The basics of Pandunia
Pandunia is a constructed language that has a minimalistic grammar and a globalistic vocabulary.
Letters and sounds
Pandunia uses a systematic spelling where each letter represents one spoken sound.
The vowels a, e, i, o, u are pronounced as in "are there three or two".
The consonants are: b, c (sounds like ch in church), d, f, g (always hard), h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r (never silent), s (always voiceless), t, v (sounds like w), x (sounds like sh), y, z.
Never changing words
Words don't ever inflect or change in Pandunia – not even when they change their word class! The same word, without any change in form, can serve as a noun, adjective or verb.
Personal pronouns
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| mi | mimen | |
| 1st | I, me | we, us |
| tu | tumen | |
| 2nd | you | you all |
| da | damen | |
| 3rd | he/she, him/her | they, them |
Basic sentence structures
The particle ya 'yes' may separate the subject and the verb when the subject is a noun.
mau ya yam.
– The cat eats.
jen ya sona.
– The person sleeps.
If the subject is a personal pronoun, the ya is left out.
mi yam.
– I eat.
tu sona.
– You sleep.
da sona.
– He/she sleeps.
The basic word order is subject–verb–object – the same as in English!
mi ame tu. – I love you.
When the direct object is a noun, it is marked apart from the verb by a demonstrative pronoun, numeral or another determiner.
mi yam un pai.
– I eat a pie.
tu yam ye pai.
– You eat this pie.
Negation
To negate a word, add no before it.
mi no sona.
– I don't sleep.
tu yam no jen.
– You eat no-one.
To be
The verb es means 'to be'. It can be left out in very simple sentences.
mi es jen.
– I am a person.
mi jen.
– I'm a person.
It can't be left out when it is part of a serial verb.
mi vol es mau.
– I want to be a cat.
mi vol mau!
– I want a cat!
Multi-purpose words
Pandunia words can be ambiguous because they often have more meanings compared to English.
da ame mau. – He loves cats. / She loved a cat. / He/she will love the cat.
But actually the meaning is clear in the real context:
pre tri nen, mi ha du mau e un vaf. mi max ha un fem ben. da ame mau! – Three years ago, I had two cats and a dog. I also had a daughter. She loved the cats!
Time
Tenses and aspects are optionally expressed with the help of adverbs and auxiliary verbs, like zai (currently), pas (in the past), le (already), and xa (in the future).
mi zai ame tu.
– I am loving you.
mi pas ame tu.
– I loved you.
mi le ame tu.
– I have loved you.
mi xa ame tu.
– I will love you.
Passive
The passive voice is formed with the help of the helping verb be.
tu be ame.
– You are loved.
mi be ame de tu.
– I am loved by you.
Modifying other words
To modify a noun, put adjectives before it.
un neu ame
– a new love
la hau pai
– the good pie
To modify a verb, put adverbs before it. The adverb can be tagged with di.
mi hau (di) vide tu.
– I see you well.
tu vide di ame da.
– You seemingly love him/her.
Modifiers are compared with max 'more, -er', maxim 'most, -est', min 'less', minim 'least' and par 'equally, as'. The point of comparison is introduced with ka 'than, as'.
tu es max sen ka mi.
– You are older than me.
tu es maxim sen.
– You are the oldest.
Questions
To ask yes–or–no questions, replace the verb with "(verb) no (verb)" pattern or add he 'eh, huh' to the end of the sentence.
tu vide no vide mi?
– Do you see me?
tu vide mi, he?
– You see me, eh?
To ask a content question, write a normal sentence and replace the word in question with ke 'what, who'.
tu ame ke?
– Who do you love?
tu ame ke man?
– Which man do you love?
ke man ya ame tu?
– Which man loves you?
tu ame da ke poli?
– How much do you love him?
Commands
To state a command, leave out the subject and start the sentence with the verb.
yam ye pai!
– Eat this pie!
vide vo mau!
– Look at that cat!