Noun-following particles are separated from that noun with an apostrophe, i.e. na’a.
Word order - SOV (not concrete) | noun-particle | adjective-noun | possessor-possessee | adverbs can be placed virtually anywhere in a sentence with few exceptions Subject may be omitted if already clear or to make voice passive. -eg. Ba a se o na i nare. Daman fer o na i nare. - I give it to you. [I] give you beautiful peace. -OR Se o na i nare. Daman fer o na i nare. - You are given it. You are given beautiful peace.
There is no grammatical tense. Instead, adverbs are used. Other times, tense is unspecified and should be guessed through context. -eg. Sar ba a se o na i nare. - I gave it to you. (I give it to you before.)
Nordsang has no copula. Instead, usually an adjective-noun-“gare” or noun, noun, “’a gare” format is used.
All verbs are ambitransitive if you can make it work.
Infinitive verbs generally take a noun particle (such as if it would be glossed to “verb-ing”, e.g. gare’a fejre - existing is good).
Pronouns default to feminine. Nordsang has a free grammatical gender; every noun can be any gender depending on its role in context, though there are certain conventions. See https://ulina.miraheze.org/wiki/Gender_and_Sexuality_in_Nordgis. In this page, the word “neuter” is used for practicality, but the “neuter” grammatical gender is actually used to refer to sirmen or objects with sirmeros qualities.
Generally the imperatives take the infinitive.
Other important grammatical devices -ne - possessive suffix (added to possessor) [POSS] eg. Sirne ven - The person’s bow
-n/-en - plural suffix (changes to -en when following another n) [PL]
-ni - collectivizing suffix (“entire,” “the entirety of,” or “all”) (only applicable to nouns) [COL] eg. Urinani i ibirsange. - To broadcast to all of Ulina.
-ros - adjectivizing suffix (similar to English -esque, -al, -y) [ADJ] eg. Sirvros sir a gare. - A tree(-like) person exists.
-mi - nounifying suffix (similar to English -ship or -ness) [NOUN]
Verbs inflect with tense as well as a negative inflection.
It is traditional to generally tell stories of the distant past (karsangre) in present tense, regardless of when they happened.
| Past | Present | Future | Past (negative) | Present (negative) | Future (negative) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -re | -ran | -rat | -ravi | -ron | -ro | -rosa |
| -e | -an | -at | -evi | -aron | -ar | -aros |
| e.g. gare. | Sa’a garan. | |||||
| She existed. | Sa’a garat. | |||||
| She exists. | Sa’a garavi. | |||||
| She will exist. | Sa’a garon. | |||||
| She did not exist; She ceased to exist. | Sa’a garo. | |||||
| She does not exist. | Sa’a garosa. | |||||
| She will not exist. | ||||||
| e.g. ferine. | Sa’a ferinan. | |||||
| She tried. | ||||||
| Sa’a ferinat. | ||||||
| She tries. | Sa’a ferinevi. | |||||
| She will try. | Sa’a ferinaron. | |||||
| She did not try. | Sa’a ferinar. | |||||
| She does not try. | Sa’a ferinaros. | |||||
| She will not try. |
Honorifics - Honorifics come after the name they modify (as a suffix). -Sir - a common honorific used in formal situations, similar to Mr./Ms./Mx. in English or -san in Japanese. Can also be applied to pronouns to make them more polite, especially second person pronouns. -Sari - an honorific denoting respect or status. Can also be applied to pronouns. -Kari - an honorific denoting disrespect or disgrace. -Ibirkari - an uncommon derogatory honorific denoting extreme distaste. -Soji - an honorific denoting endearment, somewhat like -chan in Japanese -Sorije - an honorific denoting filiety (used with parents)