Tu-gehena

Tu-gehena is a SOV language, however, word order is very flexible. To keep it easy to understand, case is declined as prefixes while number is declined in the article. Verbs are also conjugated for person and mood as prefixes, but voice is inflected as article.

Setting
Tu-gehena literally translates "the tongue" (but in the abstract gender). It is the language of the (fictional) Du-Zhenu people; a tribe that lived in Europe before the Indo-European invasion. It had no alphabet but one is listed here based on the Latin alphabet.

Vowels
The diphthongs are oy /oj/, ay /aj/, ao /aw/ and uy /wi:/.

Phonotactics
Every letter is pronouned phonetically and only represent one sound. A word cannot begin in an vowel. Most words are a simple C(C)V(C)(C) system. Stress falls on the penultimate sylable.

Basic Grammar
Nouns:

Tu-gehena has four genders: masculine, feminine, neuter, and abstract, whose nominative endings are u, e, o, and a, respectively. Every noun in Tu-gehena is precieded by an article which determines its number and definativeness. A noun apears as an article, hyphon, then the noun. These are the six articles:

Singular Dual Plural

Definate: Tu- D'u- Du-

Indefinate: Su- Zhu- Zu-

Nouns are also declined by case. The seven cases in Tu-gehena are nominative, vocative, genitive, accusative, dative, instrumental, and locative. A plurality of mixed gendered people defaults to the masculine. Here is how they are declined:

Masculine: Feminine: Neuter: Abstract:

Nom. -u -e -o -a

Voc. -u' -e' -o' -aa

Gen. -us' -es' -os' -as'

Acc. -un -en -on -an

Dat. -uy -ey -oy -ay

Ins. -ut -et -ot -at

Loc. -u'm -e'm -o'm -a'm

Adjectives:

Adjectives agree with their noun in gender, number, and case. They are declined as such:

Masculine: Feminine: Neuter: Abstract:

Nom. -ben -men -den -zhen

Voc. -bi' -mi' -di' -zhi

Gen. -bis -mis -dis -zhis

Acc. -bin -min -din -zhin

Dat. -biy -miy -diy -zhiy

Ins. -bit -mit -dit -zhit

Loc. -bi'm -mi'm -di'm -zhi'm

Adverbs:

Adverbs can be formed from adjectives' absract case and -a.

Example:

New: Fe'zhen

Newly: Fe'zhia

Verbs:

Verbs have two articles which represent the active and passive moods. They are ro- and gno-, respectively. Verbs also inflect for tense (Perfect, Imperfect, present, and future), represented by -i'-, -e'-, -a'-, and -o'-. They also inflect for person as shown below:

Perfect:

Singular               Dual               Plural

First: -i'g -i'k'h -i'k

Second: -is -i'z'h -i'z

Third: -i't -i'd' -i'd

Imperfect:

Singular               Dual               Plural

First: -e'g -e'k'h -e'k

Second: -es -e'z'h -e'z

Third: -e't -e'd' -e'd

Present:

Singular               Dual               Plural

First: -a'g -a'k'h -a'k

Second: -a's -a'z'h -a'z

Third: -a't -a'd' -a'd

Future:

Singular               Dual               Plural

First: -o'g -o'k'h -o'k

Second: -o's -o'z'h -o'z

Third: -o't -o'd' -o'd

Infinatives:

Infinatives can be formed by ending a verb in "-oy"

Example of a verb: Ro-maaloy-to love, Ro-maala'g-I love.

Imperative: 

Imperative commands end in -i'k'haa

Participles:

Participles end with the appropriate vowel for the tense followed by: -ba- and the appropriate adjective ending.

Gerunds:

Gerunds can be formed by replacing the verbal article with a noun article and adding an abstract ending. Example: Ro-maaloy becomes Tu-maala.

Pronouns:

Singular                      Dual                       Plural

First: Gi' K'hi' Ki'

Second: Si' Zhi' Zi'

Third: Ti' D'i' Di'

Reflective: Li'

Indefinate: Wi'

Declining Pronouns

Pronouns are declined simply by adding the appropriate ending: -s, -n, -y, -t, and -m for genitive, accusative, dative, instrumental, and locative, respectively. Nominative and vocative are identical for pronouns. Pronouns have no article because their number is obvious.