Interslavic grammar is based on the greatest common denominator of that of the natural Slavic languages, and partly also a simplification thereof. It consists of elements that can be encountered in all or at least most of them.
Nouns Interslavic is an
inflecting language.
Nouns can have three
genders, two numbers (singular and plural), as well as six
cases (
nominative,
accusative,
genitive,
dative,
instrumental and
locative). Since several Slavic languages also have a
vocative, it is usually displayed in tables as well, even though strictly speaking the vocative is not a case. It occurs only in the singular of masculine and feminine nouns. There is no
article. The complicated system of noun classes in Slavic has been reduced to four or five
declensions: • masculine nouns, ending in a (usually hard)
consonant:
dom "house",
mųž "man" • feminine nouns ending in
-a:
žena "woman",
zemja "earth" • feminine nouns ending in a soft consonant:
kosť "bone" • neuter nouns ending in
-o or
-e:
slovo "word",
morje "sea" • Old Church Slavonic also had a consonantal declension that in most Slavic languages merged into the remaining declensions. Some Interslavic projects and writers preserve this declension, which consists of nouns of all three genders, mostly neuters: • neuter nouns of the group
-mę/-men-:
imę/imene "name" • neuter nouns of the group
-ę/-ęt- (children and young animals):
telę/telęte "calf" • neuter nouns of the group
-o/-es-:
nebo/nebese "sky" • masculine nouns of the group
-en-:
kameń/kamene "stone" • feminine nouns with the ending
-ȯv:
cŕkȯv/cŕkve "church" • feminine nouns with the ending
-i/-er-:
mati/matere "mother"
Adjectives Adjectives are always regular. They agree with the noun they modify in gender, case and number, and are usually placed before it. In the column with the masculine forms, the first relates to animate nouns, the second to inanimate nouns. A distinction is made between hard and soft stems, for example:
dobry "good" and
svěži "fresh": Some writers make no distinction between hard and soft adjectives. One can write
dobrego instead of
dobrogo,
svěžogo instead of
svěžego.
Comparison The
comparative is formed with the ending
-(ěj)ši:
slabši "weaker",
pȯlnějši "fuller". The
superlative is formed from the comparative with the
prefix naj-:
najslabši "weakest". Comparatives can also be formed with the adverbs
bolje or
vyše "more", superlatives with the adverbs
najbolje or
najvyše "most".
Adverbs Hard adjectives can be turned into an adverb with the ending
-o, soft adjectives with the ending
-e:
dobro "well",
svěže "freshly". Comparatives and superlatives can be adverbialized with the ending
-ěje:
slaběje "weaker".
Pronouns The
personal pronouns are:
ja "I",
ty "you, thou",
on "he",
ona "she",
ono "it",
my "we",
vy "you" (pl.),
oni/
one "they". When a personal pronoun of the third person is preceded by a
preposition,
n- is prepended onto it. Other pronouns are inflected as adjectives: • the
possessive pronouns
moj "my",
tvoj "your, thy",
naš "our",
vaš "your" (pl.),
svoj "my/your/his/her/our/their own", as well as
čij "whose" • the
demonstrative pronouns
toj "this, that",
tutoj "this" and
tamtoj "that" • the
relative pronoun ktory "which" • the
interrogative pronouns
kto "who" and
čto "what" • the
indefinite pronouns
někto "somebody",
něčto "something",
nikto "nobody",
ničto "nothing",
ktokoli "whoever, anybody",
čto-nebųď "whatever, anything", etc.
Numerals The
cardinal numbers 1–10 are: 1 –
jedin/jedna/jedno, 2 –
dva/dvě, 3 –
tri, 4 –
četyri, 5 –
pęt́, 6 –
šest́, 7 –
sedm, 8 –
osm, 9 –
devęt́, 10 –
desęt́. Higher numbers are formed by adding
-nadsęť for the numbers 11–19,
-desęt for the tens,
-sto for the hundreds. Sometimes (but not always) the latter is inflected:
dvasto/tristo/pęt́sto and
dvěstě/trista/pęt́sȯt are both correct. The inflection of the cardinal numerals is shown in the following table. The numbers 5–99 are inflected either as nouns of the
kosť type or as soft adjectives.
