recUrtan DnE

te Domare
CONTENTS
UNIT 1 UNIT 2 UNIT 3
Introduction Under development... Under development...
Lesson 1: History of Dni Linguistics
Lesson 2: Alphabet and Transliteration
Lesson 3: Penmanship
Lesson 4: Greetings
Lesson 5: Plurals and Agreement
Lesson 6: Articles
Lesson 7: Numbers
Lesson 8: How Verbs Work
Lesson 9: Simple Present Tense
Lesson 10: Simple Direct Objects
Lesson 11: Subject Complements
Lesson 12: Adverbs
Lesson 13: Converting Particles I
Lesson 14: Word Order
Lesson 15: Present Progressive Tense
Lesson 16: Negative Statements
Lesson 17: Imperative Mood
Lesson 18: Converting Particles II
Lesson 19: Demonstrative Adjective and Pronoun
Lesson 20: Coordinating Conjunctions
Lesson 21: Introduction to Prepositions
Lesson 22: beh and Quantifers
Introduction
We all, during our journeys through the worlds of the Dni, have come across it. Scrawled on a fragile bit of
parchment, inscribed on a monumental building, or even casually spoken in greeting, the words of the Dni
language carry a certain power, a sort of magic. Not just in the sense that they were instrumental for writing the
all-important descriptive and linking books, which nourished and supported the Dni civilization for so many
centuries. The language of the Dni carries its own charm; it is a beautiful language, fowing on the page, pleasing
on the tongue, and fascinating in its mechanics. It has provided us some of the most important primary documents
about the Dni, and continues to reveal its mysteries as study pushes ever forward.
Whether this is your frst encounter with Dni or if you are returning to refresh your knowledge, you are about to
embark on a rewarding exploration one of the greatest puzzles the Dni ever devised.
This series of lessons is designed to walk the beginner through from the basic fundamentals of Dni to the more
advanced aspects of the language in a sequential manner. The initial lessons will help to orient you with respect to
the history of Dni linguistics, as well as some of the basic concepts of the language. As they progress, the lessons
will tackle more and more challenging material. Each lesson will have accompanying vocabulary, summary,
examples, and exercises in the Workbook (still under construction) to help you understand and learn.
Unit 1 covers all the basics of Dni; after completing it, you should be able to express yourself in simple conversation
with a variety of sentences. Unit 2 continues where Unit 1 leaves off, and will introduce you to more advanced
aspects of the language such that, upon completion, you will emerge with a comprehensive knowledge of its
known properties. Unit 3 introduces you to those topics currently under discussion among the linguist community,
offering different theories and accepted hypotheses. There, you will fnd the cutting edge of Dni studies, open for
your consideration!
It is not mandatory to complete this entire sequence of lessons to speak Dni. The basic knowledge you learn in
Unit 1 will suffce for simple conversation and expression, and you may wish to stop there. However, the further
you persevere, the better you will be able to express yourself clearly and accurately. (For an optimum learning
experience, be sure that you have downloaded and installed Quicktime or another plugin to play .mov and .mp3
fles, as well as all necessary fonts.)
Of course, the Dni Linguistic Fellowship is an excellent resource for asking questions and practicing your Dni
with other students and seasoned Dni linguists alike. Check our website at the beginning of each semester to see
what classes are offered - many Dni classes will incorporate this text into their curriculum, offering a dynamic
and collaborative environment in which to learn.
As the Dni said,
.lena biv Kenen erTbntE me KElentE
May your frst step be simple, and may every step following prove enriching and fun!
Domare
Lesson 1
History of Dni Linguistics
The Birth of Dni Linguistics
The study of the Dni language began in the mid 90s, shortly after the release of Myst and the publication of the
frst novels treating the history of Atrus and his family. Specifcally, the reproduction of Aitrus map meDnE
bretalEo (From Dni to the Surface) included in many copies of the Book of Tiana was the frst Dni
document to be released to the public. Cyan, Inc. (now Cyanworlds) created a website that provided English
translations of the various Dni texts on the map. A handful of groundbreaking linguists, among them Telanis,
Erithan, Snevir, and Coronus, worked to decipher the Dni alphabet and make sense of the translations. Primarily
assisted by Richard Watson, a full understanding of the texts was soon reached. Contact with Watson, affectionately
dubbed RAWA by the small community of linguists, allowed for an early fowering in Dni linguistics, as RAWA
was (and remains to this day) Cyans primary Dni historian and the foremost expert on the Dni language.
The linguist community, in pursuing their studies, organized themselves into a group known as the Circle of Dni.
The group was small in number and carefully tended its knowledge of Dni; its philosophy held the language
as a worthy subject of learning and education, rather than a collection of trivia. To gain access to the privileged
information acquired from RAWA, one needed to demonstrate a genuine interest in Dni. The language that the
Circle had worked so hard to discover, to decipher, to cherish, could be easily degraded if an unknowing public
mishandled it.
Just as rumors surrounding Mysts upcoming sequel, Riven, began to circulate in earnest, one of the members of
the Circle of Dni broke from the organizations discretion, and the Circles wordlist soon appeared on a public
website. The repercussions were signifcant: wordlists took root across the Internet, simple (and often incorrect)
Dni began creeping into the common parlance, and the Circle eventually dissolved. With the memory of an
intimate, devoted passion for a common language and a unique relationship with Cyan strong in their minds, most
of its members retreated into the woodwork, pursuing Dni more privately.
Populist Renaissance
Riven saw its phenomenal release in 1998, and the interest in Dni exploded. The language had been incorporated
so naturally into the immersive game that fans wanted to understand just what was being said. A new generation
of linguists emerged, populist in its philosophy and ambitious in its goals. Simon and Josef Riedl founded the
Guild of Linguists, which soon became a center of learning and reference for all Dni linguists. The Writers of
Dni MOO, an interactive role-playing environment based on the Dni world of 7500 DE, also became a haven
for linguists, with an active guild life under Guildmaster Dovahth. A few tried their hand at designing a Dni font,
including Coronus, Tekis, and Jehon, and a new standard for transliteration was established with a one-to-one
correspondence to eliminate the ambiguities of the original standard, in use since the languages birth.
A critical eye was also turned to the Dni alphabet; in short order, an undeniable connection to the Dni numbering
system was discovered. Gordon Currie, founder and maintainer of popular Rivenguild website, revealed details
about his recent visit to Cyan headquarters and about the mysterious MUDPIE project in his GRID web series,
which employed a number of Dni language puzzles. The bar for wordlists was raised with Khreestrefahs
Dictionary of the Dni Language, which remains to this day one of the best vocabulary resources available.
For a while, a great deal of attention was devoted to the texts appearing in Riven and the games soundtrack, but
once these materials were thoroughly digested, few new discoveries were made and linguistic interest began to
diminish. Rivenguild closed its doors, a great loss for the fan community, and Cyan remained tight-lipped about
its MUDPIE project. With only a short resurgence upon the release of Exile, Dni studies stalled.
The Modern Revival
Then, in 2003, invitations from a mysterious fgure named Jeff Zandi began appearing in inboxes across the web.
Sworn to silence, members of the fan community were slowly invited to test Cyans new game, Uru. Beta testers
knowledgeable about the Dni language voraciously tore through new texts - the old linguistic fre was stoked in
many a student of Dni. A number of testers discovered errors and offered corrections to inaccurate in-game texts,
which were duly corrected before Urus public release. At about the same time, Leenay recognized that no spot
on the web had been established for Dni language discussions, and so founded the languagelyst, where many of
the Uru texts were frst publicly discussed.
Another result of beta testing was the emergence of common interest neighborhoods and organizations. First
among those was the Guild of Greeters under Guildmaster Tijara, which became a model for many others, among
them the Dni Linguistic Fellowship. Co-founded by Jerle and Domahreh, the DLF aspired to create a welcoming
community in UruLive for all who took an interest in the Dni and ahrotahn languages, with the ultimate goal of
offering in-cavern classes. When UruLive was cancelled, rather than abandon its already sizeable community, the
DLF offered resources and support to its members with various projects, including this set of lessons.
