Chlouvānem/Morphology

Chlouvānem is a highly inflected language with a synthetic morphology. Five parts of speech are traditionally distinguished: nouns, verbs, pronouns, numerals, and particles.

Nouns - Halenī

The Chlouvānem noun (haloe, pl. halenī) is highly inflected - it declines for:


• Three numbers:

Singular (lailausire niañis)

Dual (daniausire niañis)

Plural (tailiausire niañis)

• Twelve cases:


Direct (daradhūkire dirūnnevya)

Vocative (halausire dirūnnevya)


Accusative (dṛṣokire dirūnnevya)

Ergative (darinūkire dirūnnevya)

Genitive (cārūkire dirūnnevya)


Translative (najamarcūkire dirūnnevya)


Exessive (nenijamarcūkire dirūnnevya)

Essive (gyausire dirūnnevya)

Dative (męliausire dirūnnevya)

Ablative (tųflunūkire dirūnnevya)

Locative (yutiūkire dirūnnevya)

Instrumental (drausire dirūnnevya)

There are a few nouns which lack number; a few are singularia tantum and lack a plural (e.g. hærūm lips), other ones are plural only - most notably these include all ethnicities (e.g. chlouvānem, which is also an irregular plural). The singular is made by using the genitive form attributed to lila (person), e.g. chlouvānumi lila (a Chlouvānem).

Chlouvānem does not have grammatical gender, and there are only a few natural gender terms; see Chlouvānem § Gendered and gender-neutral terms for more information.

There are thirteen different noun declensions, but most of them only have few small differences. Chlouvānem declensions are predictable from the ending of the direct case noun, and they're categorized depending on their endings as s-, m-, or h-nouns.

S-nouns (sasą lā halenī):

• 1s: nouns ending in -as or -ās, as well as Eastern toponyms in -o
• 2s: nouns ending in -us or -ūs
• 3s: nouns ending in -is or -īs
• 4s: nouns ending in -oe

M-nouns (mamą lā halenī):

• 1m: nouns ending in -am, -em, -ām, -ėm (or -n)
• 2m: nouns ending in -um or -ūm (or -n)
• 3m: nouns ending in -im or -īm (or -n)
• 4m: nouns ending in -ai

H-nouns (hahą lā halenī):

• 1h: nouns ending in -a, -ah, -ā, or -āh
• 2h: nouns ending in -ė or -eh (plus some diminutives ending in -ėh)
• 3h: nouns ending in -uh or -ūh, and a few words of Dabuke origin in -u (mostly only used regionally in the West)
• 4h: nouns ending in -ih or -īh (plus a few exceptional ones in -i)
• 5h: nouns ending in -a which have ablaut-conditioned variations in their stems in different cases

S-nouns - Sasą lā halenī

There are some traits which are common to all nominal declensions: the vocative is only distinct in the singular; in the dual there is also no distinction between translative and dative, essive and locative, and between exessive, ablative, and instrumental.

Case	1-s nouns			2-s nouns			3-s nouns			4-s nouns
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	prātas "wind"	prātion	prāte	kældus "wax"	kælduyon	kælduve	kumis "bamboo"	kumiyon	kumie	haloe "name"	halenion	halenī
Vocative	prātau	prātion	prāte	kældu	kælduyon	kælduve	kumi	kumiyon	kumie	haloe	halenion	halenī
Accusative	prātu	prātūri	prātānu	kældau	kældūri	kældūnu	kumiu	kumiūri	kumiānu	halenu	halenūri	halenænu
Ergative	prātei	prātą	prātān	kældovei	kældvą	kældān	kumiei	kumyą	kumiān	halenei	haleną	halenān
Genitive	prāti	prāteva	prātumi	kældavi	kældeva	kældoumi	kumieyi	kumieva	kumiumi	halenies	haloeva	halenyumi
Translative	prātan	prātyās	prātyoh	kældun	kældyās	kældyoh	kumian	kumiyās	kumiyoh	halenan	halenyās	halenyoh
Exessive	prātat	prātābhan	prātāman	kældut	kældūbhan	kældūman	kumiæt	kumībhan	kumīman	halenat	haloebhan	haloeman
Essive	prātą	prātiona	prātėm	kældąs	kælduyona	kældvėm	kumiæs	kumiyona	kumyėm	halen	haleniona	haloem
Dative	prātom	prātyās	prāteiti	kældom	kældyās	kældeiti	kumiom	kumiyās	kumieiti	halenom	haleneiti	haleneiti
Ablative	prātų	prātābhan	prātenīs	kældų	kældūbhan	kældunīs	kumių	kumībhan	kumienīs	halenų	haloebhan	haleninīs
Locative	prāte	prātiona	prātilīm	kælduve	kælduyona	kældilīm	kumie	kumiyona	kumiælīm	halenive	haleniona	haloelīm
Instrumental	prātini	prātābhan	prātenīka	kældvini	kældūbhan	kældunīka	kumīni	kumībhan	kumienīka	halenini	haloebhan	haleninīka

M-nouns - Mamą lā halenī

Case	1-m nouns			2-m nouns			3-m nouns			4-m nouns
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	yujam "lotus"	yujāmion	yujye	tūlum "worm"	tūlūmion	tūluvye	jāyim "girl"	jāyīmion	jāyiñe	lunai "tea"	lunāyon	lunāye
Vocative	yujam	yujāmion	yujye	tūlu	tulūmion	tūluvye	jāyī	jāyīmion	jāyiñe	lunai	lunāyon	lunāye
Accusative	yujamu	yujamūri	yujāmūn	tūlau	tulūri	tūlumūn	jāyimu	jāyimūri	jāyimin	lunāyu	lunāyūri	lunainū
Ergative	yujamei	yujamą	yujamān	tūlumei	tūlumą	tūlumān	jāyimei	jāyimą	jāyimān	lunea	lunaiyą	lunæyān
Genitive	yujami	yujameva	yujammi	tūlumvi	tūlumeva	tūloumi	jāyimi	jāyīva	jāyiñumi	lunayi	lunaiva	lunæyumi
Translative	yujaman	yujyās	yujyoh	tūluman	tūluvyās	tūluvyoh	jāyiman	jāyiñyās	jāyiñyoh	lunāyan	lunāyās	lunāyoh
Exessive	yujamat	yujambhan	yujāman	tūlumat	tūlumbhan	tūlūman	jāyimæt	jāyimbhan	jāyīman	lunāyat	lunaibhan	lunaiman
Essive	yujamą	yujamiona	yujamėm	tūlumą	tūlumiona	tūlumėm	jāyimą	jāyimiona	jāyimėm	lunąis	lunāyona	luneam
Dative	yujamom	yujyās	yujyeiti	tūlumom	tūluvyās	tūluvyeiti	jāyimom	jāyiñyās	jāyimėti	lunāmom	lunāyās	lunāyeiti
Ablative	yujamų	yujambhan	yujaṃris	tūlumų	tūlumbhan	tūluṃris	jāyimų	jāyimbhan	jāyiṃrīs	lunāyų	lunaibhan	lunaiñīs
Locative	yujaṃrye	yujamiona	yujailīm	tūluṃrye	tūlumiona	tūluvilīm	jāyiṃrye	jāyimiona	jāyīlīm	lunaiñe	lunāyona	lunāyilīm
Instrumental	yujamini	yujambhan	yujaṃrika	tūlumini	tūlumbhan	tūluṃrika	jāyimini	jāyimbhan	jāyiṃrīka	lunaini	lunaibhan	lunaiñīka

Note that all nouns with -n have their direct and vocative plural forms identical to the singular ones - all other inflections (including the dual) are the same as the other nouns. Thus e.g. samin may be either child or children, and it is usually the verb that marks the number - compare samin mālchė "the kid runs" and samin mālchīran "the kids run".
These unmarked plurals are regular - note that hulin (woman) has both a regular plural (hulin), used in a wider scope (e.g. chlouvānumi hulin "Chlouvānem women") and an irregular plural (hilāni) used in other contexts (e.g. nanā hilāni "those women there").

H-nouns - Hahą lā halenī

Case	1-h nouns			2-h nouns			3-h nouns			4-h nouns			5-h nouns
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	māra "mango"	mārion	mārai	javileh "apple"	javilion	javiliai	camūh "group"	camūyon	camūvai	ghārṭih "arrow"	ghārṭiyon	ghārṭeyai	lila "person"	lilion	leliė
Vocative	māra	mārion	mārai	javili	javilion	javiliai	camū	camūyon	camūvai	ghārṭī	ghārṭiyon	ghārṭeyai	lila	lilion	leliė
Accusative	māru	mārūri	mārānu	javilu	javiliūri	javilėnu	camou	camūyūri	camounu	ghārṭiyu	ghārṭiyūri	ghārṭeinu	lilu	lilūri	leliu
Ergative	mārei	mārą	mārān	javilei	javilią	javilėn	camūvei	camūvą	camoun	ghārṭiyi	ghārṭiyą	ghārṭein	lilei	lilą	leliei
Genitive	māri	māreva	mārumi	javili	javilieva	javilumi	camūvi	camūyeva	camūmi	ghārṭī	ghārṭyeva	ghārṭyumi	leli	lileva	laili
Translative	māran	māryās	māryāh	javilan	javilyās	javilyāh	camūn	camūyās	camūyāh	ghārṭīn	ghārṭīyās	ghārṭīyāh	lilan	lilyās	lelian
Exessive	mārat	mārābhan	mārāman	javilet	javilėbhan	javilėman	camūt	camūbhan	camūman	ghārṭit	ghārṭībhan	ghārṭīman	lilat	lilābhan	leliat
Essive	māręs	māriona	mārėm	javilęs	javiliona	javilėm	camųs	camūyona	camūvėm	ghārṭįs	ghārṭiyona	ghārṭīvėm	liląs	liliona	lailąs
Dative	mārom	māryās	mārauti	javilom	javilyās	javiliauti	camvom	camūyās	camvauti	ghārṭyom	ghārṭīyās	ghārṭiauti	lilom	lilyās	leliom
Ablative	mārų	mārābhan	mārenīs	javilių	javilėbhan	javilenīs	camųu	camūbhan	camūnīs	ghārṭių	ghārṭībhan	ghārṭīnīs	lilų	lilābhan	lelių
Locative	māre	māriona	mārilīm	javiliye	javiliona	javililīm	camve	camūyona	camūvilīm	ghārṭye	ghārṭiyona	ghārṭīlīm	lile	liliona	laile
Instrumental	mārini	mārābhan	mārenīka	javileni	javilėbhan	javilenīka	camvini	camūbhan	camūnīka	ghārṭīni	ghārṭībhan	ghārṭīnīka	lilini	lilābhan	lelini

Exceptions for duals and plurals

A few Chlouvānem nouns have irregular plurals:

• The word chlouvānem itself is plural-only and irregular; direct and vocative are in -em, but all other cases decline as a standard plural 1h noun (e.g. accusative chlouvānānu, ergative chlouvānān, genitive chlouvānumi);
• maila “water” does not have a dual form outside of colloquial use (where mailion is used with the meaning of “two glasses of water”) and has the irregular plural mailtiąa. It declines as a singular 1h noun, with two exceptions, namely accusative in -ąu instead of expected *-ahu and genitive in -ąi instead of expected *-ahi. This plural form is actually common, used when talking about bodies of water in an area, water layers, glasses of water, and a few minor idiomatic uses (e.g. taili mailtiahe hilæflulke, lit. “to arrive by crossing many waters”, meaning “to have had much experience”).
• hulin "woman" has both a regular plural (hulin), used in a wider scope (e.g. chlouvānumi hulin "Chlouvānem women") and an irregular plural (hilāni) used in other contexts (e.g. nanā hilāni "those women there").
• resan "pig" and liken "arm" both have irregular plurals with vowel change: ryasan and læcin respectively.
• ås "ford, crossing of a small river" has the stem av- in all pre-vocalic forms (e.g. plural ave).
• švas "animal (including humans)" pluralizes as švai, as if it were a h-noun; all cases except for direct and vocative are however regular.
• There are some pluralia tantum: pārye “hair”, kāraṇḍhai “guts”, hamvyenī "nursery" and all ethnonyms; also agṇyaucai “sons and daughters”.
• A few nouns are singularia tantum: hærṣūs “lips”, maula “breasts”, kanai “spices”, paʔeh “dust”, nāmvāvi “dust (made by crushing something)”, måris “ash”, ñailūh “ice”.
• Dvandva compounds are usually all dual and pluralizable - like yāṇḍamaišñukam “genitals”, or also many dyadic kinship terms (e.g. maihāmeinā “daughter and mother”) - but some of them are inherently “singular” and therefore are dual only, like lillamurḍhyāyunya (how some philosophical Yunyalīlti currents refer to the yunya “nature” and the lillamurḍhyā “natural harmony” as two aspects of the same thing). Note that dual inflections are not present on the noun itself in direct and vocative forms.
• Toponyms (except inherently dual or plural ones), personal names, and miscellaneous things that are semantically only singular (like many Yunyalīlti concepts, e.g. yunya or lillamurḍhyā) are found exclusively in the singular.

Verbs - Daradhūve

The Chlouvānem verb (daradhūs, pl. daradhūve) is the most inflected part of speech; its most basic forms are fusional, but many more specific formations are more agglutinative due to their origin from old Proto-Lahob particles or participles.

The first and most important division we can find in Chlouvānem verbs is the distinction - a category called, with noticeable metaphorical use, chlærim (light) by native grammarians - between exterior (kauyāva) and interior (nañyāva) verbs. This may at first seem a voice system, but it must be distinguished from the true voices in Chlouvānem conjugation. The difference between them is mostly lexical: native grammarians distinguish exterior verbs as describing "activities or states that involve interactions with outside the self", and interior verbs as affecting principally the self. Exterior verbs are those we could most easily compare to active verbs in English, while interior verbs are a somewhat "catch-all" category including many distinct meanings, most notably middle-voice, reflexive and reciprocal ones, but also all adjectival verbs as well as peculiar and somewhat independent meanings for some verbs. Many verbs can be conjugated both as exterior and as interior and they often have differences in meaning - e.g. gṇyauke means “to give birth” when exterior and “to be born” when interior - commonly, the interior has the intransitive meaning and the exterior the transitive one - cf. lęlširu "I shake" vs. lęlšute "I shake (something)".

Potentially every Chlouvānem verb form, no matter if exterior or interior, has a causative (drildyāva) conjugation which is considered an inflection and not a derivation, even if the meanings may vary: mišake is an extreme example as each form has a different meaning (with particularly interior forms having many meanings) - non-causative exterior mešu "I am seen", interior meširu "I know; I see myself"; and causative exterior maišildeyam "I am shown", interior maišildreyam "I learn; I show myself (trans.)".