Ordinal numbers are formed by adding the adjective ending
-y to the cardinal numbers, except in the case of
pŕvy "first",
drugy/vtory "second",
tretji "third",
četvŕty "fourth",
stoty/sȯtny "hundredth",
tysęčny "thousandth".
Fractions are formed by adding the
suffix -ina to ordinal numbers:
tretjina "(one) third",
četvŕtina "quarter", etc. The only exception is
pol (
polovina, polovica) "half". Interslavic has other categories of numerals as well: •
collective numerals:
dvoje "pair, duo, duet",
troje, četvero..., etc. •
multiplicative numerals:
jediny "single",
dvojny "double",
trojny,
četverny..., etc. •
differential numerals:
dvojaky "of two different kinds",
trojaky, četveraky..., etc.
Verbs Aspect Like all Slavic languages, Interslavic verbs have
grammatical aspect. A
perfective verb indicates an action that has been or will be completed and therefore emphasizes the result of the action rather than its course. On the other hand, an
imperfective verb focuses on the course or duration of the action, and is also used for expressing habits and repeating patterns. Verbs without a prefix are usually imperfective. Most imperfective verbs have a perfective counterpart, which in most cases is formed by adding a prefix: •
dělati ~ sdělati "to do" •
čistiti ~ izčistiti "to clean" •
pisati ~ napisati "to write" Because prefixes are also used to change the meaning of a verb, secondary imperfective forms based on perfective verbs with a prefix are needed as well. These verbs are formed regularly: •
-ati becomes
-yvati (e.g.
zapisati ~ zapisyvati "to note, to register, to record",
dokazati ~ dokazyvati "to prove") •
-iti become
-jati (e.g.
napraviti ~ napravjati "to lead",
pozvoliti ~ pozvaljati "to allow",
oprostiti ~ oprašćati "to simplify") Some aspect pairs are irregular, for example
nazvati ~ nazyvati "to name, to call",
prijdti ~ prihoditi "to come",
podjęti ~ podimati "to undertake".
Stems The Slavic languages are notorious for their complicated
conjugation patterns. To simplify these, Interslavic has a system of two conjugations and two verbal
stems. In most cases, knowing the infinitive is enough to establish both stems: • the first stem is used for the
infinitive, the
past tense, the
conditional mood, the
past passive participle and the
verbal noun. It is formed by removing the ending
-ti from the infinitive:
dělati "to do" >
děla-,
prositi "to require" >
prosi-,
nesti "to carry" >
nes-. Verbs ending in
-sti can also have their stem ending on
t or
d, f.ex.
vesti > ved- "to lead",
gnesti > gnet- "to crush". • the second stem is used for the
present tense, the
imperative and the
present active participle. In most cases both stems are identical, and in most of the remaining cases the second stem can be derived regularly from the first. In particular cases they have to be learned separately. In the present tense, a distinction is made between two conjugations: • the first conjugation includes almost all verbs that do not have the ending
-iti, as well as monosyllabic verbs on
-iti: • verbs on
-ati have the stem
-aj-:
dělati "to do" >
dělaj- • verbs on
-ovati have the stem
-uj-:
kovati "to forge" >
kuj- • verbs on
-nųti have the stem
-n-:
tęgnųti "to pull, to draw" >
tęgn- • monosyllabic verbs have
-j-:
piti "to drink" >
pij-,
čuti "to feel" >
čuj- • the second stem is identical to the first stem if the latter ends in a consonant:
nesti "to carry" >
nes-,
vesti "to lead" >
ved- • the second conjugation includes all polysyllabic verbs on
-iti and most verbs on
-ěti:
prositi "to require" >
pros-i-,
viděti "to see" >
vid-i- There are also mixed and irregular verbs, i.e. verbs with a second stem that cannot be derived regularly from the first stem, for example:
pisati "to write" >
piš-,
spati "to sleep" >
sp-i-,
zvati "to call" >
zov-,
htěti "to want" >
hoć-. In these cases both stem have to be learned separately.