Lesson 2
Alphabet and Transliteration
The Dni Alphabet
The Dni alphabet consists of twenty-four characters:
v t s j y k a f i e r m T d h o c w u x l z n
eleven of which can be accented:
b S g K I p E A D O U
to give a total of thirty-fve individual sounds. Dni is a phonetic language, meaning that spelling doesnt affect
pronunciation; every Dni character will always be pronounced the same way. Most of the sounds in Dni also
occur in English, save the r and k sounds. The Dni characters, though, do not resemble Roman letters. Some
have compared them to Hebrew or Arabic writing systems. Because a number of characters look alike and can
be easily mistaken, it is an important frst skill to be able to easily identify and differentiate the various Dni
characters.
Transliteration Systems
One useful tool for helping us understand Dni characters is transliteration. In order to more easily discuss Dni
sounds in English, we can approximate them with roman letters that produce the same sounds. There are two
commonly used systems of transliteration in use today: the Old Transliteration System (OTS) and the New
Transliteration System (NTS).
OTS uses both single and double letters to approximate Dni sounds in a manner that can easily be read but
sometimes results in ambiguities. The phrase meaning youre welcome, meUr, is transliterated in OTS as
mehoor. It is unclear by simply looking at the transliteration whether to pronounce this as me-hoor (incorrect) or
meh-oor (correct).
NTS resolves this problem by establishing a one-to-one correspondence between each Dni character and its
transliteration. Since the English alphabet has only twenty-six letters and Dni thirty-four sounds, NTS uses
diacritical marks and non-standard characters to create enough characters. meUr would be written mer in
NTS, a more rigorous but, for some, less legible way to transliterate the word.
Table of Dni Characters
Now, read the description of each Dni character below and study the characters themselves. Pay special attention
to the distinguishing features of each, and look at how each character resembles those characters it is commonly
mistaken for. You will also fnd transliterations in both OTS and NTS, followed by a rendering using the
International Phonetic Alphabet, a character set used in linguistics to specify phonics. (More info on the IPA can
be found here.) The sound of each character is then described with example words in English, and you can click
on the link to hear a recording of each sound followed by a Dni word that features that sound.
Be sure that you take enough time to thoroughly learn the Dni alphabet and its sounds; these truly are the building
blocks of the language, and their importance cannot be overstated. Flashcards may be useful. You will also fnd
transliterations of Dni words in both OTS and NTS for the next couple lessons, to help familiarize you with Dni
characters in context as you continue to learn.
Dni Distinguishing Features
Commonly
mistaken for...
OTS NTS IPA Sounds like Recording
v
two sharp angles at top and
bottom
t w a
v v
v
voice, fve
Dova
dovah | dova
b
accented v
I
b b
b
bad, lab
bAk
baikh | bx
t
angled curve at top, sharp angle
at bottom
v w
t t
t
tea, get
tagam
tahgahm | tagam
s
full curve at top halts midway
down, full curve at bottom
m T w
s s
s
sun, miss
sel
sehl | sel
S
accented s
m T w
sh
j
she, crash
SEga
sheegah | ga
j
fat at top, curved upswing at
bottom
i
j j
d
just, large
vja
vjah | vja
g
accented j
E
g g
g
give, fag
gor
gor | gor
y
simple, short downstroke at left,
fat base with angled upswing
h x
y y
j
yes, yellow
yavo
yahvo | yavo
k
y base with straight fag
o l
kh x
x
Bach, German doch
Korvak
korvahkh | korvax
K
accented k
O
k k
k
cat, truck
Kera
kehrah | kera
a
angled curve at top, fat base with
angled upswing
t v
ah a
n
arm, father
ano
ahno | ano
I
accented a
b
I
ni
fve, eye
vIlE
vIlee | vl
f
full curve at top halts midway
down, fat base with angled
upswing
z
f f
I
fnd, if
fa
fah | fa
p
accented f

p p
p
pet, map
pax
pahts | pac
i
fat at top, fat base with angled
upswing
j
i(h) i
i
hit, kitten
gilo
gihlo | gilo
E
accented i
g
ee
i
see, heat
rEs
rees | rs
e
short downstroke at left, two
sharp angles bookending upwards
curve
m h
e(h) e
c
met, bed
sev
sehv | sev
A
accented e

ai/ay
c
say, eight
Atrus
aitruhs | trus
r
e base with straight fag

r r
r
No English
equivalent; between
madder and matter;
a fipped r
rov
hEbor
rov heebor | rov
hbor
m
angled curve at top, two sharp
angles bookending upwards
curve
t T
m m
m
man, lemon
ram
rahm | ram
T
full curve at top, upwards curve
with sharp angle at left, full curve
at right
m
th
O
think, both
ziT
zihth | zi
d
fat at top, base bookended by
two sharp angles

dh

this, mother
Dormad
dormahdh | dorma
D
accented d

d d
d
dog, lady
DevoKan
dehvokahn |
devokan
h
full curve without any angles
y x
h h
h
how, hello
har
hahr | har
o
h base with straight fag
k u l
o o
o
go, home
Kor
kor | kor
O
accented o
U
oy
oi
boy, join
DOha
doyhah | dha
c
h base, fag curves to left
o
ch
tj
check, church
cir
chihr | ir
w
two full curves at top and bottom
v t a
w w
w
wet, weather
tiwa
tihwah | tiwa
u
h base, fag curves to right
o n
u(h) u
\
cup, luck
toKitu
tokihtuh | tokitu
U
accented u
O
oo
u
blue, food
tUl
tool | tl
x
small hook at left, fat base with
angled upswing
y a
ts c
ts
acts, bets
xav
tsahv | cav
l
x base with straight fag
k o n
l l
I
leg, little
lena
lehnah | lena

x base, fag curves to left
c l n
a

bat, black
irvn
ihrvan | irvn
z
full curve at top, base is fanked
by sharp angle at left and full
curve at right, fat stroke at
bottom with angled upswing
f m T
z z
z
zoo, lazy
zu
zuh | zu
n
x base, fag curves to right
u
n n
n
no, ten
nE
nee | n
Two punctuation marks are also known to us that are frequently used in Dni.
Dni Function OTS NTS IPA Sounds like Recording

accents characters; separates otherwise
unpronounceable consonant or vowel
clusters

c, /
cinema, away
mla vAxUon
mlah vaitsooon |
mla vcon
.
marks the beginning of a sentence . . n/a n/a n/a
While there is strong suspicion that other punctuation marks exist (namely, an interrogative marker, like the
question mark), they have not yet been discovered. In its absence, the . mark will always indicate the beginning
of a new sentence.
The Pitfalls of Dninglish
By far, the most widespread mistakes that get made with new Dni writers are mistakes of transliteration, especially
with proper names. The temptation is to take an English word and simply change the font to Dni characters, to
take each letter of the English word and swap it out for a Dni character. For example, the name Dianne might
be incorrectly transliterated as dianne. Since Dni is a phonetic language, however, the proper method of
transliteration is to frst sound out the English word, then fnd the appropriate characters for those sounds, not for
the English letters themselves. Dianne would thus be broken down into the sounds d I a n | d n, and properly
transliterated DIn.
Lesson 3
Penmanship
The Dni Script
One of the best ways to learn the Dni characters is to practice writing them yourself. Though it may look daunting,
Dni is actually a relatively easy script to pick up, as long as you go slowly and concentrate. Similar to cursive
penmanship in English, it is written from left to right, slanting slightly to the right, in a long, continuous motion.
It is also a beautiful script to write, fowing smoothly from the pen in strong, dark strokes.
Writing Technique
Proper writing technique is essential to learn from the beginning; it is much easier to learn to write correctly
to begin with, rather than re-teach yourself after years of bad habit. Formal Dni is written with a square-tip
calligraphy pen, but informally it can be written with a simple point-tip pen. When writing with a calligraphy
pen, remember that it should be held at around 45 from the horizontal, as shown in the diagram below. Be sure to
maintain the angle of the pen at a constant position, so all of your characters are consistently shaded.
