Tengarian language

Tengarian language
Native to	Tengaria Bistravia Ravnia Amathia
Native speakers	26.8 million (2020)
Language family	Euclean
Early forms	Proto-Euclean Proto-Marolevic Proto-Tengarian Tengarian
Writing system	Solarian Apsinthian Soravian
Official status
Official language in	Tengaria
Recognised minority language in	Bistravia Amathia
Regulated by	Imperial Academy of Languages
Language codes
ISO 639-3	TEN

The Tengarian language is a South Marolevic language spoken in southern Euclea, primarily in the country of Tengaria. It is one of Tengaria's official languages, and is the principal spoken language of the country. In addition, the language is also spoken by communities in Bistravia, Amathia, and Ravnia, and is a recognised minority language in these states.

It is one of the oldest attested Marolevic languages due to the proximity of the Tengars to the Empire of Arciluco, and was used as a basis for Old Church Marolevic, although the language itself was never written until the 15th century. The languange has very heavy influences from Solarian, Vulgar Solarian and Amathian, which have contributed significant loanwords to the language and influenced the development of its grammar. The language is also partially digraphic, with three historic alphabets- versions of the Solarian, Apsinthian and Soravian- as possible for the usage of the language, although the modified Solarian alphabet is predominant.

Classification

The Tengarian language is classified by almost every modern scholar as a Marolevic language. This fact is corroborated by the fact that the most important and fundamental root words from the language are known to be taken from proto-Marolevic roots, and that the Tengars are descended from Marolevic tribes. The language is thus categorized as a South-Marolevic language.

Historically, as the Tengars underwent integration into the Amathian Empire of Arciluco and interacted with Solarian, Vulgar Solarian and proto-Amathian. Early studies of the language during the Tengarian Golden age emphasise the connection with Solarian, especially with the work of Cornelius Lapidus, which also influenced the morphological, grammatical and lexical development of the language. This lead to some scholars to insist that it is a fusion language, a view that was largely prominent in Tengarian scholarship until the beginning of the twentieth century.

Despite being considered a Slavic language, Tengarian is notable for being an easy language to relate to or to learn Solarian, as they share many common grammatical features and both share a similar degree of inflection, although Solarian verbs are much more highly inflected. Some scholars speculate that Tengarian's development may have been altered and adjusted by Solarianist authors through their influence in literature versus what was being spoken, meaning that in education the language has been more forcibly Solarianised over what its natural state should be by being pushed through education, although this claim is disputed by others who just suggest that its inflection is just a retention of more ancient Marolevic usage.

History

The Tengars, as a Marolevic tribe, spoke a dialect of the Proto-Marolevic language, as they migrated into the lands which currently comprise the country of Tengaria in the 4th and 5th centuries. After the conquest and eventual assimilation of the Tengars into the Empire of Arciluco, the language continued to be spoken by Tengars, although the language of trade and administration was first Solarian before gradually giving way to Vulgar Solarian and Proto-Amathian. Solarian was also used for liturgical services, and as the scholarly language used by Arciluco. As such, it was not a Literary language, and no extant documents of its writing survive, although there are historical mentions to a language which the Tengars spoke and various words and phrases recorded by Amathian scholars. The Empire later adopted the Apsinthian Alphabet for a time, but Tengarian was never a written language. This period of Tengarian is known as "Proto-Tengarian". Because they were part of the Empire, Amathian Missionaries used the language of the Tengars to develop Old Church Marolevic for the conversion of other Marolevic countries.

The Iconoclast schism in the late 14th saw great changes. The fall of Arciluco and the western half of the Empire becoming the Empire of Tengaria and claimant to the Empire's authority saw the centre of power shift from an Amathian speaking to a largely Tengarian speaking region. Although Solarian was upheld as the official language and continued to be used as both the language of scholarship and liturgy as part of a Solarianist revival, the spread of Amathian as a trading language began to decline. A scholar of the Tengarian Golden Age, a grammarian and Solarianist, named Cornelius Lapidus, studied the Tengarian language and published the first comprehensive grammatical text of the language in 1393, De Grammatice Linguae Tengaricae, in which he developed a Solarian alphabet to provide the first transcripition of Tengarian words. This, in combination with a glossary for those attempting to study Solarian in 1401, are seen as the foundational text for the Tengarian language.

Although Solarian continued to be the primary written and scholarly language for the next few centuries, writing in Tengarian venacular also increased, and it became the primary spoken language in the Empire. The language evolved and underwent modifications throughout the centuries, but the grammar remained largely the same, although the lexicon expanded and more words were added and developed over time. In 1847, the Imperial Academy of Languages was established to regulate Tengarian and its usage in schools, and remains the regulating body of the language. Alternative lexicons were proposed by Tengarian nationalists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to replace words Solarian origin, but were never adopted. In 1935, following the establishment of the Tengarian Republic, Tengarian became the official language used in all government matters, and remains the dominant written and legal language in the country to this day.