Chlouvānem verbs also conjugate for seven voices (tadgeroe, pl. tadgerenī), each one putting one of seven different core elements as the direct-case argument, usually for means of topicalization or definiteness; they reflect the Austronesian-type morphosyntactical alignment of the language. The seven voices are, for exterior verbs:

• patient-trigger (dṛṣokire tadgeroe) (unmarked);
• agent-trigger (darīnūkire tadgeroe) (transitive and ditransitive verbs only);
• benefactive-trigger (chārimęlīnūkire tadgeroe);
• antibenefactive-trigger (tatflunsusūkire tadgeroe);
• locative-trigger (yutiūkire tadgeroe);
• dative-trigger (męliausire tadgeroe) (mostly ditransitive verbs);
• instrumental-trigger (drausire tadgeroe) (morphologically possible for all verbs, but not always meaningful).

Interior verbs only have six voices, as they do not have an agentive voice; the patientive, unmarked voice, is here called common voice (tailьcārė tadgeroe).

Chlouvānem verbs also conjugate for four different tense-aspect combinations (simply tenses (avyāṣa - pl. avyāṣai)): present (kaminænikire avyāṣa), past (dāṃdenire avyāṣa), perfect (mīraṃnajausire avyāṣa), and future (lallāmiti avyāṣa); other distinctions may be built periphrastically (most notably imperfect, pluperfect and future perfect). Tenses are the “basic unit” verbs conjugate in: all tenses conjugate for nine persons (1st-2nd-3rd in singular, dual and plural; note though that 3rd singular and 3rd plural are identical in the perfect). Note that some moods do only distinguish between imperfective and perfective aspect.

The last inflectional category of Chlouvānem verbs is the mood (darišam, pl. darišye). Chlouvānem grammarians traditionally distinguish only five moods, which are those that cannot be combined:

• indicative (chlåvdiausire darišam) - the realis mood;
• imperative (spruvyūkire darišam) - used for giving orders or commands;
• optative (purmanūkire darišam) - used to express wishes or hopes;
• propositive (maikitūkire darišam) - used to express proposals (e.g. let’s X; why don’t you X);
• subjunctive (milkausire darišam) - used to express general advices (jussive use), purpose (supine use), unreal things that may happen or might have happened, and also syntactically conditioned by some particles.

There are a few more forms that can't be strictly considered moods because they can appear in all of the five actual moods, and are thus called junia, pl. juniai (literally "shade, hue, dye") by Chlouvānem grammarians: they are actually regular derivational patterns, that are considered inflectional due to them being possible for all verbs. There are four juniai:

• desiderative (daudiūkire junia) - used to express a desire or will (e.g. I want to X);
• necessitative (rileyūkire junia) - used to express need or obligation (e.g. I have to X);
• potential (novire junia) - used to express the ability to do something (e.g. I can [= am able to] X)
• permissive (drippūkire junia) - used to express the permission to do something (e.g. I can [= I’m allowed to] X)

Finally, there are a further six forms which are called "secondary moods" (šudarišam, pl. -šye). They are:

• four of them (only used with the indicative mood) express evidentiality, namely: certainty (also energetic mood), deduction, dream, specifically invented situation, and hearsay (also inferential mood);
• two consequential moods: one expressing cause (e.g. “because X”), the other opposition (e.g. “although X”).

Chlouvānem verbs also have a non-finite form (lailehūkire daradhūs) (the -ke form, called infinitive hereafter).

Verb classes and infinitive

Verbs, in Chlouvānem, are conjugated depending on verb classes or conjugations. There are four main patterns:

• a-root, or thematic: the most basic and regular, formed by adding a to the root before non-vocalic endings.
• Athematic: as above, without a; endings are added directly to the root.
• Ablauting root: formed by the root with ablaut changes in its main vowel, plus a before non-vocalic endings.
  • Athematic ablauting root: a small subset conjugating as above, but without a.
• ah verbs: verbs which add -ah (or its allomorphs -ar, -aš, -ą) to the root.

A fifth commonly recognized pattern is ru verbs. These are verbs formed by borrowed verb roots from Ancient Kūṣṛmāthi (where verbal nouns end in -ru) and in the present and past undergo stem modifications like in that language. There are few common -ru verbs, and in usual speech they are often substituted by compounds with their root and either dṛke (to do, make) or jānake (to feel (physical)), or gyake (to be), and more rarely jilde (to do, carry out an action), as in pāṭṭaruke vs. pāṭṭarudṛke (and also vs. the rarer pāṭṭarujilde) (to study).

Moods apart from the indicative mainly just follow root structure, with different allomorphs depending on whether the root ends in a consonant or in a vowel.

There are, in addition to these, a few particular verb types with either some kind of suffix added to the root in some forms, or irregular ablaut, or totally irregular (usually suppletive). The majority of verbs, anyway, is either thematic or thematic ablauting, and the majority of roots end in one or two consonants.

The infinitive (lailehūkire daradhūs) or ke-form is a non-finite form used in certain construction (like with certain verbs (e.g. daudike (to want)) or particles). It is also the citation form, and it is simple to recognize and form:

• The infinitive is always based on the root, thus with either a basic-grade vowel for ablauting verbs or an unreduced sequence for inverse-ablauting ones.
• Verbs in the thematic or ablauting root classes add -ake;
• All other verbs just add -ke. There are a few cases where this is not always how it surfaces:
  • verbs ending in a palatalized consonant have an epenthetic -i- (e.g. męlь-ke → męlike (to give));
  • verbs whose roots end in any single or postnasal unvoiced dental, retroflex, or palatal stop or affricate, assimilate the -k- of the suffix (e.g. kit-ke → kitte (to put, place));
  • verbs whose roots end in any single or postnasal voiced, non-velar stop, assimilate the voicing of the suffix -k- (e.g. dįb-ke → dįbge (to kick));
  • verbs whose roots end in single -g or -gh assimilate the -k-, with the regular saṃdhi change from double voiced stop to nasal + voiced stop (e.g. dig-ke → dilge (to pour));
    • This also happens with the cluster -nd, where the assimilation -nd-k makes it -lg (e.g. mind-ke → milge (to hear));
  • verbs whose roots end in any other consonant cluster only add -e (e.g. pugl-ke → pugle (to sleep)).

Knowing the root form of the verb is necessary as two different roots may have the same infinitive, e.g. mulke for both mul- "to drink" (molu, mulau, umulim) and mun- "to be able to" (maunu, munau, umunim).

Present indicative

The regular present indicative has a distinct form for all verb types.
Ablauting verbs have middle grade ablaut in all exterior forms and in the singular interior ones, but inverse-ablauting verbs have always the unreduced sequence. ru verbs change -ru with -su.

Person		a-root		Athematic		Ablaut		-ah-		-ru-
		nāmvake "to crush, press"		gṇyauke "to give birth; int.: to be born"		mišake "to see"		lilke "to live; int.: to get healed"		pāṭṭaruke "to study; int. to be taught"
		Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior
Sing.	1st	nāmvu	nāmviru	gṇyāvu	gṇyāviru	mešu	meširu	lilah	lilęru	pāṭṭasū	pāṭṭasuru
	2nd	nāmvi	nāmviris	gṇyāvi	gṇyāviris	meši	meširis	lilaši	lilęris	pāṭṭasuvi	pāṭṭasuris
	3rd	nāmvė	nāmvire	gṇyāvė	gṇyāvire	mešė	mešire	lilah	lilęre	pāṭṭasuvė	pāṭṭasure
Dual	1st	nāmvayou	nāmviryou	gṇyauyou	gṇyāviryou	mešayou	miširyou	lilahou	lilęryou	pāṭṭasuyou	pāṭṭasuryou
	2nd	nāmvadia	nāmvirdia	gṇyaudia	gṇyāvirdia	mešadia	miširdia	lilardia	lilęrdia	pāṭṭasudia	pāṭṭasurdia
	3rd	nāmvade	nāmvirde	gṇyaude	gṇyāvirde	mešade	miširde	lilarde	lilęrde	pāṭṭasude	pāṭṭasurde
Pl.	1st	nāmvalieh	nāmvirileh	gṇyaulieh	gṇyāvirileh	mešalieh	miširileh	liląlieh	lilęrileh	pāṭṭasulieh	pāṭṭasurileh
	2nd	nāmvašin	nāmviršin	gṇyaušin	gṇyāviršin	mešašin	miširšin	liląšin	lilęršin	pāṭṭasušin	pāṭṭasuršin
	3rd	nāmvīran	nāmvirena	gṇyāvīran	gṇyāvirena	mešīran	miširena	lilah	lilęrena	pāṭṭasuvīran	kumesurena

Causative
Causative forms are the same regardless of conjugation; they are formed basically with an extended stem with -ild-. Ablauting verbs always have the highest grade vowel, while inverse ablaut verbs have the "lowered" vowel in front of the normal stem.
All causative verbs have both exterior and interior forms.

Person		No ablaut		Ablaut		Inverse ablaut
		nāmvake "to make crush, press"		mišake "to show; int.: learn"		valde "to make open"
		Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior
Sing.	1st	nāmvildeyam	nāmvildṛyam	maišildeyam	maišildṛyam	uvaldildeyam	uvaldildṛyam
	2nd	nāmvildeši	nāmvildṛši	maišildeši	maišildṛši	uvaldildeši	uvaldildṛši
	3rd	nāmvilden	nāmvildiren	maišilden	maišildiren	uvaldilden	uvaldildiren
Dual	1st	nāmvildeyou	nāmvildṛyou	maišildeyou	maišildṛyou	uvaldildeyou	uvaldildṛyou
	2nd	nāmvildedia	nāmvildṛdia	maišildedia	maišildṛdia	uvaldildedia	uvaldildṛdia
	3rd	nāmvildede	nāmvildṛde	maišildede	maišildṛde	uvaldildede	uvaldildṛde
Pl.	1st	nāmvildīleh	nāmvildrīleh	maišildīleh	maišildrīleh	uvaldildīleh	uvaldildrīleh
	2nd	nāmvildešin	nāmvildṛšin	maišildešin	maišildṛšin	uvaldildešin	uvaldildṛšin
	3rd	nāmvilderie	nāmvildrelie	maišilderie	maišildrelie	uvaldilderie	uvaldildrelie

Imperative

The imperative is a defective paradigm, lacking all dual forms — note, though, that some grammarians follow common use and simply list dual forms that are exactly the same as the plural ones. It is formed from the bare root, thus it has the same formation for all verbs. Unlike all other terminations, there are separate agentive and patientive ones (note that agentive ones begin with -ь and not -y. Causative forms follow the same pattern as non-causative ones, but the stem is the specifically causative one.

Note that, due to the politeness system of Chlouvānem, the imperative is somewhat rare, as other methods are used. The first person imperative is an exception, being often used with the meaning “I/we must”; also used are some forms where clarity is preferred, like nakāyų thiatia "mind the gap".

Person		Non-causative			Causative
		nāmvake "to crush, press"
		Ex. patientive	Ex. agentive	Interior	Ex. patientive	Ex. agentive	Interior
Sing.	1st	nāmvikṣam	nāmvyasti	nāmvirkam	nāmviljam	nāmvildasti	nāmvildṛṣam
	2nd	nāmveik	nāmva	nāmvih	nāmvildeik	nāmvilda	nāmvildireik
	3rd	nāmveitte	nāmvya	nāmvirda	nāmvildeitte	nāmvildia	nāmvildirda
Dual	1st	No dual imperative forms
	2nd
	3rd
Pl.	1st	nāmvikṣumi	nāmvyasmi	nāmvirkumi	nāmviljumi	nāmvildasmi	nāmvildrumi
	2nd	nāmveikus	nāmvyęs	nāmvirkus	nāmvildeikus	nāmvildęs	nāmvildṛkus
	3rd	nāmveicąt	nāmvyęt	nāmvircąt	nāmviljąt	nāmvildęt	nāmvildṛcąt

Note that the second person singular agentive non-causative form does not take -a if the ending of the root is already acceptable (e.g. lgut! "buy!"). If the root ends with a palatalized consonant, it remains as such if it ends with a single acceptable consonant (e.g. męlь! "give!), otherwise it adds -i (e.g. dhāsmi! "save!").

Past Indicative

In the past indicative, -ah verbs are not distinguished as a conjugation, behaving instead like root verbs. Frequentative verbs in -ve(y)- are completely regular, but the suffix becomes -vi(y)-, e.g. mīmīšviyek "it was frequently seen" vs. present mīmīšveyė "it is frequently seen".
Ablauting verbs always have their base grade, except for inverse ablaut roots which use the reduced vowel. Exterior forms:

Person		a-root		Athematic		Inverse-ablaut
		nāmvake "to crush, press"		gṇyauke "to give birth; int.: to be born"		valde "to open"
		Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior
Sing.	1st	nāmvau	nāmvirau	gṇyāvau	gṇyāviru	uldau	uldirau
	2nd	nāmvei	nāmvirei	gṇyāvei	gṇyāvirei	uldei	uldirei
	3rd	nāmvek	nāmvirek	gṇyāvek	gṇyāvirek	uldek	uldirek
Dual	1st	nāmvaram	nāmvirlam	gṇyauram	gṇyāvirlam	uldaram	uldirlam
	2nd	nāmvares	nāmvirles	gṇyaures	gṇyāvirles	uldares	uldirles
	3rd	nāmvadat	nāmvirdat	gṇyaudat	gṇyāvirdat	uldadat	uldirdat
Pl.	1st	nāmvanāja	nāmvirāja	gṇyaunāja	gṇyāvirāja	uldanāja	uldirāja
	2nd	nāmvaneši	nāmvireši	gṇyauneši	gṇyāvireši	uldaneši	uldireši
	3rd	nāmvayivė	nāmvirivė	gṇyauyivė	gṇyāvirivė	uldayivė	uldirivė

Causative
Causative forms use the same stems as in the present indicative. Exterior forms:

Person		No ablaut		Ablaut		Inverse ablaut
		nāmvake "to make crush, press"		mišake "to show; int.: learn"		valde "to make open"
		Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior
Sing.	1st	nāmvildau	nāmvildrau	maišildau	maišildrau	uvaldildau	uvaldildrau
	2nd	nāmvildei	nāmvildrei	maišildei	maišildrei	uvaldildei	uvaldildrei
	3rd	nāmvildek	nāmvildrek	maišildek	maišildrek	uvaldildek	uvaldildrek
Dual	1st	nāmvildaram	nāmvildṛvam	maišildaram	maišildṛvam	uvaldildaram	uvaldildṛvam
	2nd	nāmvildares	nāmvildṛves	maišildares	maišildṛves	uvaldildares	uvaldildṛves
	3rd	nāmvildat	nāmvildṛdat	maišildat	maišildṛdat	uvaldildat	uvaldildṛdat
Pl.	1st	nāmvildāja	nāmvildrāja	maišildāja	maišildrāja	uvaldildāja	mešildrāja
	2nd	nāmvildeši	nāmvildreši	maišildeši	maišildreši	uvaldildeši	uvaldildreši
	3rd	nāmvildivė	nāmvildṛyivė	maišildivė	maišildṛyivė	uvaldildivė	uvaldildṛyivė

Perfect Indicative

The perfect is formed with the same terminations for all verbs. The particularity of this tense is that it uses a special stem, formed by prefixing the root vowel (shortened, oral, and with the basic root ablaut) to the stem. Examples:

• nāmvake “to crush, press” = nāmv- → anāmv-
• khluke “to search, look for” = khlu- → ukhlu-
• hilkake “to dye, colour” = hilk- → ihilk-
• męlike “to give” = męlь → emęlь-

æ uses i; o, å, and ṛ use a; diphthongs usually only take their first component, exceptions being ai (→ e) and au (→ o):

• dældake “to speak” = dæld- → idæld-
• kolkake “to be acid” = kolk- → akolk-
• tṛlake “to know, understand” = tṛl- → atṛl-
• yaudake “to catch” = yaud- → oyaud-
• laitake “to row” = lait- → elait-

Causative stems with ablaut have a full reduplication, using the first consonant plus the basic vowel grade, like miš- → maiš- → mimaiš-.

