The Kazujisha Textbook

Lesson 2: Nouns - asking questions

sehekasa - katava soma jei; pdf

§9 As Kazujisha does not inflect words, all nouns only have one basic form – the indefinite singular. In order to mark plurality, definiteness and the genitive case, particles are added.

§10 Plurality is marked by adding jei either before or after the noun to be modified.

	kudu jei	houses		jei shasit	stars	
	miro jei	nights		jei rahkete	trees
	hae jei		walls		jei lad		rooms

§11 Definiteness is marked by adding ga either before or after the noun to be modified.

	kudu ga		the house	ga shasit	the star	
	miro ga		the night	ga rahkete	the tree
	hae ga		the wall	ga lad		the room

§12 The genitive case is marked by adding ra after the noun to be modified.

	kudu ra		house's		shasit ra	star's	
	miro ra		night's		rahkete ra	tree's
	hae ra		wall's		lad ra		room's

§13 The genitive case is in many cases equivalent to the English -'s and of-constructions.

	rahkete ra veljate jei	tree's leaves (the leaves of the tree)
	kuninga ra hinase	the King's throne (the throne of the King)

§14 When stacking particles, all combinations are valid as long as the ra is placed last.

	jei ga rahkete ra	the trees'
	shasit ga jei ra	the stars'

§15 Definiteness is not marked following a genitive with certain exceptions. These exceptions are best learned case-by-case, and until one has learned them, one should not mark definiteness on a noun following a genitive. See §16.

§16 It must be noted that Kazujisha outside formal language rarely marks definiteness, plurality, and the genitive case. It is relied on context in order to understand what is being meant, and only if there is a possibility of misunderstanding, the words are added.

§17 A yes/no question in Kazujisha is formed by adding teh or (less common) naete in front of the statement.

	Lad ga daks tahtu.		The room is there.
	Teh lad ga daks tahtu?		Is the room there?
	Naete lad ga daks tahtu?	 

§18 An answer is constructed by either repeating the statement or the verb. Answering the question with a simple ka "yes" or ne "no" is incorrect but somewhat common due to influence from other languages.

	Teh zhijala esin?	Is she eating?
	Zhijala (ne) esin.	She is (not) eating.
	(Ka,) esin.		(Yes,) [she] eats.
	Ne esin.		[She] does not eat.

Text

Mijala kaeste. Me ra jutalfei daks ni Engleka, ari me ra kaestesha daks Kazujisha. Teh su jusupa Kazujisha? Najte najala daks ni najala ra kudu? Ka, me jusupa ja mej da ni kudu, ari su ne da ni kudu. Jutalfei ga daks katsume, ja jei kudu ga daks kaugi. Kazujisha ra meiri ga daks easkgi, tahagi ja lanje.

Tahlm da me ra shan. Zhi ra tadankirnjo da Imnitega. Me ra shan da tjalme, ja zhi ra ljubase da lanje ja katsume. Teh zhi da Kazujishamá? Ka, zhi da ari zhi unustakas Englekasha. Zhi lãe vorja zhi kudu. Ni zhi kudu, zhi kirbi tihental.

Wordlist

ari		but
easkgi		yellow
jutalfei	book
kaestesha	language one is learning
kaugi		red
kirbi		to drink
lanje		black
ljubase		clothes
lãe		to walk, go
meiri		flag
ni		in, inside
shan		friend
tadankirnjo	surname, family name
tahagi		orange
tihental	water
vorja		to, towards

Exercise

1. Translate the following into Kazujisha. Make sure that you practice both using and dropping jei, ga and ra.

My house is not orange but the flag is. My house is red. My friend’s name is Ken. He is English but lives in Kazujisha. He and I walk to her house. We see her in the house. She is my friend. She drinks water in the house. She is Kazujishan and does not speak English. Her surname is Kaotienva.

2. Translate the following into English.

Mijalaja ra shan ra ljubase ga da tahagi. Mijala kirbi tihental. Su turera ja rãe vorja me ni Kazujisha. Su ljubase da easkgi. Tahlm da katsume jutalfei. Jutalfei da kitaja, me jusupa se. Me va ta shan, ja ta da me shan. Mej tadankirnjo da Arukaslan. Mej unustakas Tehatei.

Phrases

Countries and languages

Sha-ja				Languages/Countries
Arabikasha, Kinesisha,		Arabia, China
Nederlandasha, Eestasha,	Netherlands, Estonia
Espanjasha, Finlandasha,	Spain, Finland,
Furansusha, Germaanisha,	France, Germany
Italiansha, Nihonsha,		Italy, Japan
Koranasha, Polakisha,		Korea, Poland
Rusijasha, Tazjakuusha,		Russia, Tazjakuu
Teeyasha, Zhytjetjisha		Sweden, Zhütjetji

Shamánas			Nationality (nouns)
Arabikashamá, Kinesishamá,	Arabian, Chinese
Nederlandashamá, Eestashamá,	Dutch, Estonian
Espanjashamá, Finlandashamá,	Spaniard, Finn,
Furansushamá, Germaanishamá,	French, German
Italianshamá, Nihonshamá,	Italian, Japanese
Koranashamá, Polakishamá,	Korean, Pole
Rusijashamá, Tazjakuushamá,	Russian, Tazjakuu
Teeyashamá, Zhytjetjishamá	Swede, Zhütjetji

Exercise answers

1. Mijala ra kudu daks ne tahagi ari meiri ga daks. Mijala ra kudu daks kaugi. Mijala ra shan ra kirnjo daks Ken. Bajala daks Englekamá ari unustakas Kazujisha. Bajala ja mijala lãe vorja zhijala ra kudu. Mijala nãei zhijala ni ga kudu. Zhijala daks Kazujishamá ja ne rãe Engleka. Zhijala ra tadankirnjo daks Kaotienva.

2. Our friend's clothes are orange. We drink water. You come and speak with (towards) me in Kazujisha. Your clothes are yellow. Here is a green book. The book is great, I am reading it. I am his/her friend, and he/she is my friend. Our surname is Arukaslan. We live in Tehatei.