Adbehi - Old Elvish (adˈbɛhɪ)

Natively known as: adbehi /adˈbɛhɪ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
hug buf yagba figi gdef gehaeg hug yahe gdef byayig gidiba byu gdeyayu
Pronunciation: /huːg buːf ˈjagba ˈfɪgɪ gdɛf gɛˈhaɛg huːg ˈjahɛ gdɛf ˈbjajɪg gɪˈdɪba bjuː gdɛˈjajuː/
Adbehi word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind
Adbehi is the common language spoken throughout the Western Stretches by the Wood Elves.

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	b		d		g
Fricative		f				h
Approximant				j

Vowel inventory: a uː ɛ ɪ

	Front	Back
High		uː
Near-high	ɪ
Low-mid	ɛ
Low	a

Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C) ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
uː	u
ɛ	e
ɪ	i
j	y
Vː	VV

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?

Nouns

Singular	No affix fyabde /ˈfjabdɛ/ dog
Plural	Reduplicate first part of first syllable fyafyabde /fjaˈfjabdɛ/ dogs

Articles

Definite	hig /hɪg/ the
Indefinite	fuf /fuːf/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Pronouns

1st singular	yeb /jɛb/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	fab /fab/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	buf /buːf/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	a /a/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural inclusive	ba /ba/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	af /af/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	hag /hag/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	byib /bjɪb/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	ge /gɛ/ my
2nd singular	fye /fjɛ/ your
3rd singular masc	gdef /gdɛf/ his
3rd singular fem	gi /gɪ/ her
1st plural inclusive	hag /hag/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	byub /bjuːb/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	byeb /bjɛb/ your (pl)
3rd plural	a /a/ their

Verbs

	Singular	Plural
Present	No affix befda /ˈbɛfda/ (I/you/he/she/it) learn(s)	If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -uːf befdaf /ˈbɛfdaf/ (we/you all/they) learn
Past	Suffix -ɛ befdae /bɛfˈdaɛ/ (I/you/he/she/it) learned	Suffix -ɪ befdai /bɛfˈdaɪ/ (we/you all/they) learned
Remote past	Suffix -ɛg befdaeg /bɛfˈdaɛg/ (I/you/he/she/it) learned (long ago)	Suffix -ɪf befdaif /bɛfˈdaɪf/ (we/you all/they) learned (long ago)
Future	Suffix -ag befdaag /bɛfˈdaag/ (I/you/he/she/it) will learn	Suffix -ab befdaab /bɛfˈdaab/ (we/you all/they) will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Adbehi uses an affix for progressive:

Progressive

If ends with vowel: Suffix -g Else: Suffix -ɛg befdag /ˈbɛfdag/ is learning

Habitual aspect

The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Adbehi uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: af - af befda /af ˈbɛfda/ learns

Perfect aspect

The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.
Adbehi uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -ɛf befdaf /ˈbɛfdaf/ have learned

Numbers

Adbehi has a base-10 number system:
1 - fyug
2 - bib
3 - yeb
4 - a
5 - gu
6 - gig
7 - byig
8 - fyidfeb
9 - ug
10 - gdaffa
100 - gdag
1000 - gidfaf

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -dfa
Else: Suffix -adfa
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -jɪ
Else: Suffix -uːjɪ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b
Else: Suffix -uːb
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɪf
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɪ
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -g
Else: Suffix -uːg
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b
Else: Suffix -ɛb
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -g
Else: Suffix -ag
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ag
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -dbuː
Else: Suffix -adbuː
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ɪ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -uːb
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b
Else: Suffix -ab
Augmentative = Suffix -a

Dictionary

3075 Words.

Root Languages

• Yebaya

Spoken by

• Linnoraelin