These are the basic rules of Pandunia language. They are described in more detail later in this document.
Pandunia is an evenly global language. International words are borrowed from all parts of the world to Pandunia. They are adapted to the pronunciation and orthography of Pandunia. One basic word is admitted and additional words are built from it according to rule 10.
Spelling is simple and regular. Every word is pronounced exactly as it is written. Almost every letter and letter-combination indicates always the same sound.
Root words are stressed on the syllable that is before the last consonant of the word, f.ex. háu (‘nice’), dúnia (‘world’), báshe (‘language’), amén (‘amen’). Derived words and compound words are stressed according to their components so that the main component carries the primary stress and other components may carry secondary stress, f.ex. trabáshe (‘translate’), dúnialìsme (‘globalism’), bàshe skóla (‘language school’). Primary accent is indicated here by an acute accent (á) and secondary accent by a grave accent (à).
The personal pronouns are:
mi I, tu you (sg.), da he/she/it,
vi we, yu you (pl.), di they.
The possessive pronouns are:
mi se my, tu se your, da se his or her,
vi se our, yu se your, di se their.
The interrogative pronouns are: kua what, hu who, hu se whose.
Nouns have only one form, always the same. Their form is not affected by number, gender or case. Number is indicated by number and quantity words. Their role is indicated by word order or by a preposition.
The cardinal numbers are:
0 siro, 1 un, 2 du, 3 tri, 4 for, 5 faif, 6 sixe,
7 seven, 8 eite, 9 nain, 10 ten.
Greater than ten:
11 ten un, 12 ten du, 13 ten tri,
etc.
Tens:
20 du ten, 30 tri ten, 40 for ten,
etc.
Hundreds:
100 un hunde, 200 du hunde, 300 tri hunde,
etc.
Thousands:
1000 un tauzen, 2000 du tauzen, 3000 tri tauzen,
etc.
When a number is put after the noun, it becomes the corresponding ordinal number:
parte un
– part one, the first part
parte du
– part two, the second part
parte tri
– part three, the third part
The adjective and the adverb have the same form. The adjective modifier is before the noun that it modifies, and the adverb modifier is before the verb that it modifies.
un rapid loga
– A fast speech.
tu rapid loga.
– You speak fast.
The verb does not change in person, number and tense. Auxiliary verbs indicate time.
The word order is subject–verb–object. The same order is used in declarations and questions.
A passive sentence is created with the help of the passive auxiliary verb be. A similar effect can be also reached with the impersonal pronoun von.
pandunia be loga.
– Pandunia is spoken.
von loga pandunia.
– One speaks Pandunia.
In the pivot structure, the object of the transitive verb functions as the subject of the following verb.
mi plis tu loga pandunia.
– I ask you to speak Pandunia.
Pronouns can be left out when they are obvious and redundant.
mi plis tu loga pandunia.
→ plis loga pandunia.
– Please speak Pandunia.
In Pandunia, words change only when their actual meaning changes. Words don’t ever change only to serve in a different grammatical role. Compound words are made by combining the elements that form them. The main word stands at the end.
posta (‘mail’) + kase (‘box’) = posta kase (‘mailbox’)