Lesson 7: Of, at, to, from, with§

The relation words come before their noun, as in English:

• pi of: guyi pi to "my house" (house of me), guyi pi en mara "Mara's house"
• mon at, in: wan gun mon guyi. "She's at home."
• tun to: to isi tun guyi. "I'm going home."
• se from: wan obu se guyi. "He comes from home."
• gan with: to isi gan me. "I'm going with you."
• li for: li me "for you"
• fu like, about
• nin during
• ya before, wo after (on their own they mean "beforehand" and "after that")
• anko until: to doku anko kegin. "I work until evening."
• nuwen without: wan obu nuwen nimo. "He came without money."

pi is the only word that links one noun to another as a description (a list of nouns just uses yen "and"). English can build "house key" or "the road above the river" directly. Here "house key" needs pi: tinli pi guyi "house key" (key of house). Any other relation takes a man clause, which is explained in lesson 12: sola man gun mon bige pi yolan "the road above the river".

Two nouns side by side are used only for gender (tiwu futa) and for the fixed compounds in the compounds list.

To give something to someone, put the verb first, then who gets it, then what: neke to osa "give me water". But tan or ben right after a noun or pronoun belongs to it, so to iko wan ben is "I told that-him". To make "that" the thing given, use tun: to iko ben tun wan. "I told that to him."

Names always take en and keep their owner's spelling: en mara, en lilith. Say a name as close to its owner's pronunciation as you can. If you can't, use the adapted form, made from the nearest native sounds (Lilith → lilifu). Section 11 of the reference shows how to make the adapted form of your own name.

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