Verdan

Natively known as: Dhufīna /ˈðufiːna/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
i hir thusm nā zi zism i khaf zi ākhull ʻīwa hu lūti
Pronunciation: /i hir θusm naː zi zism i xaf zi ˈaːxull ˈʕiːwa hu ˈluːti/
Dhufīnan word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d dˤ f h j k l m n q r s sˤ t tˤ w x z ð ðˤ ħ ɣ ʃ ʔ ʕ ʤ θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m			n
Stop	b			t tˤ d dˤ			k	q		ʔ
Affricate					ʤ
Fricative		f	θ ð ðˤ	s sˤ z	ʃ		x ɣ		ħ ʕ	h
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a aː i iː u uː/

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, dˤ, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, q, r, s, sˤ, t, tˤ, w, x, z, ð, ħ, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, ʕ, ʤ, θ
Mid-word consonants: b, bb, d, dd, dˤ, f, h, j, jj, k, kr, l, ll, lʔ, m, mm, n, nd, nt, ntˤ, nð, q, qq, r, rb, rr, s, sˤ, t, tl, tʤ, tˤ, tˤtˤ, w, ww, x, ð, ðˤ, ħ, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, ʕ, ʕl, ʕt, ʕtˤ, ʤ, θ
Word final consonants: b, d, f, fl, h, jj, k, l, ll, m, n, q, r, rdˤ, s, sm, t, tˤ, w, zʔ, ħ, ʔ, ʕ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• f → p / #_
• b → β / V_V
• s → ɟ / #_
• w → p / _t
• ʔ → Ø / _CC
• ɣ → ɡ / #_

How to read phonological rules
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
aː	ā
dˤ	ḑ
iː	ī
j	y
sˤ	ş
tˤ	ţ
uː	ū
x	kh
ð	dh
ħ	ḩ
ɣ	gh
ʃ	sh
ʔ	’
ʕ	ʻ
ʤ	j
θ	th

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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 yūta /ˈʤuːta/ doɡ
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix r- Else: Prefix ri- riyūta /ˈriʤuːta/ doɡs

Articles

Definite	wī /wiː/ the
Indefinite	sha /ʃa/ a, some

Pronouns

1st singular	ba /ba/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	sha /ʃa/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	hir /hir/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	lūd /luːd/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	kha /xa/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	mi /mi/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	a /a/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ā /aː/ my
2nd singular	ʻu /ʕu/ your
3rd singular masc	zi /zi/ his
3rd singular fem	şuf /sˤuf/ her
1st plural	ḑūr /dˤuːr/ our
2nd plural	dhu’ /ðuʔ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	āʻ /aːʕ/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix ayūʻī /ˈajuːʕiː/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka- kayūʻī /ˈkajuːʕiː/ learned
Remote past	Prefix ma- maayūʻī /ˈmaaˌjuːʕiː/ learned (lonɡ aɡo)

Dhufīnan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: qa - qa ayūʻī /qa ˈajuːʕiː/ will learn

Numbers

Dhufīnan has a base-10 number system:
1 - mi
2 - ghī
3 - ’i
4 - ţīrḑ
5 - hud
6 - şu
7 - āfūra
8 - hum
9 - shata
10 - ḩi
11 - ḩi i mi “ten and one”
100 - mi lū’ “one hundred”
101 - mi lū’ mi “one hundred one”
200 - ghī lū’
1000 - mi ţub “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix f-
Else: Prefix faː-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix q-
Else: Prefix quː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix i-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix tuː-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix a-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix q-
Else: Prefix quː-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix la-
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix sˤ-
Else: Prefix sˤi-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix ba-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix a-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix h-
Else: Prefix hi-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix a-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix kaː-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʤ-
Else: Prefix ʤa-

Dictionary

4390 Words.

Root Languages

• Primordial

Common Female Names

• Ḑūl’ā /ˈdˤuːlʔaː/ 
• Rāwwī /ˈraːwwiː/ 
• Ḑūʻţūyūf /ˈdˤuːʕtˤuːjuːf/ 
• Iʻţafl /ˈiʕtˤafl/ 
• Yūrī /ˈʤuːriː/ 
• ’Uţ /ʔutˤ/
• Nallīţ /ˈnalliːtˤ/
• Malā /ˈmalaː/
• Hiţţa /ˈhitˤtˤa/
• ’Irrā /ˈʔirraː/

Common Male Names

• Yūtūhāḩ /ˈʤuːtuːhaːħ/ 
• Yūyād /ˈʤuːjaːd/
• ʻīʻtiʻ /ˈʕiːʕtiʕ/
• ’Ubbūndī /ˈʔubbuːndiː/
• Qūţţif /ˈquːtˤtˤif/
• ’Ikhāsm /ˈʔixaːsm/
• Ḑūkhūrbū /ˈdˤuːxuːrbuː/ 
• Shaḩībbīn /ˈʃaħiːbbiːn/ 
• Nāthaz’ /ˈnaːθazʔ/ 
• Arū’a /ˈaruːʔa/

Common Unisex Names

• Khaḑī /ˈxadˤiː/ 
• Mātya /ˈmaːtʤa/ 
• Sābub /ˈsaːbub/ 
• Ţīyusm /ˈtˤiːʤusm/ 
• Qūqqī /ˈquːqqiː/ 
• Khadi /ˈxadi/ 
• Yīsi /ˈjiːsi/ 
• Maḑa /ˈmadˤa/
• Shaţţūru /ˈʃatˤtˤuːru/
• Qīhūyyū /ˈqiːhuːjjuː/