A few verbs have irregular stems:

• flulke "to go (unidirectional)" = elīs- (in arch. Chlouvānem both evlīs- and eflīs- are found)
• lilke “to live” = lælī-
• dṛke “to do” = dadrā-

Note that in the perfect, the 3rd person does not distinguish number:

Person		Non-causative		Causative
		nāmvake "to crush, press"
		Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior
Sing.	1st	anāmvam	anāmviram	anāmvildam	anāmvildṛm
	2nd	anāmves	anāmvires	anāmvildes	anāmvildṛs
	3rd	anāmva	anāmvirā	anāmvildā	anāmvildirā
Dual	1st	anāmvara	anāmvirala	anāmvildara	anāmvildrāh
	2nd	anāmvari	anāmvirali	anāmvildari	anāmvildrai
	3rd	anāmva	anāmvirā	anāmvildā	anāmvildirā
Pl.	1st	anāmvima	anāmvirma	anāmvildima	anāmvildṛma
	2nd	anāmviša	anāmvirša	anāmvildiša	anāmvildṛša
	3rd	anāmva	anāmvirā	anāmvildā	anāmvildirā

Future indicative

The future tense does not vary between conjugations, and the stem - except for causative verbs - is always the one used in the infinitive. Like the perfect, the future does not distinguish number in the 3rd person (historically, the endings were the same, as the future was built with the perfect of PLB *išəj- (to take)).

Person		Non-causative		Causative
		nāmvake "to crush, press"
		Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior
Sing.	1st	nāmviṣyam	nāmviriṣyam	nāmvildiṣyam	nāmvildirṣyam
	2nd	nāmviṣyes	nāmviriṣyes	nāmvildiṣyes	nāmvildirṣyes
	3rd	nāmviṣya	nāmviriṣya	nāmvildiṣya	nāmvildirṣya
Dual	1st	nāmviṣyara	nāmviriṣyara	nāmvildiṣyara	nāmvildirṣyara
	2nd	nāmviṣyari	nāmviriṣyari	nāmvildiṣyari	nāmvildirṣyari
	3rd	nāmviṣya	nāmviriṣya	nāmvildiṣya	nāmvildirṣya
Pl.	1st	nāmviṣīma	nāmviriṣīma	nāmvildiṣīma	nāmvildirṣīma
	2nd	nāmviṣīsa	nāmviriṣīsa	nāmvildiṣīsa	nāmvildirṣīsa
	3rd	nāmviṣya	nāmviriṣya	nāmvildiṣya	nāmvildirṣya

Voice marking

Chlouvānem has seven voices, marked by affixes added, in unprefixed verbs, at the end of the verb. As the patient-trigger voice (common voice in interior verbs) is unmarked, the six voice markers are:

• -te for agent-trigger voice (in exterior verbs only) — but note that -ė-te (in most 3sg verbs) becomes -egde (as -ė derives from historical *-eg);
• -kæ for benefactive-trigger voice;
• -tū (-tur non-finally) for antibenefactive-trigger voice;
• -pan for locative-trigger voice;
• -mea for instrumental-trigger voice;
• -ūsi for dative-trigger voice.

Examples of voice marking are męliė (he/she/it is given) — męliegde (he/she/it gives) (and męliu (I am given) → męliute "I give") — męliėkæ (something is given for him/her/it) — męliėtū (something is given against him/her/it) — męliėpan (something is given in him/her/it) — męliėmea (something is given with him/her/it) — męliegūsi (something is given to him/her/it).

In prefixed verbs, voice marking is a bit different as the voice marker is inserted between the prefix and the stem, thus forms like yāyųlė (he/she/it is eaten too much) → yāteyųlė (he/she/it eats too much). Saṃdhi is applied if needed, e.g. "something is eaten for him/her/it directly from a tree" is taktæyųlė (morphemically tad-kæ-yųlė, verb tadyųlake).

The subjunctive mood

The subjunctive mood only distinguishes aspects and not tense; it is formed by special terminations and has exterior, interior, regular and causative forms.

The subjunctive is fairly regular for all verbs, using (except in the causative conjugation) the most basic form of the root — that is, in basic grade ablaut; the only exceptions being inverse ablauting roots which use their weakened form (e.g. valde uses uld- and not vald-).

Imperfective aspect

Person		Non-causative		Causative
		nāmvake "to crush, press"
		Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior
Sing.	1st	nāmvatiam	nāmvirtiam	nāmvildiam	nāmvildṛtiam
	2nd	nāmvīsei	nāmviresei	nāmvildīsei	nāmvildṛsei
	3rd	nāmvīti	nāmvireti	nāmvildīti	nāmvildṛti
Dual	1st	nāmvīdera	nāmviredra	nāmvildīdera	nāmvildṛdera
	2nd	nāmvīderi	nāmviredri	nāmvildīderi	nāmvildṛderi
	3rd	nāmvīdeh	nāmvirede	nāmvildīdeh	nāmvildṛdeh
Pl.	1st	nāmvīneja	nāmvireṇeh	nāmvildīneja	nāmvildṛneja
	2nd	nāmvīniši	nāmvirenis	nāmvildīniši	nāmvildṛniši
	3rd	nāmvīyevatь	nāmvirevatь	nāmvildīvatь	nāmvildryevatь

Note that for the third person plural both the interior form -ireyevatь and the causative exterior form ildīyevatь are attested in archaic texts; the classical standards are shortenings of these older forms.

Perfective aspect

Person		Non-causative		Causative
		nāmvake "to crush, press"
		Exterior	Interior	Exterior	Interior
Sing.	1st	nāmvevitam	nāmvirevitam	nāmvildevitam	nāmvildṛvitam
	2nd	nāmvevšei	nāmvirevšei	nāmvildevšei	nāmvildrušei
	3rd	nāmvevite	nāmvirevite	nāmvildevite	nāmvildṛvite
Dual	1st	nāmvevidem	nāmvirevidem	nāmvildevidem	nāmvildṛvidem
	2nd	nāmvevides	nāmvirevides	nāmvildevides	nāmvildṛvides
	3rd	nāmvevide	nāmvirevide	nāmvildevide	nāmvildṛvide
Pl.	1st	nāmvevine	nāmvireviṇe	nāmvildevine	nāmvildṛviṇe
	2nd	nāmveviše	nāmvireviše	nāmvildeviše	nāmvildṛviše
	3rd	nāmvevyatь	nāmvirevyatь	nāmvildevyatь	nāmvildruyatь

The optative and propositive moods

Optative and propositive moods are made starting from the same stem; these stem use the same terminations as regular (a-type verbs) present for the imperfective aspect and regular past for the perfective; propositive mood uses the imperative ones.

The optative stem is formed by taking the root (or a stem of one of the four juniai) with vowel lengthening and adding -eina- after consonants (-ouna- after l) and -vūna- after vowels.

Example (nāmvake “to crush, press”):

• Imperfective: exterior nāmveinu, nāmveini, nāmveinė, … interior nāmveiniru, …; causative ext. nāmveinildeyam, …; caus. int. nāmveinildṛyam, …
• Perfective: ext. nāmveinau, nāmveinei, nāmveinek, … int. nāmveinirau, …; caus. ext. nāmveinildau, …; caus. int. nāmveinildrau, …
• Propositive: ext. nāmveinikṣam, nāmveineik, nāmveineitte, … int. nāmveinirkam, …; caus. ext. nāmveiniljam, …; caus. int. nāmveinildṛṣam, ...

The desiderative

The desiderative junia uses a special stem, formed with reduplication of the root plus -s. The resulting stem conjugates as any root verb.

Reduplication adds the first consonant of the verb (except prefixes) and its first vowel (always oral short).There are however some special rules followed in reduplicating:

• Aspirated stops are always reduplicated as unaspirated;
• g- is always reduplicated as h-, except for a few irregular verbs;
• h- is reduplicated as k-;
• k- as š-;

• f- as p-;
• l- in the initial clusters lk-, lkh-, lg-, or lgh- reduplicates as n-.
• Initial clusters which begin with s-, ṣ-, š-, or v- use the first consonant which is not one of them (but šv- reduplicates as š-);
• Verbs with ablaut always have middle-grade ablaut; ṛ reduplicates as a;
• Inverse-ablaut verbs have the consonant of the unreduced root but the reduced vowel;
• Roots beginning with vowels are regular, reduplicating the otherwise allophonic initial ɂ.
• Prefixes are added before the reduplicated root.

Final added -s has some special saṃdhi rules, too (in addition to the usual ones):

• -d-s and -dh-s both become -ts (always written so and never as *ç);
• After voiced stops, -s becomes -r and aspirated stops lose aspiration. -j-s and -jh-s both become -jl;
• -š-s becomes -kṣ;
• -y-s becomes -š;
• -l-s becomes -lь when prevocalic and -lš when preconsonantal, but -rl-s always becomes -relь-.


 Causative forms just add the causative endings, without further modifying the stem.

In many of the northeastern and northwestern lands of the Inquisition, the analytic infinitive + daudike construction is used instead of the synthetic desiderative in almost any case.

Examples of desiderative stems are:


• peithake “to go (multid.)”, root peith- → pe-peith-s → pepeits-

• lgutake “to buy”, root lgut- → nu-lgot-s → nulgots-
• khlunāke “to search, look for”, root khlu- → ku-khlu-s → kukhlus-

• nilyake “to think”, root nily- → ni-nely-s → ninelš-
• tṛlake “to do”, root tṛl- → ta-tarl-s > tatarelь-
• valde “to open”, root vald- → v-uld-s > vults-



A few verbs have completely irregular stems:

• gyake “to be”: muñj-
• lilke “to live”: lėlikṣ-
• męlike “to give”: mimęñ-

• milke “to take”: mūṃchl-.

The necessitative

The necessitative junia is formed and conjugates much like the desiderative; it uses a stem formed by reduplication and adding -asya-, with normal saṃdhi changes.

Examples:

• peithake “to go (multid.)”, → pepeithasya-
• khlunāke “to search, look for” → kukhlūvsya-
• nilyake “to think” → ninelyasya-
• valde “to open” → vuldasya-

The potential

The potential junia also conjugates in all tenses and aspects and has a stem formed with initial reduplication. It is formed by adding -(e)nā- to the root and behaves as a fourth conjugation verb, adding an epenthetic -n before vocalic endings. Note that -r-nā- becomes -rṇā- due to saṃdhi.

Examples: peithake → pepeithnā- ; gṇyauke → gagṇyaunā- ; nilyake → ninelyenā-.

A special case of saṃdhi occurs in roots which end in a single -g or -k: this consonant becomes -gh and the -n in the suffix becomes retroflex, e.g. mūmikke "to dance", root mūmik- > mumūmighṇā- ; dilge “to pour", root dig- > dideghṇā-.

The permissive

The permissive junia also conjugates in all tenses and aspects and is formed, without reduplication, by vowel lengthening and adding -ipp(u)-.

Examples: mišake → mīšippu- > mīšippu "I am allowed to see", mīšippum “I was allowed to see”.

Bisyllabic roots which have as their second syllable an unstressed vowel between two consonants that may form an allowed cluster (thus sonorant-vowel-stop/fricative, except -m-velar) lose this vowel while adding the suffix, e.g. nąroṃke > nąrmippu-.

Secondary moods: evidentiality

The four secondary moods expressing evidentiality are formed in two different ways. One of them has a special set of endings, while the other three add a morpheme to the verb. They are only used in the indicative, desiderative, necessitative, permissive, and potential moods, plus in first person imperatives.

The visual evidential is made by adding -mī at the end of the verb, e.g. yąlėmī "it is [being] eaten (I see it)", yąlegdemī "(s)he eats (I see it)". The ending is actually a worn down version of mešė, meaning "it is seen".

The first inferential, which refers to any non-visual inference that is probably true (often translatable with "apparently", "looks like"), is formed by special endings, which replace the normal ones (example with pūnake "to work"):

		First inferential endings
		Present	Past	Perfect	Future
Sing.	1st	pūnuvam	pūnuvattu	upūnitenam	pūniṣuvam
	2nd	pūnuvas	pūnuvatte	upūnitenis	pūniṣuvas
	3rd	pūnuva	pūnekvan	upūnitena	pūniṣuva
Dual	1st	pūnuvou	pūnuvera	upūniteira	pūniṣuvou
	2nd	pūnuvadia	pūnuveri	upūniteiri	pūniṣuvadia
	3rd	pūnuvat	pūnuvadat	upūnitena	pūniṣuva
Pl.	1st	pūnuvali	pūnuvāna	upūniteima	pūniṣuvali
	2nd	pūnuvaši	pūnuvāne	upūniteiša	pūniṣuvaši
	3rd	pūnuvai	pūnuvāye	upūnitena	pūniṣuva

Interior forms add these endings after -ir- (e.g. dældiruva "(s)he apparently speaks"); causative forms add them after -ild- for interior verbs and -ilder- for exterior ones, e.g. maišilduvate "(s)he apparently shows", maišilderuva "(s)he apparently learns".

The second inferential has a similar function to the first inferential, but the situation is unlikely to be true (translatable e.g. with "might/apparently... but probably don't/doesn't"); it is formed by adding -mū after the first inferential endings, e.g. pūnuvamū "(s)he might be working, but probably isn't". This is a worn down version of mbu gu (or not).

The reported evidential marks something the speaker does not know first hand; it is formed by adding -kye after the normal endings, e.g. pūnėkye "[I was told/I heard] (s)he works". The ending is a worn down version of kulė (it is said).

The consequential secondary moods

The two consequential secondary moods can actually be tertiary moods, as they can be added to evidential secondary moods too.

The consequential mood of cause is formed by adding -an + tā-/tag- to the verb stem. For example pūnu → pūnantagu (given that I work, ...); pupūṃsi → pupūṃsantagi (given that you want to work, ...), or pūnekvan → pūnantaikvan (given that, apparently, (s)he worked, ...).

