Sentences (1-65)

Here, I will begin posting sentences in Vayoti. Actual sentences should be the learner's primary tool for Vayoti acquisition and development in proficiency. The other sections on parts of speech and grammar in general should serve as reference material, but the development of facility and fluency should come from interaction with the language in real use. 

This post will continue to grow with time, as I keep adding sentences. As of today, Aug. 5, 2017, just an initial small offering will be posted, and then I will be away for a month. Starting in mid-September I plan to continue posting sentences. 

The first fourteen are, for fun, a bit more advanced than "absolute beginner" but after that we will go back to "the beginning" and proceed more incrementally. 

Stressed syllables are in bold font. 

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1

bo prigarzho tots amnrazn da tots emannizn ste yavkris.

I love the legends about the ancient heroes. 

2

do bro chu meffen, telbel.

Give me some wine, please. 

3

kaffa, meffen? ka gnozhi, banchish kra.

What do you mean, wine? You know you mustn't. 

4

uvli po kits tap bo m'gla ste foigwu. vasher bro! 

Let's see how fast I can run. Time me! 

5

blu vasherksa litsur bwi glurlaf menk. 

The surface of my watch is very clear/transparent/clean.

6

bo zhun haszho to mulur id kra zhef bo zhun mowilzho kra ste do fre bro kus yervamzn vukh. 

I requested the hammer from you and I asked you to give it to me two hours ago. 

7

tanur bo zhun kelzho tots bachk'yuzn, bo zhun itserzho tots fidtazn its'ta dakitse.

After I hid the cookies, I let the children into the room

its'ta is a contraction of itsa to

8

sijun to awettam bwi munslaf blovi.

Today the sky is less blue.

muns means "smaller amount/quantity; a 'less-ness'; fewer," and the Modifier form munslaf conveys something like "to a lesser degree, less, 'lessnessly'."

9

jon d'yun munslaf ste grakis

A less hot day

10

khizne pega atean ites to wiksa ksur.

Few people came to the village meeting.

pega connotes a paucity of something, and it is placed after the noun it relates to; "village meeting" is phrased in exactly the same way in Vayoti, i.e., "village", then "meeting"

11

khizne kis'shen shan melidozhi t'rur alnazn shan chenurazhi. 

A few people were praying while others were singing. 

kis'shen conveys "a few", in the more positive sense (contrast pega/few with kis'shen/a few); alnazn means "others"; the alternate form of t'rur could have been used in this sentence: tor

12

vripnuzn muns amazho lofurzn idik gwivnuzn.

Fewer boys love flowers than girls. 

idik means "than"

13

opid ye muns, bo-n ea zesh spelzhi ye manksam.

Although there is less, I wouldn't say there is a deficit. 

opid means "although/while"; the negative is expressed by the form -n ea. 

-----

Note that in Vayoti there is no equivalent to English "that/who(m)" as in sentences like "She is the woman that (whom) I love" or "This is the book that I lost two weeks ago."

When the subject/actor in the second clause is the same as in the first, or the second clause is otherwise the direct outcome of the first verb (as in this example), then Vayoti ALWAYS does what English only SOMETIMES does, i.e., the ONLY possible formulation in Vayoti goes like "She is the woman I love" and "This is the book I lost two weeks ago," without ANY connecting "that" (which, anyway, doesn't exist in Vayoti). 

Thus, in sentence 13, while we could say in English "I wouldn't say that there is a deficit," in Vayoti this is impossible. Only the version provided above is possible. 

NOTE: when you cannot possibly leave out "that/who" in English, i.e., in sentences like "He is the man who insulted me" or "She is the woman who turned down my marriage proposal" or "That is the elephant that sat on my car," then the Vayoti equivalent to this form of "that/who" MUST be used, and it is the word gu. 

This should cause no problem for the English-speaker, because the simple rule is this: If you can omit "that/who(m)" in English without it being total nonsense, then it is automatically omitted in Vayoti. If you can't, then you need the Vayoti word gu. 

"She is the woman turned down my marriage proposal" is ungrammatical nonsense. You need the Vayoti gu, just as you need the English "who." 

