Kuite (Koo-EE-tay)

Natively known as: kuite /kuˈite/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
to on kunru yuron ken konpe to onu ken tenyun nano nupon non
Pronunciation: /to on ˈkunɾu ˈjuɾon ken ˈkompe to ˈonu ken ˈtemjun ˈmano ˈmupon mon/
Funese word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet the wind to

Phonology

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d g h j k m n p s t w z ŋ ɾ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Stop	p b	t d		k g
Fricative		s z			h
Approximant			j
Tap		ɾ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ŋ	n
m	n
j	y
ɾ	r

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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 after the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Singular	No affix nonte /ˈmonte/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix de- denonte /deˈmonte/ dogs

Articles

Definite	ta /ta/ the
Indefinite	hen /hen/ 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 languages: ‘The English’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’
• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

1st singular	dan /dan/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ra /ɾa/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	on /on/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	kon /kon/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural	zun /zun/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	gi /gi/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	u /u/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	e /e/ my
2nd singular	be /be/ your
3rd singular masc	ken /ken/ his
3rd singular fem	i /i/ her
1st plural	a /a/ our
2nd plural	ke /ke/ your (pl)
3rd plural	pe /pe/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix su- sunuhyu /suˈmuhju/ (I) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jo- yonuhyu /joˈmuhju/ (I) learned	Prefix a- anuhyu /aˈmuhju/ (I) learned (long ago)
2nd singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix do- donuhyu /doˈmuhju/ (you) learn	Prefix sa- sanuhyu /saˈmuhju/ (you) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix ogj- Else: Prefix ogja- ogyanuhyu /ˌogjaˈmuhju/ (you) learned (long ago)
3rd singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix no- nonuhyu /noˈmuhju/ (he/she/it) learns	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka- kanuhyu /kaˈmuhju/ (he/she/it) learned	Prefix o- onuhyu /oˈmuhju/ (he/she/it) learned (long ago)
1st plural	Prefix pa- panuhyu /paˈmuhju/ (we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix ik- Else: Prefix iku- ikunuhyu /ˌikuˈmuhju/ (we) learned	Prefix se- senuhyu /seˈmuhju/ (we) learned (long ago)
2nd plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix eɾ- Else: Prefix eɾa- eranuhyu /ˌeɾaˈmuhju/ (you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix uk- Else: Prefix uke- ukenuhyu /ˌukeˈmuhju/ (you all) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɾ- Else: Prefix ɾi- rinuhyu /ɾiˈmuhju/ (you all) learned (long ago)
3rd plural	Prefix ku- kunuhyu /kuˈmuhju/ (they) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix w- Else: Prefix wa- wanuhyu /waˈmuhju/ (they) learned	Prefix bo- bonuhyu /boˈmuhju/ (they) learned (long ago)

Funese uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: in - in nuhyu /in ˈmuhju/ will learn

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Funese uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: sa - sa nuhyu /sa ˈmuhju/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Funese has a base-20 number system:
1 - sun
2 - hi
3 - nin
4 - te
5 - ten
6 - nun
7 - paku
8 - u
9 - ra
10 - ha
11 - pi
12 - nenon
13 - bun
14 - zen
15 - ge
16 - utorya
17 - nu
18 - ne
19 - ka
20 - zu
400 - goba
8000 - geso

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix i-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ut-
Else: Prefix uta-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix i-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix no-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix mu-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix inj-
Else: Prefix inju-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j-
Else: Prefix ju-
Tending to = Prefix u-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix sa-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix e-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix jo-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix u-
Diminutive = Prefix o-
Augmentative = Prefix a-

Dictionary

1858 Words.

Spoken by

• Funanese