The consequential mood of opposition is similarly formed by adding -an + īs(u)- to the verb stem. For example pūnu → pūnanīsu (even if I work, ...); pupūṃsi → pupūṃsanīsi (even if you want to work, ...), or pūnekvan → pūnanīsekvan (even if, apparently, (s)he worked, ...).

Impersonal verbs

Impersonal verbs, in Chlouvānem, are those verbs that are defective and only conjugated in third person exterior (with the partial exception of giṃšake) and only used in patient-trigger voice. There are six such -basic- verbs:

• gårḍake (to be meant to)
• hælьte (to be moved, touched)
• maṣvake (to feel compassion, pity)
• ñælftake (to repent, to feel remorse, to be sorry for)
• prābake (to be disgusted)
• giṃšake (to get/be bored) — usually termed “half-impersonal” because it has a full interior conjugation, but with a different meaning (to be boring).

These verbs all have their cause in the exessive case (or a subjunctive verb) and the affected being in the dative; gårḍake usually only has a subjunctive. Examples:

loh tamiāt maivat hælьtek “what (s)he said (literally: his/her word) moved me.”

nīdrevitam loh ñælftė “I’m sorry for how I behaved.”

sęi tū priūsimęliatiam gårḍek “you were meant to give it back to me” (literally: it was meant that you give it back to me) .

Derived forms usually behave as impersonal too, like taprābake (to hate) — e.g. taprābleliom taprābiṣya "haters gonna hate".

Irregular verbs

Chlouvānem has fourteen major irregular verbs, plus other three with peculiar irregularities. The thirteen major irregular verbs all have different stems in either past and perfect or both; the verb gyake (to be) is extremely irregular due to suppletion, while æflike (to plan, to be going to) is a truly defective verb.
The other twelve major suppletive verbs are (regular stems are in smaller size italic):

Verb	Present stem (without ablaut)	Past stem	Perfect stem
aphake (to turn)	aph-a-	aph-a-	adī-va-
einerke (to float (multidir.))	einer-	tanis-	inn-
flulke (to go, walk (monodir.))	flun-	dām-a-	elīs-
ghūmake (to blow)	ghūm-a-	ghūm-a-	ghūrī-va-
ikhlake (to stab)	ikhl-a-	ikhl-a-	ikhṛnī-va-
keṃšake (to use)	caṃš-a-	keṃš-a-	ekeṃš-a-
khilyake (to write)	khily-a-	paṃšy-a-	ikhily-a-
milke (to take, seize, catch, capture)	milūk-/milk-	milk-	ilak-
mṛcce (to run (monodir.))	mṛc-	pañc-	amṛc-
peithake (to go, walk (multidir.))	peith-a-	pīdhv-a-	anāy-a-
yahike (to read; arch.: to understand)	yahь-	taiši-	ašahь-
yuṇake (to powder; to break with the hands)	yuṇ-a-	yuṇ-a-	yuḍṇī-va-

Note that tanis-, dām-, paṃšy-, pañc-, pīdhv-, and taiši- all use the present endings instead of the past ones.

The verbs in -ī-va- are conjugated with -īva in the third persons, with -ī- otherwise (e.g. adīm, adīs, adīva...).

æflike (to plan, to be going to) is an unmarked agentive verb, which is only conjugated as agentive, and has an irregular present stem æftil-, with a zero ending for the third person singular. It usually only takes verbs or verbal phrases as arguments, e.g. keitu dhāsmike æftil "(s)he is going/plans to save the whale".
Note that the defectiveness does not apply to its derived forms - e.g. švæflike (to believe): švæftilu "I am believed", šuteyæftilu "I believe" - and æflike itself has regular causative forms (with the meaning of "make X intend to do").

Three verbs have further irregularities:

• The singular present indicative forms of flulke are irregular flå, flin, and fliven.
• milke uses the stem milk- also in the singular present indicative: milku, milki, milkė.
• flulke and męlike have the irregular optative stems fleina- and męliouna- (instead of expected *fluneina- and *męlieina-).

The pair tamišake⁓tildake (to look at) is not counted as one of the thirteen irregular verbs, but tildake is an unmarked agentive verb, while tamišake is used in all other voices. Note that however tamišake also has a regular agentive voice, synonymous with tildake: teldu ⁓ tatemešu (I look at). The verb najake "to happen" (explained below among the compounds of gyake) is also sometimes considered irregular, as a verb with an unmarked dative-trigger voice.
Prefixed motion verbs are also not marked for voice in the patient- and agent-trigger ones (with only cases on nouns distinguishing them), but that is considered a particular but regular behaviour of a semantically defined subset of verbs.

The verb "to be" (gyake)

The verb "to be" is suppletive as it uses various different stems (from Proto-Lahob *gəjó, *woŋ—*uŋ, *mōws respectively) and irregularly — for example, the future indicative is morphologically a present.

Note that the indicative present is very rarely used, as the copula is usually dropped in most cases; when used with the meaning of "to have" (e.g. lili mæn tulūʔa yambras ulīran "I have six pears" (lit.: I TOPIC six pears are)) it is considered better not to drop it, but it is often done nevertheless in common speech.

Indicative mood

Person	Present	Past	Perfect	Future
1SG	valu	mos	egyam	mavū
2SG	vali	moši	egyes	mavei
3SG	væl	moe	egya	mavė
1DU	uñou	moram	egyara	mayou
2DU	undia	mores	egyari	maudia
3DU	unde	moḍat	egya	maude
1PL	ūlieh	monāja	egima	maulieh
2PL	ulšin	moneši	egiša	maušin
3PL	ulīran	mošivė	egya	mavīran

Other primary moods

All other primary mood formations use irregular stems, except for the subjunctive, hypothetical, and imperative which are the only ones using gya- as in the infinitive: jeiv-a- for the optative and propositive, muñj-a- for the desiderative, mokṣy-a- for the necessitative, ginā- for the potential and maippu- for the permissive.

Present tense or imperfective aspect of all other primary moods included as examples in this table:

Person	Imperative	Subjunctive	Optative	Propositive	Desiderative	Necessitative	Potential	Permissive
1SG	gyekṣam	gyatiam	jeivu	jeivikṣam	muñju	mokṣyu	ginau	maippu
2SG	gyekṣa	gīsei	jeivi	jeivikṣa	muñji	mokṣyi	ginai	maippi
3SG	gyekṣai	gīti	jeivė	jeivikṣai	muñje	mokṣyė	ginai	maippė
1DU	—	gīderam	jeivayou	—	muñjayou	mokṣyayou	gināyou	maippuyou
2DU	—	gīderes	jeivadia	—	muñjadia	mokṣyadia	ginādia	maippudia
3DU	—	gīdeh	jeivade	—	muñjade	mokṣyade	gināde	maippude
1PL	gyekṣumi	gīneja	jeivalieh	jeivikṣumi	muñjalieh	mokṣyalieh	ginālieh	maippulieh
2PL	gyekṣus	gīniši	jeivašin	jeivikṣus	muñjašin	mokṣyašin	gināšin	maippušin
3PL	gyekṣat	gīyevatь	jeivīran	jeivikṣat	muñjīran	mokṣīran	gineran	maippīran

In compound verbs

There are some compound verbs which are formed by a "meaning stem" + gyake; they conjugate just like gyake does:

• pṛšcāṃgyake "to like" → present pṛšcāmvalu, pṛšcāmvali, pṛšcāmvæl... past pṛšcāmmos, pṛšcāmmosi, pṛšcāmmoe... perfect pṛšcāmegyam... future pṛšcāmmavū ; the same in other moods, e.g. necessitative present pṛšcāmmokṣyu, pṛšcāmmokṣyi...
  Note that in colloquial speech the form of gyake is omitted in the present indicative, e.g. pṛšcām is "to be pleasing" for all persons.
• najake "to happen" (nañ-gya-, irregular saṃdhi) morphologically conjugates like gyake but has some peculiarities:
  • Like gyake, there is no agent-, dative-, and instrumental-trigger voice, but the patient-trigger voice has a dative meaning - e.g. navalu "it happens to me".
  • The basic, semantically patientive forms, are the interior ones (with the stem nañ-gy-ir), and they only exist for the third persons - e.g. najire "it happens", najirde "they (dual) happen", najirean "they happen", and so on.
  • It uses analytic constructions for most moods, e.g. najakenovake "can happen" > najakenovė "it can happen"; najakedaudike "to be wanted to happen" > najakedaudiute "I want it to happen" — forms such as the synthetic najinai or namuñjute are found only in archaic (mostly pre-Classical) texts or with other uses - as e.g. najinai being the most common word for "maybe".

Analytic constructions and auxiliary verbs

Chlouvānem uses many analytic constructions - including auxiliary and compound verbs - in order to convey some shades of meaning. Most of these use either a participle or the infinitive as the form of the lexical verb:

• perfective subjunctive in the needed voice + lā (with) + gyake in the past or future tense: compound construction used for pluperfect and future perfect. It is not wrong to use it with a present tense, but the meaning does not change from the bare perfect.
  Note that, for the pluperfect, the bare perfect is often used instead, both in literature as in common speech.
  • yųlevitaṃte lā mos "I had eaten"
  • yųlevitaṃte lā mavū "I will have eaten"
• imperfective subjunctive in the needed voice + lā (with) + gyake in the needed tense: compound construction used for the progressive aspect in the three tenses (present, past, future). In the present, the form of gyake is omitted for the third person, or for all persons if a pronoun is present.
  • yųlatiaṃte lā valu "I am eating"
  • yųlatiaṃte lā mos "I was eating"
  • yųlatiaṃte lā mavū "I will be eating"
• infinitive + ñeaʔake (to be used to): compound construction used for a habitual action in present, past, or future tense. It is not used with motion verbs in the present, as the multidirectional verb already unambiguously has this meaning.
  • yaive prājamne yahikeñeaʔute "I am used to read every evening"
  • yaive prājamne yahikeñeaʔaṃte "I used to read every evening"
  • yaive prājamne yahikeñeaʔiṣyaṃte "I will be used to read every evening"
• infinitive + nartaflulke (to reach): to come to X, to end up X-ing, to result in X-ing
  • yųlakenartatefliven "(s)he ended up eating"
  • lañšijildenartaflunirean "they ended up marrying each other"
• infinitive (or more formally perfective subjunctive) + kitte (to put): to keep X-ed:
  • valdekitė / uvaldevite kitė "it is kept opened"
• infinitive + either įstiāke (to hang from) or maitiāke (to be in front of): prospective aspect, to be about to X
  • yųlakayįstetimu "I am about to eat"
  • yahikemaitimė "it is about to be read"
• subjunctive + interior forms of męlike (to give): to do X in advance — it can also be interpreted as a (plu)perfect if with perfect subjunctive:
  • yųlatiaṃte męliru "I eat in advance"
  • yųlevitaṃte męlirau "I ate in advance" → "I had already eaten"
• infinitive + paṣmišake (to look further away): to let X
  • sū yahikepaṣṭemešu "I let you read"
• infinitive + mālchake (to run (multidirectional)): to keep X-ing (less formal alternative to mai- prefixed verbs)
  • tū yahikemālchute "I keep reading it" (synonym of tū maiteyašu)
• infinitive + nūkkhe (to mount (unidirectional)): to be still X-ing:
  • tatiākenūkhute "I'm still standing"

Adverbs

Adjectival verbs may be turned into adverbs (khladaradhausire haloe, pl. khladaradhausirena halenī) by simply adding -ęe to the stem. Thus:

• tarlausake (scientific) → tarlausęe (scientifically, according to science)
• namęliausake (stakanovist) → namęliausęe (continuously; without any break)
• prātūkke (windy) → prātūkęe (windy; like the wind)

There are also some irregular adverbs, made from other speech parts:

• chlærūm (light) → chlære (easily) (but note its synonym chlærausęe from the related adjective chlærausis (easy))
• dilas (same) → diledile (exactly the same way; emphatic version of dilęe but more common.)
• ṣati (way, mode) suffixed to a possessive adjective forms liliāṣati (from my point of view; my way; in my opinion), sāmiāṣati (from your point of view; your way; in your opinion), demiāṣati, tamiāṣati, and so on.

Underived adverbs

Some adverbs are not derived from any other part of speech. They include:

• All adverbial correlatives;
• flære (yesterday), amyære (today), and menire (tomorrow)
• mådviṣe (before), kaminæne (now), and færviṣe (after)
• Some adverbs formed by onomatopoeia or sound symbolism (and usually reduplicated) like rarāre (roaring) or tanetane (barefoot).

Undeclinable adjective-like words

A few common words may be used attributively just like adjectives, but they do not decline. Most of them end in either -a or -i:

• cami - great, large (figurative), important
• lalla - high, higher, next
• miąre - good (and chloucæm (better))
• taili - many, much
• nanū - more
• kaili - most
• pṛšcām - pleasing
• ṣūbha - few, little
• yamei - "honorific" adjective

All numerals also belong to this category.

When used predicatively, they need a form of gyake following them.

Note that cami, taili, and kaili, in some (but not all) Archaic Chlouvānem texts, have a singular-only declension based on the irregular one of ami (see the declensions of correlatives and possessives in the next section). Most probably this was an analogic feature of a few pre-Classical standardization Chlouvānem dialects of 2000 years ago.

Comparatives and superlatives

Comparatives and superlatives are done in the same way in Chlouvānem. Comparatives are made by using either nanū (more) or ovet (less) in front of the adjective; the compared term is in ablative case; the superlative is formed by using yaivų (than all) as the compared term. Adverbs use the same method (e.g. chlære (easily) → nanū chlære → yaivų nanū chlære), but "than all" in superlatives is usually omitted, therefore they use nanū also with a superlative meaning.

This is used by both adjectival and non adjectival verbs, e.g. sąu nanū yašute "I read more than you".

Irregular forms

There are seven irregular adjectival verbs which are only used with synthetic comparatives, all synchronically suppletive:

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
ñikake (small)	isike (smaller; fewer, less)	iñekṣike (smallest; fewest, least)
ṣubha indecl. (few, little)
spragnyake (large)	samvarike (larger)	sasprāsike (largest)
garpake (bad)	grašcasike (worse)	gugārasike (worst)
miąre indecl. (good)	chloucæm indecl. (better)	chloucækṣike (best)
durḍhāvake (far)	duryāḍhivake (farther, further)	dudhorasike (farthest, furthest)
taili indecl. (many, much)	nanū indecl. (more)	kaili indecl. (most)

In addition to these, the other indeclinable adjectives cami, lalla, and pṛšcām only have the analytic forms (yaivų) nanū cami/lalla/pṛšcām.

Pronouns

Chlouvānem has a series of pronouns which are irregular when compared to other nouns, yet they follow a mostly similar pattern among themselves. As with nouns and adjectives, in Chlouvānem there is mostly no difference between possessive and demonstrative pronouns and adjectives. Note that pronouns here are defined as a morphological category, as there are many pronominal locutions or nouns acting as pronouns in the Chlouvānem honorific system, as well as nouns standing for pronouns, both in formal and extremely informal speech.