Alphabet

The first full script of the language is a script based on the Solarian script, introduced by Cornelius Lapidus in 1393. This is the predominant script of the language, although there are different scripts which are variously used. The Apsinthian Alphabet was invented by Amathian clerics to be able to better write in the languages of the Marolevic tribes before the peoples of Amathia adopted it to replace the Solarian alphabet. Because this script remained the primary system of writing before the collapse of the Empire of Arciluco in the 14th century, various early writers of the language employed its usage when writing Tengarian, even as the Tengarian Empire saw a shift back to the Solarian Script. Hence early written Tengarian was digraphic, although the Solarian script was predominant- still, the Apsinthian alphabet was more commonly used in the eastern regions of Tengaria. In the 19th century, Tengarian nationalists and Pan-Marolevic supporters began to advocate for the adoption of the Soravian script, although it was limited and never became widespread. Although depending on region the alphabet use might differ- such as in areas proximate to the Amathian border, the use of Apsinthian is more common- making it technically digraphic, the primary alphabet used by speakers of the language in the Solarian alphabet.

The Tengarian alphabet has the following 30 Solarian letters and 29 Apsinthian and Soravian letters (the Soravian removing 4 letters and adding an additional 3):

Solarian	Apsinthian	Soravian	Sound	Name	Pronunciation
А	Ⰰ	А	/ɑ/	A	a in "father"
Ă	Ⱏ	Ъ	/ə/	Ă	a in above
Æ	Ⱑ	N/A	/e/	Yae	e in "red"
B	Ⰱ	Б	/b/	Be	b in "ball"
C	Ⰽ	К, Ч	/k/, /tʃ/	Ce	c in "scan" ch in "choice"
D	Ⰴ	Д	/d/	De	d in "door"
E	Ⰵ	E	/e/	E	e in "red"
F	Ⱇ	Ф	/f/	Fe	f in "flag"
G	Ⰳ	Г, Џ	/ɡ/, /dʒ/	Ga	g in "goat" g in "general"
H	Ⱈ	X	/h/	Ha	h in "aha"
I	Ⰹ	И	/i/,/j/	I	i in "machine" y in "yes"
J†	Ⰶ	Ж	/ʒ/	Je	s in "treasure"
K*	Ⰽ	К	/k/	Ka	c in "scan"
L	Ⰾ	Л	/l/, /ʎ/	El	l in "lamp"
М	Ⰿ	M	/m/	Em	m in "mouth"

Solarian	Apsinthian	Soravian	Sound	Name	Pronunciation
N	Ⱀ	H	/n/, /ɲ/	En	n in "north" gn in "gnocchi"
O	Ⱁ	O	/o/	O	o in "floor"
P	Ⱂ	П	/p/	Pe	p in "spot"
Q	Ⱉ	N/A	/k/	Qu	k in "kettle"
R	Ⱃ	P	/r/	Er	"r" as in "curd"
S	Ⱄ	C	/s/	Es	s in "song"
Ș	Ⱎ	Ш	/ʃ/	Șe	sh in "shopping"
Т	Ⱅ	T, Ц	/t/, /t͡s/	Te	t in "stone" zz in "pizza"
Th	Ⱚ	Ѳ	/θ/	The	"th" in "thigh"
U	Ⱆ	У	/u/, /w/	U	oo in "boot" w in "cow"
V	Ⰲ	B	/ʋ/	Ve	v in "vision"
W*	Ⱗ	N/A	/w/	Veve	w in "west"
X	Ⱓ	К+C	/ks/	Ix	x in "six" x in "example"
Y	Ⱛ	Ь	/j/, /i/	Ye	y in "yes" i in "machine"
Z	Ⰸ	З	/z/	Ze	z in "zipper"

{*}Only used in more contemporary loanwords.
† Historically, the letter Ᶎ ᶎ was used until the eighteenth century, when J overtook it in usage.

As noted above, the letters in Tengarian may be may pronounced different according to different general principles (when written in Soravian, these different sounds are sometimes written with other letters).

• C: If C comes before E, I, AE or Y, it is pronounced /tʃ/, as in "choice". In all other cases, it is pronounced /k/, as in "cap".
• G: If G comes before E, I, AE or Y, it is pronounced /dʒ/, as in "general". In all other cases, it is pronounced /ɡ/, as in "girl".
• GN: GN together makes the sound /ɲ/, like in "gnocchi".
• H: If H comes after a C or G and before E, I, AE, or Y, it makes the C or G hard (/k/ or /ɡ/) but does not have a sound of its own. In all other cases, it is pronounced as /h/.
• T: If T comes before I with a vowel following, it is pronounced /t͡s/, as in "pizza". In all other cases it is pronounced /t/, as in "stone".

Grammar

Nominal morphology

Tengarian nouns and adjectives possess grammatical case, number, and gender. Tengarian has six cases, one more than Solarian and one fewer than Old Church Marolevic: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental and vocative (the locative of Old Church Marolevic was merged in with the instrumental case). Number is either singular (one) and plural (multiple). Nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neuter.

Nouns are divided into four categories based on the principal vowel used to determine an ending, called "stems". Although like Old Church Marolevic, the stems were once greater in number, over time they became reduced in usage. Certain dialects of Tengarian utilised some different morphologies for noun-endings until the language became more uniform from education in the 19th and 20th centuries.

