Basic words and phrases

Introduction

Pandunia is a constructed language that is designed to be relatively easy for everyone. You can learn it fast with this practical course.

English speakers will find it easy to make basic sentences in Pandunia as the word order is generally the same as in English, there are no definite or indefinite articles, and no complicated rules about changing the form of words to express singular and plural or the tense of verbs.

The course consists of short lessons. Each lesson introduces one new word, which is used in several different phrases in the lesson. This is to teach you how the word works as part of sentences. Possibly you will encounter also other new words in the same lesson but don't worry about them! You don't have to learn all of them at once. Just memorize the phrases that are useful for you! Maybe the rest will go to your memory subconciously.

You can study this course together with one or several friends. Read the phrases together and try to make small conversations. You can also study alone. Even then it's useful to read out loud and create conversations. Repeat the same phrases several times today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and so on. As they say, repetition is the mother of learning.

Note! Many lessons include also tips and notes like this. They are there to clarify grammatical details for those who are interested. You can skip over them if they are not helpful. You don't have to know the theory of the language. You can just speak Pandunia!

Part 1: Greeting and basics

sal greet, greeting

🙋‍

sal Hello!

sal suba! Good morning!

sal dia! Good day!

sal sham! Good evening!

sal noche! Good night!

sal yam! Bon appetit!

sal lai! Welcome!

sal ga! Goodbye!

sal safar! Have a safe journey!

sal sona! Sleep well!

As you can see from the range of expressions, sal is a general word for well-wishing. Use it any time! You can also say halo 'hello, hi' or salam 'greetings' when you greet someone.

Etymology. sal is from French salut, Arabic سَلَام‏ salām, Hebrew שָׁלוֹם‏ šalom, Turkish selam, Hindi सलाम salām, Swahili salaam, Indonesian selamat.

shukre thanks

🙏

shukre! Thanks!

poli shukre! Thanks a lot!

ya, shukre. Yes, thank you.

no, shukre. No, thank you.

shukre tu. Thank you.

mi shukre tu. I thank you.

mi shukre tu mede mi. I thank you for helping me.

shukre tu mede mi. Thanks for helping me.

no yau shukre. You're welcome. (Literally: No need to thank.)

es to be

The word es can be used also for stating something as a fact.

mi es Tomas. I am Thomas.

tu es Sara. You are Sarah.

aple es frute. The apple is a fruit.

Etymology. es is from Spanish es, French est, English is.

mi I, me

mi es Sara. I'm Sarah.

mi es Tomas. I'm Thomas.

mi sal mama. I greet mother.

mi sal papa. I greet father.

The word sal is both a noun and a verb. The basic word order in Pandunia is subject–verb–object.

Sara ya sal Tomas. Sarah greets Thomas.

sal mama! Greetings, mother!

sal papa! Greetings, father!

Etymology. mi is from English: me, Hindi: मैं (meṇ), Spanish: me, French: me, Swahili: mimi.

tu you

tu es Tomas. You are Thomas.

mi sal tu. I greet you.

tu sal mi. You greet me.

Pronouns don't ever change their form in Pandunia. That's why mi is the same in subject and object positions while English has two different forms, 'I' and 'me'.

mi ame tu. I love you.

Etymology. tu is from Spanish tu, Russian ты (ty), Italian tu, French tu.

da he, she or it

👥🗣️👉👤

da es man. He is a man.

da es fem. She is a woman.

da es aple. It is an apple.

da is the general third person pronoun. It is used for people (irrespective of gender) as well as for things.

mi sal da. I greet him/her.

Etymology. da is from Mandarin 他/她 (tā).

sual to ask a question

sual tu es Tomas? Are you Thomas?

sual tu es davar? Are you a doctor?

Tip: Yes/no questions frequently begin with sual. It is just a regular verb, not a special question tag. In fact, the previous question is simply abbreviated from mi sual tu es davar (I ask, you are doctor?) by dropping out the first word.

sual tu hau? How are you? (Literally: Are you good?)
mi hau. I'm good.
tu ne? And you?
mi no hau. I'm not good.

Etymology. sual is from Arabic سؤال (su'āl), Hindi सवाल (savāl), Malay soal, Swahili swali.

ya yes

sual tu es Tomas? Are you Thomas.

ya, mi es Tomas. Yes, I am Thomas.

sual da es davar? Is he/she a doctor?

ya, da es davar. Yes, he is a doctor.

no no, not

mi no es Sara. I'm not Sarah.

mi no es davar. I'm not a doctor.

sual tu hau? Are you well?
ya. mi hau. Yes, I'm well.

sual tu hau? Are you well?
no, mi no hau. No, I'm not well.

You can use no to deny anything. It is placed before the word that is denied.

da no sal mi. He/she doesn't greet me.

Etymology. no is from Spanish: no, English no, French: non.