Likewise, "He is the man insulted me"--grammatical nonsense: "who/that"/gu required. 

But you can say, "Christmas Day is the holiday (that) I love most" without inserting "that". In Vayoti, therefore, NO word is employed where English "that" would be. 

-----

14

several phrases: 

jon manga dakitsetsi dam [dakitse=room; manga=many]

a many-roomed house

jon bukhi maratsi vretra   [mara=wife; bukhi=once]

a once-wifed man (a man who's only had one wife)

to bus shuntratsi edwo   [bus=one; shuntra=son]

the one-Sonned God (the God Whose Only-Begotten Son is Christ)

The suffix -tsi participializes NOUNS, i.e., makes nouns adjectival

15

bwid blu priksa pri.

He is my friend's friend. 

16

fwit blu prizn.

They were my friends.

17

fwit blu priznksa prizn.

They were my friends' friends.

18

kasre blu priznksa pri.

You will be my friends' friend. 

19

(a silly sentence)

franklin bwid vwirkhaktsa* pri. [vwirkha=electricity]

Franklin is electricity's friend.  

*Note the variation on the possessive suffix -ksa, here -ktsa; this variation is employed to facilitate pronunciation; the "hard stop" provided by the "t" makes the word for "electricity's" easier to say that "vwirkhaksa." 

20

blu priksaps vwirkha

my friend's very own electricity

pri=friend; -ksa=possessive suffix; -ps=emphatic possessive suffix

21

blu vwirkhaps

my very own electricity

22

blu pri

my friend

23 

blu prips

my very own friend

24

di zhun s'yuzhi.  [s'yu=give birth, bear (a child)]

She has given birth.

Why the Intransitive Aspectual Suffix -zhi, since, obviously, no one can give birth in the absence of a "direct object", i.e., the baby? It is because the nuance here is precisely that conveyed by the English, i.e., that she has given birth, not that she has borne...X. See the next example.

25

di zhun s'yuzho jon hugtra.

She has given birth to (i.e., borne) a daughter

Alternatively, the Perfective connotation of this statement could be further underlined by using the suffix -zhu rather than -zho

26

di zhun pitruzhi.

He has become a father (i.e., "he has fathered")

27

di zhun pitruzho jon fidta.

He has fathered a child. 

28

to vretra hagrala.

The man is rich. 

There is no verb "is" in this sentence because the verb hagrala is an "-ala verb", i.e., a verb conveying state/condition; in other words, the notion "to be rich" is all contained in the one verb. 

29

bwif ka bo prigarzho.

It's you I love. 

Note that, just as in English, the verb To Be is formulated in the third-person "inanimate"--It (the "f" in bwif indicating the pronoun fe: it). Also, as already noted above, such a construction in Vayoti contains NO "that", and in fact there IS no word "that" in Vayoti that could be used in this sense. For the kind of sentence that DOES require "that" (in a different sense), see the next example....

30

bwif ka gu zhun swezho bro. [swe=convince]

It's you who convinced me. 

31

ka mapsala  [mapsala=an -ala verb, meaning, "to be right]

You are right.

32

ka zwe mapsala.  

You will be right.

33

ka swi mapsala.

You will (continually, ongoingly) be right.

34

ka swi mapsalaps/mapsalazhips

(free interpretation:) 

"You will go on being 'right' and very pleased with yourself over it." (sarcasm)

In this sentence the Personal Emphatic Suffix -ps has been added, connoting that "you" are intent on continually proving you are right, for your own gratification; in the second version the Intransitive Aspectual Suffix -zhi has also been added, preceding -ps, to underline even more strongly that this action, i.e., "being right", doesn't "go anywhere", that is, it is all about the "right" person's inner world and self-image.  

35

ka shan mapsalazheps

(a very free interpretation:)

"You had vain ambitions of vindicating yourself that never managed to get off the ground." 

