Arêndron Syntax
1: Use of the noun

Number

Like English, Arêndron distinguishes the singular form of the noun, referring to one of a thing (coŋ, an apple) from the plural referring to two or more (côŋan, apples). However, fourth-declension nouns do not have a morphologically distinct plural; English has some nouns of this sort, such as sheep, but in Arêndron it is a large (and open) class.

The plural should be used whenever more than one of an object is referred to, whether or not there is an explicit quantifier present: daiu côŋan, two apples; môra côŋan, all apples. Note that this includes thûm rûoi “more than one”, which takes the singular in English. Quantifiers referring to amounts less than one, such as shartak (half) and khôl (none), do take the singular.

General statements should usually be cast in the plural: bât côŋan eltra, “apples are green”. While in English we can also use the singular (“an apple is a green fruit”), in Arêndron this would be understood as referring to an individual apple.

The nominative

The nominative is the most basic, unmodified form of the noun, used when none of the other cases apply. It is used for both the subject and the direct object of a sentence:

Baugha glem proth
A man is reading a book

The nominative is used to address someone directly:

Glem, baugh proth!
Man, read a book!

The nominative is used for a noun that clarifies another:

Orzûlê Serissa, greltam
I love Serissa, a teacher

This applies even when the noun being clarified is in one of the other cases, as in the following sentence, where “Serissa” is in the associative:

Ŋœrê Taulau Serissui, greltam
I am going to Taula with Serissa, a teacher

The genitive

The basic function of the genitive is to mark one noun (or pronoun) as the possessor of another:

Au klet dhoit Eltron
This is Eltar's money

As the above example shows, the genitive is used even with proper names, and often corresponds to “of” or the 's formation in English. However, note that Arêndron tends to put the genitive after the head noun: dhoit Eltron, not Eltron dhoit (contrast English “Eltar's money”).

The genitive can show that one thing “belongs” to another in a more general sense than literal legal possession; for instance, it is used with reference to the parts, aspects or composition of a thing, including the parts of someone's body:

Au klet zût ghên
This is my hand

Sleiren ra culta klet guinon
He opened the door of this house

The genitive can be used of relations between people as well, so long as the person that “belongs” to another is in a position of lower rank, such as a child or servant:

Bai vûtrin grœn glêmon
I am the son of that man

(For how Arêndron expresses other types of relation, see the associative and dative below.)

The genitive is used for certain types of indirect object, particularly when the verb is one of taking or subtraction:

Dwainê Eltron proth
I took a book from Eltar
(This is distinguished from “I took Eltar's book” by word order alone: Dwainê proth Eltron.)

The genitive also names a thing's origin, source, or creator:

Baghê mendil Cênaron
I am reading a letter from Cênar

With verbal nouns, the genitive names the actor:

Teirenê dernat hâlon
I saw his being born

The genitive is used on the names of countries and regions to derive the noun meaning an inhabitant of a region; “Arêndron” itself is an example. Such nouns are always third-declension. Similarly, the genitive may be used adjectivally to mean “from or belonging to a place”. Many language names, again including Arêndron, are genitive adjectives of this type.

Many Arêndron family names originate from genitives of personal names or placenames.

The associative

The associative denotes that one noun is associated with another in some way; unlike with the genitive, this does not have to be a possessive relationship or one of lower to higher rank, and in fact is most often used for terms of equal or reciprocal relationship, such as “sibling” or “friend”.

Bai telnha Serissui
I am Serissa's friend

As with the genitive, associatives usually come after their head nouns, not before as in English.

The associative is also used to mark a second agent that an action is done together with:

Ŋœrê Taulai Serissui
I am going to Taula with Serissa

(Note, however, that “with” when it refers to an inaminate instrument used to perform an action is represented in Arêndron with the instrumental instead.)

The associative can have a partitive meaning, denoting a part or subset of a whole:

Orê sei prôthan; bagheithnê tê ertoi
I own six books; I have read three of them

The associative is used after comparatives to mark the object of a comparison:

Au Eltar zansava Serissui
Eltar is happier than Serissa

The associative can mean “about” or “relating to”:

Au klet proth hwusnani
This book is about horses

The dative

The dative is also used as a possessive, but in the reverse way to the genitive, marking the noun that “belongs” to another as being of higher rank or status than its head noun:

Bai basat grœn shôlseth
I am the father of that girl

The dative also marks a beneficiary or goal (often in the form of a verbal noun) that an action was done for the sake of:

Ŋœrê Taulai kœlatith telnha
I am going to Taula to meet a friend

The dative is used for the indirect object, that is, the recipient, of certain verbs, particularly verbs relating to acts of speaking or showing:

Darnê Lanrôgath proth
I showed a book to Lanrog

The dative can be used as a more formal mode of address, such as in a letter:

Telnheth...
Dear friend...

The instrumental

The instrumental marks an instrument or tool used to perform an action:

Ŋœrê Taulai tronsamos
I am going to Taula by carriage

Certain verbs, particularly those relating to acts of giving or sending, use a dechticaetiative construction, in which the recipient is treated as the direct object, and the thing given as a type of indirect object, in the instrumental case:

Dreisnê prôthos Lanrog
I gave a book to Lanrog

The instrumental marks the agent in passive constructions:

Au Arêndron guileut glêmnos
Arêndron is spoken by men

The instrumental can be used to show multiplication or grouping:

Pêrenê prôthan ghên têos
I placed my books in groups of three

The allative

The allative shows movement towards a place or object:

Ŋœrê Taulau
I am going to Taula

Many prepositions of place take the allative to describe motion towards a place, the locative to describe motion within a place:

Prêthnê ven avôlu
I jumped into the water

The allative is also used with prepositions that refer to movement through, past or beyond a place:

Ŋœrê narai Taulau
I am going through Taula

With words that refer not to objects but to times or events, the allative marks the main verb as being earlier in time:

Bagheithnê ghaul proth, dreisatu ŋeuth
I had read that book before giving it to you

The ablative

The ablative is the converse of the allative; it shows movement away from a place or object:

Ŋœrê tâli ghêrath
I am going away from my home

It is used with prepositions to show motion away from the place indicated by the preposition:

Prêthnê ven avôli
I jumped out of the water

And, again conversely to the allative, it marks the main verb as being later in time than a stated time or event:

Dreisnê ghaul proth ŋeuth, bagheithati
I gave the book to you after finishing reading it

Like the genitive, the ablative of a placename can be used adjectivally to mark where someone (or something) has come from. The difference between the two is that the ablative marks where someone has just come from, while the genitive shows where they originated. A consequence of this is that the ablative is used much more with the names of towns and cities than larger places, since it is assumed that the country where someone lives is the same as their country of origin.

Au Eltar Laurêau, Taulai
Eltar is a Laurêan, from Taula

The locative

Completing the pattern of Arêndron's spatiotemporal cases, the locative shows where a person currently is or where an action takes place:

Kœlenet tâlyen hâleth
They met at her home

By contrast to the allative, the locative is used together with prepositions to show motion within, not towards, a place:

Prêthnê ven avôlyen
I jumped (while standing) in the water

And the locative marks the main verb as being simultaneous with, or at least overlapping, another action:

Dreisen proth hâleth, kœlatain
He gave her a book when they met

The locative of quantifiers is used rather than lexically distinct quantifiers of space and time: brœgain “in most places”, cûshen “somewhere”, and so on.