Left-handed writers often face additional challenges when learning to write Dni. Some resources are available
in print and online to assist with left-handed calligraphy; a variety of techniques, such as over- or underwriting,
turning the paper at an angle, using left-handed pen nibs, and angling the writing surface, may prove useful.
When writing more than one letter, we frst complete all of the characters bases, then go back and add in all the
fags and accents. This is how Dni writing gains its fuid, unbroken look. Flags are always drawn from the base
upwards.
Stroke Order of the Alphabet
Study the stroke order of each character as diagrammed below; click on the link to see a demonstration of how
each character is drawn. Green indicates where each stroke begins, yellow where the stroke turns back on itself at
an angle, and red where the stroke ends. Once you are comfortable with individual characters, we will write some
simple words so you get a feel for how Dni is written in practice.
Dni Transliteration Stroke order Demonstration
v
v | v
v
b
b | b
b
t
t | t
t
s
s | s
s
S
sh |
S
j
j | j
j
g
g | g
g
y
y | y
y
k
kh | x
k
K
k | k
K
a
ah | a
a
I
I |
I
f
f | f
f
p
p | p
p
i
ih | i
i
E
ee |
E
e
eh | e
e
A
ay |
A
r
r | r
r
m
m | m
m
T
th |
T
d
dh |
d
D
d | d
D
h
h | h
h
o
o | o
o
O
oy |
O
c
ch |
c
w
w | w
w
u
uh | u
u
U
oo |
U
x
ts | c
x
l
l | l
l

a |

z
z | z
z
n
n | n
n
Stroke Order of Whole Words
Here are some simple words to practice writing. Remember, the bases of all characters in the word are written in
one long stroke, then the fags and accents are added in. As you are writing each character, try to think ahead to
the character that comes next, and how it looks and connects to the character you are about to complete. Write
slowly and deliberately, concentrating on the distinguishing features of each character, until you reach the end of
the word. Then, go back to the beginning of the word and spell to yourself as you review the characters youve
just written, adding fags and accents as you go along.
Dni Transliteration Stroke order Demonstration
Sora
shorah | ora
Sora
zu
zuh | zu
zu
cir
chihr | ir
cir
SEga
sheegah | ga
SEga
bKen
bkehn | bken
bKen
Lesson 4
Greetings
Before we jump into the real nuts and bolts of Dni, lets learn some easy phrases you can use in greeting your
friends and fellow explorers. All of the phrases here should be properly addressed to one person; in a few chapters,
we will learn how these greetings can be modifed so they are appropriate for addressing a group of people.
Sora
shorah | ora Hello, goodbye. Literally, Peace.
Sora bSem
shorah bshehm | ora bem
Hello, goodbye. (formal)
Literally, Peace to you.
yar ram
yahr rahm | yar ram Good day.
Kenen ram byim
Sem
kehnehn rahm byihm
shehm |
kenen ram byim em
Its good to see you.
gorven boyim Sem
gorvehn boyihm shehm |
gorven boyim em
Ill see you soon.
Toe Kenem
thoeh kehnehm | oe kenem How are you?
Ken ago
kehn ahgo | ken ago I am well.
Ken ziT
kehn zihth | ken zi I am bad. Literally, I am low.
Toe Kenem tagamij
thoeh kehnehm tahgahmihj |
oe kenem tagamij
Whats youre name? Literally,
How are you known?
Ken tagamij te N.
kehn tahgahmihj teh N. | ken
tagamij te N.
My name is N. Literally, I am
known as N.
cev Sem
chehv shehm | ev em Thank you.
meUr
mehoor | mer Youre welcome.
Lesson 5
Plurals and Agreement
Nouns in Dni are very similar to nouns in English: they name a person, place, thing, or idea; they can be singular
and plural; and they do not have a gender or case, as they do in other foreign languages. A singular noun names
just one of a thing, while a plural noun names more than one. In Dni, as in English, the singular noun is the root
word; to make it plural, we add the suffx tE (-tee | -t), the same way that in English we add -(e)s.
Examples:
ter (tehr | ter), tree, becomes tertE (tehrtee | tert), trees
Kor (kor | kor), book becomes KortE (kortee | kort), books
Some Dni nouns only have plural forms. The same sorts of nouns exist in English, words like pants or scissors,
which never occur in the singular and always end in -e(s). In Dni, these kinds of nouns will always have the tE
suffx the word DantE (dahntee | dant), for example, will always end in tE, whether referring to just
one pair or more than one pair of tweezers.
Dni adjectives are also very similar to adjectives in English: they describe nouns and have only one form. That
is, in order to agree with the noun they modify, they do not need to change to refect singular and plural. The same
adjective can modify both forms of the noun. The one signifcant departure from noun-adjective agreement in
English is that adjectives always follow the noun they describe in Dni; in English they can come before or after
the noun.
Examples:
ter para (tehr pahrah | ter para), great tree
tertE para (tehrtee pahrah | tert para), great trees
DantE prin (dahntee prihn | dant prin), small tweezers
Dni adjectives can do many things in addition to modifying nouns, things that we will learn more about in future
lessons. For now, it is important to remember that adjectives do not need to change to agree with singular and
plural nouns, and that they always come after the noun they modify.
Lesson 6
Articles
Articles are the small words that let us indicate or point to a specifc noun. In many ways, Dni articles are like
the adjectives we discussed in the last chapter: they describe nouns, and they do not need to change in order to
agree in number.
Defnite and Indefnite
English has three articles: a, an, and the. The frst two, a and an, are called indefnite articles because, even while
they point to a noun and distinguish it from the abstract, they do not identify a defnite instance of that noun.
A rock could be this rock on the ground, or that rock on the mountain, or that rock in the cave. Since were just
talking about a rock in general, it could be any of these rocks in front of us, it is indefnite which rock we mean.
The rock, however, doesnt leave the question Which rock? unanswered I am referring to a single rock, one
that can be identifed, since it is the rock. For this reason, the is called a defnite article; it refers to a defnite
thing, while an indefnite article could refer to any number of things.
Articles in Dni
Dni has only two articles, one defnite re (reh | re) and one indefnite erT (ehrth | er). Whats
unique about Dni articles is that, like adjectives, they can be used for both singular and plural nouns without
changing to agree. For example, we can say reprD (rehprad | reprd) or reprDtE (rehpradtee
| reprdt), the same way we can say the rock or the rocks in English. Similarly, we can say erTprD
(erthprad | erprd) or erTprDtE (erthpradtee | erprdt) in Dni; however, we cant use the same
indefnite article a for both in English. We certainly can say a rock in the singular, but we cannot say a rocks. This
is because there is no indefnite article in English for plural nouns; the closest equivalent expression in English
would be some rocks.
Notice as well that an article is attached to the front of the noun it describes. Whether singular or plural, modifed
with an adjective or standing by itself, the article will always be a prefx.
Examples:
erTcirtE (ehrthchihrtee | erirt), some organisms
renavatE ram (rehnahvahtee rahm | renavat ram), the good masters
erTzu ziT (ehrthzuh zihth | erzu zi), a low end
Rarely, re is contracted into a shorter form, r (r | r), most often when the frst letter of the noun it modifes
is a vowel, especially e. The lets us know that letters are missing and also helps clarify ambiguity. When we
see rerem (rehrehm | rerem), we know that re has been contracted, and, especially since the frst letter
following the is e, that the noun is erem (ehrehm | erem). If the were absent rerem it would
seem that re modifes the word rem, which is incorrect. This said, it pays to be cautious when reading Dni
texts, as sometimes the is left out of the contracted r, too, at which time we must rely on vocabulary and
context to see us through.
Lesson 7
Numbers
The Arabic Number System: Base-10
The Dni number system is very different from the one were used to. In our Arabic system, we can count up from
zero to nine with single digits. To count higher than nine, we need two digits. The digit in the tens place tells us
how many times weve cycled zero through nine, that is how many times ten is in the number, while the digit
in the units place tells us where we are in the current cycle of zero through nine. Once weve hit ninety-nine, to
count higher, we need a third digit for hundreds; then a fourth for thousands; and so on. This number system that
were used to is called base-10 that is, each place in a number is ten times larger than the previous one. The
tens place is ten times bigger than the units (10 = 10 x 1), the hundreds place ten times bigger than the tens (100
= 10 x 10), the thousands place ten times bigger than the hundreds (1000 = 100 x 10), and so on. For a practical
example, lets look at the number 9017.
