Grammar
Tsakonian has undergone considerable morphological simplification: there is minimal case inflection.
The present and imperfect indicative in Tsakonian are formed with participles, like English but unlike the rest of Greek: ενεί αού, έμα αού "I am saying, I was saying" < ειμί λαλών, ήμην λαλών.
- Ενεί (Enee) = I am
- Εσεί (Esi) = you are
- Έννι (Eni) = he/she/it is
- Έμε (Eme) = we are
- Έτε (Ete) = you are
- Είνι (Eeni) = they are
- Έμα (Ema) = I was
- Έσα (Esa) = you were
- Έκη (Eki) = he/she/it was
- Έμαϊ (Emai) = we were
- Έταϊ (Etai) = you were
- Ήγκιαϊ (Igiai) = they were
- φερήκου (males) φερήκα (females) (ferikou/ferika) = I bring
- φερήκεις (ferikis) = you bring
- φερήκει (feriki) = he/she/it brings
- φερήκουντε (ferikoude) = we bring
- φερήκουτε (ferikoute) = you bring
- φερήκουσι (ferikousi) = they bring
Read more about this topic: Tsakonian Language
Famous quotes containing the word grammar:
“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 (18171862)
“I went to a very militantly Republican grammar school and, under its influence, began to revolt against the Establishment, on the simple rule of thumb, highly satisfying to a ten-year-old, that Irish equals good, English equals bad.”
—Bernadette Devlin (b. 1947)
“Grammar is the logic of speech, even as logic is the grammar of reason.”
—Richard Chenevix Trench (18071886)