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Lessons

Introducing yourself

Dialog


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☺ sal! – Hello!
☻ salam! – Hello!
☺ tu sa que? – Who are you?
☻ me sa Yusef. tu sa que? – I am Yusef. Who are you?
☺ me sa Sara. ho sa que? – I am Sara. Who is that?
☻ ho sa me di doste. – That is my friend.
☺ ho di nim sa que? – What's her name?
☻ ho di nim sa Maria. – Her name is Maria.

Grammar

Panlingue's sentences normally follow the topic-comment structure. The topic indicates who or what is being talked about. The comment tells something about the topic. For instance in ho sa me di doste the topic is the pronoun ho ('he, she, it'), which is followed by the comment sa me di doste ('is my friend').

In Panlingue, the word sa functions like to be in English. The same word is used for all persons. And to say the opposite, simply put no before it.

ho sa Sara. — She is Sarah.
ho no sa Sara. — She is not Sarah.

mau sa hevan. — The cat is an animal.
dom no sa hevan. — The house is not an animal.

In the same way you can describe yourself by saying me sa and a word that describes you.

me sa boni. — I'm good.
me sa man. — I'm a man.
me sa fem. — I'm a woman.
me sa exjeni. — I'm non-binary.

Exercises

Try translating these sentences from English to Panlingue. The correct answers are after the word list.

  1. Who are you?
  2. I am Thomas.
  3. Who is your friend?
  4. She is Sarah.
  5. What is your name?
  6. My name is ...........

Word List

me I, me
me di my
tu you
tu di your
ho he, she or it
ho di his, her, its
que who or what
sa to be
no no; not
boni good
doste friend
nim name
fem woman
man man
mau cat
hevan animal

Answers to the Exercises

  1. tu sa que?
  2. me sa tomas.
  3. tu di doste sa que?
  4. ho sa Sara.
  5. tu di nim sa que?
  6. me di nim sa ...........

Saying hello

sal! — Hello!

This is how people often greet each other in Panlingue. They say sal. It is used for saying both hello and goodbye.

sal! — Bye!

The word sal means well-wishes and it is used as a greeting.

It has two origins. On one hand, it comes from the Latin greeting salve and related greetings like French salut. Also English salute and Spanish saludo are related to it. On the other hand, it comes from a common Middle Eastern word for wishing well-being, health and safety. It appears as shlaam in Aramaic, the language that Jesus of Nazareth spoke. In Hebrew it is shalom, and in Arabic it is salaam. These words have been borrowed to many languages, so something like sal is already a common greeting in many countries in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Panlingue is a globalistic language that borrows and blends together international words from all parts of the world.

The verb form of sal is sala, which means 'to wish well (for someone)' and 'to greet'.

me sala tu. — I greet you.
tu sala me. — You greet me.

These are active sentences. In active sentences the subject does the action to the object. In me sala tu the first word me is the subject, sala is the verb (action word), and tu is the object. The order subject–verb–object (or SVO in short) is a normal word order in Panlingue.

Word order in active sentence: Subject + Verb + Object

Panlingue's singular personal pronouns are: me 'I', tu 'you', and ho 'he, she, it'. Note that all the pronouns stayed the same in the previous example sentences. Words never change in Panlingue. Except for verbs, they always stay the same regardless of their position in sentence.

In Panlingue sentences can be made shorter by leaving out pronouns that are obvious in the present situation.

me sala tu! — I greet you.
sala tu! — Greetings to you! (It is obvious that the speaker is the one who greets.)
sala! — Greetings! (It is obvious that the listeners are greeted.)

You can use sal to address people by name, kinship term or profession.

sal, Adam! — Hello, Adam!
sal, mama! — Hello, mother!
sal, papa! — Hello, father!
sal, shef! — Hello, chief!

Exercises

Try translating these sentences from English to Panlingue. The correct answers are after the word list.