We see that each place is ten times larger than the previous one. The digit that is in each place tells us how many
times that place occurs in the number: there are 9 thousands, 0 hundreds, 1 ten, and 7 units. When we multiply out
(as in the diagram) and then add together, we get the number itself: 9000 + 000 + 10 + 7 = 9017.
The Dni Number System: Base-25
Unlike our Arabic system, Dni uses a base-25 numbering system. This means that each place in a number is not
ten but twenty-fve times bigger than the previous one. To illustrate like we did with Arabic numbers, we start
with 1 , 1. If we increase the number so that it requires two digits, 10 (0 is the Dni number for zero), this
new number is not equal to 10, as we would think within the Arabic system; the newly introduced place is twenty-
fve times bigger than the previous one, 25 x 1 = 25. Thus, the Dni number 10 is equal to 25 in Arabic terms.
Introduce a third place, 100 , and its twenty-fve times bigger than the second, twenty-fves place: 25 x 25 =
625. Introduce a fourth, 1000 , and its twenty-fve times bigger yet again: 625 x 25 = 15,625. And so on.
Since Dni is base-25, that must also mean that there are twenty-fve basic digits to work with, the same way there
are ten basic digits (0 through 9) in base-10. These Dni digits are:
0 = 0 1 = 1 2 = 2 3 = 3 4 = 4
5 = 5 6 = 6 7 = 7 8 = 8 9 = 9
) = 10 ! = 11 @ = 12 # = 13 $ = 14
% = 15 ^ = 16 & = 17 * = 18 ( = 19
[ = 20 ] = 21 \ = 22 { = 23 } = 24
Lets look at a practical example, like the one above:
We now see that in Dni, each place is not ten but twenty-fve times larger than the previous one. As with Arabic
numbers, the digit in each place tells us how many times that place occurs in the number: there are 9 ffteen-six-
twenty-fves, 0 six-twenty-fves, 1 twenty-fve, and 7 units. If we multiply out and add together as we did before,
we get the value (in Arabic terms) of this Dni number: 140,625 + 0000 + 25 + 7 = 140,657.
In transliteration, we usually represent these Dni numbers between square brackets, with each digit separated by
a vertical bar: [9 | 0 | 1 | 7].
Dni Number Words
In English, every number can be written out with words; so too in Dni, in a pattern that closely mirrors the logic
that undergirds the number system. The numbers 0 through 4 are all simple words:
0 1 2 3 4
rUn
(roon | rn)
fa
(fah | fa)
brE
(bree | br)
sen
(sehn | sen)
tor
(tor | tor)
Multiples of fve are also simple words:
5 ) % [
vat
(vaht | vat)
nAvU
(naivoo | nv)
hEbor
(heebor | hbor)
riS
(rihsh | ri}
To fll in the numbers in between, we abbreviate the word for the closest but not exceeding multiple and combine
it with the word for one through four. Thus, the number six ( 6 ) breaks down into the closest multiple fve plus
one, vat plus fa: vagafa (vahgahfah | vagafa). (The ga means and, thus the word literally means
fve-and-one.) Similarly, the number fourteen ( $ ) breaks down into the closest multiple ten plus four, nAvU
plus tor: nAgator (naigahtor | ngator); and twenty-two ( \ ) is twenty plus two, riS plus
brE: rigabrE (rihgahbree | rigabr).
Find below a table of the Dni numbers from 1 through | for quick reference (| is an alternative way of
writing 10 , 25, when the number carries a special signifcance):
Dni digit Arabic digit Dni word Transliteration English word
0
0
rUn
roon | rn zero
1
1
fa
fah | fa one
2
2
brE
bree | br two
3
3
sen
sehn | sen three
4
4
tor
tor | tor four
5
5
vat
vaht | vat fve
6
6
vagafa
vahgahfah | vagafa six
7
7
vagabrE
vahgahbree | vagabr seven
8
8
vagasen
vahgahsehn | vagasen eight
9
9
vagator
vahgahtor | vagator nine
)
10
nAvU
naivoo | nv ten
!
11
nAgafa
naigahfah | ngafa eleven
@
12
nAgabrE
naigahbree | ngabr twelve
#
13
nAgasen
naigahsehn | ngasen thirteen
$
14
nAgator
naigahtor | ngator fourteen
%
15
hEbor
heebor | hbor ffteen
^
16
hEgafa
heegahfah | hgafa sixteen
&
17
hEgabree
heegahbree | hgabr seventeen
*
18
hEgasen
heegahsehn | hgasen eighteen
(
19
hEgator
heegahtor | hgator nineteen
[
20
riS
rihsh | ri twenty
]
21
rigafa
rihgahfah | rigafa twenty-one
\
22
rigabrE
rihgahbree | rigabr twenty-two
{
23
rigasen
rihgahsehn | rigasen twenty-three
}
24
rigator
rihgahtor | rigator twenty-four
|
25
fasE
fahsee | fas twenty-fve
Dni Numbers Larger Than 24
When we write numbers larger than nine in English, we indicate the place of each digit in words: four thousand
eight hundred and ninety three. In similar fashion, Dni uses suffxes to indicate a digits place. These suffxes
are:
sE 10 25s place
ra 100
625s place
len 1000
15,625s place
mel 10000
390,625s place
blo 100000
9,765,625s place
Thus, the Dni number for twenty-fve ( 10 ) is a fa in the twenty-fves place: fasE. (Note that we
never write out the 0 .) Three hundred twenty-fve ( #0 ) is a nAgasen in the twenty-fves place:
nAgasensE. We can also write out numbers with digits in both places one hundred twenty-one ( 4]
) is a tor in the twenty-fves place and a rigafa in the units place: torsE rigafa.
Lesson 8
How Verbs Work
By now, you should be comfortable with Dni letters and sounds, know a few simple phrases, and have some
familiarity with nouns, adjectives, and numbers. The next big topic to tackle is verbs, one of the more complex
aspects of Dni, simply by virtue of its differences from what were used to in English. Because of these differences,
it is useful to spend a little time reviewing how verbs are put together in general, before delving into Dni verbs
in earnest.
Infnitive
An infnitive verb is a verb in its most pure form. It doesnt say anything about who or when or how, it simply
gives the action or state of being that the verb describes. In English, we recognize an infnitive when the verb is
preceded by the preposition to.
Examples: to move to see to write to be
In Dni, much the same pattern is observed; if the verb is preceded by b (b | b), a contraction of the preposition
be (beh | be) which means to, it is in its infnitive form.
Examples:
bKro (bkro | bkro) byim (byihm | byim)
bsel (bsehl | bsel) bKen (bkehn | bken)
From the infnitive, we can fnd the root of the verb as we do in English, by dropping the b, to. This root is the
kernel of every conjugated verb, it is always the central part to which prefxes and suffxes are attached to indicate
the who, when, and how.
Person and Number
When we conjugate a verb, we change it with prefxes and suffxes to take it out of the abstract infnitive and
apply it to a particular subject at a particular time. Lets frst look at how to specify the who of the verb, the
subject. Traditionally, the subject of a verb is classifed by its person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) and by its number (singular
or plural)
singular plural
1st I we
2nd you (singular) you (plural)
3rd he, she, it, Atrus
they, Atrus and Catherine,
the Rivenese
The frst person always indicates the person speaking the verb, whether its just that sole person (I) or a group
including that person (we). The second person always indicates the person spoken to, whether that is just one
person (you sing.) or a group of people (you pl.). In English, we dont distinguish between the singular and plural
you, except in slang where yall could be said to be a second person plural. Youll soon see that Dni does make
this distinction (as do many other modern foreign languages). Finally, the third person indicates the person spoken
about, whether just one person (he, she, it) or a group of people (they).