O-Stems

O-Stems can be masculine or neuter, although the majority tend to be masculine.

Masculine ("town") & Neuter ("word")

	Masculine		Neuter
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
NOM	grad- †	grad-i	verb-om ‡	verb-a
GEN	grad-i	grad-ă	verb-i	verb-ă
DAT	grad-ov	grad-omu	verb-ov	verb-omu
ACC	grad-om	grad-omo	verb-om ‡	verb-a
INS	grad-u	grad-omu	verb-u	verb-omu
VOC	grad-e	grad-i	verb-e	verb-a

† Masculine O-Stem nominatives may also end with "-e" in certain cases.
‡ Neuter O-stem nominatives and accusatives are highly flexible in endings; they may be bare-stem, may end in "-e" (such as in 'Ime, imi'), "-om" ('verbom, verbi'), or "-o" ('radio, radii'). The important rule with neuters is that the nominative and the accusative must be the same form.

A-Stems

The vast majority of A-Stems are feminine, with only a few exceptions.

Feminine ("woman")

Case	Singular	Plural
NOM	jen-a	jen-e
GEN	jen-e	jen-ă
DAT	jen-av	jen-amu
ACC	jen-am	jen-ama
INS	jen-a	jen-amu
VOC	jen-a	jen-e

I-Stems

I-Stems can be variably masculine, feminine or neuter.

Feminine ("family") & Neuter ("guest")

	Masc. & Fem.		Neuter
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
NOM	gen-i	gen-i	gost-	gost-a
GEN	gen-i	gen-ă	gost-i	gost-ă
DAT	gen-iv	gen-umă	gost-iv	gost-umă
ACC	gen-im	gen-imi	gost-	gost-a
INS	gen-e	gen-umi	gost-u	gost-umi
VOC	gen-e	gen-uje	gost-e	gost-uja

U-Stems

U-Stems can be variably masculine or feminine.

Masculine ("house")

Case	Singular	Plural
NOM	dom-u	dom-ovu
GEN	dom-ui	dom-ovă
DAT	dom-uv	dom-ămă
ACC	dom-um	dom-umu
INS	dom-ă	dom-ămi
VOC	dom-e	dom-ove

Pronouns

Pronouns match the case, number and gender of the ancendent. As a pro-drop language, demonstrative and personal pronouns are dropped when functioning as the subject of the verb because the person is contained within the grammatical form of the verb itself.

Personal pronouns

Case	First Person		Second Person		Reflexive
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
NOM	eu	mi	tu	vi	-
GEN	mi	nasă	ti	vasă	si
DAT	mene	namă	tebe	vamă	sebe
ACC	me	nă	te	vă	se
INS	mene	nami	tebe	vami	sebe

Demonstrative pronoun

There are three kinds of demonstrative pronouns: the weak demonstrative, proximal demonstrative and the distal demonstrative. Over time, the weak demonstrative eventually came to be used as third-person personal pronoun ("he, she, it") is considered demonstrative.

Third-person demonstrative pronoun ("he, she, it")

Case	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
NOM	io	ii	ia	ie	ie	ia
GEN	ii	ixă	ie	ixă	ii	ixă
DAT	iov	imu	iav	imu	iov	imu
ACC	iom	iomo	iam	iama	ie	ia
INS	iu	imi	ia	imi	iu	imi

Proximal Demonstrative pronoun ("this")

Case	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
NOM	ovo	ovi	ova	ove	ovo	ova
GEN	ovi	ovă	ove	ovă	ovi	ovă
DAT	ovev	ovemu	ovav	ovamu	ovev	ovemu
ACC	ovom	ovomo	ovam	ovama	ovo	ova
INS	ovu	ovemi	ova	ovami	ovu	ovemi

Distal Demonstrative pronoun ("that")

Case	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
NOM	ono	oni	ona	one	ono	ona
GEN	oni	onă	one	onă	oni	onă
DAT	onov	onemu	onav	onam	onov	onemu
ACC	onom	onomo	onam	onama	ono	ona
INS	onu	onemi	ona	onami	onu	onemi

Relative and Interrogatives pronoun

Whereas the other pronouns largely come from Marolevic origins, the relative and interogative pronouns are taken Solarian qui, quae, quod and quis, quod, although they influenced by the Vulgar Solarian forms which came after- such as the accusative "quene". The pronoun can render "who", "what", or "which", depending on the circumstances.

Relative pronoun ("who, what, which")

Case	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
NOM	qui	qui	qua	que	quene	qua
GEN	cui	că	cui	că	cui	că
DAT	cuiv	quimu	cuiv	quamu	cuiv	quimu
ACC	quene	quomo	quam	quama	quene	quomo
INS	que	quimi	qua	quami	que	quimi

Interrogative pronoun

–	Masculine, Feminine	Neuter
NOM	quis	quene
GEN	cui
DAT	cuiv
ACC	quene
INS	qua	que

Adjectives

Adjectives in Tengarian agree in case, number and gender with the nouns which they modify. Adjectives are mostly declined as both a-stem (for feminine nouns) or o-stem nouns (for masculine or neuter) depending on the gender of the noun, although some i-stem adjectives exist as well. Notable exceptions include the masculine nominative singular for the o-stem, where an "-e" is added, such as "albe" for white. Adjectives usually come after the nouns which they modify (E.G. "domovu albi" instead of "albi domovu") and may also be used substantively if standing on its own- for example, Novi might be used to signify "[the] new [things]" with a noun being implied.