Standard Chlouvānem as spoken today uses the following morphological pronouns (not including those that follow nominal inflection):

• 1st person lili (sg.), lilše (dual), and main (pl.).
• 2nd person informal sāmi (sg.), saše (dual), and nain (pl.).

• 2nd person formal superior fali (sg.) and farṣe (dual).

• 2nd person formal equal vāti (sg.) and vande (dual).
• 2nd person formal inferior ūri (sg.) and ūrḍe (dual).
• 3rd person tami (sg.), taṃše (dual), and toman (pl.).
• Reflexive demi (mandatory for 3rd person, commonly used also for 1st and 2nd).

The pronouns doubling as adjectives are:

• Three demonstratives, all declining for case only, not for number: proximal nenė; medial nunū; distal nanā.
• The possessives: liliā, meyā, sāmiā, faliā, vātiā, ūriā, negā, tamiā; tomiā, tameṣyā, (yaniā).

Among younger speakers in some areas the Jade Coast, most notably in Līlasuṃghāṇa, Taitepamba, and Mileyīkhā, demonstratives and possessives are not inflected at all, e.g. lili nanā phėcamu mišau "I saw that cat" instead of standard lili nanau phėcamu mišau.

In addition, yani is an emphatic pronoun not properly part of common speech (demi is used instead) but sometimes found in high style. Archaic Chlouvānem had a demonstrative series consisting of proximal ami, medial uteni, and distal āteni, which declined in use throughout Classical times, when they were replaced by the newer nenė — nunū — nanā forms.

ami is still used regionally around the mid-course of the Lāmiejāya where it has been repurposed as a definiteness marker for non-triggered arguments - Standard Chlouvānem usually topicalizes the argument or uses nanā, or, colloquially, leaves it unmarked and only understandable by context; c.f. "the tiger is seen by the wolf":

(Standard): ėmīla nanie bāḍhmānei mešė, or bāḍhmān mæn ėmīla mėšė, or ėmīla bāḍhmānei mėšė.

(Mid-Lāmiejāyi): ėmīla amie bāḍhmānei mešė.

Personal pronouns

				Direct	Accusative	Ergative	Genitive	Translative	Exessive	Essive	Dative	Ablative	Locative	Instrumental
Singular	1st person			lili	lū	lęi	liliā	liñ	litь	lęsь	loh	ląu	lea	līni
	2nd person	Informal		sāmi	sū	sęi	sāmiā	sāñ	sātь	sąsь	soh	sąu	sea	šīni
		Form. sup.		fali	flū	flęi	faliā	flāñ	flātь	fląsь	floh	fląu	flea	flīni
		Form. equal		vāti	vū	vęi	vāliā	vāñ	vātь	vąsь	voh	vąu	vea	vīni
		Form. inf.		ūri	rū	ūręi	ūriā	ūñ	ūtь	ųsь	ūroh	ųu	ūrea	ūrīni
	3rd person			tami	tū	tęi	tamiā	tañ	tatь	tąsь	toh	tąu	tea	tīni
Reflexive pronoun				demi	diū	dį	demiā	deñ	detь	dęsь	doh	dąu	dea	dīni
Dual	1st person			lilše	lilut	lilšą	lileṣyā	lilšās	lilšātь	lilšona	lilšoh	lilšų	lilšea	lilešī
	2nd person	Informal		saše	sašut	sašą	sareṣyā	sarās	sašātь	sašona	sašoh	sašų	sašea	sarešī
		Form. sup.		farṣe	farṣut	farṣą	fareṣyā	farṣās	farṣātь	farṣona	faršoh	farṣų	farṣea	farešī
		Form. equal		vande	vandut	vandą	vanedyā	vandās	vandātь	vandona	vandoh	vandų	vandea	vanedī
		Form. inf.		ūrḍe	ūrḍut	ūrḍą	ūredyā	ūrḍās	ūrḍātь	ūrḍona	ūrḍoh	ūrḍų	ūrḍea	ūredī
	3rd person			taṃše	taṃšut	taṃšą	tameṣyā	taṃšās	taṃšātь	taṃšona	taṃšoh	taṃšų	taṃšea	tamešī
Plural	1st person			main	mū	mayį	maiyā	maiñ	maitь	maisь	mayoh	mąu	męea	menī
	2nd person	Informal		nain	lgū	nagį	najyā	negiñ	negitь	negisь	nagoh	lgąu	nagea	lgenī
	3rd person			toman	tomau	tomān	tomiā	tomiñ	tomitь	tomesь	tomåh	tomąu	tomyea	tomenī
Emphatic pronoun (archaic)				yani	yū	yę	yaniā	yañ	yatь	yąsь	yoh	yų	yea	īni

yavyāta and yakaliyātam are used as formal second person plural pronouns; they are however nouns and decline as such (as singular 1-h and 1-m declension respectively, but they take plural verbs and adjectives). Various other nouns may be used as second- or third-person pronouns depending on the situation; see the following section on honorifics for a list of them and their usage.

Correlatives

Chlouvānem has a fairly regular system of correlatives, distinguishing ten types (proximal, medial, distal, interrogative, negative, assertive existential, elective existential, universal, positive alternative, and negative alternative) in eleven categories (attributive, thing, person, time, place, destination, origin, way, reason, quality, quantity).

Category ↓ / Type →	Proximal	Medial	Distal	Interrogative	Negative	Ass. exist.	Elect. exist.	Universal	Positive altern.	Negative altern.
Attributive	nenė this	nunū that (near you)	nanā that (over there)	yananū? what?, which?	gu no	sora some	læti any	yaiva every	viṣam another	guviṣam no other
Thing	nenė this one	nunū that one (near you)	nanā that one (over there)	yananū? what?, which?	gvami nothing	sorami something	lætyami anything	yaiva everything	viṣāmi something else	guviṣāmi nothing else
Person	evita this one	utvita that one (near you)	ātvita that one (over there)	yavita? who?	guvita no one	soraita someone	lævita anyone	yaivita everyone	viṣvita someone else	guviṣvita no one else
Time	emiya now	utiya then	ātiya then (remote)	yamiya? when?	gumiya never	soramiya sometime, somewhen	lætmiya anytime, whenever	yaivmiya always, everytime	viṣmiya sometime else	guviṣmiya never else
Place	ejulā here	uñjulā there	āñjulā over there	yajulā? where?	gujulā nowhere	sorajulā somewhere	læjulā anywhere	yavijulā everywhere	viñjulā elsewhere	guviñjulā nowhere else
Destination	ejulyom hither	uñjulyom thither	āñjulyom thither (remote)	yajulyom? whither?	gujulyom nowhither	sorajulyom somewhither	læjulyom anywhither	yavijulyom everywhither	viñjulyom elsewhither	guviñjulyom nowhither else
Source	ejulųu hence	uñjulųu thence	āñjulųu thence (remote)	yajulųu? whence?	gujulųu nowhence	sorajulųu somewhence	læjulųu anywhence	yavijulųu everywhence	viñjulųu elsewhence	guviñjulųu nowhence else
Manner	elīce thus, hereby	ūlīce thereby	ālīce thereby; that other way	yalīce? how?	gulīce no way	soralīce somehow	lælīce anyhow	yaivlīce everyway	viṣlīce otherwise	guviṣlīce no other way
Reason	emena herefore	utmena therefore	ātmena therefore; for that other reason	yamenat? why?	gumena for no reason	soramena somewhy	lætmena whyever, for any reason	yaivmena for every reason	viṣmena for another reason	guviṣmena for no other reason
Quality	esmā this kind	utsmā that kind	ātsmā that other kind	yasmāt? which kind?	gusmā no kind	sorasmā some kind	læsmā any kind	yavismā every kind	viṣasmā another kind	guviṣasmā no other kind
Quantity	enūḍa this much	utnūḍa that much	ātnūḍa that much (remote)	yanūḍat? how much?	gunūḍa none	soraṇūḍa some of it	lætnūḍa any much	yaivnūḍa all of it	viṣṇūḍa another quantity	guviṣṇūḍa no other quantity

Note that in common speach ālīce and ūlīce as well as ātmena and utmena are basically interchangeable, except for main clauses in relative structures where only ālīce and ātmena are used. The quality correlatives may take an essive argument, e.g. kadięs læsmā "any kind of chair".
Thing and person correlatives decline for case and, in the case of evita, utvita, and ātvita, also for number (1h declension: evita, acc. sg. evitu, dir. pl. evitai, dat. pl. evitauti…). Quality and quantity correlatives also decline for case.

Negatives, elective existentials, universals, and positive alternatives for thing and person correlatives may also take dual number: gvamiyon～guvition "neither"; lætyamiyon～lævition "either"; yaivyon～yaivition "both"; viṣāmiyon～viṣvition "the other one".

There is a further interrogative, yacāryā? (whose).

Declensions of correlatives and possessives

Case	ā-paradigm	ė-paradigm	ū-paradigm	t-paradigm
	All possessives, nanā, yacāryā?, ami, correlatives in -i	nenė only	nunū only	yasmāt? and yanūḍat?
Direct Vocative	liliā	nenė	nunū	yasmāt
Accusative	liliau	nenæyu	nunūyu	yasmau
Ergative	lilie	nenæye	nunūye	yasmātei
Genitive	liliai	neniai	nunūyai	yasmai
Translative	liliān	nenėn	nunūn	yasmān
Exessive	liliāt	nenėt	nunūt	yasmātat
Essive	liliąa	nenęe	nunųu	yasmātą
Dative	liliåh	neneah	nunouh	yasmātom
Ablative	liliąu	nenėhu	nunūvu	yasmąu
Locative	lilea	nenėhea	nunūvea	yasmātea
Instrumental	lileni	nenėni	nunauni	yasmaini

Honorifics

Honorific pronouns

Second person

The rules for second person pronouns are mostly fairly easy. There are usually two contexts: formal and informal.

Formal pronouns are three and (in contemporary Chlouvānem) invariable for gender, but they vary for relative rank instead: fali is used towards a superior, vāti towards one of the same rank, and ūri towards a lower ranked person (until the mid-Fourth Era, fali was strictly feminine and ūri strictly masculine, and the rules for all three varied also according to the relative genders). farṣe, vande, and ūrḍe are their respective dual forms.

Plural second person pronouns are usually two: yakaliyātam is used towards the representative of a specifically defined group - an institution or a company -, while yavyāta is used for less defined groups.

There are, however, more formal second-person pronouns with a limited use. All of these (here listed in Latin alphabetical order), unless noted, are morphologically nouns, but they are used with second person verbs anyway:


• aveṣyotariri fali (locution with the pronoun fali) is sometimes used towards the highest ranked non-religious superiors, if they are several ranks ahead: examples include commanders of a military brigade or presidents of a company. However, fali is in most cases respectful enough; it is however invariably used in the set phrase lāliu faliau aveṣyotariri yaccechlašute nami "I humbly ask for your forgiveness".
• gopūrṭham is often used towards public/religious and military officials.
• gopūrṭhami brausa (or yobrausa) are used for the highest ranked Inquisitors, bishops, head monks, and the Baptist.
• lalla yobrausa is used exclusively for the Great Inquisitor.

• ṣari, nowadays mostly old-fashioned, was used by guests towards homeowners and also by soldiers towards their superiors. It also meant, aside from being a pronoun, "landowner" or "head of a non-religious state"; in contemporary Chlouvānem it mostly only survives as a vocative expression towards homeowners when used by guests.
• ūttuka is today only used in parts of the Northeast (aside by fictional characters in historical settings), but until the early Fourth Era was a common pronoun word used by servants towards their superiors, particularly landowners (it thus partially overlapped with ṣari).
• yobrausa — see gopūrṭhami brausa above.



It is also important to note that it's increasingly common to simply use the vocative formula - given name plus lāma - instead of any pronoun in formal context: when speaking to a superior named Lārtāvi Vaihātiai Lælithiam, in order to say a sentence like "have you already done (it)?", fali tū dadrās nāṭ dām? and Lælithiam lāma tū dadrās nāṭ dām? are both just as correct. The pronoun forms are more commonly used in other cases, particularly in the genitive.

In informal contexts, the only basic morphological second-person pronoun is sāmi, which has the dual form saše and the plural form nain. However, there may be even more informal contexts where other nouns may be used: the prototypical example is among siblings, where blikā (dual blikyon, plural blikai), an endearing term for girls (think of Japanese -chan or -tan) is used as a pronoun for and among sisters — e.g. blikā meyom umuṣeste tane? meaning "did you ask mum or not?"; as for all nouns standing for pronouns, this is not a vocative expression as it declines for case - e.g. blikom emęliaṃte nāṭ! "I've already given it to you!"; other such pro-nouns used among siblings are lorkhās (for and among brothers; literally "guy", can be rude outside this context), nājhali (non-binary equivalent to "girl" and "boy" — somewhat rarer as even in general use it's a more neutral term than either blikā or lorkhās), and even samin (literally "kid"). Informal names are also sometimes used instead of pronouns among siblings, and they're more often than not used that way among close friends and kaleyai.

Third person

In Chlouvānem, third person pronouns are basically never used when referring to people: tami can only be used as such in informal registers, and it is considered insulting to do so in formal speech. The name of the person referred to with the appropriate honorific title is used instead.

Honorific titles

→ See also: Chlouvānem names § Using names

Chlouvānem uses many honorific titles, which are always used in non-familiar speech. The "honorific" adjective yamei is often added to many of them - especially lāma - and is mandatory in other ones.

• lāma - used after the noun, it is the most common honorific title; almost every time someone is being addressed, lāma is used - the only exceptions being when it is already known another honorific should be used, or in familiar situations. It usually follows the given name alone (e.g. Namihūlša lāma); if the matronymic is added (sometimes done in order to disambiguate), then lāma comes between matronymic and noun (e.g. Līṭhaljāyimāvi lāma Namihūlša). All three names matronymic, surname, and given name together with lāma (e.g. Līṭhaljāyimāvi Kaleñchokah Namihūlša lāma) are only used in very formal addressing from a list of nouns; should matronymic+noun be not enough to distinguish two people, simply surname+noun is used.
• tanta - used for people in a lower position, e.g. used towards one's employees or (usually from seventh class onwards) by teachers and professors towards their students. Also used by militars towards lower-ranked soldiers.
• suntam (regionally also sintam) - used for people in a higher position in certain situations, most commonly towards older and more experienced colleagues (but not teachers or professors, nor work bosses if they're roughly the same age as the speaker).
• lallāmaha - an extremely formal honorific, used for public authorities and all Inquisitors. Most often used together with yamei. Inquisitors may also be referred to as lallāmaha + matronymic + yamei + given name + murkadhāna (lāma)
• jūlin - less formal than lāma, used for people who work in one's home but are not part of the family.
• telen - less formal than lāma, used by men for unmarried women whom they know somewhat well. Currently less frequently used than it was up to about 10 years ago.
• jāmilšīreh - used in military contexts towards higher-ranked people, or by common people towards military commanders in service.
• dhārāti - neutral but respectful title of address, often used when generally speaking and without knowing who the listener is. Sometimes used, when in a plural sense, in the form yamei dau-dhārātīye. In its neutralness relative to rank, it can be compared with the Soviet-era use of товарищ. It is also how high-ranked Inquisitors and most monks address the general public.
• pūrivāla - an impersonal term of address used in written language, towards unfamiliar people never met personally. Often used as yamei [name] pūrivāla.
• cuca is not strictly an honorific, as it pertains to more colloquial forms of speech, but it works the same way. It has a diminutive and endearing meaning, not unlike Japanese -chan. In formal speech, it is often used towards and when speaking about children.