Plural pronouns

Plural pronouns are created like this:
mi (I) → mimen (we)
tu (you) → tumen (you all)
da (he, she, it) → damen (they)

mimen sal tumen. We greet you all.

tumen sal damen. You greet them.

damen sal mimen! They greet us.

mimen es fem. We are women.

tumen es man. You are men.

damen es aple. They are apples.

ke? what? who?

ke? What?

tu es ke? Who are you?
mi es Tomas. I'm Thomas.

da es ke? Who is he/she?
da es Sara. She is Sarah.

tumen es ke? Who are you people?

damen es ke? Who are they?

Etymology. ke is from Spanish: qué, Portuguese: que, Italian: che, Bengali: কী "ke".

ye e vo this and that

ye es ke? What's this?

ye es aple. This is an apple.

vo es ke? What is that?

vo es oranje. That is an orange.

ye es rubi aple. This is a red apple.

ye aple es rubi. This apple is red.

ye es rubi. This is red.

damen a ke? Where are they?

damen a ye. They are here.

damen a vo. They are there.

su 's (possessive particle)

ye es ke? What's this?

da es mi su telefon. It's my telephone.

ye es ke su? Whose is this?

da es mi su. It's mine.

Note: Possessive particle su is put between the owner and the owned thing. So mi su means "my", tu su means "your" and so on.

da es ke? Who's he/she?

da es mi su doste. He/she is my friend.

mi es Sara su doste. I am Sarah's friend.

The possessive particle is used also to form the predicate of possession. The possessor is followed by ha and the thing possessed.

mi ha un mau. I have a cat.
damen ha pesa. They have money.
sara ha doste. Sara has a friend.

It could help to understand the structure by comparing the sentences above to the sentences below.

mau es mi su. The cat is mine.
pesa es damen su. The money is theirs.
doste es sara su. The friend is Sara's.

Possession is negated by putting the word no before the es.

damen su no es pesa. They don't have money.

Etymology. su English 's, Afrikaans se, French son ~ sa, Spanish su.

nam name

tu su nam es ke? What's your name?

mi su nam es Tomas. My name is Thomas.

da su nam es ke? What is his/her name?

da su nam es Sara. Her name is Sarah.

Etymology. nam is from Hindi नाम (nām), Farsi نام‏‎ (nām), Thai นาม (naam), Malay nama, Japanese 名前 (namae), German Name, English name.

ken to know

mi ken da. I know him/her/it.

sual tu ken vo jen? Do you know that person?

sual tumen ken semen? Do you know each other?

mimen ken semen de long. We know each other for a long time.

mede help

mi yau yo mede. I need help.

sual tu bil mede mi? Can you help me?

sual mi bil mede tu? Can I help you?

mi vol mede tu. I want to help you.

Part 2: Eating

yam consume, eat, drink

sual tu vol yam yo? Would you like to eat something?

da yam un aple. He/she eats an apple.

damen yam aple. They eat apples.

Note: Unlike English, Pandunia doesn't have separate singular and plural forms. Therefore a word like aple can refer to one or more apples.

sual tu yam kafe? Do you drink coffee?

ya. mi yam kafe. Yes, I drink coffee.

Tip: Meaning of yam covers both eating and drinking. It can feel odd at first but soon you will see that it is quite handy! Usually the object of the verb tells is it about eating, drinking or both.

mi yam kafe e ban. I'm having coffee and bread.

vol want

sual tu vol yam? Would you like to eat?

tu vol yam ke? What would you like to eat?

Tip: While English puts the "what" at the beginning of a question, in Pandunia the word order is not affected by the ke.

mi vol yam kafe. I want to drink coffee.

sual tu vol yam chai? Would you like to drink tea?
no. mi no vol chai. mi vol kafe. No, I don't want tea. I want coffee.

tu vol ke aple? Which apple do you want?
ye rubi. This red one.

ching request, please

mi ching tu yam chai. I ask you to drink tea.

mi ching tu lai dom. I ask you to come home.

mi ching tu mede mi. I ask you to help me.

Tip: To make direct requests, drop all the pronouns.

ching yam chai. Please, have some tea!

ching yam kafe. Please, have some coffee!

ching lai dom. Please, come home!

ching mede mi. Please, help me.

haida let's

haida yam! Let's eat!

haida ga yam! Let's go eat!

haida ga dom. Let's go home.

yau need

mi yau yo mede. I need help.

mi yau yam. I'm hungry.

sual tu yau yam? Are you hungry?

sual tu yau sui? Are you thirsty?