Comparative adjectives are formed by adding the letter j (/ʒ/) after the base vowel of the adjective and then supplying the proper case ending, such as "alboje", "albaja", "albojom". Superlatives are of two kinds: relative superlatives, which add the prefix "mai-" to the comparative adjective, such as "maialboje" or "mainovaja"; and absolute superlatives, which add the prefix "pre-" to the comparative adjective, such as "prealboje" or "prenovaja".

O/A-Stem Adjectives

While o-stem adjectives have flexibility in the nominative and accusative, adjectives will always take the following forms:

"Prave, prava, pravom" - right, straight, correct

	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
NOM	prav-e	prav-i	prav-a	prav-e	prav-om	prav-a
GEN	prav-i	prav-ă	prav-e	prav-ă	prav-i	prav-ă
DAT	prav-ov	prav-omu	prav-av	prav-amu	prav-ov	prav-omu
ACC	prav-om	prav-omo	prav-am	prav-ama	prav-om	prav-a
INS	prav-u	prav-omu	prav-a	prav-amu	prav-u	prav-omu
VOC	prav-e	prav-i	prav-a	prav-e	prav-e	prav-a

I-Stem Adjectives

I-stem adjectives are idenitical when agreeing with masculine and feminine nouns. The only differences are found when agreeing with neuter nouns.

"Leni, lene" - gentle, calm

	Masc. & Fem.		Neuter
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
NOM	len-i	len-i	len-e	len-a
GEN	len-i	len-ă	len-i	len-ă
DAT	len-iv	len-umă	len-iv	len-umă
ACC	len-im	len-imi	len-e	len-a
INS	len-e	len-umi	len-u	len-umi
VOC	len-e	len-uje	len-e	len-uja

Verbal morphology and grammar

Tengarian verbs are highly inflected and conjugated, with verbal inspiration from proto-Marolevic with influence of Solarian and Amathian.

Finite Verbs

Finite verbs possess person, number, voice, aspect, tense and mood. Tengarian has first, second and third person verbs, which can also be singular or plural. Tense and aspect are sometimes grouped together into six tenses, but principally they are distinguished- tense signifies the time of the verb's action in the past, present and future, while aspect is considered progressive (sometimes called imperfective), signifying an ongoing action, and perfect (sometimes called perfective), signifying a complete action.

Tengarian verbs are divided into three categories, called conjugations, based on the letter which forms the stem for the verb form. Proto-Tengarian likely had more conjugations with greater variety, which by the 13th century had become more simplified and unified.

A-Stem

Stati, "To stand"
Voice	Mood	Tense & Aspect	Number and person						Estmerish equivalent (only sg. 1st)
			Singular			Plural
			1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Active
	Indicative	Past Progressive	staneaxo	staneasi	staneastut	staneaxomă	staneaste	staneastunt	I was standing, I used to stand
		Present Progressive	stamo	stasi	statut	stamă	staste	stastunt	I stand, I am standing
		Future Progressive	stanamo	stanasi	stanastut	stanamă	stanaste	stanastunt	I will stand, I will be standing
		Past Perfect	staxovă	staxovi	staxovit	staxovomă	staxovoste	staxovunt	I had stood
		Present Perfect	staxă	staxi	staxit	staxomă	staxoste	staxunt	I stood, I have stood
		Future Perfect	stanaxă	stanaxi	stanaxit	stanaxomă	stanaxoste	stanaxunt	I will have stood
	Imperative	Present	–	stani!	–	–	stanate!	–	stand! (2nd person only)

E-Stem

Nesti, "To carry"
Voice	Mood	Tense & Aspect	Number and person						Estmerish equivalent (only sg. 1st)
			Singular			Plural
			1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Active
	Indicative	Past Progressive	neseaxo	neseasi	neseastut	neseaxomă	neseaste	neseastunt	I was carrying, I used to carry
		Present Progressive	neso	nesesi	nesetut	nesemă	neseste	nesestunt	I carry, I am carrying
		Future Progressive	nesamo	nesasi	nesastut	nesamă	nesaste	nesastunt	I will carry, I will be carrying
		Past Perfect	nexovă	nexovi	nexovit	nexovomă	nexovoste	nexovunt	I had carried
		Present Perfect	nexă	nexi	nexit	nexomă	nexoste	nexunt	I carried, I have carried
		Future Perfect	nesaxă	nesaxi	nesaxit	nesaxomă	nesaxoste	nesaxunt	I will have caried
	Imperative	Present	–	nesi!	–	–	nesete!	–	carry! (2nd person only)