Here, the Time Particle is the Past Continuous, indicating that the person kept doing this, i.e., trying to be right; this is reinforced by the Inceptive Aspectual Suffix -zhe, which points to the action as only just getting started, not really "taking off" yet; finally, the Personal Emphatic -ps underlines the entire act as being wholly self-oriented. This sentence would not be received as in any way friendly! For something a bit friendler, see the next example....

36

tots gwevrazn ste prisek [gwevra=woman; prisek=friendly]

the friendly women 

37

tots gwevrazn gu bwit prisek (or, ...gu prisek)

the women who are friendly

38

prech di zesh hapishzho fre? [hapish=take]

Would he take it? 

prech is an interrogative particle

39

ye jon prigartiz kra.

or, ye jon prigartiz fi kra.

There is a lover for you.

The suffix -tiz is one of the two "agent" suffixes, indicating "one who does this." The other suffix is "-nur." Also, note that in this construction the preposition "for", which is fi in Vayoti, is optional. Often the object form of the pronoun (kra) is sufficient to convey the sense of "for". 

40

(just an opening fragment of a sentence)

brongar ste prigarzho to sa'y'dov... 

Because of my loving the world...

The first word in this sentence is a compound of the Object Form of bo (I), which is bro, and the particle-suffix -ngar, which conveys "because of, on account of, in view of." The sense of brongar, therefore, is something like "On account of me...." After that the adjective marker ste is employed in precisely the same way it would be used in a phrase like to vretra ste mnrazhi--the thinking man. In crudely ungrammatical English, the sense of this Vayoti formulation is something like "On account of me loving the world...." 

41

tringar ste fwit suwittu, ti shan jofezho edwo. [suwit=satiate; jofe=worship]

Due to their being satiated, they were worshipping God. (I.e., they worshipped God because they were full.) 

42

prechi ka votelzhi ste hal kombro? [hal=travel]

Do you want to travel with me? 

prechi is an alternate form of prech; kombro is a compound consisting of kom (with) and the Object Form of bo. 

43

ea, bo votelzhi ste hal bankra.

No, I want to travel without you. 

ea is "No", bankra is a compound of ban (without) and the Object Form of ka. 
44
po zhun wolnazhu tri.
We have deceived them.
45
lav, ti zhun wolnazhu bro bukhi, gela ka-n ea zwe wolnazho bro vis.  [gela=but; bukhi=once, one time]
Okay, they fooled me once, but you won't fool me too! 
vis="too; also"; another word meaning "too, also" is zhefts, but zhefts would be the wrong word to use here, as its nuance would be something like "either", which would make nonsense of this sentence both in English and Vayoti. To be specific, the phrase "you won't fool me zhefts" conveys the notion "you won't fool me just like they didn't fool me" (except they did, so it makes no sense!), while "you won't fool me vis" conveys something like "I won't let you be another one who fools me the way they fooled me." zhefts  is something like "ditto" or, in negative sentences, "either." See, for example, the next sentence....
46
di-n ea zhun wolnazhu bro zhef ka-n ea wolnazho bro zhefts. 
He hasn't deceived me and you aren't deceiving me either (lit. "also", "ditto"). 
47
bedanta, pidokhva zhef prigarva, sifts dus...
Faith, hope and love, these three...
48
fe kwispala di hakhzhi. [kwispala=seem; hakh=ail, be sick]
It seems he's sick. 
Note that, even though we normally translate hakh as "to be sick", in Vayoti it is not a stative (i.e., -ala) verb. The more old-fashioned verb "to ail" is a good equivalent. Note, too, the absence of a connecting "that" in both the English (though it could be inserted) and Vayoti (where it can't, because it doesn't exist). 
49
fe kwispala bwik jon nikh ste mahafsek. [nikh=person; mahafsek=forgiving]
It seems you are a forgiving person. 
50
di shan vazhi mahafsek. [va=speak, talk]
He was speaking forgivingly. 
51
ea bwib swetu. [swe=convince]
I'm not convinced. 
52
iti bwit prizn ste votelsek menk ste fal. [votelsek=desirable; menk=very; fal=have]
They are very desirable friends to have. 
53
di hundala.  [hundala=be ordinary]
He is ordinary. 
54
di jon vretra ste hundala. 
He is an ordinary man. 
55
di jon vretra gu hundala. [gu=who, which, that]
He is a man who is ordinary. 
56
bo votelzho kra ste frendu.
I want you to answer. 
57
bo-n ea votelzho kra ste frendu.
I don't want you to answer. 
58
bo votel iteste frendu ka. 
I desire/want that you (should) answer. 
Note that the Aspectual Suffix dropped out in front of the compound iteste, which begins with the preposition ites. This last version, in the subjunctive, would be felt as more forceful and demanding than sentence 56. 
59
baps opo, po zwe lagwezho slu satnakalava. 
As for us, we will earn our satisfaction. 
60
baps bo, bo swi ezho edwoksa malva.
As for me, I will (be) esteem(ing) God's word. 
61
ban strezh!  [strezh=hurry, rush]
Don't hurry!
62
ban strezh po. 
Let's not hurry.
63
ban tro tri bro. 
or, ban tro tri bozhor.  [-zhor=for the sake of; tro=rush, hurry, usually in the sense of doing it to somebody else]
Don't rush them for me/for my sake.
Note that the Object Pronoun (bro) can convey, even without any accompanying preposition like "for", that an action is conceptualized as relating to, being "for", the person indicated by the pronoun. This should not be foreign to the English speaker, as we can say either "Buy a Coke for me" or "Buy me a Coke," omitting "for." The Vayoti Object Form (which functions as both Direct and Indirect Object) is similarly flexible. 
64
f'yu po strezhzhi?  [f'yu=why]
Why are we hurrying?
65
fat, prechi opo strezhzhi?
or, 
fat, prechidur po strezhzhi? [fat=what; prechi/prechidur=interrogative particles, the second conveying a certain incredulity, as if to say "Really...?"]
What, are we hurrying? or, What, are we really hurrying?

