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.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V X Y Z
The vowels a, e, i, o, u are pronounced as in "are there three or two".
The consonants are: b, ch (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 basic word order is subject–verb–object – the same as in English!
mi love tu. – I love you.
Grammar words help to distinguish the subject, verb and object. Subject and object are noun phrases and they frequently begin with a grammar word, such as a demonstrative pronoun, numeral or another determiner. The verb is a verb phrase and it frequently begins with a grammar word, such as an affirmative or negative particle, an auxiliary verb or a marker of tense, aspect or mood.
Example 1. Structurally unclear sentence.
mau yam fish.
cat eat fish
'The cat eats fish.' (probable interpretation of the meaning)
Example 2. Structurally clear sentence with the affirmation of the verb.
mau ye yam fish.
cat yes eat fish
'The cat does eat fish.'
Example 3. Structurally clear sentence with the negation of the verb.
̀mau no yam fish.
cat no eat fish
'The cat doesn't eat fish.'
Example 4. A complex but structurally clear sentence.
mi su doste hav yam un pai.
me 's friend ASPECT eat one pie
'My friend has eaten a 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 hom.
– I am a human.
mi – hom.
– I'm a human.
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 love 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 have du mau e un vaf. mi have plus un fem ben. da love 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 the aspect auxiliaries zai (be in the process of), and hav (have completed), and the tense auxiliaries pas (in the past), and vil (in the future).
mi zai love tu.
– I am loving you.
mi hav love tu.
– I have loved you.
mi pas love tu.
– I loved you.
mi vil love tu.
– I will love you.
Passive
The passive voice is formed with the help of the verb bi.
tu bi love.
– You are loved.
mi bi love di tu.
– I am loved by you.
Modifying other words
To modify a noun, put adjectives before it.
un nove love
– a new love
la bon pai
– the good pie
To modify a verb, put adverbs before it. The adverb can be tagged with li.
mi bon (li) vize tu.
– I see you well.
tu vi li love da.
– You seemingly love him/her.
Modifiers are compared with max 'more, -er', maxim 'the most... (of all)', min 'less', linim 'the least... (of all)', and sim 'equally, as'. The point of comparison is introduced with ka 'than, as'.
tu es max yun ka mi.
– You are younger than me.
tu es maxim yun.
– You are the youngest.
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 vi no vi mi?
– Do you see me?
tu vi 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 love ke?
– Who do you love?
tu love ke man?
– Which man do you love?
ke man love tu?
– Which man loves you?
tu love da ke multi?
– 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!