Conjugation The various moods and tenses are formed by means of the following endings: •
Present tense:
-ų, -eš, -e, -emo, -ete, -ųt (first conjugation);
-jų, -iš, -i, -imo, -ite, -ęt (second conjugation) •
Past tense – simple (as in Russian): m.
-l, f.
-la, n.
-lo, pl.
-li •
Past tense – complex (as in South Slavic): •
Imperfect tense:
-h, -še, -še, -hmo, -ste, -hų •
Perfect tense: m.
-l, f.
-la, n.
-lo, pl.
-li + the present tense of
byti "to be" •
Pluperfect tense: m.
-l, f.
-la, n.
-lo, pl.
-li + the imperfect tense of
byti •
Conditional: m.
-l, f.
-la, n.
-lo, pl.
-li + the conditional of
byti •
Future tense: the future tense of
byti + the infinitive •
Imperative:
-Ø, -mo, -te after
j, or
-i, -imo, -ite after another consonant. The forms with
-l- in the past tense and the conditional are actually participles known as the
L-participle. The remaining participles are formed as follows: •
Present active participle:
-ųći (first conjugation),
-ęći (second conjugation) •
Present passive participle:
-omy/-emy (first conjugation),
-imy (second conjugation) •
Past active participle:
-vši after a vowel, or
-ši after a consonant •
Past passive participle:
-ny after a vowel,
-eny after a consonant. Monosyllabic verbs (except for those on
-ati) have
-ty. Verbs on
-iti have the ending
-jeny. The
verbal noun is based on the past passive participle, replacing the ending
-ny/-ty with
-ńje/-.
Examples Whenever the stem of verbs of the second conjugation ends in
s, z, t, d, st or
zd, an ending starting
-j causes the following
mutations: •
prositi "to require":
pros-jų > prošų, pros-jeny > prošeny •
voziti "to transport":
voz-jų > vožų, voz-jeny > voženy •
tratiti "to lose":
trat-jų > traćų, trat-jeny > traćeny •
slěditi "to follow":
slěd-jų > slěđų, slěd-jeny > slěđeny •
čistiti "to clean":
čist-jų > čišćų, čist-jeny > čišćeny •
jezditi "to go (by transport)":
jezd-jų > ježđų, jezd-jeny > ježđeny Alternative forms Because Interslavic is not a highly formalized language, a lot of variation occurs between various forms. Often used are the following alternative forms: • In the first conjugation,
-aje- is often reduced to
-a-:
ty dělaš,
on děla etc. • Instead of the 1st person singular ending
-(j)ų, the ending
-(e)m is sometimes used as well:
ja dělam,
ja hvalim,
ja nesem. • Instead of
-mo in the 1st person plural,
-me can be used as well:
my děla(je)me,
my hvalime. • Instead of
-hmo in the imperfect tense,
-smo and the more archaic
-hom can be used as well. • Instead of the conjugated forms of
byti in the conditional (
byh, bys etc.),
by is often used as a
particle:
ja by pisal(a),
ty by pisal(a) etc. • Verbal nouns can have the ending
-ije instead of
-je:
dělanije,
hvaljenije.
Irregular verbs A few verbs have an irregular conjugation: •
byti "to be" has
jesm, jesi, jest, jesmo, jeste, sųt in the present tense,
běh, běše... in the imperfect tense, and
bųdų, bųdeš... in the future •
dati "to give",
jěsti "to eat" and
věděti "to know" have the following present tense:
dam, daš, da, damo, date, dadųt;
jem, ješ...;
věm, věš... •
idti "to go by foot, to walk" has an irregular L-participle:
šel, šla, šlo, šli. ==Vocabulary==