Nouns Masculine nouns start with
a-, i-, u- (in the singular) – like all Berber languages – or more rarely with a consonant (often corresponding to
a- in other languages.) Examples:
ayḏi "dog";
fus "hand";
iri "neck";
urṯu "garden". Their plural is usually in
i-...-en (e.g.
ameţin "death" →
imeţinen), but a variety of other plural forms (e.g.
i-...-an,
i-...-wen,
i-...awen,
i-...-en,
i-...-a-), sometimes accompanied by internal
ablaut, are also found: e.g.
ijiḏer "eagle" →
ijuḏar,
iṯri "star" →
iṯran,
afer "wing" →
ifrawen,
icer "fingernail" →
icaren. Feminine nouns start with
h- (originally
t-), and usually end with
-t or
-ṯ:
hagmarṯ "mare",
hesa "liver". A few feminine nouns have lost the
h-:
malla "turtledove". A masculine noun can be made
diminutive by adding the feminine affixes:
afus "hand" →
hafust "little hand". The plurals of feminine nouns fall into much the same types as masculine ones, but adding
h- at the beginning and using
-in rather than
-en:
hakṯemţ "female" →
hikṯemin,
harract "girl" →
harracin,
huqiṯ "stone" →
huqay,
hawleliṯ "spider" →
hiwlela. Genitive constructions – English "X of Y" or "Y's X" – are formed as "X Y", in which the prefix of Y changes to
u- (masc.) or
n ţe- (fem.). Thus, for instance:
aman n ţala "the water of the fountain",
aglim uγilas "the skin of the panther".
n "of" is also used with foreign words:
hagmarṯ n elqayd̠ "the mare of the
Caid".
Adjectives Adjectives agree in number and gender with the noun, and are formed in the same way: e.g.
amellal "white",
azegrar "long",
azaim "good". The particle
d̠ is used before adjectives in certain contexts (including as a
copula), in the same way as in the
Kabyle language.
Numbers As in Kabyle, only the first two numbers are Berber; for higher numbers, Arabic is used. They are
iğ (f.
ict) "one",
sen (f.
senat̠) "two". The noun being counted follows it in the genitive:
senat̠ n ţuwura "two doors". "First" and "last" are respectively
amezgaru and
aneggaru (regular adjectives). Other ordinals are formed with the prefix
wis (f.
his):
wis sen "second (m.)",
his t̠elat̠a "third (f.)", etc.
Pronouns The basic personal pronouns of Shenwa are as follows. Gender is distinguished in all cases except the first person. The basic demonstrative adjectives are
-a "this" (also
-ay, -ad̠;
-ax for middle distance),
-in "that",
-enni "the aforementioned". The demonstrative pronouns include: • "this":
wa m. sg.,
hax f. sg.,
yid̠a m. pl.,
hid̠a f. pl. • "this" (emphatic):
wayek,
hayek,
id̠ad̠ik,
hid̠ad̠ik • "this" (in question):
wenni,
henni,
id̠enni,
hid̠enni • "that":
win,
hin,
yid̠in,
hid̠in The standalone
possessive pronouns ("mine", "yours", etc.) are formed by
suffixing the possessive pronouns to "this" (except that
ha- is used instead of
hax.) Similarly, the adjective "other" (invariable
enniḍen) combines with "this" to make forms meaning "the other":
unniḍen,
henniḍen,
id̠enniḍen,
hid̠enniḍin. The main interrogative pronouns are:
maţa "what?",
manţ "which",
manay "who?",
mi lan "whose?",
miked̠ "with whom?",
mid̠eg "in what?",
mizeg "with what?",
mifeg "on what?",
miγer "at/for whom?" The relative pronoun is
i "which". Indefinite pronouns include
yeğ (f.
yectenţ) "one, someone",
cra "something". Negative forms are made using the Arabic loanword
haţa (حتى);
haţa d̠ yeğ "no one",
haţa d̠ elḥabb "nothing".
Verbs The
declarative mood is divided into two tenses:
preterite (past) and
aorist (non-past, formed by the addition of
a-.) There is also an imperative mood. The irregular imperative
ia "come" is used with the aorist to form imperatives of the first person:
iaw annaroḥet̠ "let's go". The pronoun affixes for these are given under Pronouns. The declarative mood is also accompanied by ablaut: • Verbs whose imperative consists of two consonants or less (e.g.
eğ "eat",
eγr "read",
ezr "see",
enγ "kill") add
-a to the stem in the 3rd person singulars and 1st person plural, and
-i in all other forms:
enγiγ "I killed",
henγa "she killed". • Verbs whose imperative begins with
a- (e.g.
adef "come in",
ad̠er "go down",
azen "send") change it to
u-: thus
ud̠efen "they came in",
hud̠efed "you (sg.) came in. (Verbs such as
af "find" belong to both this and the previous group.)
awi "bring" and
awd̠ "arrive" are exceptions, changing
a- to
i-:
yiwi "he brought". • Verbs with
-a- in the middle (e.g.
laz "be hungry",
nam "have the habit of",
ğal "judge") change it to
-u-:
elluzeγ "I was hungry". • Verbs with a final vowel usually behave like the two-consonant ones:
arji "dream" →
ourjiγ "I dreamt",
yurja "he dreamt";
egmi "teach" →
egmiγ "I taught",
igma "he taught". But there are exceptions:
erni "be born" →
irni "he was born". The participle is formed by adding
-n to the 3rd person m. sg., sometimes with
ablaut of final vowels:
inziz "he sang" →
inzizen;
ayenziz "he will sing" →
ayenzizen,
yut̠a "he hit" →
yut̠in. The verb is negated by adding
u... c around it:
u ţinziz ec "don't sing",
u huwired̠ ec "you didn't walk". "Not yet" is
u rt̠uci εad̠ or
ur uci, where
rt̠uci and
uci are verbs conjugated in the appropriate person:
u rt̠uciγ εad̠ u d yuḍeγ ec "I haven't arrived yet",
u hert̠ucid̠ εad̠ ... "you haven't yet..." Derived verb forms include: • a
causative in
s-:
azeg "boil" →
sizeg "make something boil". • a "reciprocal"
middle voice in
m-:
zer "see" →
mzer "be seen" • a
passive voice in
ţwa-:
abba "carry" →
ţwabba "be carried". • Various habitual forms. Continuous forms can be formed with
aql- "see X" in the present tense,
ţuγa "was" in the past tense:
aqlay ţeţeγ "I am eating",
ţuγay ţeţeγ"I was eating".
Prepositions Prepositions precede their objects:
i medden "to the people",
sgi Bazar "from Tipaza". Some of the main ones are:
i "to" (
dative),
n "of",
d̠eg/d̠i/eg/i "in(to)",
seg/zeg-/si "from",
s "using" (
instrumental),
f/fell- "on",
γer/γ "towards",
akid̠/d̠, "with",
jar "among",
zat̠ "in front of",
awr "behind",
i sawen/susawen "under",
addu "over".
Conjunctions Conjunctions precede the verb:
ami yiwoḍ "when he arrived",
qabel ma ţaγen "see if it's raining". Some important ones include:
melmi "when?",
ami,
γassa(l),
assγa,
γir "when",
ma,
kagella,
lukan,
willa "if",
(an)neγ "or". ==Sample text==