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Lesson 3: Vocabulary Interlude 1

Periodically, we’ll have a lesson with no grammar at all. These will be times to rehearse what we’ve learned so far and to add some new vocabulary with which to “play.”

Vocabulary


	áana		sleep
	áath		door
	bud		clothing
	ede		grain
	héeya		to fear
	hesh		grass
	i		and
	lom		song
	mime		to ask
	muda		pig
	rahu		to be closed
	rana		drink; beverage
	shum		air
	tham		circle
	thili		fish
	thom		pillow
	u		to be open
	ud		stone
	wíi		to be alive; to be living
	zháadin		to menopause

Examples


	Bíi áya hesh wa.		The grass is beautiful.
	Bíi áya lom wa.		The song is beautiful.
	Bíi áya thili wa.		The fish is beautiful.

	Bíi áya wíi wa.		Being alive is beautiful.

	Bíi áana with wa.		The woman sleeps.
	Bíi áana mid wa.		The animal sleeps.
	Bíi áana muda wa.		The pig sleeps.

Did you notice, in the middle example, that a word that had been introduced as a verb, “wíi” (to be alive), was used as a noun, “wíi” (being alive).

English does the same thing (known grammatically as “nominalization”), forming “abandonment” from “to abandon,” “carelessness” from “to be careless,” and so on; any English verb can be used as a noun if “–ing” is added, as in “Swimming is good exercise.”

This process, which is common to all human languages, is very easy in Láadan. Simply use the verb in the noun’s place in the sentence and add a case suffix to it (in this case the Subject Case suffix, which is a “null suffix”); this will become clear in subsequent lessons.


	Bíi hal with wa.		The woman works.
	Bíi óoha with wa.		The woman is weary.
	Bíi hal i óoha with wa.		The woman works and is weary.

Exercises

Translate the following into English


1	Bíi áya bud wa.
2	Bíi héeya thili wa.
3	Bíi wíi hesh wa.
4	Bíi áya ede wa.
5	Bíi mime thul wa.
6	Bíi áya shum wa.
7	Bíi doth thili wa.
8	Bíi zháadin with wa.
9	Bíi áya ud wa.
10	Bíi óoha i áana Therísha wa.

Translate the following into Láadan


11	The door is open.
12	The parent sleeps.
13	The fish is tired.
14	The pig follows.
15	The woman asks.
16	The song is beautiful.
17	The animal is afraid.
18	The circle is closed.
19	Mary menopauses.
20	The grain is alive.

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Answers


1	The clothing is beautiful.
2	The fish is afraid (the fish fears).
3	The grass is alive.
4	The grain is beautiful.
5	The parent asks.
6	The air is beautiful.
7	The fish follows.
8	The woman menopauses.
9	The stone is beautiful.
10	Teresa is tired and sleeps.

11	Bíi u áath wa.
12	Bíi áana thul wa.
13	Bíi óoha thili wa.
14	Bíi doth muda wa.
15	Bíi mime with wa.
16	Bíi áya lom wa.
17	Bíi héeya mid wa.
18	Bíi rahu tham wa.
19	Bíi zháadin Méri wa.
20	Bíi wíi ede wa.

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