The Genitive

The Genitive is a special problem that Vayoti presents to non-native speakers. 

"The Genitive" refers, putting it most simply, to nearly all grammatical constructions in which the English-speaker would use the word "of", as in "the children of Joe and Alice," "a table of wood," "the city of New York," "a heart of stone," "the story of Cinderella," etc. 

Did you notice that, even though it's the same word "of" in all the phrases just offered, the sense of the construction differs radically from one phrase to another? The children may "belong" to Joe and Alice, but we would never say that the table "belongs" to the wood, or that the city "belongs" to New York (in fact, it is New York!), or that the heart "belongs" to stone (nor is it even made out of stone the same way the table is made out of wood). And as for the story, it isn't Cinderella's, in the sense that she owns it, but a story about her. 

The range of "nuances" in the Genitive is vast! 

The "of-phrase" is termed, linguistically, the "Genitive". In many languages there is a word, like English "of," that conveniently announces "Here is the Genitive!" 

In other languages (like Russian or Ancient Hebrew), no word equivalent to "of" exists at all, but there is something called a "Genitive Case" to express the same thing. With the Genitive Case, one of the two words in the "Genitive phrase" will change its form, to convey the same thing English "of" does. 

(Interesting side note: Modern Hebrew fabricated an "of" word for itself, to make life easier!)

The big problem in Vayoti is this: 

Vayoti has neither a word for "of" nor a Genitive Case. 

In a manner of speaking, no "of"-concept exists in Vayoti at all! 

This means that everything we would express using "of" in English, across the whole vast range of the word's nuances, must be expressed by some other means in Vayoti. 

Following is a list, not exhaustive, of the ways Vayoti compensates for the complete absence of a Genitive: 

1. Let's started with the easiest. Vayoti has a possessive ending, -ksa, equivalent to English 's. Vayoti uses the possessive ending far more frequently than English does. At times it seems more fitting, poetic, perhaps more reverent in English to use an "of"-phrase than a possessive, e.g., to say "the Son of God" rather than "God's Son." In such instances, the default option in Vayoti is always the possessive (edwoksa shuntra = God's Son). 

2. The Partitive Article chu/chuts, as discussed elsewhere, often meets the need to convey a "genitive" sense, as in "Please give me some of the cake."  