I-Stem

Prositi, "To ask"
Voice	Mood	Tense & Aspect	Number and person						Estmerish equivalent (only sg. 1st)
			Singular			Plural
			1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Active
	Indicative	Past Progressive	proseaxo	proseasi	proseastut	proseaxomă	proseaste	proseastunt	I was asking, I used to ask
		Present Progressive	proso	prosisi	prositut	prosimă	prosiste	prosistunt	I ask, I am asking
		Future Progressive	prosiamo	prosiasi	prosiastut	prosiamă	prosiaste	prosiastunt	I will ask, I will be asking
		Past Perfect	prosixovū	prosixovi	prosixovit	prosixovomă	prosixovoste	prosixovunt	I had asked
		Present Perfect	prosixă	prosixi	prosixit	prosixomă	prosixoste	prosixunt	I asked, I have asked
		Future Perfect	prosiaxă	prosiaxi	prosiaxit	prosiaxomă	prosiaxoste	prosiaxunt	I will have asked
	Imperative	Present	–	prosi!	–	–	prosite!	–	ask! (2nd person only)

Athematic Verbs

There are five verbs recognised as athematic in Tengarian: Beti ("to be"), Dati ("to give"), Moti ("to be able"), Esti ("to eat"). Sometimes considered as hese are unique because they have older archaic forms which have been perserved, and do not fall under the other verb conjugations.

Beti, "To be"
Voice	Mood	Tense & Aspect	Number and person						Estmerish equivalent (only sg. 1st)
			Singular			Plural
			1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Active
	Indicative	Past Progressive	beaxo	beasi	beaset	beaxomă	beaste	beașet	I was, I used to be
		Present Progressive	esmo	esi	est	esmă	este	sunt	I am, I am being
		Future Progressive	bodo	bodesi	bodetut	bodemă	bodete	bodotunt	I will be, I will be being
		Past Perfect	bexovă	bexovi	bexet	bexovomă	bexovoste	bexovunt	I had been
		Present Perfect	bexă	besi	bestū	bexomă	beste	beșet	I was, I have been
		Future Perfect	beaxă	beaxi	beaxet	beaxomă	beaxoste	beaxunt	I will have been
	Conditional	Present	-	-	sit	-	-	sint	It might be, It would/should be
		Past	-	-	bist	-	-	bistet	It might have been, It would/should have been
	Imperative	Present	–	bodi!	–	–	bodite!	–	be! (2nd person only)
Non-Finite Forms
		Infinitive				beti			To be
		Verbal Noun				betu, betui			Being
Active	Participle	Present				si (m,f)	se (n)		Being (adj)
		Future				bodi (m,f)	bode (n)		About to be
Passive		Past				byvă			Has been, Makes other verbs passive

Dati, "To give"
Voice	Mood	Tense & Aspect	Number and person						Estmerish equivalent (only sg. 1st)
			Singular			Plural
			1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Active
	Indicative	Past Progressive	dadeaxo	dadeasi	dadeastut	dadeaxomă	dadeaste	dadeastunt	I was giving, I used to give
		Present Progressive	damo	dasi	dastut	damă	daste	dastunt	I give, I am giving
		Future Progressive	dadamo	dadasi	dadastut	dadamă	dadaste	dadastunt	I will give, I will be giving
		Past Perfect	daxovă	daxovi	daxovit	daxovomă	daxovoste	daxovunt	I had given
		Present Perfect	daxă	daxi	daxit	daxomă	daxoste	daxunt	I gave, I have given
		Future Perfect	dadaxă	dadaxi	dadaxit	dadaxomă	dadaxoste	dadaxunt	I will have given
	Imperative	Present	–	dadi!	–	–	dadite!	–	give! (2nd person only)

Moti, "To be able"
Voice	Mood	Tense & Aspect	Number and person						Estmerish equivalent (only sg. 1st)
			Singular			Plural
			1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Active
	Indicative	Past Progressive	mojaxo	mojase	mojastut	mojeaxomă	mojeaste	mojeastunt	I was able, I used to be able
		Present Progressive	mogo	mojesi	mojet	mojemă	mojete	mogotunt	I am able, I am being able
		Future Progressive	modzamo	modzasi	modzastut	modzamă	modzaste	modzastunt	I will be able
		Past Perfect	mogoxovă	mogoxovi	mogoxovit	mogoxovomă	mogoxovoste	mogoxovunt	I had been able
		Present Perfect	mogoxă	mogoxi	mogoxit	mogoxomă	mogoxoste	mogoxunt	I was able, I have been able
		Future Perfect	modzaxă	modzaxi	modzaxit	modzaxomă	modzaxoste	modzaxunt	I will be able
	Imperative	Present	–	modzi!	–	–	modzete!	–	be able! (2nd person only)

Esti, "To eat"
Voice	Mood	Tense & Aspect	Number and person						Estmerish equivalent (only sg. 1st)
			Singular			Plural
			1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Active
	Indicative	Past Progressive	edeaxo	edease	edeastut	edeaxomă	edeaste	edeastunt	I was eating, I used to be eating
		Present Progressive	emo	esi	eset	emă	este	edunt	I eat, I am eating
		Future Progressive	edamo	edasi	edastut	edamă	edaste	edastunt	I will eat
		Past Perfect	esovă	esovi	esovit	esovomă	esovoste	esovunt	I had eaten
		Present Perfect	esă	esi	estă	esomă	este	esunt	I ate, I have eaten
		Future Perfect	easă	easi	easit	easomă	easoste	easunt	I will have eaten
	Imperative	Present	–	edi!	–	–	edite!	–	be able! (2nd person only)

Compounded Voice and Mood

In addition to forming verbs by morphological inflection of the word itself, Tengarian has several compound verbal poroperties which are formed by taking the inflected forms above with a compound.

