Xahizengua

Being redone.

=Setting=

=Phonology=

Alphabet
Xahezínica has 26 letters in its alphabet.

Pronunciation
Most letters have a single pronunciation, but a few have two.

The letter c is pronounced /k/ before a, o, and u. It is pronounced /s/ before e and i.

The letter g is pronounced /g/ before a, o, and u. It is pronounced /ʒ/ before e and i.

The letter q is pronounced /k/ if not at the end of a word. If at the end of the word it is pronounced /x/.

Stressing
Usually, the second-to-last syllable is stressed. If not, the stressed syllable is marked with an acute accent.

Diphthongs are considered one syllable. When two vowels are together, which one is stressed depends on which one is a weak vowel and which one is a strong vowel. The vowels a, e, and o are strong, while u and i (and by extension w and y) are weak. If a strong and a weak vowel are together, the strong one is stressed. If two strong vowels or two weak vowels are together, then which one is stressed depends on the second-to-last syllable.

Phonotactics
In cases where it would be pronounced /k/, the letter c cannot start a word or end a word. In both cases, it is replaced with q.

The letter k can only begin a word.

The letter i cannot end a word. It is replaced with y.

The letter w can only begin a word.

=Inflection=

Declension
Nouns (except for proper nouns--more on that later) and pronouns are declined for case, definiteness, number, and gender. Adjectives are declined to match their corresponding noun.

Stem form
The stem form is the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective to which declining prefixes and suffixes are added.

It is similar to the undeclined form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, though there are important differences to recognize. (Note: Pronouns are not affected by these rules.)
 * If the undeclined form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective ends in its gender's appropriate vowel (o for masculine, a for feminine, or e for neuter), the vowel is removed for the stem form.
 * If the undeclined form ends in a vowel other than the appropriate vowel, then:
 * if it is o, a, or e, then it is removed in the stem form for First Declension nouns, pronouns and adjectives and succeeded by j in the stem form for any other Declension's words.
 * if it is u or i, then the letter j is added afterward in the stem form and in all the declensions.
 * If the undeclined form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective ends in a consonant, then it stays the same in the stem form.

Case
There are four cases:
 * nominative: to show the subject of a verb, or to name something
 * accusative: to show the direct object of a verb
 * dative: to show the indirect object of a verb
 * vocative: to address someone

Definiteness
Definiteness is declined as a prefix to nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. The definiteness-showing prefixes of Xahezínica are similar to the articles of other Latin-derived languages.

Number
There are two grammatical numbers that are declined--singular and plural.

Gender
There are three genders--masculine, feminine, and neuter.

Declension charts
There are five Declensions; however, the Second and Third Declensions are somewhat rare. The five Declensions are more like groups of words than ways to decline them; almost all neuter nouns, adjectives, and pronouns are declined the same, almost all masculine nouns, adjectives, and pronouns are declined the same, and almost all feminine nouns, adjectives, and pronouns are declined the same.
 * First Declension, which contains neuter-only nouns.
 * Second Declension, which contains masculine-only nouns and adjectives.
 * Third Declension, which contains feminine-only nouns and adjectives.
 * Fourth Declension, which contains adjectives that can be neuter, masculine, or feminine.
 * Fifth Declension, which contains nouns that can be neuter, masculine, or feminine.

Conjugation
Verbs are conjugated for tense, aspect, person, and number.

Non-finite forms
There are two non-finite forms of any verb--the infinitive and the supine.

Infinitive
The infinitive form is either the bare form of a verb or the form denoting it as an action (as in the English phrases  to buy or  to have)

All infinitive forms end in -ar, -are, -er, -ere, -ir, or -ire. Regular verbs' infinitives end with the letter r, and most irregular verbs' infinitives end with the letter e.

Participle
The participle can be used to transform a verb into an adjective (as in English a runn ing man) or transform a verb into a noun (drink ing water is healthy).

The participle is used in some compound tense-aspects.

Stem form
The stem form of the verb is the form that conjugational endings are added to.

Tense-aspect
There are seven basic tense-aspects: However, there are also three compound tense-aspects, formed with the verb iresere, which derives from the verbs for to go and to be, and the participle form of the other verb. They are:
 * past: to denote that something did something.
 * habitual: to denote that something used to do something
 * pluperfect: to denote that something had done something
 * present: to denote the something does something
 * present perfect: to denote that something has done something
 * future: to denote that something will do something
 * future perfect: to denote that something will have done something
 * past progressive: to denote that something was doing an action
 * present progressive: to denote that something is doing an action
 * future progressive: to denote that something will be doing an action

Person
There are three persons--first, second, and third person.

Number
Two grammatical numbers are conjugated--singular and plural.

Conjugation chart
There are three Conjugations: Though -are, -ire, and -ire verbs are irregular in stem, they usually have regular endings. There are significant exceptions, though; for example, the verb ir, which is conjugated like a Third Conjugation verb and whose stem is v(a).
 * First Conjugation: generally -ar and -are verbs
 * Second Conjugation: generally -er and -ere verbs
 * Third Conjugation: generally -ir and -ire verbs

To demonstrate the First Conjugation, we will use dar, a verb meaning to give.

To show the Second Conjugation, we will use the verb facer, which means to do or to make. It has a non-irregular stem change in c; c is changed to s when necessary to preserve pronunciation.

Finally, for the Third Conjugation, we will use the verb uzir, which means to hear or to listen.

=Word Classes, Grammar=

Nouns and Pronouns
Both nouns and pronouns are declined.

Pronoun chart
All pronouns are defaultly neuter. They are all of the Fifth Declension, meaning that they can be neuter, masculine or feminine; however, jo, tu, nos, and vos are quite often left neuter even when masculine or feminine declension would seem right, and only declined for gender when gender is important to mention.

Using Proper Nouns
When using proper nouns, except for places, the proper noun itself is left undeclined, and preceding the proper noun is a pronoun corresponding to the proper noun. The pronoun is declined.

Verbs
Verbs are conjugated as shown in the Conjugation section.

Adjectives
Adjectives are declined.

Typically, adjectives go directly before or after the nouns (or pronouns) they describe, more commonly after than before. However, they can technically go anywhere else in the phrase or sentence, as they are always declined identically to their corresponding noun or pronoun. This is somewhat common in literature, though considered elitist in spoken dialect.

Adverbs
Adverbs are not inflected.

Adverbs can go before or after the verbs they describe.

Most adverbs are formed by adding the suffix -met to the end of an adjective's root form.

Often, an adverb can be replaced with con (the word for with) preceding a noun describing a quality. In this case, they absolutely must be after the verb described.

=Dictionary=

=Example text=