3. "Adjectival Of." Often, "of" conveys the sense, "which is" or "which is made of", as in:
"city of Chicago" (the city which is Chicago); 
"table of wood, heart of stone, dress of silk" (i.e., the table made of wood; the heart consisting of stone (figuratively); a dress made out of silk). 
This is expressed in Vayoti in one of three ways: 
a) In the case of a place name, like a city or state, Vayoti simply says "the city Chicago" or "the state New Hampshire", rather than attempting anything like English "city of Chicago," "state of New Hampshire." In this construction, in Vayoti, any "of"-notion is simply superfluous. 
b) In the case of two nouns, one descriptive of the other, like "heart of stone" or "dress of silk", there are two ways to accomplish this in Vayoti: 
   i. Simply place the "descriptive" noun in front of the "object" noun, much as we do in English when we say "city library" or "police department". Vayoti uses this construction far more than English does. In English we can say, "college campus", but we do not tend to say "this is a remembrance day"; rather, we say "a day of remembrance." In Vayoti there is far greater dependence on the two-noun phrase. 
   ii. Alternatively, the adjective marker ste may be placed after the "object" noun, followed by the "descriptive" noun; thus, the phrases offered above would be constructed as "a heart ste stone," "a dress ste silk." 

4. Often, "of" in English simply means "about," and in Vayoti the word for "about" (da) will be used. So, "the story of Cinderella" in Vayoti would be the story da Cinderella. 

5. "Of" meaning "from." Often the preposition “from” conveys essentially the meaning we have in mind when using "of." 
In a sentence like, "I want one of those and three of these," you would actually the Vayoti word for "from," which is id, to convey something like "I want one out of those and three out of these." 
Thus, "The Man of Galilee" is, in Vayoti, "The Man From Galilee." 

6. Similarly, for a phrase like "two of my friends," you can use either the partitive article (chu/chuts) or the preposition id (from). Thus: kus chuts blu prizn or kus id blu prizn. There is a slight difference in nuance between these two phrases. 

7. "Of" meaning "pertaining to, adhering to, maintaining," as in "a man of your religion," "a person of your sensibilities." 
For this sense, you can use either the Vayoti "with" (kom), possible "from" (id), and in some instances even Vayoti araf.  

8. "Of" as characterization, as in "a man of honor," "an hour of grief". This is very close to number 3 above. "A man of honor" may be expressed in Vayoti either as "an honor man" or "a man ste honorable." 
 "A word of encouragement" will be "an encouragement word." "The years of famine" will be "the famine years."
This last example, which also happens to be perfectly good English, shows that such a construction is not so foreign to the English-speaker. The major difference lies in how much more, and more "freely," Vayoti utilizes it than does English. 

9. "Of" meaning "set aside for, for the purpose of," as in "a day of prayer." This can be expressed in several ways in Vayoti: either as a "prayer day," as "a day for prayer" (using Vayoti "for"), or as "a day ites prayer", using the preposition ites, which connotes "to, toward, for the purpose of." Thus, "a service of reconciliation" may be phrased in Vayoti as a service ites reconcilation, i.e., "towards" it.  

10. "Of" meaning "containing", as in "a basket of groceries." Use Vayoti kom ("with"). 

11. "Of" meaning "centering on, with respect to," as in "a love of horses." This can be expressed, with differences of connotation, using Vayoti "to" or "for" or "concerning/regarding" (see Prepositions).  

12. "Of" meaning "produced by, issuing from," as in "products of the vine," "results of the work." For this sense you can use either the possessive  - "the vine’s products," "the work’s results" – or you can use "“from" – "products from the vine," "results from the work."  

13. "Of" as "in the given area, as far as X goes," as in "slow of speech." Use Vayoti araf. 

14. "Of" expressing apposition, as in "that idiot of a driver!" Use the opposite formulation, as described in numbers 3 and 8 above, e.g., "that driver idiot!" Another variant is “that driver ste idiot!” Another possibility is to control one’s temper and not say it at all. 

