These are the basic rules of the Pandunia language. They are described in more detail later in this document.
World words
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 and pronunciation
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.
Regular stress accent
Root words are stressed on the syllable that is before the last consonant of the word, f.ex. háu (‘nice’), dúnia (‘world’), básh (‘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. trabásha (‘translate’), dúnialìsme (‘globalism’), bàsh skóle (‘language school’). Primary accent is indicated here by an acute accent (á) and secondary accent by a grave accent (à).
Word class markers
Pandunia words consist of a root and a word class marker. The word class markers are final vowels that clearly indicate the word’s part of speech: -i for adjectives, -o for adverbs, -a and -u for verbs, and -e or any other letter for nouns.
This consistent system is a key factor of Pandunia’s grammatical clarity as it allows for easy derivation of new words from a single root word.
Pronouns
The personal pronouns are:
me
‘I’,
tu
‘you’ (singular),
ho
‘he, she, it’,
memen
‘we’,
tumen
‘you’ (plural),
homen
‘they’.
The possessive pronouns are:
me di ~ mi
‘my’,
tu di ~ ti
‘your’,
ho di ~ hi
‘his or her’,
memen di
‘our’,
tumen di
‘your’,
homen di
‘their’.
The interrogative pronouns are: que ‘what’, qui jan ‘who’, que di ~ qui jan di ‘whose’.
Nouns
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.
Nouns don’t have a mandatory ending, but they usually end in -e, -ia or a consonant.
Numerals
The cardinal numbers are:
0 nil, 1 un, 2 du, 3 tri, 4 char, 5 pen, 6 luk,
7 set, 8 bat, 9 nau, 10 des.
Greater than ten:
11 des un, 12 des du, 13 des tri,
etc.
Tens:
20 du des, 30 tri des, 40 char des,
etc.
Hundreds:
100 un cent, 200 du cent, 300 tri cent,
etc.
Thousands:
1000 un kil, 2000 du kil, 3000 tri kil,
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
Adjectives
Adjectives end in -i and they may become before or after the word that they modify.
rapi loge
‘a fast speech’
Adverbs
Adverbs end in -o. They modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs and complete sentences. They come before the word that they modify or very last in the sentence.
multo rapi loge
– very fast speech
tu rapo loga.
– You talk fast.
Verbs
There are two verb endings -a and -u. The verb ending -a indicates that the agent of the action is immediately before the verb. The verb ending -u indicates that the patient of the action is immediately before the verb.
me yama aple.
‘I eat apples.’
aple yamu.
‘Apples are eaten.’
The verb does not change in person, number and tense. Auxiliary verbs indicate time.
Combining clauses
In the pivot structure, the object of the transitive verb functions as the subject of the following verb.
me pleza tu loga pandunia.
‘I ask you to speak Pandunia.’
Pronouns can be left out when they are obvious and redundant.
me qua tu basha pandunia? → qua tu basha pandunia?
‘Do you speak Pandunia?’
me pleza tu loga klaro. → pleza loga klaro.
‘Please speak clearly.’
Word building
Compound words are made by combining the elements that form them by putting one element after another so that the main element stands at the end. The linking vowel -o- can be inserted between the elements.
poste (‘mail’) + kase (‘box’) = postekase (‘mailbox’)