The conditional mood (which also can fulfill the role of the optative or subjunctive in other languages), only truly present in the verb beti ("to be"), is formed by compounding the indicative form of the verb according to the number or tense of the verb in question. The present conditional is fromed by the base verb + sit (singular) or verb + sint (plural), while the past conditional is formed by verb + bist (singular) or verb + bistet (plural). Examples include prosisi sit ("you may ask") and nesastunt bistet (they would have carried).

All verbs above are listed above are in the active voice, but Tengarian verbs may also be in the passive voice. When coupled with the special past passive particple byvū (of the word beti), the word is changed into the passive voice, while keeping their tense, aspect mood and number the same. Examples include proso byvū ("I am asked") and stanaxoste byvū ("you all will have been stood").

Non-finite Verbs

Non finite verbs include infinitives, verbal nouns, and participles.

Infinitives have the common ending -ti, and are usually formed by taking the vowel stem of the verb: stamo > stati, neso > nesti, and proso > prositi. Certain words have other ways of forming the infintives.

The verbal noun is retained in Tengarian from old proto-Marolevic, although it was conflated in form and in use with the supine. It is formed by taking the infintive form but replacing the -i ending with a u-stem noun. For example, the infintive stati becomes statu, statui, as is declined as a u-stem noun. Since they are u-stem, they are always considered masculine nouns. These verbal nouns are usually rendered as gerunds in Estmerish.

Although historically there were more participles in Tengarian, there currently only remain two dominant forms- a present active and a past passive. However, certain exceptions remain of historical uses (most notably, bodi, bode, which is the future participle of "to be"). Generally speaking, the present active is created by adding a "-m-" plus the stem ending for the i-stem adjective, while the past passive varies in each conjugation but always ends with the o/a adjective endings. The notable exception to this is the passive past byvū, which functions as a particle to make a compound passive rather than a proper participle.

Voice	A-Stem	E-Stem	I-Stem
Present Active	Stanimi, Stanime	Nesimi, Nesime	Prosimi, Prosime
Past Passive	Stave, Stava, Stavom	Nesene, Nesena, Nesenom	Prosine, Prosina, Prosinum

Adverbs

The vast majority of adverbs in Tengarian are the same in form with the nominative singular masculine form of an o/a stem adjective, although there are some exceptions. Adverbs can be made comparative and superlative by the same way as adjectives, although there is no absolute superlative form of adverbs, and it always remains as the masculine singular form.

There are a selection of ancient and original adverbs which are exceptions to the adjectival adverbs, taken from Marolevic roots:

• abie "at once, immediately"
• ieste "yet, still"
• nine "now"
• pac "again"
• uje "already"

Prepositions

Prepositions in Tengarian cause the word which they modify to take a certain case. Some prepositions may take alternative cases depending on the use. Generally speaking, prepositions with gentive are for origin, accusative with direction, and instrumental for place (a function inherited from the defunct locative case).

Prepositions with Genitive

• a (from, away)- used to describe descent from.
• otu (from, out of)
• u (at)

Prepositions with Accusative

• in (into)
• na (unto, over)
• ob (on account of)
• po (under)- used for direction.
• su (for the extent of)
• vus (for)

Prepostions with Instrumental

• be (without)
• cu (with)
• de (about, concerning)
• in (in, inside)
• na (on)
• nadu (above, over)
• o (around, about)
• pre (in front of, before)
• podu (below, under)
• za (behind, after)

Conjunctions and Particles

The most common conjuctions and particles of the language are as follows:

• aste (if, whether)
• ide (for, since)
• egda (when, if)
• insa (but, yet)
• și (and)
• -și suffix which is also used for "and"
• li (or)
• li...li (either... or)
• ne (not)
• ne...ni (neither, nor)
• -ne, a suffix which turns the verb into a question.
• ne-, prefix which negates the word in question
• neste (if not, unless)
• potu (because, therefore)
• to (then, so)
• ut (as, in order that)

Word order

Because it is highly inflected, Tengarian has a relatively free word order, because the role in the sentence is determined by the morphology of the word rather than its placement. Word order is up to the speaker or writer in question, and depends on locality, level of understanding of the language. The most common word order for speech and prose is generally subject-object-verb, and this is generally taught as the default way of expressing the language. The second most common is the subject-verb-object construction, which is also commonly taught but tends to be secondary. Placing the word at the beginning of the sentence can also be used for immediacy or emphasis. Adjectives generally precede the noun if they are more subjective in character, and follow the noun if they are inherent or important.