Occupations commonly used as titles

• camitorai — head of a company (usually as [matronymic] yamei [name] camitorai lāma)
• kauchlærīn (voc.: kauchlærī) — professor (in universities, seminaries, institutions, and work schools)
• tatnāmęlīn (voc.: tatnāmęlī) — teacher (in first and basic schools)

Official titles

Where not noted, the formula is [matronymic] yamei [name] [title] lāma.

• brausamailenia — Baptist — rendered as aveṣyotārire lallāmaha [matronymic] yamei [surname + given name] brausamailenia lāma.
• camimurkadhāna — Great Inquisitor — rendered as nanū aveṣyotārire lallāmaha [matronymic] yamei [surname + given name] camimurkadhāna lāma.
• camitorai — president (of diocesan parliaments or executives or of foreign countries). Rendered as aveṣyotārire [matronymic (if Chlouvānem)] yamei [name] camitorai lāma.
• flušamelīs (voc.: flušamelī) — Prefect (head of an Office (flušamila) of the Inquisition). Rendered as aveṣyotārire [matronymic] yamei [name] flušamelī(s) lāma.
• gatvā — leader/head/president/mayor — preceded by the genitive of the respective administration (ṣramāṇa "province", lalka "circuit", hālgāra "district", marta "city"…).
• hurdagīn — Head Monk (head of a monastery) — rendered as kaili brausire yamei [name] hurdagīn lāma (+ monastery name-GEN)
• juṃša — Bishop (head of a diocese) — rendered as aveṣyotārire [matronymic] yamei [(surname +) name] juṃša lāma (+ diocese name-GEN).
• lallaflušamelīs (voc.: lallaflušamelī) — High Prefect (head of the Table of Offices (flušamaili eṇāh, the executive branch of the Inquisition). Usually rendered as taili aveṣyotārire [matronymic] yamei [name] lallaflušamelī(s) lāma.
• lallamurkadhāna — High Inquisitor (one of the 612 members of the Inquisitorial Conclave (murkadhānumi lanedāmeh, the legislative branch of the Inquisition). Usually rendered as aveṣyotārire [matronymic] yamei [name] lallamurkadhāna lāma.
• ñæltryam — monk.
• ṭommīn (voc.: ṭommī) — Quaestor (head of a Quaestorship).

Note that the full titles are used generally at the first mention only. For example, Martayināvi yamei murkadhāna Læhimausa lāma becomes afterwards either yamei murkadhāna or yamei Læhimausa lāma. With the Great Inquisitor, this does not usually get shorter than nanū aveṣyotārire yamei lallāmaha ([Her] Respectable Most Excellent Highness) or nanū aveṣyotārire lallāmaha camimurkadhāna ([Her] Most Excellent Highness, the Great Inquisitor).

Honorific particles

There are a few honorific particles - mostly of Ancient Kūṣṛmāthi origin - that are used to make names or nouns honorific:

• spa makes a verb polite and is put after a verb.
• yoṣa has roughly the same function as spa, but is more polite; pay attention that while spa may be used freely with same- and lower-ranked people, yoṣa in those contexts is considered excessive to the point of being insulting.
• īvai makes a verb humble, and is put after a verb, too.
• yaši is an alternative to spa and yoṣa but always used with third-person verbs. It is always after personal suffixes but, in unprefixed verbs, before the voice, e.g. darė yaši → darėyašite.
• nami denotes respect towards the trigger of the verb.
• yo- is a prefix for things pertaining to a honourable person, often used together with a verb with nami.
• dau- is a prefix that makes nouns honorific.

Numerals - Mālendān

Chlouvānem is one of the few human Calemerian languages - together with all other Lahob languages and a few ones of the southern hemisphere - with a pure duodecimal number system.

Numbers (sg/pl. mālendān) have six different forms: cardinal, ordinal, collective, distributive, adverbial/multiplicative, and fractionary. 1-4 have separate adverbial forms, while all other ones have an invariable form used as multiplicative and a derived adverb used as adverbial. Cardinals from 1 to 4 decline for case (leila as 1h; dani and pāmvi as 4h; nęlte as 2h).

Digit12	Base 10	Cardinal	Ordinal	Collective	Distributive	Adv./Multiplicative	Fractionary
0	0	ajrā	(ajrāyende)	(ajrāmūh)	(ajrehaicė)	(lājrā)	—
1	1	leila	lahīla	leilamūh	leiluhaicė	leilahæl lāleila	lahīlvāṭ
2	2	dani	hælinaika	daniamūh	danihaicė	danihæl lādani	hælinaivāṭ
3	3	pāmvi	pāmvende	pāmvimūh	pāmvihaicė	pāmvihæl lāpāmvi	pāmvendvāṭ
4	4	nęlte	nęltende	nęltemūh	nęltehaicė	nęltehæl lānęlte	nęltendvāṭ
5	5	šulka	šulkende	šulkamūh	šulkhaicė	lāšulka	šulkendvāṭ
6	6	tulūɂa	tulūɂende	tulūɂamūh	tulūɂihaicė	lātulūɂa	tulūɂendvāṭ
7	7	chīka	chīcænde	chīkamūh	chīcihaicė	lāchīka	chīcændvāṭ
8	8	tītya	tītyende	tītyamūh	tītihaicė	lātītya	tītyendvāṭ
9	9	moja	mojende	mojmūh	mojihaicė	lāmoja	mojendvāṭ
ᘔ	10	tålda	tåldende	tåldamūh	tåldihaicė	lātålda	tåldendvāṭ
Ɛ	11	vælden	vældinde	vældemūh	vældihaicė	lāvælden	vældindvāṭ
10	12	māmei	māminde	māmeimūh	māmeihaicė	lāmāmei	māmindvāṭ
11	13	lelimaye	lelimayinde	lelimaimūh	lelimaihaicė	lālelimaye	lelimayindvāṭ
12	14	danimaye	danimayinde	danimaimūh	danimaihaicė	lādanimaye	danimayindvāṭ
13	15	pamihælī	pamihælīnde	pamihælīmūh	pamihælīhaicė	lāpamihælī	pamihælīndvāṭ
14	16	māminęlte	māminęltende	māminęltemūh	māminęltehaicė	lāmāminęlte	māmiynęltendvāṭ
15	17	māmišulka	māmišulkende	māmišulkamūh	māmišulkhaicė	lāmāmišulka	māmišulkendvāṭ
16	18	māmivælka	māmivælkende	māmivælkamūh	māmivælkihaicė	lāmāmivælka	māmivælkendvāṭ
17	19	māmichīka	māmichīcænde	māmichīkamūh	māmichīcihaicė	lāmāmichīka	māmichīcændvāṭ
18	20	māmitītya	māmitītyende	māmitītyamūh	māmitītihaicė	lāmāmitītya	māmitītyendvāṭ
19	21	māmimoja	māmimojende	māmimojmūh	māmimojihaicė	lāmāmimoja	māmimojendvāṭ
1ᘔ	22	māmitålda	māmitåldende	māmitåldamūh	māmitåldihaicė	lāmāmitålda	māmitåldendvāṭ
1Ɛ	23	māmivælden	māmivældinde	māmivældemūh	māmivældihaicė	lāmāmivælden	māmivældindvāṭ
20	24	hælьmāmei	hælьmāminde	hælьmāmeimūh	hælьmāmeihaicė	lāhælьmāmei	hælьmāmindvāṭ

Numbers from 20₁₂ above are simply made by compounding teens and units with the appropriate saṃdhi changes, like 21₁₂ (25₁₀) hælьmāmileila, and then hælьmāmidani, hælьmāmipāmvi, and so on. Note that other compounds with 6 use -tulūɂa and not -vælka as in 16₁₂.
The other teens are: 30 (36₁₀) pāmvimāmei, 40 (48₁₀) nęltemāmei, 50 (60₁₀) šulkmāmei, 60 (72₁₀) vælknihæla, 70 (84₁₀) māmyāvælka (regionally chīcæmāmei, particularly in the East), 80 (96₁₀) tītimāmei, 90 (108₁₀) mojemāmei, ᘔ0 (120₁₀) tåldimāmei, Ɛ0 (132₁₀) māmimīram, and 100 nihæla.
The apparent irregularities in the words for 60₁₂, 70₁₂, and Ɛ0₁₂ are explained by etymology: vælka is the reflex of PLB *wewənko, which meant “half”, thus vælknihæla is “half hundred” and māmyāvælka is “twelve on half”; māmimīram is literally “twelve [less] from ahead”. 13₁₂ originally meant "one finger/three (pāmvi, the word for three, derives from pamih, meaning "finger") in the second [dozen]", where the -hælī part is a worn form of hælinaika.

Numbers from 100₁₂ to ƐƐƐ₁₂ are still compounds, e.g. nihælaleil, nihæladani, and so on. Note that 160₁₂ is most commonly nihæltulūɂa, but the more literary form nihælvælka may still be heard.
The other hundreds are 200 (288₁₀) daninihæla, 300 (432₁₀) pāmvinihæla, 400 (576₁₀) nęltenihæla, 500 (720₁₀) šulknihæla, 600 (864₁₀) tulūnihæla, 700 (1008₁₀) chīcænihæla, 800 (1152₁₀) tītinihæla, 900 (1296₁₀) mojanihæla, ᘔ00 (1440₁₀) tåldanihæla, Ɛ00 (1584₁₀) vældenihæla.
1.000 (1728₁₀) is tildhā and numbers above are separate words, without saṃdhi, e.g. 6.2ᘔ9 (10785₁₀) tulūɂa tildhā daninihælatåldimāmimoja.
Note that 2.000₁₂ may be either one of tildhādi, dani tildhā, or (only emphatically) dani tildhādi.

The other divisions - numbers over ƐƐ.ƐƐƐ₁₂ are based on groups of two digits: the two most commonly used ones in common speech are 1.00.000 (248.832₁₀) - a raicė - and 1.00.00.000 (35.831.808₁₀) - a lallaraicė.

The next two groups have their separate words, but are quantities rarely used in common speech: 1.00.00.00.000 (5.159.780.352₁₀) is a taiskaucis and 1.00.00.00.00.000 (743.008.370.688₁₀) a lallataiskaucis.

Their non-cardinal forms are all regular, with -ende (-inde after -m or for Ɛ₁₂) for ordinals, -mūh for collectives, -haicė for distributives, lā- for adverbials/multiplicatives, and -endvāṭ/-indvāṭ for the fractionaries. Compounds of 1-2 retain all irregular suppletive forms, e.g. hælьmāmihælinaika 22₁₂nd (26₁₀th).

Finally, there are few other cardinals commonly used in speech: vālьhælia 1½, vālьpāmvya 2½, vālьnęltia 3½, vālьšulca 4½, and vālьtulūya 5½. Other forms such as vālьchīca, vālьtītiya, and so on are sparingly attested in older mathematical texts, but periphrastical constructions such as tulūɂa hælinaivāṭ no (or, sometimes, - vælka no) are more commonly heard and used nowadays.

Declensions of cardinal numbers

Some cardinal numbers are declined for case, but this is usually only done in formal Chlouvānem. Informal Chlouvānem only declines leila, often with an analogical pattern based on 1h nouns. Only the numbers from 1 to Ɛ as well as nihæla and its compounds decline as such. tildhā, (lalla)raicė, and (lalla)taiskaucis are always declined, but they are fully nouns.

Case	leila	i-paradigm	a-paradigm	en-paradigm
		dani, pāmvi, nęlte	5 to 10	vælden only
Direct Vocative	leila	dani	šulka	vælden
Accusative	leilu	daniu	šulku	vældu
Ergative	leis	danies	šulkes	vældes
Genitive	leilь	danь	šulki	vældi
Translative	leilan	danin	šulkan	vældanna
Exessive	leilat	danit	šulkat	vældanta
Essive	leiląa	danią	šulkąa	vældąs
Dative	leilå	daniå	šulkå	vældå
Ablative	leilų	danių	šulkų	vældų
Locative	leilь	danie	šulke	vælde
Instrumental	leilьni	danьni	šulkñi	vældьni

Using numerals

Cardinal numerals may be used in two ways, depending on whether emphasis is given to the number or to the thing counted.

• In the most common use, the counted thing is emphasized: the numeral is put before the noun and the noun is always singular (except for "two", see below) plus the appropriate case: e.g. leila yujam (a lotus flower); dani māra (two mango fruits); pāmvi haloe (three names), vælden ñaiṭa (eleven stars), and so on.
• If emphasis is given to the number, then the counted thing comes first, and, if it should be in direct, ergative, or accusative case, it is in genitive singular instead; the semantic direct, ergative, or accusative case is taken by the numeral itself if it is one, two, three, or compounds. Examples: yujami leila (one lotus flower), māri dani (two mango fruits), halenies pāmvi (three names), ñaiṭi vælden (eleven stars). In other cases, the noun follows the semantic case (but is always singular anyway), e.g. marti pāmvi (three cities) but marte pāmvye (in the three cities).
  This form is increasingly less common in everyday use.
• "Two" may be used with either singular or dual number: dani māra or māri dani are both as correct as dani mārion and māreva dani - note that the dual number alone, without the numeral, has the same meaning. Outside of literary texts, it is however more common to specify "two" with the numeral.

Ordinals, collectives, and multiplicatives are simply used invariable "adjectives", but collectives and multiplicatives are always singular (optionally dual for daniamūh and lādani). e.g. hælinaika kita "second house", tītyamūh lejīn "all eight singers", lāpāmvi yąloe "triple meal/a meal three times as large". Bare multiplicatives may carry either the meaning of "repeated X times" or "X times as large", but the latter is most commonly specified with a comparison (ablative case) or by context. Ordinals decline as 1h nouns if used without any noun (e.g. hælinaikom męliė "it is given to the second" — but hælinaika lilom męliė "it is given to the second person").
Collectives are often used with the meaning of "all X of..." - e.g. tītyamūh lejīn dilu liju lilejlayivegde "all eight singers wanted to sing the same song" -, with the meaning of "X sets of" with pluralia and singularia tantum, e.g. pāmvimūh hærṣūs "three pairs of lips" (note that colloquial Chlouvānem increasingly often uses the cardinals here, e.g. pāmvi hærṣūs), and with people and animals in order to say "a group of X", taken as a single entity: there can be subtle differences in meaning, e.g. chīka lalāruṇa tugīrante (with a cardinal) and chīkamūh lalāruṇa tugīrante (with a collective) both mean "seven lalāruṇai hit", but in the latter sentence the action it is implied to be a coordinate act of all seven animals, while in the former they either hit randomly or the coordination of the action is not specified (or not specification-worthy).

