Grammar
Sango is an isolating language with subject–verb–object word order, as in English. Noun phrases are of the form determiner-adjective-noun:
| mbênï | kêtê | môlengê | |
| indef. | small | child |
- "a small child"
Plurals are marked with the proclitic â-, which precedes noun phrases:
| âmbênï | kêtê | môlengê | |
| -indef. | small | child |
- "some small children"
â- may be attached to multiple items in the noun phrase by some speakers, but this is less common:
| âkötä | (â)zo | |
| -big | person |
- "important people/dignitaries"
The derivational suffix -ngö nominalizes verbs. It also changes all tones in the verb to mid:
| kono | to grow, be big | kîri | to return, repeat | |
| könöngö | size | kïrïngö | return |
Genitives are normally formed with the preposition tî 'of':
| dû | tî | ngû | |
| hole | of | water |
- "water hole, well"
However compounding is becoming increasingly common, for instance dûngü 'well' (note change in tone). Such compounds are sometimes written as two separate words.
The verbal prefix a- is used when the subject is a noun or noun phrase, and absent when the subject is a pronoun or implicit (as in imperatives):
| âmôlengê | tî | lo | agä | |
| -child | of | -come |
- "his children came"
| adü | lo | |
| -give.birth |
- "he was born" (lit. "someone bore him")
| löndö | mo | gä | |
| rise | come |
- "get up and come (here)"
This prefix is sometimes written as a separate word.
The pronouns are: mbï "I", mo "you (sg.)", lo "he, she, it", ë "we", âla "you (pl.)", âla "they". Verbs take a prefix a- if not preceded by a pronoun; thus mo yeke "you are", but Bêafrîka ayeke "Central Africa is". Particularly useful verbs include yeke "be", bara "greet" (> bara o "hi!"), hînga "know". Possessives and appositives are formed with the word tî "of": ködörö tî mbï "my country", yângâ tî sängö "Sango language". Another common preposition is na, covering a variety of locative, dative, and instrumental functions.
Read more about this topic: Sango Language
Famous quotes containing the word grammar:
“Grammar is a tricky, inconsistent thing. Being the backbone of speech and writing, it should, we think, be eminently logical, make perfect sense, like the human skeleton. But, of course, the skeleton is arbitrary, too. Why twelve pairs of ribs rather than eleven or thirteen? Why thirty-two teeth? It has something to do with evolution and functionalism—but only sometimes, not always. So there are aspects of grammar that make good, logical sense, and others that do not.”
—John Simon (b. 1925)
“The new grammar of race is constructed in a way that George Orwell would have appreciated, because its rules make some ideas impossible to express—unless, of course, one wants to be called a racist.”
—Stephen Carter (b. 1954)
“Literary gentlemen, editors, and critics think that they know how to write, because they have studied grammar and rhetoric; but they are egregiously mistaken. The art of composition is as simple as the discharge of a bullet from a rifle, and its masterpieces imply an infinitely greater force behind them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)