For each of these persons and numbers, there is a corresponding Dni suffx that is attached to the end of the root
verb. This is very different from verbs in English, which remain virtually unchanged regardless of person and
number: I write, you write, she writes, we write, you pl. write, they write (the 3rd singular is the one exception).
In Dni, we should conjugate the same verb, sel (sehl | sel), as sel, selem, selen, selet,
seltE, selEt. Notice that the root, sel, doesnt change from one form to the next, and that different
suffxes correspond to each person and number. We will study these suffxes in depth in the next chapter.
Tense
Now lets look at how to specify the when of the verb. Since verbs describe actions or states of being, they
necessarily take place in time, in the past, present or future.
Examples: I wrote I write I will write
Within the past, present, and future tenses, verbs can also describe the quality of an action Is the action of
writing completed? Is it in progress? and thereby indicate the location of that action in time more specifcally.
All of these combinations of tenses are expressed in Dni with prefxes that are attached to the root verb. For
example, the simple past tense, I wrote, is written Kosel (kosehl | kosel) in Dni; the present perfect, I
have written, lesel (lehsehl | lesel); the future progressive, I will be writing, boDosel (bodosehl |
bodosel). Note how different prefxes are attached to the same root verb to indicate different tenses.
A general guideline to remember, then, is that prefxes indicate tense and suffxes indicate number and person.
Mood
The mood of a verb doesnt have anything to do with feeling happy or sad when you speak or write it. Mood, in
the grammatical sense we mean here, is a way of categorizing the intent behind the verb, the force that motivates
it. Most of the verbs we come across in English are in the indicative mood; they are simple statements of fact: I
am hungry, she will write a letter, they went home. The same is true in Dni an overwhelmeing majority of
the verbs you see are indicative.
Sometimes, well come across commands, like Say thank you! or Dont go! These commands are said to be
in the imperative mood, and since they usually address someone or a group of people directly, they most often
are 2nd person verbs. Dni imperative verbs work the same way as in English, only instead of relying on an
exclamation point, Dni uses an additional suffx attached after the 2nd person ending. (Well study imperative
mood in a few chapters.)
We unfortunately know much less about the two other traditional moods, interrogative and subjunctive.
Interrogative mood is used for asking questions. While we do know that questions can be asked in Dni, we dont
have enough evidence to say exactly how. The accepted theory is that, like in English, there is a punctuation mark
that indicates a question. The subjunctive mood is all but dead in English, but still commonly used in many other
languages; it expresses wishes, desires, doubts things that are not factual but rather hypothetical, potential,
relative. Certainly, Dni can express wishes, desires, and doubts, but evidence seems to indicate that, like English,
it does not have a separate verb form for the purpose.
Other Verb Elements
There are other important aspects of verbs to consider things such as active and passive voice, modal auxiliaries,
and verbals but these are advanced topics that can be diffcult to master and that we wont encounter for a
while. For now, it is important to thoroughly understand person, number, tense, and mood before we start working
with verbs in earnest.
Lesson 9
Simple Present Tense
Now that you know how verbs work in general, lets look at how to conjugate a Dni verb in the simple present
tense. As you learned in the last chapter, tense is indicated with prefxes, person and number with suffxes. The
simple present tense is perhaps the simplest to learn, as it has no tense-indicating prefx and uses the suffxes,
also known as personal endings, that you were briefy introduced to in the last chapter. To review, those personal
endings are:
singular plural
1st
et (-eht | -et)
2nd
em (-ehm | -em) tE (-tee | -t)
3rd
en (-ehn | -en) Et (-eet | -t)
Remember that these suffxes are attached to the root verb, which we obtain by removing b from the infnitive.
Also, note that the frst person singular does not have a suffx to attach to the root that is to say, the frst person
singular conjugation of the verb is the same as the root verb. For all tenses, the frst person singular is identifed
by the absence of a suffx. It is therefore easy to confuse this unsuffxed verb with the infnitive, which also never
has a suffx; remember that infnitives always have a b attached to the front of the root verb.
Heres an example of how a conjugated verb looks:
bmEs (bmees | bms) to speak
singular plural
1st
mEs (I speak) mEset (we speak)
2nd
mEsem (you speak) mEstE (you pl speak)
3rd
mEsen (s/he speaks) mEsEt (they speak)
Because English doesnt have personal endings to identify each form of the conjugated verb, it needs to specify
the verbs subject if we are to know who the verb refers to. Speak tells us nothing of who speaks; only when
we specify I speak or you speak or the men speak do we have an idea. In Dni, because each personal ending
designates a specifc person and number, we can fgure out who the subject of the verb is even if that subject is not
mentioned. Simply by looking at the suffx, we know that the subject of the verb mEsen is s/he.
In fact, many Dni verbs are written this way, without any mention of a subject. The rule is that when the verbs
subject is a pronoun, it is implied by the personal ending and omitted. Pronouns I, you, he, she, it, we, you
plural, they are placeholder nouns that stand in for other nouns, often names of people.
Examples: Atrus speaks.
.Atrus mEsen (aitruhs meesehn | trus msen)
The student speaks.
.recUrtan mEsen (rechoortahn meesehn | rertan
msen)
He speaks.
.mEsen (meesehn | msen)
(Remember that the . mark indicates the beginning of a sentence.) In the frst two sentences, the subject of the
third person singular verb speaks is not a pronoun Atrus is a persons name, a proper noun, and student is a
standard noun, like pen or mountain. The third sentence, however, has a pronoun, he, for its subject. He could be
standing in for either Atrus or the student; because its a pronoun, a placeholder, we dont know for sure which
one.
Looking at the Dni, the subjects in the frst and second sentences are specifed, and so they are written out. Since
the subject of the third sentence is a pronoun, however, it is implied by the personal ending and thus isnt written
out. The same way that we dont dont know whether he refers to Atrus or the student, we cant be sure what
the subject of mEsen is. To be precise, all we do know for sure about mEsen is that its subject is third
person singular; thus, it could be translated as he speaks, she speaks, or even it speaks, since the subject of all
three is a third person singular pronoun.
Lesson 10
Simple Direct Objects
Verbs generally fall into one of two categories. Some of them are intransitive. This means that the action the verb
describes applies to just one person the actor. That is, the action is incapable of transferring to another person
or thing. This may sound a little complicated, but it should make intuitive sense after a few examples of sentences
with intransitive verbs.
Examples: The plant grows.
.regilo tUlen
The ancient Ages live.
.reDovatE oglan xavEt
The guildsman works.
.retelrov tEgen
In each of these sentences, the verb is intransitive because the action applies only to the actor of the verb. When
we read regilo tUlen, we recognize that the action of growing applies to the plant alone; the plant
isnt growing leaves or fowers, it itself grows. Similarly, retelrov tEgen tells us that the guildsman
himself is working, and not that he is working a machine or a crowd; the action of the verb works refers solely
to him.
Alternatively, verbs can be transitive; this means that the action of the verb extends or transfers to another person
or object in addition to the actor. The person or object that receives the action of the verb is called its direct object
(because it is a direct recipient of that action). Since the actors of transitive verbs act on a person or a thing, direct
objects will always be nouns. Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs, and direct objects, include:
Examples:
.renava SokUen erTcUrtantE
The master instructs some students.
.miStaet erTpax nE
We construct a new city.
.retelrovtE tUlEt gilotE
The guildsmen grow plants.
Here, we see that the action of the verb is not only performed by its actor, but also extends to another person or
thing that is affected by that action. In renava SokUen erTcUrtantE, the action instructs is
performed by the master but extends also to his students, who receive the beneft of that action. Some students,
then, is the direct object of the verb instructs. In the same way, the verb miStaet is enacted by an implied
we while extending its action to erTpax nE. In the third example, we see that the same verb can be both
transitive and intransitive, depending on the way its used. Where before, the verb tUl, grow, was intransitive
and didnt take an object, here in a new context, it becomes transitive and does take an object, plants.
Lesson 11
Subject Complements
If we look back at some of the simple phrases weve learned up until now, we fnd a handful that may look like
sentences with direct objects, but are actually a very different kind of sentence. Take Ken ziT, which we
learned in Lesson 4, for example. We know that Ken means I am, and ziT, low, looks like it might be a
direct object. Remember how direct objects need to be nouns, though? ziT is an adjective which means it
cant be a direct object.