Tengarian names

The Tengarian naming system consists of a given name and a surname or family name, and largely matches the naming conventions of Euclea. In certain areas of the country, such as in the north, a direct patronymic is used in between the given and the surname.

Given names

Parents may give their children one or more given names. If more than one is used, the first is most commonly used without reference to the others, although the other names are required for official identification. Given names are prominently taken from three sources: Biblical and early Church Sotirian names, variously from Atudean and Piraean but often morphology influenced by Solarian and Amathian; Solarian and Amathian names; and names of Marolevic origin. Certain names were brought into the language more recently, including some by pan-Marolevs, most notable being Svetlana and Dimitri. Because Tengarian distinguishes between the nominative and the vocative (except for A-stem feminines), speaking to someone sees the use of a different inflection of the same name (E.G., Simeon to Simeone, Mattæ to Mattæe and Ioani to Ioane).

Masculine names are largely O-stem or I-stem nouns, with a handful of exceptions. Biblical and Sotirian names include: Andre, Angel, Ciril, Gabriel, Daniel, Georghi, Iacob, Ioani, Iosef, Laurenti, Luca, Mattæ, Mihail, Nicolæ, Paul, Petre, Simeon, Sotrian, and Stefan. Solarian and Amathian names include: Adeodat, Alexandre, Anton, Clement, Corneli, Constantin, Cyriac, Donat, Mari, Renat, Sergi, Solarian, Theodos, Valentin, Vasile, and Victor. Marolevic names include: Bogdan, Bogomil, Boian, Casimir, Dragomir, Dimitri, Lubomir, Milan, Stanislav, Vladimir, and Zlatan.

Feminine names are almost A-stem nouns, with a few exceptions. Biblical Sotirian names include: Ana, Andrea, Angela, Caterina, Eva, Ioana, Maria, and Veronica. Solarian and Amathian names include: Alexandra, Beata, Clara, Coroana, Daria, Florina, Gloria, Hippodalia, Lacrimiara, Margarita, Monica, Silvia, Sofia, Renata, and Valentina. Marolevic and Piraean names include: Anastasia, Bogdana, Bogomila, Cloa, Elena, Ludmila, Olga, Svetlana, Tatiana, Teodora, Vera, Violeta, and Zora.

Surnames

Traditionally, fixed family names did not exist for most class except for the nobility. In the later part of the 19th century, in accord with Euclean culture, the government supported the adoption of family last names. The most common way of forming this is through the use of patronymics, or in rare cases when a father could not be identified, through matronymics, although these were not the only methods of arriving at last names. Legally, surnames are passed down from the father in the vast majority of cases, although in certain cases they can be passed down from the mother. Wives take the surname of their husbands, although in a feminine form.

Most patroynmics are the same for both men and women. They are formed with the genitive form (using the prefix "a-", from the preposition a) were used, as in "Adragomiri", or 'from Dragomir'. With names that begin with vowels except i (such as Andre, Angel, and certain feminine names) an intervocalic 'i' and the /j/ sound is added, making "A-angeli" "Aiangeli" (ah-yahn-ge-li). In some cases where the name begins with vowels, the first "a" is dropped and only the i remains, such as "Iandrei" or "Iantoni". The rarer matronymics follow the same rule, except use the feminine a-stem genitive, such as "Amarie" and "Aieve". Pan-Marolevic supporters also proposed adding suffixes to make the names look more Marolevic; these partroynmics have a masculine "-v" or feminine "-va" added onto the end of the genitive, such as "Abogdaniv", "Aioaniva". Family names formed with Marolevic suffixes will be masculine or feminine depending on the sex of the person.

Besides patronymics as the basis for surnames, there are other ways to form them as well. The same formula use for patronymics can also be used for place of origin rather than names- for example, "Agarne", meaning 'from Garna', and "Arece" meaning 'from the river'. Feminine last names are more common here than with patronymics. Some names come from occupations, such as "Kovachev"/"Kovacheva" coming from the word Kovac, which is a word meaning "smith" with a Marolevic suffix, "Istine" coming from istina meaning "truth", or "Ursi" coming from Urs meaning "bear". The final source for surnames are those which come from adjectives- "Albe/Alba" coming from Alba signifying "white". Names from adjectives do not come from the genitive but instead agree with the gender, case and number of the name.