Part 3. Communication

yaf sorry, pardon

yaf! mi no aha. Sorry, I don't understand.

yaf! ye es ke? Excuse me, what's this?

yaf. tu su nam es ke? Excuse me, what's your name?

aha understand

sual tu aha mi? Do you understand me?

mi aha. I understand.

af. mi no aha tu. Sorry. I don't understand you.

mi no bas aha tu. I didn't quite understand you.

mi aha no she. I don't understand at all.

bil can

mi bil shofe char. I can drive a car.

da no bil shofe char. He/she doesn't know how to drive a car.

sual tu bil shuli da? Do you know how to fix it?

sual tu bil pandunia? Can you speak Pandunia?

mi bil pandunia. I can speak Pandunia.

mi bil kam pandunia. I can speak a little Pandunia.

mi no bil english. I can't speak English.

yaf. mi no bil tu su bashe. Sorry, I can't speak your language.

loge to say, speak, talk

tu loge ke? What did you say?

mi loge to tu. I talk to you.

mimen loge to semen. We talk to each other.

se loge "cat" a ke yang a pandunia? How do you say "cat" in Pandunia?

"cat" es ke a pandunia? What is "cat" in Pandunia?

mau loge "miau". Cat says "meow".

audi to listen, hear

audi mi! Listen to me!

mi no bil audi tu. I can't hear you.

ching loge max bala. Please speak louder.

mi audi muzike. I listen to music.

tu audi ke yang di muzike? What kind of music do you listen to?

vide to see

suke vide tu. Pleased to see you!

to rivide! See you again!

vide tu a posden! See you tomorrow!

mi vide da a preden. I saw him/her yesterday.

seme to mean

ye lexe ya seme ke? What does this word mean?

"mau" ya seme ke? What does "mau" mean?

da seme un yang de hevan. It means a kind of animal.

mi no aha da seme ke. I don't understand what it means.

kitabe write

ching kitabe tu su adres. Please, write your address.

ching kitabe da a ye. Please, write it here!

bashe speak a language, communicate

sual tumen bashe pandunia. Do you speak Pandunia?

mimen bashe pandunia. We speak Pandunia.

sual tu bil bashe english? Can you speak English?

franse, espanya, portugal, rus French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian

putong han, nipon, malayu Chinese, Japanese, Malay

arabi, turki, parsi, urdu, hindi Arabic, Turkish, Farsi, Urdu, Hindi

suahili, hausa, yoruba, amara Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba, Amharic

Part 4. Going around

ga to go

tu ga ke? Where are you going?

mi ga dom. I'm going home.

mi mus ga ke? Where should I go?

mi mus ga to ke jen? To whom should I go?

haida ga! Let's go!

haida ga a fute Let's go by foot!

lai to come

ching lai! Come here!

tu lai de ke? Where do you come from?

mi lai de Dubai. I come from Dubai.

mi lai dom a pos den. I will come home tomorrow.

safar to travel

sual tu safar a tren? Do you travel by train?

mimen safar de London to Paris. We travel from London to Paris.

safar es dai di long. The voyage is very long.

a in, on, at

hotel a ke? Where is the hotel?

hotel a vo dau. The hotel is on that road.

tu a ke? Where are you?

mi a dom. I'm at home.

da a ke? Where is he/she?

da side a kamar. He/she sits in the room.

Tip! You can use a as a preposition or alone as the verb.

mi kar a... I work at ...

dom to live, reside

tu dom ke? Where do you live?

mi dom Singapur. I live in Singapore.

sual tu dom ye hotel? Do you live in this hotel?

dele to wait

ching dele! Please wait!

dele mi! Wait for me!

damen dele mimen. They wait for us.

mi dele tu a hotel. I wait for you in the hotel.

Part 5. Time expressions

zai currently

mi zai sal tu su doste.
I am greeting your friend.

la man ya zai vide un filme.
The man is watching a film.

da zai es shefe.
He/she is currently the chief.

da zai a dom.
He/she is currently at home.

pas in the past

mi pas sal tu su doste.
I greeted your friend.

la man ya pas vide un filme.
The man watched a film.

da pas es shefe.
He/she was the chief.

da pas a dom.
He/she was at home.

le already, completed

mi le sal tu su doste.
I have greeted your friend.

la man le vide un filme.
The man has watched a film.

da le es shefe.
He/she has been the chief.

da le a la dom.
He/she has been at home.

sha in the future

mi sha sal tu su doste.
I will greet your friend.

la man sha vide la filme.
The man will watch the film.

da sha es shefe.
He/she will be the chief.

da sha a dom.
He/she will be at home.

Part 6. Doing business

don give

ching don yo pesa. Please give some money.

ching don da to mi. Please give it to me.

mi don ye to tu. I give this to you.

mi don buku to damen. I give a book to them.

da no vol don da to mi. He/she doesn't want to give it to me.

sepe take, get

mi sepe un kafe. I will take a coffee.

ching sepe un kafe to mi. Please take one coffee for me.

tu pas sepe pesa de mi. You already got money from me before.

mi sepe un bir. I will take a beer.

kira rent, lease, hire

kira es 500 dolar a mes.
The rent is 500 dollars in a month.

da no bil pei la kira.
He/she can't pay the rent.

mi vol sepe un char a kira.
I want to take a car for rent.

mi vol kira sepe un char. I want to rent a car.

da kira don la kamar to safarer. He/she rents rooms to travelers.