In fact, ziT is what we call a subject complement. Subject complements add to or complete (i.e., complement)
a sentences subject, unlike direct objects which relate not to the subject but to the verb of a sentence. Also
unlike direct objects, subject complements can be both nouns and adjectives. Sentences with subject complements
always occur in a set pattern:
subject + copula + complement
The copula, also known as the linking verb, is the verb that connects subject to complement, most of the time a
form of Ken, be, but also at times other verbs of existence, appearance, or becoming, like tUl, grow.
This kind of construction works like a mathematical equation, where the copula is an equal sign telling us that the
subject and complement correspond to one another, are equal to one another. In our example sentence, .Ken
ziT, the implied subject I is equated with the complement low: I am low. When the subject complement is
an adjective like low, it is called a predicate adjective. When the complement is a noun, Atrus Kenen
erTseltan, Atrus is a writer, for example, it is called a predicate noun.
I + am + low Atrus + is + a writer
(implied) +
Ken
+
ziT Atrus
+
Kenen
+
erTseltan
subject + copula + complement subject + copula + complement
subject = predicate adj. subject = predicate noun
Subject complements, like subjects themselves, can be simple consisting of a single word as in .Ken
ziT or complex consisting of multiple word elements and modifers as in .Ken erTseltan
para. Complex subjects and complements can become very elaborate, but all such sentences will always boil
down to the subject + copula + complement construction.
Examples:
.retelrovtE vagasen KenEt cUrtantE
The eight guildsmen are students.
.renava tUlen oglan
The master grows ancient.
.Kenet garo ga Kera
We are mighty and brave.
Lesson 12
Adverbs
Just as adjectives can describe and modify nouns, adverbs cab modify verbs, adjectives, and many other sentence
elements. Like adjectives, adverbs usually follow the word they modify and have only one form.
Examples:
.xaven yartE nAvU blo
It lives approximately ten days.
.Kenen Kera briS
She is very brave.
.recUrtantE nE selEt ago
The new students write well.
Adverbs answer the questions how, when, where, and to what extent. Asking these questions is often one
of the best ways to fgure out what word the adverb modifes, if its unclear. If we turn the sentence Kenen
Kera briS, she is very brave, into an appropriate question, How brave is she?, the answer, very
brave, gives us both the adverb and the word it modifes. Thus we know that the adverb is briS, very,
and that it modifes the adjective Kera, brave. We can ask similar questions for the adverbs in the other two
examples as well How do the students write? They write (selEt) well (ago). How are the ten days
that it lives, in other words, to what extent are the days that it lives ten? Those days amount to ten (nAvU) only
approximately (blo).
One important class of adverb is an exception to the placement rule: temporal adverbs, those that express an
aspect of time or frequency. Unlike most, these adverbs are generally placed before the word they modify rather
than after.
Examples:
.renava preniv mEsen
The master speaks again.
.gaT Ken erTtelrov
I am still a guildsman.
.Atrus xan selen sevtE
Atrus always writes Ages.
Lesson 13
Converting Particles I
Suffxes hold a special place in the Dni language. Weve seen how important they are for verbs, where they function
as personal endings. Suffxes are important for other parts of speech as well, where they most often function as
what are called converting particles. We call them this because they are pieces of words, what grammarians call
particles, that convert between parts of speech. In this lesson, well look at three converting particles that allow us
to switch between nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.
Adjective to Noun: (e)T
Say we have an adjective in English, good, which we want to transform into a noun, a word that means the
quality of being good: goodness. By adding -ness to the English adjective, we end up with a noun form of that
adjective. -ness is thus what we might call a converting particle, for English. Similarly, if we begin with the Dni
word ram, and add the converting particle (e)T, it turns into the corresponding noun, rameT.
Note that there are parentheses around the e of (e)T. This means that the e will only be used when it is
required for pronunciation. When we turned ram into a noun, we needed to use the optional e because
without it, the word would be diffcult to say. (Dni generally frowns on two consonants in a row.) For other
adjectives, many of which already end in a vowel, there is no need for the e and it is left out.
Examples:
para (great) becomes paraT (greatness)
garo (mighty) becomes garoT (might)
Kera (brave) becomes KeraT (bravery)
Some English converting particles in addition to -ness that often transform adjectives to nouns, and might be
helpful to associate with (e)T, are: -ity (secure vs. security) and -ry (brave vs. bravery).
You may have also noticed that KeraT is the name of the last King of Dni. This is no coincidence; sometimes
these adjectives-become-nouns serve as epithets, names of honor and respect. It certainly took a great deal of
bravery for Kerath to step down from his throne and institute a whole new form of government for his people.
Other kings of Dni history Solath, Demath have similar epithets for names, though we dont yet know what
they might mean.
Noun to Adjective: ex
Where (e)T turns adjectives into nouns, the converting particle ex goes the other way around, turning
nouns into adjectives. Note that for ex, the e is not in parentheses; it will always be included, regardless of
whether the noun ends in a vowel or consonant.
Examples:
vog (nature) becomes vogex (natural)
bonU (acid) becomes bonUex (acidic)
ter (tree) becomes terex (arboreal)
nava (master) becomes navaex (masterful)
prD (rock) becomes prDex (rocky)
Some common English suffxes that serve the same noun-to-adjective function are: -ic (acid vs. acidic),
-ous (cavern vs. cavernous), -al (nature vs. natural), -ful (bounty vs. bountiful), and -y (rock vs. rocky).
The ex converting particle plays a special role when applied to number words. Numbers can be both nouns
yim sen, I see three, where three works like a pronoun standing in for three rocks or three people and
adjectives cUrtantE sen, three students. But what if, instead of saying three students, we wanted
to say the third student? This is where we would use a number word with the ex suffx: recUrtan
senex. We call sen, which tells us a quantity, a cardinal number, while senex, which tells us the
order in a sequence, is called an ordinal number. This use of ex applies to any number, no matter how big or
small.
Adjective to Adverb: (e)S
With a frm grasp of how (e)T works, this last converting particle should be easy to use. Like (e)T, (e)S
is always suffxed onto adjectives; instead of changing them into nouns, though, (e)S changes them to adverbs.
These adverbs are never temporal, and so always come after the word(s) they modify.
Examples:
ten (simple) becomes teneS (simply)
garo (mighty) becomes garoS (mightily)
Kera (brave) becomes KeraS (bravely)
There is really only one English suffx, -ly, that plays a similar adjective-to-adverb function.
Lesson 14
Word Order
Dni is an SVO language
A number of the Dni constructions we have met so far rely on a strict ordering of words. We learned, for example,
that the sentence with subject complement always occurs in the set pattern subject + coupla + complement. The
rigor of this pattern is essential for us to identify the various parts of the sentence and the way they ft into a
meaning.
This kind of rigorous word order is an important and far-reaching feature of Dni. In fact, the sentence with subject
complement technically comes from a more general construction that governs all Dni sentences: subject + verb
+ object. Linguists use patterns like this one to classify languages; Dni is thus an SVO (subject-verb-object)
language just like English. If we pull apart a simple sentence, well see what this classifcation means.
Example: The machine makes tweezers.
We should be able to easily identify the subject, verb, and object of this sentence: the machine, makes, and
tweezers respectively. If we write this sentence in Dni, we see that the same word order is maintained:
Example:
.reDOha barelen DantE
The subject, reDOha, comes frst, followed by the verb, barelen, and after that the object, DantE.
This standard subject-verb-object word order applies to all Dni sentences. When the subject is a personal pronoun
and implied by the verb, it obviously doesnt appear, but SVO word order is still upheld: the verb then comes frst
and is followed by any objects. Similarly, when the verb has no object, the subject (as long as it is not implied)
comes frst followed by the verb.
