide A little leg.

Nouns ending in -i are assimilated:

Noun Form Translation
portenti umi portentide A little chance.
nozati umi nozatide A little attraction.

The diminutive case also has an impolite form (-ideri), which is used when wishing to express an attraction to something in a cute-like fashion:

Noun Form Translation
animalis ume animalideri A little animal.

But depending on tone and mood and context, can also be used as an insult:

Noun Form Translation
sarom saromideri Little boy.

MORE TO COME…

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License