  1. You greet him/her.
  2. Mother greets father.
  3. Hello, mother!
  4. Goodbye!

Word List

sal greetings, hello, hi, salaam, ciao
salam hello, salaam.
sala to greet
mama mother, mom
papa father, dad
shef chief, boss

Answers to the Exercises

  1. tu sala ho.
  2. mama sala papa.
  3. sal, mama!
  4. sal!

Making requests

Dialog


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☻ sal, senpa! — Hello, grandfather!
☺ sal! chinga sida. — Hello! Please sit!
☻ shukre. — Thank you.
☺ chinga yama kafe o cha. — Please have some coffee or tea.
☻ ama me uniko yama cha! shukre. — But I only drink tea! Thank you.
...
☻ senpa, me debu chuta zayo. — Grandfather, I have to go now.
☺ oke. chinga sala tu di mama! — OK. Please tell greetings to your mother.
☻ me sala ho. sal reste! — I will. Bye!
☺ sal chute! — Bye!

Grammar

Panlingue's singular personal pronouns are me 'I', tu 'you', and ho 'he, she, it'. Panlingue is a gender-neutral language. It doesn't distinguish between sexes in the third person pronoun or any of the pronouns. All the personal pronouns are present in the following example sentence.

me chinga tu sala ho. — I ask you to say hello to him/her.

This sentence has a pivot structure. The first verb, chinga ('to ask, to beg'), addresses tu as its object. At the same time tu serves also as the subject of the second verb, sala ('to greet'), whose object in turn is ho. So tu has a double role: (1) object of the first verb and (2) subject of the second verb. Hence, it is the pivot or hinge between the two verbs.

Pivot construction: Subject + Verb¹ + Object/Subject + Verb² + Object

The pivot construction is a common structure in Panlingue.

Remember that it is allowed to leave out pronouns that are known in the context. In other words the speaker can safely assume that the listeners know who he or she is talking about. So it is unnecessary to keep on repeating them. In this manner phrases can be made shorter.

me chinga tu sala ho. — I ask you to say hello to him/her.
chinga sala ho. — Please say hello to him/her.

See how the translation of chinga changed between the two sentences? The meaning of the word, the concept, did not change, but its use did. English reflects this change by using different words, to ask and please. Panlingue can cope with changes like this without resorting to different words. It is a principle in Panlingue that there is always exactly one word for one concept. Different words are not created just because the grammatical role of a concept changes.

The phrase chinga sala ho has a useful pattern that can be used for making polite requests.

chinga sida. — Please be seated.
chinga dona kafe. — Please give me some coffee.
chinga dona ch. — Please give me some tea.
chinga yama cha. — Please have some tea.
chinga safa kamre. — Please clean the room.

Commands are expressed more directly than requests. A command is basically like the request but without the chinga.

dona cha! — Give (me) some tea!
safa kamre! — Clean the room!
safa ho! — Clean it!

Exercises

Try translating these sentences from English to Panlingue.

  1. He drinks tea.
  2. The boss asked her to sit down.
  3. Please have some coffee or tea.
  4. Mother asked me to clean the room.
  5. The boss sits and drinks coffee.

Word List

cha tea
senpa grandfather
dona to give
e and
chuta to leave
kafe coffee
kamre room
debu must, have to
o or
chinga to request, to ask; please
safa to clean
sida to sit
shukre thanks
uniko only
yama to eat or drink

Answers to the Exercises

  1. ho yama cha.
  2. shef chinga ho sida.
  3. chinga yama kafe o cai.
  4. mama chinga me safa kamre.
  5. shef sida e yama kafe.

Yes or no questions

Dialog


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☺ sal! qua tu yama kafe o cha? — Hello! Would you like to have coffee or tea?
☻ cha. — Tea.
☺ tu ne? — And you?
☹ me no basha pandunia... — I don't speak Panlingue...
☺ perdon! qua ho yama cha? — Pardon! Will he have tea?
☻ no. ho no yama cha. ho yama kafe. — No, he won't. He would like to have coffee.
☺ qua tu yama supe? — Would you like to have soup?
☻ ya. — Yes.
☺ qua ho yama supa? — Would he like to have soup?
☻ no yama. — No.
☺ shukre. me dona un cha e un kafe e un supe a pos da des minute. — Thank you. I will bring one tea, one coffee and one soup in ten minutes.