Distributives are indeclinable adjectives, and have the meaning of "X each": pāmvihaicė titė męlīran "three pens each are given"; lili liliā ñæltah no tulūɂihaicė kolecañi alau ulgutarate "my sister and I have bought six bottles of kvas each" — note in both sentences the use of singular number in titė (pencil) and alūs (acc. alau) "bottle".

Fractionary numerals are always used in the noun.GEN numeral construction, and they are invariable in direct, vocative, accusative, and ergative case but decline with -vaḍa in all of the others (in fact, etymologically they derive from worn down forms of ordinal + vaḍa, meaning Xth part, e.g. hælinaika vaḍa (the second part) → hælinaivāṭ). Unlike ordinals, the noun is always in the genitive case. Examples: marti hælinaivāṭ "half of the city" ; alāvi nęltendvāṭ "one fourth of the bottle" ; bhæli tulūɂendvaḍe "in one sixth of the country".

Units of Measurement

Chlouvānem units of measurement (lęlgīs, pl. lęlgīye) are divided in popular units (leilausire lęlgīye) and scientific units (tarlausī lęlgīye). Scientific units, while understood, are rarely found outside of scientific contexts if corresponding popular units exist, while popular units are found in daily usage. Popular units follow however a measurement standard introduced in 3E 566 (798₁₀) and updated several times in the following two centuries, in order to give a single understood measure for all units whose names and definitions varied across the many countries of the Chlouvānem cultural space.
It is also to be noted that Calemerian scientific units have internationally unified definitions for their base units but are substantially different between the Western and the Eastern world as Western countries use them with a decimal system, while the Eastern countries (the Inquisition, most of the former Kaiṣamā, and Greater Skyrdagor) use them with a duodecimal system.

Length

Units in italics are popular divisions used in speech and not usually written. The nīnas has its own abbreviation but it is nowadays rarely used, and most often written as 2 vā even if spoken as nīnas.

Short	Name	Meaning/name origin	Equivalent to	Metric system (approx.)
thi	thiḍa	Point, tip	1/12 liv	~1.20255 mm
liv	livuka	Short (dialectal)	⅙ de	~1.44305 cm
de	dera	Finger (in A.Kūṣṛmāṭhi)	⅓ vā	~8.65833 cm
vā	vāriṇa	Span	¼ pā	25.975 cm
nī	nīnas	Knee	½ pā	51.95 cm
pā	pājya	Leg	(base unit)	103.9 cm
bru	brujñya	Fathom	2+½ pā	2.5975 m
	vyaṣojrī nęltendvāṭ	Quarter of vyaṣojrā	¼ vya — 90 (10810) bru	280.53 m
	vyaṣojrī pāmvendvāṭ	Third of vyaṣojrā	⅓ vya — 100 (14410) bru	374.04 m
	vyaṣojrī hælinaivāṭ	Half vyaṣojrā	½ vya — 160 (21610) bru	561.06 m
vya	vyaṣojrā	Plough	300 (43210) bru	1122.12 m — 1.11212 km
gar	garaṇa	Hour	6+⅓ vya	7106.76 m — 7.10676 km

Area

The våṇṭa may or may not be written as a separate measure. A measure of 1 jāṇa and 700 doṃryai may be written as 1 jā.700 (do) (most commonly) or as 1 jā.1.100 (do).

Short	Name	Meaning/name origin	Equivalent to	Metric system (approx.)
sou	souca	Small, Piece (in A.Namaikehi)	1 nī * 1 nī	51.95 cm2
dar	dariā	unknown; name first used in the Near East	60 (7210) sou	3,740.4 cm2
re	relya	Carpet	3 dar	~1.12212 m2
do	doṃrya	ultimately from doman (room)	4 re	~4.48848 m2
vå	våṇṭa	probably from a Tamukāyi word meaning "fence(d)"	600 (86410) do — ½ jā	~3,878.0467 m2
jā	jāṇa	Field	1,000 (1,72810) do — 2 vå	~7,756.0934 m2
e	ekram	Expanse (in A.Namaikehi)	100 (14410) jā	~1.1168 km2

Weight (and mass)

Short	Name	Meaning/name origin	Equivalent to	Metric system (approx.)
vaj	vaji	dimin. from vaḍa (part)	1/100 (1/14410) dū	~51.79398 mg
dū	dūdha	Seed	⅙ lit	~7.45833 g
lit	litveh	Cut (in A.Namaikehi)	¼ aut	44.75 g
aut	auṭikā	probably an augmentative from PLB *wutərus	(base unit)	179 g
tū	tulūɂendā	ultimately from tulūɂendes (sixth)	6 aut	1,074 g
pau	paurā	Rock (dialectal)	70 (8410) aut	12.53 kg
māp	māmipaurā	māmei (twelve) + paurā	10 (1210) pau	150.36 kg
lap	lallapaurā	lalla (high, further) + paurā	10 (1210) māp	1,804.32 kg

Volume

Short	Name	Meaning/name origin	Equivalent to	Metric system (approx.)
sjė	sejyėh	dimin. from segen (spoon)	½ seg	~5.78704 mL
seg	segen	Spoon	⅓ cel	~11.57407 mL
cel	celia	Small glass	⅙ lun	~34.72222 mL
lun	luneyāvi	from lunai (tea)	⅓ val	~0.20833 L
val	valdhėna	Flagon	(base unit)	0.625 L
al	alūs	Bottle	2+ ⅓ val	~1.45833 L
då	dåṣṭis	Bucket	8 al	~11.66666 L
raš	rašah	Barrel	16 (1810) då	~210 L

There are also two further units for dry measures only:

• the purṣa ("pot", pur), equivalent to 1+½ val (~0.9375 L);
• the ręnah ("jar, urn", rę), equivalent to 6 pur (~5.625 L).

Temperature

Temperature measuring in the Chlouvānem world uses the Jahārāṭha scale (shortened ºj; named after scientist Ṣastirāvi Jahārāṭha Nukthalin), which is fixed with a zero degree at water freezing temperature at sea level. 100 ºj is the rough boiling temperature of water, but, being a duodecimal scale, it is 100₁₂ (144₁₀), thus 1 ºj equals 25/36 of a degree Celsius, or 1 ºC = 1.44 ºj.
The median body temperature of a Calemerian human (which is slightly lower than for Earthly humans) is of 41 ºj (49₁₀), thus ~34.0278 ºC.

Particles

The numerous particles in the Chlouvānem language have various uses, including coordinating conjunctions, semantic, and pragmatic particles. Most of them (except a few conjunctions) follow the word they modify. Here they are listed in Latin alphabetical order:

• dam is an interrogative particle, put after the verb: dalьtah væl dam? "is it a fish?".
• e translates "like"; it requires essive case with nouns (in formal speech; while bare essive most properly has the meaning "as X" instead of "like X", colloquially it is used both ways) and subjunctive mood with realis verbs (other moods are used for their meaning).
• eri means "even", marking a positive emphasis and used with positive sentences (e.g. hūnakumi dældān eri dældire "(s)he even speaks Hūnakumi")
• fras marks the antibenefactive argument outside of antibenefactive-trigger voice, or "to avoid X" with a subjunctive mood verb.
• ga is an adpositive particle, used to join nouns in noun phrases (usually titles; the only exceptions being honorifics), such as Līlasuṃghāṇa ga marta (Līlasuṃghāṇa city, or "city of Līlasuṃghāṇa") or Tāllahāria ga maita (Tāllahāria river).
• gāri means "not even", being the opposite of eri, marking a negative emphasis in negative sentences (e.g. miąre chlouvānumi dældān gāri gu dældire ša "(s)he doesn't even speak correct Chlouvānem")
• golat translates "meanwhile" or "on the other hand".
• gu(n) — ša is a circumfix around verbs used to negate it, e.g. gu yuyųlsegde ša "(s)he doesn't want to eat").
• laha means "only, just", e.g. lārvājuṣui laha flå "I'm only going to the temple".
• lā (arch. lapi) means "with", in the comitative sense, requiring essive case. Similarly, udvī means "without", with the same case (e.g. liliąa ñæltęs lā "with my sister"; liliąa ñæltęs udvī "without my sister").
• leah translates "already", with a noun in essive case or a verb in the semantically correct mood.
• mbu means "or"; placement with nouns is the same as no/lasь, and with verbs it's often the same as sama.
• mei and go are the Chlouvānem words for "yes" and "no" respectively; their use is however different from English, as they are used according to the polarity of the question: mei answers "yes" to affirmative questions and "no" to negative questions; go answers "no" to affirmative questions and "yes" to negative questions.
• menni translates "because, for". If there's a following main clause, then it's the last word in the subordinate of reason (this use is synonymous to the consequential secondary verbal mood of cause); if it's a lone sentence (an answer), then it is usually at the second place in the sentence, after the verbal trigger (e.g. tami menni yuyųlsegde "because (s)he wants to eat").
• mūji translates "almost", "more or less"
• mæn marks the topic which otherwise has no role in the sentence (often used inside larger conversations, e.g. lili mæn yulte kåmbe (mine/as for me (echoing a previous sentence), [it is] in the bright yellow backpack; OR: as for me, [I keep it] in...)).
• najinai means "maybe"; it stems from the archaic potential form of najake (to happen). It requires a verb in subjunctive mood.
• nali, when used with a noun in direct case, marks the benefactive argument in any voice except benefactive-trigger. When used with a verb in subjunctive mood, it means "in order to", with a nuance of hope (when compared to the bare subjunctive, which already has that meaning).
• nānim translates "almost", with a noun in essive case or a verb in the semantically correct mood.
• natte translates "until", with a noun in translative case (or dative case for places, meaning "as far as") or a verb in the subjunctive.
• ni translates "but" as a coordinating conjunction.
• no translates English "and" when between nouns and when denoting a complete listing; for incomplete listings (e.g. "X and Y and so on") the particle lasь is used. Both follow the noun they refer to, and in listings with more than two nouns they follow every noun except the first. They can also translate "and" between verbs, but sama is preferred between sentences, especially with different subjects (e.g. yąlute molute no "I eat and drink", either mėlitu yąlute kolecañu molute no or mėlitu yąlute sama kolecañu molute "I eat curry and drink kvas", but most often mėlitu yąlute sama liliā ñæltah kolecañu molegde "I eat curry and my sister drinks kvas". Note that mėlitu yąlute liliā ñæltah kolecañu molegde no is still correct, but mostly found in literary or very formal language).
• pa translates "on, of, about; concerning, on the subject of", and requires a noun direct case or a verb in subjunctive mood.
• sama translates "and" as a coordinating conjunction between clauses. If the following word starts with a vowel, it is shortened to sam'.
• tī translates "because", "for", and it is always in the second clause of a sentence: tū dadrāṃte tī daudiau "I have done it because I wanted to".
• tora translates "also", "too", usually before the verb (e.g. tora tū uyųlaṃte "I've eaten that too"); note that "also" as a conjunction between two sentences is usually translated with nanū (more).
  • tora gu is a particle-adjective locution translating "not even", and is put before the noun it refers to;
  • tora no, after the noun, translates "even" - e.g. tami tora no tū dadrāte "even he has done it it").
• tælū means "again".
• væse translates "while", "meanwhile", with an essive (or, depending on meaning, exessive or translative) noun or a verb of the semantically correct mood.

Adjectival-adverbial particles

Adjectival-adverbial particles are those particles that are semantically adjectives or adverbs identifying quantity, but - like particles - usually follow the noun or the verb they refer to instead of preceding it.

• glidemæh translates "only" or "alone".
• maifu translates "enough".
• udvī translates "without"; it requires a noun in essive case or a verb in subjunctive mood.

Paired particles

The paired particles in Chlouvānem are:

• gu X tora gu Y no — translating "neither X nor Y"; e.g. gu jādāh tora gu lañekaica no tū drayivegde "neither Jādāh nor Lañekaica did it".
• X gyęe Y mbu — translating "either X or Y". gyęe is the adverb derived from gyake (to be). e.g. jādāh gyęe lañekaica mbu tū drayivegde "either Jādāh or Lañekaica did it".
• X gyęe Y tora no — translating "both X and Y"; e.g. jādāh gyęe lañekaica tora no tū drayivegde "both Jādāh and Lañekaica did it".

Emphatic particles

A few particles are used (usually sentence-finally) in order to convey particular feelings of the speaker about the statement:

• å expresses either surprise (at the beginning of a sentence) or that the fact is considered annoying (at the end), e.g. å viṣęe dadrāte "wow, (s)he's done it again!" / viṣęe dadrā å "oh no, (s)he's done it again!"
• e is a basic declarative particle when used word-finally, and is often used as an introduction (much like "you know, ...") or as a generic filler.
• nane is a tag question, e.g. camiyūs vali dam nane? "you're from Cami, aren't you?"
• naihā is a tag question much like nane, but is used when the speaker is in doubt and/or expects a contradictory answer, e.g. flære draute dam naihā? "did I do it yesterday, or...?"
• sāṭ expresses the speaker's doubt about the honesty of the expressed action, e.g. tamie tamiu draukæ sāṭ "(s)he did it for me, but I don't believe that's what (s)he really wanted" or "as if (s)he really did it for me!"
• tau emphasizes that the fact expressed is considered obvious, and is fairly colloquial, e.g. lārvājuṣe mos tau "huh, I was at the temple, nothing else"; kitui vasau tau "I drove home [what else could I do?]"
• tva puts strong emphasis on a declarative sentence; it is fairly colloquial and not polite, and thus avoided in formal speech, e.g. nenėyu daudiute tati ukulaṃte tva! "damn, I said I want that, shut up!"

Derivational morphology - Vāmbeithausire maivāndarāmita

Chlouvānem has an extensive system of derivational morphology, with many possibilities of deriving words from verbal roots and even from other nouns.

Nouns

-a (unstressed) or -ā (stressed) is a common derivative to make basic words from verbal roots. It does not have any fixed meaning, though it's always pretty close to the root. Nouns with the unstressed suffix and an ablautable vowel usually belong to the ablauting declension. ṛ in a root is always strengthened to middle-grade.

• dṛ (to do, to make) → dara (activity)
  
• lil (to live) → lila (person; living thing)
  
• tṛl (to know) → tarlā (science)

-as is another common derivative, without fixed meaning, but usually denoting objects or things done by acting. It is used to derive positions from positional verbs.

