Pyan wan — (someone who is) drunk.
Adulte wan — an adult.
Wan kel es hir, chu! — (The one) who is here, come out!
Wan kel jan, ta bu shwo. — He who knows, he doesn't speak (the one who knows, doesn't speak).
Toy wan kel yao mog go wek. — Those who want may go away.
The system of pronouns and adverbs
In LdP there is a system of compound pronouns and adverbs. Its important elements are:
koy — some
eni — any, whatever
kada — every
otre — other, another
ol — all, the whole of
nul — no (whatever), none (whatever)
These elements combining with others (loko — place (the suffix "lok" means "place" too), taim — time, ves — time (instance), wan — an individual, komo — how, -sa — noun suffix) may produce compound pronouns and adverbs:
koysa — something
koywan — someone
koylok — somewhere
koytaim — "somewhen", sometime
koygrad — to some degree
koykomo — in some way
enisa — anything, whatever
eniwan — anybody, anyone, any (person)
enilok — anywhere
enitaim — anytime
enikomo — in any way
kadawan — everyone
kadalok — everywhere
oltaim — all the time, constantly
nullok — nowhere
nulgrad — not in the least
nulwan — nobody
nulves — not once, never
unves — once, one day
koyves — sometimes
otreves — next time, another time
enives — ever (at any time)
otrelok — in another place.
But there are also short, simple words for some concepts:
always — sempre
never — neva
nothing — nixa
everything — olo
all, everybody — oli.
Verbs
Verb types
There are two verb types:
i-verbs (type 1) and other verbs (type 2).
i-verbs are the verbs that end in consonant+i, e. g.:
vidi — to see
audi — to hear
fini — to finish
sidi — to sit
dumi — to think
fobisi — to frighten
pri — to like
chi — to eat
pi — to drink.
Monosyllabic i-verbs like pri, chi, pi constitute a specific subtype characterized by that in derivation their -i is always preserved, e. g.:
chi — chier, chiing
pi — pier, piing
(cf.: swimi — swimer, swiming).
Examples of type 2 verbs:
jan — to know
gun — to work
zun — to be occupied with, devote oneself to
shwo — to say, to speak
go — to go
yao — to want
lwo — to fall
flai — to fly
krai — to cry
prei — to pray
joi — to rejoice, be happy
jui — to enjoy, revel in
emploi — to employ
kontinu — to continue.
Verbs with prefixes fa- and mah-, which contain adjectives, are type 2 verbs too:
fa-syao — to diminish, become smaller (syao small)
fa-muhim — to become more important (muhim important)
mah-hao — make better, improve (hao good).
The main verb form
This is the only verb form that one has to memorize. It is used in all cases, with particles or adverbs added for clarity when needed.
Examples:
treba dumi — one should think
me (yu, ta, nu, yu, li) dumi — I (you, he/she, we, you, they) think
Dumi! — Think!
Me yao ke yu dumi hao om to. — I'd like you to think well about it (“I want that you think well about it”).
Tu samaji es tu pardoni. — To understand is to forgive.
Es taim fo samaji ke... — It's time to understand that...
Nu samaji se. — We understand this.
Samaji! — Understand!
Wud bi muy hao, si yu samaji ke... — It would be very good if you understand that…
Tu go a kino es hao. — It is good to go to the cinema.
Lu sal go a kino. — He is going to go to the cinema.
Lu go a kino. — He goes (or is going) to the cinema.
Go ahir! — Go here!
Me nadi ke yu go a kino. — I hope that you go to the cinema.
Negation is formed by means of the particle bu placed before a verb or tense particle:
Me bu samaji. — I don't understand.
Lu bu yao. — He doesn't want.
Bu go dar! — Don't go there!
Bu shwo ke yu bu jan-te! — Don't say that you didn't know!
Verb forms
Verb forms are basically the main verb form plus a particle before or after the verb. If a particle comes after the verb, it is written with a hyphen. Thus, the main verb form is always evident, and its stress is preserved.
Particles before the verb:
ve — future tense marker;
he — past tense marker
zai — marker of continuous aspect
wud — conditional marker
gwo — remote past tense marker (some time ago, earlier in life, have been to somewhere or used to do something)
sal — immediate future marker (to be about to do something.)
yus — immediate past marker (have just done something; the word yus means just)
gei — marks the passive of becoming.
Particles after the verb:
-te — past tense marker
-she — present active participle marker
-yen — verbal adverb marker, "while -ing"
-ney — passive participle marker, or (for intransitive verbs) past active participle marker.
Examples:
chi — to eat
ve chi — will eat
chi-te, he chi — ate or have eaten
zai chi — is eating
ve zai chi — will be eating
zai chi-te — was eating
ve he chi — will have eaten
he chi-te — had eaten
wud chi — would eat
wud chi-te — would have eaten
gei chi — is being eaten
ve gei chi — will be being eaten
gei-te chi — was being eaten
es chi-ney — is eaten
bin chi-ney — was eaten
ve bi chi-ney — will be eaten
chi-she — eating (active part.):
chi-she kota — the eating cat
chi-yen — (while) eating (verbal adverb)
afte chi — having eaten
gwo chi — used to eat, has experience of eating
sal chi — about to eat
yus chi-te — have just eaten.
Future tense
Examples:
me ve shwo — I shall say (speak)
nu ve go — we shall go