Asking questions

Questions that can be answered by saying yes or no have the same pivot structure as requests with chinga, which you learned in the previous lesson. Question sentences are introduced with qua 'to ask'.

me qua tu yama cha. — I ask (do) you drink tea.
qua tu yama cha? — Do you drink tea?
qua yama cha? — Drink tea?

Requests usually concern the one or the ones spoken to, but questions are often about other people. Therefore the second pronoun is usually needed. It can be left out only when it is clear who is the topic of discussion.

qua ho yama cha? — Does he or she drink tea?
qua tu yama supe? — Do you eat soup?
qua memen yama sui? — Do we drink water?

Of course common and proper nouns can also be used.

qua shef yama kafe? — Does the chief drink coffee?
qua papa safa kamre? — Does the father clean the room?
qua Adam basha pandunia? — Does Adam speak Panlingue?

Giving answers

Yes/no questions can be answered with ya 'yes', and no 'no'.

qua tu yama supe? — Do you eat soup?
ya. — Yes.

qua ho yama supe? — Does she eat soup?
no. — No.

Also more complete answers can be given.

qua tu yama kafe? — Do you drink coffee?
ya. me yama kafe. — Yes, I drink coffee.

qua ho yama kafe? — Does he drink coffee?
no. ho no yama kafe. — No, he doesn't drink coffee.

It is also possible to answer yes by repeating the verb of the question.

– qua tu yama sui? — Do you drink water?
– yama. — (Yes, I) drink.

Exercises

Try translating these sentences from English to Panlingue.

  1. Do you speak Panlingue?
  2. Yes, I speak Panlingue.
  3. Does the mother drink coffee?
  4. No, she doesn't drink coffee.
  5. Does she eat soup?
  6. She doesn't.

Word List

basha speak a language
minute minute
ne sentence-ending tag for asking the other's point of view
perdon pardon, sorry
pos after
qua to ask a question
sui water
supe soup
des ten
un one (1)
ya yes

Answers to the Exercises

  1. qua tu basha pandunia?
  2. ya. me basha pandunia.
  3. qua mama yama kafe?
  4. no. ho no yama kafe.
  5. qua ho yama supe?
  6. (ho) no yama.

Saying no

In the previous lesson you learned to answer ya and no to questions. The word no is used for denying something. Adding no in front of the verb turns an affirmative sentence to negative.

me sala tu. — I greet you.
me no sala tu. — I do not greet you.

Conceptually negation means the absence or non-existence of the negated word. In the phrase me no sala tu the negative word no denies the existence of the greeting.

In Panlingue the negative word affects the word that follows it. Different scopes of negation may result depending on the location of the negative word.

me chinga tu safa kamre. — I ask you to clean the room.
me no chinga tu safa kamre. — I do NOT ask you to clean the room.
me chinga tu no safa kamre. — I ask you NOT to clean the room.

The negated word can be of any type: verb, pronoun, noun, adjective and even numeral.

ho no tena mau. — She doesn't have a cat.
ho tena no mau, a gau. — She has no cats but dogs.
no ho, a me tena mau. — Not she but I have cats. (It's not her, but me who has cats.)
me tena no un, a du mau. — I have not one but two cats.

Exercises

Translate these sentences from English to Panlingue. Sometimes there is more than one correct answer.

  1. He didn't clean the room.
  2. One cup is not empty.
  3. Two dogs don't eat soup.
  4. She has neither dogs nor cats.
  5. The chief drinks tea but not coffee.
  6. The mother has no dogs but (she has) two cats.

Word List

ama but
du two
hali empty
tena to have
kupe cup, glass, mug
mau cat
gau dog
nil zero

Answers to the Exercises

  1. ho no safa kamre.
  2. un kupe no hali.
  3. duli vaf no yama supe.
  4. ho no tena gau e mau. / ho tena no gau e no mau.
  5. shef yama cha a no kafe.
  6. mama tena no gau a du mau.