Modifers and word order
But if we could only make Dni sentences out of subjects, verbs, and objects, they would be very boring, simple
sentences indeed. Modifers adjectives, adverbs, and phrases serving the function of adjectives or adverbs
help make sentences interesting and complex by qualifying, characterizing, or describing the main words making
up the sentences framework. As weve learned already, adjectives and adverbs follow the word(s) they modify,
except for temporal adverbs, which come before. Phrases function like adjectives or adverbs and also follow the
word(s) they modify. Well learn more about them later on.
When a word has a bunch of modifers, the closer a modifer is to that word, the greater its signifcance. Single-
word modifers always come before modifying phrases. This is different from the ordering of modifers in English,
where they can be distributed on either side of the word. Heres a phrase that demonstrates these differences,
adapted from Aitrus map From Dni to the Surface:
DOhatE prDtEgal tor garo briS tregan DnE
noun adjective number adjective adverb phrase
four very mighty rock-working machines in the Dni empire
number adverb adjective adjective noun phrase
You can see how different the Dni and English ordering of modifers is. While English has them scattered on both
sides of the noun, Dni arranges them all afterwards in descending order of signifcance, single-word adjectives
frst, then adjectival phrases.
The bond between verb and object is very strong and can never be broken. Thus, when adverbs are introduced
into a sentence that has both verb and object, they dont come directly after the verb as would be expected but
rather are placed after the object. A slightly modifed excerpt from From Dni to the Surface provides us with an
example of this as well:
rEsloen erTmarg gixaS mreprD
verb direct object adverb phrase
(it) safely dissolves a layer from the rock
impl. subj. adverb verb direct object phrase
We might expect the two adverbial elements of this sentence, gixaS and mreprD, to come directly
after the verb rEsloen, but because a direct object, erTmarg, is present, it takes precedence and
comes frst. Note too that, as with adjectives, single-word adverbs always come before adverbial phrases.
Lesson 15
Present Progressive Tense
Similar to how suffxes indicate number and person for Dni verbs, prefxes indicate different tenses. So far,
weve been working with verbs in the simple present tense. This is the most basic tense in Dni and we recognize
it by the absence of prefxes. When we place Do in front of a conjugated simple present tense verb, the tense
changes to present progressive. Do may appear as a prefx on any verb, as long as that verb is conjugated; it
will never appear in the infnitive.
The simple present tense is a plain statement of action or being: lonEt, they discover; reano
remen, the water fows. When the present tense verb becomes progressive, it describes an action that
is currently in progress, that is happening right now in the present: DoselEt, they are writing (at this
moment); Atrus DoeDeren, Atrus is sleeping (right now as we speak). These present progressive
verbs, when translated into English, will always take the form of subject + to be + verb-ing the -ing ending in
English is often a clue that you have a progressive tense.
One common mistake that is made when translating from English to Dni is to see a present progressive verb
you are dying and try to translate it as a form of Ken, to be, plus another verb, resulting in something
like Kenem DomanSU. This is an incorrect translation you are dying cannot be separated out into
two verbs, you are + dying. Where English needs to use helping verbs, forms of to be and to have to express
complex verb forms, Dni is capable of doing so with a single word.
When translating complex verb forms like our present progressive example, You are dying, it is best to step
back, fgure out the verbal idea (second person singular, present progressive tense) and then translate into
Dni: DomanSUem. This is the proper translation; the root of the verb is manSU, die, the personal
ending em tells us the verb is second person singular, and the tense prefx Do tells us that the tense is
present progressive.
Lesson 16
Negative Statements
All of the sentences weve worked with so far are affrmative statements. That is, they all express something that
is, or something that happens. What if, however, we wanted to say that something is not, or doesnt happen? We
would then be constructing negative statements, which in English is accomplished by using the words no or not.
Examples: Gehn is a great writer. (affrmative)
Gehn is not a great writer. (negative)
The master instructs. (affrmative)
The master does not instruct. (negative)
There is peace. (affrmative)
There is no peace. (negative)
Dni has a similar, powerful little word that turns affrmative statements into negative ones: ril. ril
always comes immediately before the verb it negates; it is always adjacent to the verb and no other word will
ever intervene between the two. Where English differentiates between constructions that use no and not, the
Dni ril covers all forms of negation.
English also often uses the helping verb do in negative statements formed with not, the second pair of statements
above, for example. Dni has no need for this helping verb and it should never appear in English-to-Dni
translations. It may be helpful to think about these kinds of sentences The master does not instruct in an
archaic English form that eliminates the do/does The master instructs not. Such rewriting may also help keep
the negating word and complicated verb tenses clear and distinct.
Examples:
.gen ril Kenen erTseltan para
.renava ril SokUen
.ril Kenen Sora
Because ril is modifying the verb, we know that its an adverb, and this means that it can be applied to other
elements of a sentence, too: adjectives, other adverbs, phrases, etc. Well soon learn about these other uses, but
before we do so, it is important to have a frm grasp on how verbs are negated and the changes in meaning that
result
Lesson 17
Imperative Mood
Most of the sentences we write in Dni are in the indicative mood: they state facts and make observations.
Sometimes, though, when we make a direct address, we dont want to tell facts, we want to instruct what to do, to
give a command. In these cases, we use the imperative mood, which in Dni is expressed with an a suffx after
the verbs personal ending.
Traditionally, the imperative mood is limited to the second person you, go! or you all, go! since commands
usually need to be directed at others who are intended to enact them. However, we can make similar statements
with reference to a frst person subject we go! meant not as a statement of fact, but as an injunction to action
that includes the speaker or even a third person subject they go! meant similarly as a command. Dni
considers all of these verb forms to be imperative in mood; indeed, there is strong evidence to suggest that a can
be suffxed onto verbs of any person or number. However, since commands are also a demand for an event that
has not yet occurred, imperative mood can only apply to verbs in the present tense. Since commands tend to be
direct and straightforward requests for action, most sentences using the imperative mood will be relatively short
and simple, focusing on the verb.
Examples:
.rEsema
Eat!
.eDertEa
Sleep! (Go to sleep!)
.eDereta
We sleep! (Let us now sleep!)
.ril glasema reano
Dont drink the water!
.xan Dolonema
Always be discovering!
Lesson 18
Converting Particles II
Weve already learned about three converting particles that switch between nouns, adjectives, and adverbs:
(e)T, (e)S, and ex. There are two left to learn which resemble each other in both form and function:
tav and tan.
Both of these particles convert verbs into nouns. tav produces common nouns which express a
completed realization or result of the action of the verb. These nouns can be abstract or concrete; some
are easier to translate than others. marntav, the completion of the act of creating, is a creation,
the same way that manSUtav, the result of dying, is death. But what is bareltav, the
completed act or result of making? This would best be rendered as a made thing in English, which has
no word of its own to designate this concept. Common English suffxes which may be associated with
tav are: -ance, -ment, -tion, and -sion.
Examples:
Krotav
movement
seltav
writing
mEstav
speech
bAktav
link
tan, on the other hand, produces what we call solidary nouns. Solidary nouns denote a class or group of
people (think solidarity). In other words, tan changes the verb into the person who does that verb, who
performs its action. You may notice that weve been using some of these words for a while now: cUrtan
(student), seltan (writer), tEgtan (worker), etc. Corresponding English suffxes include: -er/-or
and -ant/-ent.
Examples:
mEstan
speaker, orator
SokUtan
instructor
bareltan
Maker (another name for Yahvo, the Dni deity)
lontan
discoverer
Lesson 19
Demonstrative Adjective and Pronoun
Similar to articles, demonstrative adjectives this and these, that and those point to specifc nouns. We
know for sure of one demonstrative adjective in Dni: the word met which is the equivalent of the English this
and these. Like re or erT, met doesnt distinguish between singular and plural; the same word is used
for both forms. Placement, though, is a more diffcult matter source texts show met in a variety of positions,
before and after the noun, attached to and separate from it.
Some general guidelines for placement have emerged, though. When the noun is not modifed by any adjectives,
met usually comes immediately after the noun as a separate word. When the noun is modifed, met usually
comes immediately before the noun as a separate word. There is one special case where met is attached to the
beginning of the noun as a prefx (when it is a material direct object) but this is an advanced grammar point we
wont learn about for a while.