Sample Texts

Preamble of the Declaration of Universal Natural Rights

Tengarian (Solarian Script)	Tengarian (Apsinthian Script)	Tengarian (Soravian Script)	Declaration of Universal Natural Rights
Ide omi toti cu ratuina conșientași daristunt byvă,	Ⰹⰴⰵ ⱁⰿⰹ ⱅⱁⱅⰹ ⰽⱆ ⱃⰰⱅⱆⰹⱀⰰ ⰽⱁⱀⱎⰹⰵⱄⰰⱎⰹ ⰴⰰⱃⰹⱄⱅⱆⱀⱅ ⰱⱛⰲⱏ,	Идe oми тoти ку paтуинa кoшиeнтaши дapиcтунт бьвъ,	Whereas all human beings are endowed with reason and conscience,
Ideși derecti naturali in ensumi patristunt cu ratuina conșientași,	Ⰹⰴⰵⱎⰹ ⰴⰵⱃⰵⰽⱅⰹ ⱀⰰⱅⱆⱃⰰⰾⰹ ⰹⱀ ⰵⱀⱄⱆⰿⰹ ⱂⰰⱅⱃⰹⱄⱅⱆⱀⱅ ⰽⱆ ⱃⰰⱅⰹⱆⱀⰰ ⰽⱁⱀⱎⰹⰵⱀⱄⰰⱎⰹ,	Идeши дepeкти нaтуpaли ин eнуми пaтpиcтунт ку paтуинa кoшиeнтaши,	Whereas natural rights inhere in beings with reason and conscience,
Ideși nuditut byvă declati derectomo naturalomo in documentu universale vedeti,	Ⰹⰴⰵⱎⰹ ⱀⱆⰴⰹⱅⱆⱅ ⰱⱛⰲⱏ ⰴⰵⱌⰾⰰⱅⰹ ⰴⰵⱃⰵⰽⱅⱁⰿⱁ ⱀⰰⱅⱆⱃⰰⰾⱁⰿⱁ ⰹⱀ ⰴⱁⰽⱆⰿⰵⱀⱅⱆ ⱆⱀⰹⰲⰵⱃⱄⰰⰾⰵ ⰲⰵⰴⰵⱅⰹ,	Идeши нудитут бьвъ дeклaти дepeктoмo нaтуpaлoмo ин дoкуmeнту унивepcaлe вeдeти,	Whereas it is necessary to declare natural rights in a document to be universally known,
Ut deputati și guverne gentă totă, Internationali Assembla declatut:	Ⱆⱅ ⰴⰵⱂⱆⱅⰰⱅⰹ ⱎⰹ ⰳⱆⰲⰵⱃⱀⰵ ⰳⰵⱀⱅⱏ ⱅⱁⱅⱏⱔ Ⰹⱀⱅⰵⱃⱀⰰⱅⰹⱁⱀⰰⰾⰹ Ⰰⱄⱄⰵⰿⰱⰾⰰ ⰴⰵⰽⰾⰰⱅⱆⱅ:	Ут дeпутaти ши гувepнe џeнтъ тoтъ, Интepнaтиoнaли Acceмблa дeклaтут:	As the representatives and governments of all people, the International Assembly declares:

Pater Noster

Tengarian (Solarian Script)	Tengarian (Apsinthian Script)	Tengarian (Soravian Script)	Common Estmerish translation
Patre nasă, qui in celu est, svetom sit ti ime.	Ⱂⰰⱅⱃⰵ ⱀⰰⱄⱏ, ⱉⱆⰹ ⰹⱀ ⰽⰵⰾⱆ ⰵⱄⱅ, ⱄⰲⰵⱅⱁⰿ ⱄⰹⱅ ⱅⰹ ⰹⰿⰵ.	Патре насъ, куи ин келу ест, светом сит ти име.	Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;
Regat ti proditut sit, vola ti delatut sit, na zema ut in celu est.	Ⱃⰵⰳⰰⱅ ⱅⰹ ⱂⱃⱁⰴⰹⱅⱆⱅ ⱄⰹⱅ, ⰲⱁⰾⰰ ⱅⰹ ⰴⰵⰾⰰⱅⱆⱅ ⱄⰹⱅ, ⱀⰰ ⰸⰵⰿⰰ ⱆⱅ ⰹⱀ ⰽⰵⰾⱆ ⰵⱄⱅ.	Регат ти продитут сит, вола ти делатут сит, на зема ут ин кело.	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Hlebom eședenină namă dadi, și narusitinimi nasă prosti namă,	Ⱈⰾⰵⰱⱁⰿ ⰵⱎⰵⰴⰵⱀⰹⱀⱏ ⱀⰰⰿⱏ ⰴⰰⰴⰹ, ⱎⰹ ⱀⰰⱃⱆⱄⰹⱅⰹⰿⰹⱀⰹ ⱀⰰⱄⱏ ⱂⱃⱁⱄⰹ ⱀⰰⰿⱏ,	Хлебом ешеденинъ намъ дади, ши наруситимини насъ прости намъ,	Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,
ut prostimă quomo namă narusitunt; și in sablaznam nevodi, insa nū a losu eliberani. Amen.	ⱆⱅ ⱂⱃⱁⱄⱅⰹⰿⱏ ⱉⱆⱁⰿⱁ ⰿⰰⱀⱏ ⱀⰰⱃⱆⱄⰹⱅⱆⱀⱅ; ⱎⰹ ⰹⱀ ⱄⰰⰱⰾⰰⰸⱀⰰⰿ ⱀⰵⰲⱁⰴⰹ, ⰹⱀⱄⰰ ⱀⱏ ⰰ ⰾⱁⱄⱆ ⰵⰾⰹⰱⰵⱃⰰⱀⰹ. Ⰰⰿⰵⱀ.	ут простимъ куомо намъ наруститунт; ши ин саблазнам неводи, инса нъ а лосу елиберани. Амен.	as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.