• tug (to beat) → tugas (beat)
  
• jlitiā (jlitim-) (be to the right of) → jlitimas (right)
  
• āntiā (āntim-) (be above, be on) → āntimas (part above)

-ūm is another derivative without fixed meaning, overlapping with -as.

• lgut (to buy) → lgutūm (something bought)
  
• peith (to go, walk (multidirectional)) → peithūm (walk)
  
• yālv (to be sweet (taste)) → yālvūm (sweet taste)

-laukas is a singulative suffix, denoting either a single thing of a collective noun, or a single constituent of a broader act. Unlike the previous ones, it is most commonly applied to other nouns.

• flun (to go, walk (monodirectional)) → fluṃlaukas (step)
  
• lil (to live) (or liloe (life)) → lillaukas (moment, instant)
  
• daša (rain) → dašilaukas (raindrop)

-anah, with middle-grade ablaut if possible, denotes an act or process, or something closely related to that.

• dig (to pour) → deganah ((act of) pouring)
  
• miš (to see) → mešanah (sight)
  
• lgut (to buy) → lgotanah (shopping)

-yāva with lengthening denotes a quality.

• māl (to keep together) → mālyāva (union)
  
• hælvė (fruit) → šaulvyāva (fertility) (morphemically //hьaulvyava//)
  
• blut (to clean) → blūtyāva (cleanliness)
• Lengthening is absent if the word is derived from an -aus- adjectival verb (e.g. chlærausake ((to be) easy) → chlærausyāva (easiness)) and in a few exceptions (e.g. lalla (high) → lalliyāva (highness, superiority)). taugyāva (life) has au because it's derived from taugikā (heart) and not the bare root tug (to beat).
• Inverse-ablaut roots have the reduced vowel as a prefix, much like in causative verbs (e.g. vald (to (be) open) → uvaldyāva (opening, state of being open)).

-išam has the same meaning as -yāva, but it's rarer.

• yųlniltas (edible) → yųlniltešam (edibility)
  
•  yālv (to be sweet (taste)) → yālvišam (sweetness)
  
• ñailūh (ice) → ñailūvišam (coldness)

-āmita (-ьāmita when used with nouns with thematic e or i), often with high-grade ablaut, is another suffix forming quality nouns, but it is often more abstract, being translatable with suffixes like English -ism.

• lalteh (friend (female)) → laltiāmita (friendship)
  
•  ėmīla (tiger) → ėmīlāmita (nobility (quality); most important people in society)
  
• ñæltah (sister (for a male)) → ñæltāmita (brotherhood)

-endān (-indān after voiced stops, and -innān after d), with middle-grade ablaut, has various generic and sometimes unpredictable meanings.

•  māl (to keep together) → mālendān (number)
•  lij (to sing) → lejindān (choir)
•  dæld (to speak) → dældinnān (voice)

-rṣūs (-ṛṣūs after a consonant) denotes a tool, namely something used in doing an action.

• yaud (to catch) → yaudṛṣūs (trap)
• miš (to see) → meširṣūs (eye (literary, rare))
• hær (to kiss) → hærṣūs (lips (pair of))

-gis denotes something used for doing an action, not always synonymous with -rṣūs. -t-gis becomes -ñjis.

•  mešīn (eye) → mešīlgis (glasses (pair of))
•  tug (to beat) → tulgis (drumstick)
•  lgut (to buy) → lguñjis (money, currency)

-oe (with middle-grade ablaut) often denotes a result, but has lots of various meanings.

•  hal (to call) → haloe (name, noun)
•  peith (to go, walk (multidirectional)) → peithoe (development; the way something is carried out)
• yųl (to eat) → yąloe (meal)

-īn plus middle grade-ablaut denotes a doer (roughly equivalent to English -er); usually it is a person, but not always.

• bhi (to take care of; to care for) → bhayīn (someone who takes care; guardian)
• tug (to beat) → togīn (heart)
•  lgut (to buy) → lgotīn (buyer)

-āvi denotes something derived from X. It is also used in forming matronymics.

•  lameṣa (coconut palm) → laṃṣāvi (coconut)
•  mešanah (sight) → mešanąvi (knowledge)
• yųl (to eat) → yųlāvi (strength (literary, rare))

-āmis, with lengthening, means "made of X".

• tāmira (rock, stone) → tāmirāmis (stone tool)
•  tarlā (knowledge, science) → tārlāmis (wisdom)
•  lil (to live) → līlāmis (a blissful place)
• Words ending in a final long vowel (plus either h, s, or m) do not lengthen any vowel in a previous syllable (e.g. ñariāh (mountain) → ñariāmis (mountainous area)).

-ikā has various meanings, often somewhat abstract, intensive, or related to highly valued things/roles.

•  daša (rain) → dāšikā (monsoon) (irregular lengthening)
•  hær (to kiss) → hærikā (love (literary, rare))
• lalāruṇa (giant domestic lizard) → lalārauṇikā (knight mounting a lalāruṇa)

-dhūs means "having X".

• dara (activity) → daradhūs (verb)
• šaṇṭrās (field, soil) → šaṇṭrādhūs (countryside)
• hælvė (fruit) → hælvidhūs (fruiting tree; literary: pregnant woman)

-bān and -ūrah are two roughly equivalent suffixes used for locations. The first one is generally used after vowels, the second after consonants, but it's no strict rule.

• hælvė (fruit) → hælvėbān (orchard)
• lil (to live) → lilūrah (world)
• peith (to go, to walk (multidirectional)) → peithūrah (passage)

-(l)āṇa forms a true collective noun:

• lalteh (friend (female)) → laltelāṇa (group of friends)
• jīma (character, symbol, letter) → jīmalāṇa (writing system)
• maiva (word) → maivalāṇa (lexicon)

-(l)ænah denotes a tree or a plant having a certain fruit.

•  haisah (pineapple) → haisænah (pineapple tree)
•  maɂika (uncooked rice) → maɂikænah (rice plant)
• šikālas (prickly pear) → šikālænah (prickly pear cactus)

-yūs is used with toponyms and is one of the most common ways to form denonymal nouns. As many of the nouns these words are derived from are proper nouns and of non-Chlouvānem origin, there are often irregular formations, e.g. using only a part of the original word.

• Līlasuṃghāṇa → līlasuṃghāṇyūs
• Cami → camiyūs
• Galiākina → galiākyūs

Verbs

Denominal verbs, in Chlouvānem, are not formed with derivational suffixes; a "light verb" is attached to the semantic root instead; the semantic root remains invariable but the light verb is conjugated (as a prefixed one). The light verb used are especially dṛke (to do, make), but also jilde (to do an action), jānake (to feel (physical)), and gyake (to be). Some examples:

• āmaya (collection) → āmayadṛke (to collect)
• språma (glue) → språñjilde (to glue)
• jålkha (cold (sensation)) → jålkhajānake (to be/feel cold)
• ñailūh (ice) → tæñailūgyake (to freeze) (note the tæ- dynamic prefix).

The other basic derived formation is the frequentative verb, formed with reduplication (with a long vowel) and -ve(y)- (-vi(y)- in the past tense). -ṛ reduplicates as ṝ, but becomes a in the root.
Due to the common use of this form in modern Chlouvānem, some grammarians consider it as an inflectional category instead of a derivation. Note though that for motion verbs only multidirectional ones have a frequentative form (with iterative meaning); the multidirectionals already act as frequentative forms of the monodirectionals.

• dṛ- (to do) → dṝdave- (to repetitively do)
• na-gya- (to happen) → nagājave- (to keep happening; to regularly happen, to occur) (gya- reduplicates as gi-ja-, with the i from the root y).
• -gya- (to be) + various prefixes → bīgijave- (to cease to be); galagijave- (to remain in one place; to visit; to keep being)
• tvorg- (to fear) → totvargve- (to fear over and over again) (tvo- reduplicates as to- instead of tva-).
• låvy- (to slip) → laulavive- (to slip around here and there) (-å- reduplicates as -au- and becomes a in the root).

Note that nairīveke conjugates as a frequentative verb, but is not frequentative and does not have frequentative forms.
Frequentative perfect stems have the ablauted vowel in the reduplication and a long one in the root (cf. miš-, bare frequentative mīmišve-, perfect frequentative memīšve-); both vowels are long for non-ablauted stems (cf. nāmv-, nānamve-, nānāmve-).
Inverse ablauting roots have similar rules: the bare frequentative uses the reduplication of the nonreduced root and the reduced vowel in the root itself (vald- → va-uld-ve- → voldve-); the frequentative perfect is like the normal frequentative of other verbs, with the long vowel in the reduplication only (vald- → vāvaldve-).

Adjectival verbs

Adjectival verbs, however, do have some ways to be derived from other parts of speech.

-ūk-ke is the most common adjectival verb-forming suffix, denoting something strictly related to an object or a verb. Note that they are all thematic verbs, even if their infinitive is contracted (Archaic Chl. -ūkake → Classical and Modern -ūkke). Often they are interchangeable with the genitive form of the noun they derived from:

• avyāṣa (time) → avyāṣūkke ([to be] temporal)
• chlærūm (light) → chlærūkke (of the light)
• daša (rain) → dašūkke (rainy, concerning rain)


-uy-a-ke is a rarer variant of -ūk-ke, most commonly found for qualities related to people:

• jāyim (girl) → jāyimuyake (girly, girlish)
• saṃhāram (light) → saṃhāruyake (boyish)

-aus-a-ke (rarely -us-a-ke) forms adjectival verbs related to a quality that is applied to some object, but more abstractly related than those formed with -ūkke; sometimes they are only figurative:

• chlærūm (light) → chlærausake (easy)
• pāṇi (side) → pāṇyausake (peripheral, less important)
• namęlь (to make an effort, to apply oneself, to work harder) → namęliausake (Stakhanovite)

-nilt-a-ke translates English -able, and the circumfix uṣ- -niltake translates to "un- -able" or, sometimes, "difficult to X". The rare ñæi- -niltake translates as "easy to X".
The uṣ- prefix has the allomorphs ū- (before voiced stops), uš- (before c and ch), and u- (before l+consonant); uṣ- plus any sibilant becomes ukṣ-.

• tṛl (to know, understand) → tṛlniltake (understandable) → uṣṭṛlniltake (uncomprehensible; difficult to understand) / ñæitṛlniltake (easy to understand)
• yųl (to eat) → yųlniltake (edible) → uṣyųlniltake (unedible)
• lgut (to buy) → lgutniltake (buyable) → ulgutniltake (not buyable)

-ṣeni-ke (morph. senь-ke, all root verbs) translates "having X as a quality", usually added to nouns, or "X-like" in some cases; it may be synonymous with the -dhūs derivative. u- and i- stems (thus -uh, -ih, -us...) lengthen that vowel before the suffix.

• rahėlah (health) → rahėlṣenike (healthy)
• nakṣuma (music) → nakṣuṃṣenike (having a musical talent)
• meimairuh (emerald) → meimairūṣenike (emeraldine, emerald-like)

Prefixes

Prefixes are a major part of Chlouvānem derivational morphology. Most of them are the same as for positional and motion verbs — for their formation and use, see the related section. Most prefixes are used with verbs, and are found with nouns only in derived forms; some of them, however, can be used also or exclusively with nouns and adjectives. Prefixes derive usually from Proto-Lahob, but a few chiefly nominal ones are from Ancient Kūṣṛmāthi words.
Here follows a complete list of all prefixes used in Chlouvānem and their meaning. When two prefixes are divided by a wave dash, the first is lative and the second is ablative; NOM marks meanings of nouns derived with that prefix.

Positional and motional prefixes

• ta- 〜 tų- - generic direction

• ān- 〜 yana- - on, above
• šu- 〜 šer- - under, below
• khl- 〜 kelь- - between
• gin- 〜 ją- - among
• nī- 〜 ani- - within/from within inside
• ū(b)- 〜 yom- - close to
• bis- 〜 bara- - far, away
• tad- 〜 tasi- - attached to; against
• įs- 〜 hos- - hanging
• na(ñ)- 〜 neni- - inside
• kau- 〜 kuvi- - outside
• viṣ- 〜 vyeṣa- - opposite; somewhere else
• kami- 〜 kįla- - around
• prь- 〜 paro- - behind
• mai- 〜 mīram- - in front of
• vai- 〜 vea- - in a corner; bordering; at the limit
• ėle- 〜 ora- - next to; along; on the side of
• lā(d)- 〜 lo(d)- - in the center of
• vyā- 〜 veši- - left
• māha- 〜 mege- - right
• pid- - facing (positional only)
• nalь- - towards the center; inwards; convergent movement
• vād- - away from the center; outwards; divergent movement

Motional prefixes

• be- 〜 ter- - along the surface
• gala- 〜 hali- - through, across
• naš- - completely, until the end; NOM: omni-, pan-, entirely
• vod- - avoiding
• paṣ- - ahead, beyond; also NOM: further, again, re-
• sam- - movement to the following place/person/object in a set; NOM: after, post-

Verbal-only prefixes

• tæ(m)- - inceptive/inchoative
• raš- - to do something a bit more than needed (ral- or rar- before voiced consonants)
• yā- - too much
• iva- - completely, also intensive
• nare- - applicative (nar- before another prefix)
• min- - transitivizer of intransitive verbs

Other prefixes

• o- - before, pre-, proto-, preceding (os- before vowels)
• tailь- - multi-, pluri-
• lail- or tūt- (alternative forms laili- and tūtu-) - one, mono-, uni-, homo-
• lani- - same, fellow
• vre- - bad
• demi- - self-

Specific terms

Derivational terms considered "specific" are those mostly found in certain jargons. Some of these are applied directly to an Ancient Kūṣṛmāthi root instead of a Chlouvānem one:

• -gaṇūh usually translates "-philia" or "-mania", particularly in medical contexts, e.g. ryukagaṇūh "masochism" from ryuka "pain".
  • -gaṇūvima is the related term for someone who has that (thus "-philiac" or "-maniac"), e.g. ryukagaṇūvima "masochist".
• -rauga is a generic term used in medicine for names of illnesses or conditions affecting health, e.g. tukoṃrauga "obesity" from A.Kūṣṛmāthi tukkom "fat"; vrayegårlauga "dysphagia" (note dissimilation of -rr-) from vre- (bad) and egåram (stomach).
  • -raugotis is the term for someone affected by a rauga, e.g. tukoṃraugotis "obese", vrayegårlaugotis "dysphagic".
• -uba is a rarer alternative to -rauga, e.g. vrayobuluba "asplenia" (vre- (bad) + obula (spleen)), or tupruba "paralysis" (the latter with the root of A.Kūṣṛmāthi tuppozha (still)).
  • -ubīs is the corresponding term for affected organisms, e.g. vrayobulubīs "aspleniac", tuprubīs "paralyzed".
• -eipin is used for inflammatory diseases, c.f. "-itis", like ṇīṭeipin (dermatitis) or āḍhyāsnūlieipin (meningitis).