Examples:
.baxanatE met toKituEt rerUA
These maps determine the route.
.met Dova prDex Kenen oglan
This rocky world is ancient.
In addition to being a demonstrative adjective, met is also a demonstrative pronoun. Remember that pronouns
are placeholder nouns that stand in for other nouns. The pronouns weve encountered already subject
pronouns like I, you, we, and they are all implied in the personal endings of verbs. met as a demonstrative
pronoun is always third person, singular or plural, and stands in for an explicit noun subject. Take for example
the two full sentences above. The subjects of these sentences are baxanatE met and met Dova
prDex respectively. If we replace these subjects with met, we end up with:
Examples:
.met toKituEt rerUA
These determine the route.
.met Kenen oglan
This is ancient.
Note how met is used in both sentences, even though the subject of the frst is third person plural, and that of
the second third person singular. We can tell whether met is meant to be singular or plural by looking at the
personal ending of the verb. Note too that when it is a pronoun, met follows SVO word order and comes before
the verb as a separate word.
Lesson 20
Coordinating Conjunctions
Simple statements like weve been studying are excellent for expressing clear, concise, and straightforward ideas.
Their adherence to a consistent SVO word order always provides us with enough information to determine the
sentences actor, his or her action, and the recipient (if any) of that action.
Sometimes, though, we want to express not simply straightforward ideas, but the relationship between multiple
ideas. One way of forming such complex sentences is connecting together simple statements with what are called
coordinating conjunctions (so called because they conjoin two independent sentences of relatively equivalent, or
coordinate, value). Lets look at an example in English.
Example: Bravery is good, but he is not brave.
Here, we have two simple statements, bravery is good and he is not brave, that are linked together with the
coordinating conjunction but. Taken individually, each statenebt us a complete and functional sentence on its own.
When they are connected together by but, a logical relation is established between them: as a general condition,
being brave is a good thing he is an exception, though, he stands in contradiction to the general condition and
is not brave. But tells us that the relation between the two connected sentences, technically called independent
clauses, is one of opposition or contradiction.
In Dni, we would write the same sentence this way:
Example:
.KeraT Kenen ram rUb ril Kenen Kera
As in English, the two independent clauses KeraT Kenen ram and ril Kenen Kera
are connected with a coordinating conjunction, rUb, meaning but. Notice that there is no punctuation, such
as the comma we use in English, to separate the two clauses; Dni has no such punctuation.
Another Dni conjunction is pam, or, which connects two clauses that are mutually exclusive alternatives. For
example, it might be said of Riven that Atrus is always writing the Descriptive Book or the Age dies.
Example:
.Atrus xan Doselen reKorman pam resev
manSUen
The sentence offers two distinct possibilities. Whichever alternative comes to be true, the other one must necessarily
not be true either Atrus keeps writing and the Age lives, or the Age dies because Atrus has stopped writing.
ga, and, is the most frequently used coordinating conjunction. It indicates that the two clauses are connected
together because of their similarity, association, or consequence. In Aitrus From Dni to the Surface, we read
about a curious lizard:
Example:
.met mla tornen poant bonUex ga
rEsloen reprDtE
These two independent clauses are connected together with ga because the second is a consequence of the
closely associated frst: This lizard spits acidic saliva, and as a result it (the saliva) dissolves the rocks.
Of course, coordinating conjunctions be used to string together more than two independent clauses:
Example:
.met mla tornen poant bonUex ga
rEsloen reprDtE rUb remla ril
Doglasen
Dni coordinating conjunctions thus work very similarly to how they work in English, by connecting together
simple statements and telling us something about the relationship between those statements, with the one signifcant
difference that there is no punctuation to set the statements apart.
Lesson 21
Introduction to Prepositions
At this point in our studies of Dni, weve learned about and worked with many parts of speech: nouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and conjunctions. There is one remaining part of speech left to introduce
prepositions. These little words enrich the Dni language with phrases that, like adjectives and adverbs, modify
other parts of a sentence. In fact, these phrases can be classifed according to whether they play an adjectival or
adverbial role in the sentence.
Like adjectives and adverbs, prepositions have only one form and do not change to agree with the word(s) they
modify. However, unlike most Dni words, English prepositions and Dni prepositions do not translate one-
to-one; a single Dni preposition may cover a number of English ones, while a single English preposition may
translate into any number of Dni words, depending on the infection in meaning.
Phrases formed with prepositions, called prepositional phrases, always follow a common pattern: frst comes the
preposition, then a noun, then any modifers. A verb will never appear in a prepositional phrase.
Examples: in the house
with a powerful machine
among friends
A number of Dni prepositions take the form of a consonant plus e: te, be, me, ke. When this kind of
preposition opens a prepositional phrase, it often is turned into a prefx and contracted, such that the preposition
is attached to the noun and a replaces the e. The one exception to this is when the preposition occurs in front
of the article re, where the and/or e are dropped altogether.
Examples:
me erTKElen
from a step
tyar fa (te yar fa)
in one day
krehevtE ( ke rehevtE)
for the words
Other prepositions not of this form, like ben and xo, are never contracted and predominantly stand as full,
independent words in the sentence. Regardless of how the preposition is written, the phrase it forms should always
be considered a closed unit the phrase in its entirety will obey modifer word order and, while adjustable
internally, should never be split up with words external to the phrase itself.
Lesson 22
beh and Quantifers
As a standard preposition, be means to, generally in the sense of motion or impulse towards.
Examples:
.marentema relena bretalEo
Follow the journey to the surface!
.rebaro KenEt ram be yESa
The bahro are good to Yeesha.
.DoKazEet berTpax
We are detouring to a city.
The sense of motion towards is clear in the frst and third examples; in the second, the bahro direct their goodness
towards Yeesha. We can also recognize that the prepositional phrase in the frst sentence is adjectival (it modifes
lena) while in the others it is adverbial (be yESa answers the question, how are the bahro good?, and
brepax answers the question, where are we detouring?).
b should look familiar to us, since we met it very early on as how we identify infnitive verbs. This follows
English practice, where the infnitive to write is also identifed by the presence of the preposition to.
be has one fnal use that is idiomatic to Dni, and a very important feature of the language. Rather than using
adverbs like very or minimally to express intensity, Dni uses the construction b + number word to precisely
express that degree of intensity on a scale of one to twenty-fve; as the number increases, so does the intensity of
the modifed word. Called quantifers (or sometimes adverbs of degree), these phrases always play an adverbial
function and are most commonly applied to other modifers and to verbs.
Examples:
poant bonUex brigasen
very (to-twenty-three) acidic saliva
.sel DnE bhEbor
I write Dni passably well. (to-ffteen)
.remla DoKroen bvat
The lizard is moving just a little. (to-fve)
Translating quantifers requires a bit of creativity which often depends on context, since there are no set English
words for each degree of intensity. Note how the quantifer in the frst example modifes the adjective bonUex,
while in the other two it modifes the verb. Notice, too, how the rules for word order are still observed: the
quantifer comes after the single-word adjective or after the verbs direct object as we would expect.
Sometimes, if we wish to exaggerate the degree of intensity, we can use number words greater than twenty-fve.
Example:
.Kenen Kera bfasEvat
She is extremely brave.
When a quantifer sits at either extreme of the number scale, either bfa (meaning least) or bfasE
(meaning most), care must be taken to translate correctly. When a word is modifed with bfa, this indicates
that that words intensity is very low, present to only the smallest degree not that it is not present, or that it is an
opposite word. That is, erTtelrov ram bfa does not mean an evil or bad guildsman, but simply
a guildsman who is good to the least degree, just a little good; he might be very pragmatic and withdrawn, only
exhibiting his good side very rarely, but this does not make him evil or bad, just remote.
A different kind of diffculty may be encountered with bfasE. To consider a slightly modifed recording of
Ketas speech:
Example:
.xan tAgan gen bfasE
This sentence could be translated as I always love Gehn the most, which suggest a comparison not in the original
Dni. A better way to translate might be I always most dearly love Gehn; again, some contextual liberty in
translation is often required to accurately render these Dni quantifers in English.