More Questions

To ask questions beginning with what, which, how, who and when, the interrogative pronoun que is normally used. The question can be made more specific by adding words for person, time, manner or thing if needed.

ho sa que? — What is that? / Who is (s)he?
ho sa qui jan? — Who is he/she?
ho sa qui she? — What (thing) is it?
qui jan laya — Who is coming? (jan — person)
tu yama a qui zaman? — When do you eat? (zaman — time)
se dansa a qui mode? — How to dance? (yang — manner, style)

In Panlingue, questions beginning with why are asked using qui sabab.

qui sabab tu suka mau? — Why do you like cats?

Questions asking about the cause or reason of something, are answered by adding de sabab before the cause or reason.

qui sabab tu suku mau? — Why do you like cats?
de sabab homen sa kavai. — Because they are cute.

Of course, sabab can also be used to express the cause or reason for something, even when not answering to a question.

me suku mau de sabab homen sa kavai — I like cats because they are cute.

Exercises

  1. Who likes soup?
  2. The father does.
  3. When will he come?
  4. In ten minutes
  5. Why doesn't she eat?
  6. Because she doesn't like coffee and soup.

Word List

a at, in, on
dansa to dance
hom person
laya to come
suku to like
mode manner, style
zaman period of time

Answers to the Exercises

  1. qui jan suku supe?
  2. papa suku.
  3. qui zaman ho laya?
  4. a pos da des minute.
  5. qui sabab ho no yama?
  6. de sabab ho no suku kafe e supe.

Past, present and future

Expressing time

There are no verb conjugations in Panlingue. All verbs have only one form for all times. In a way they are similar to some English verbs, such as hit, which is the same in all tenses.

me bata ho. — I hit it.

In Panlingue all verbs are like that! For example, me yama ban can mean both "I eat bread" and "I ate bread", but usually only one or the other meaning makes sense in the context of the discussion. For example when people talk about that morning's breakfast, the sentence tells about the past time.

me yama ban a ye suba yam. — I ate bread for this breakfast.

There are also specific time words.

paso — in the past
zayo — currently, at the moment
futo — later, in the future

They can be used for modifying nouns.

Sara sa me di pasi shef. — Sarah is my former boss.
Yusef sa me di zayi shef. — Yusef is my current boss.
Maria sa me di futi shef. — Maria is my future boss.

The same words are used when you talk about actions and events in time. Simply put the word before the verb.

me paso bata ho. — I hit it (in the past).
me zayo bata ho. — I am hitting it (currently).
me futo bata ho. — I will hit it (in the future).

It is not necessary to repeat the time expressions all the time. It would be awkward. It is enough to set the stage once in the beginning with a time expression. Another time word will not be needed until the tense changes or until it becomes useful to stress that you are still talking in the same tense.

me paso tena un mau. — I had a cat in the past.
ho sa boni mau. — It was a good cat.
me zayo tena un gau. — I have a dog now.

Any expression of time is good for expressing the tense. When one time expression is present, other markers are not needed.

me genu a nen 2003. — I was born in 2003.
ho safa kamre a pos den. — He will clean the room tomorrow.

Exercises

Try translating these sentences from English to Panlingue.

  1. My boss will celebrate.
  2. I had two dogs.
  3. You are eating soup now.
  4. She cleaned the room the day before.
  5. The cat will drink milk tomorrow.
  6. Your mother partied last night.

Word List

pasi past, former
zayi present, current
futi future, to-come
pre before
bata to hit, to beat
dien day, 24 hours
noche night
ban bread
suba yam morning meal, breakfast
milke milk

Answers to the Exercises

  1. me di shef festa a fute.
  2. me tena du gau a pase.
  3. tu yama supe zayo.
  4. ho safa kamre a predi den.
  5. mau yama kafe a posi den.
  6. tu di mama festa a predi noche.