15. "Of" with certain combinations of adjective+noun, such as "guilty of crime" or "worthy of praise," Each adjective  (like "guilty" and "worthy") will take its own standard preposition; for example, in Vayoti one is guilty araf crime, or worthy ites praise. Such adjectives and their proper formulations with nouns must be learned individually.

16. "Of" with certain verbs: As in "deprived of" or "robbed of." As with number 15, the rule is that each verb will have its own standard way of expressing this, either with the help of one preposition or another or even no preposition at all! This is more a matter of learning the verbs than worrying about the word "of."

Modifiers (Adjectives/Adverbs)

There is no distinction, in the form of the words, between adjectives and adverbs in Vayoti, the way there is in English (beautiful/beautifully; good/well) and many other languages. 

All the Vayoti words we would call "adjectives" or "adverbs" come under a common heading: Modifiers. 

A modifier cannot be identified, apart from a grammatical context, as either an adjective or adverb. Its adjectival or adverbial function is determined by its actual usage in a sentence. 

A Modifier is functioning adjectivally either when it: 
a) follows the verb To Be or some other "stative" verb (he is good; you look sick; she seems happy). In English these are predicate adjectives. 
b)  The other kind of adjective is an attributive adjective, which, in English, rather than following a stative verb, is placed directly in front of the noun (a good man; a sick boy; a happy lady). In Vayoti a Modifier functions as an attributive adjective when the particle (adjective marker) ste is placed after the noun and then the adjective. 

A Modifier is functioning adverbially when it follows a verb. The Adverbial Modifier needs no other grammatical component (like the adj. marker ste) to mark it out as adverbial. It is the absence of any other marker and the Modifier's position after a verb that clearly register it as adverbial in function, i.e., "describing" the action. 

Technically speaking, every Modifier can function both adjectivally or adverbially. Practically speaking, common sense dictates that adverbs fashioned from such concepts as "brown" (brownly?) or "tall" (tall-ly?) are nonsensical. Common sense will guide the speaker in this matter. 

That said, the fact that every modifier could theoretically serve as either an adjective or adverb does offer creative possibilities, even poetic ones. 

The Classes of Modifiers

Though there are exceptions and irregular forms, it may be safely said that Modifiers generally fall into five classes, as defined by their endings:
a. 1st class: “non-derived” with the ending -kis
b. 2nd class: derived from nouns, ending in -laf
c. 3rd class: derived from verbs, ending in -sek
d. 4th class: the Perfective Adjectival Participle, ending in -tu (see Verbs) 
e. 5th class: no ending ("irregular") 

A "non-derived" Modifier is literally that: a Modifier that does not owe its origin, i.e., is not "taken from," a different grammatical form like a noun or verb. It is, in a manner of speaking, an "original" Modifier. 

These classes are fairly regular, though there are exceptions, i.e., where a Modifier originating in, say, a noun may present the ending -sek, or a Modifier originating in a verb may present the ending -kis. 

Prepositions and Fixed Collocations

Prepositions (and some adverbs of direction)

The Vayoti prepositions function pretty much as English ones do. Indeed, in one respect, grammatical constructions involving prepositions can be very "English"(or "Germanic") in nature, some of the time, i.e., in a limited number of instances they may even conclude a sentence, along the lines of English "I'm going out" or German "Ich sah das Wort im Wörterbuch auf."
Such a construction is not the "default" construction in Vayoti, but in connection with certain verb-preposition collocations, it is rather frequent.

Following is a partial list of Vayoti prepositions with translation into English. Then, a list of Fixed and Partially Fixed Collocations.

(Accent indicated by underlined syllable)

ifwed under

idru between

ites to, toward, "for the purpose of" ("day of rest" can be either "rest day" or "day ites rest")

ival "on", in a particular, limited sense. This preposition is not used to express something like "the cup on the table" or "the hat on my head". But it does convey "on" in the sense: "the coating on the pill", "the glove on my hand", "the burden on my mind". If your hand were immersed in a bucket of water, the water would be "on", i.e., ival your hand. Likewise, in the question "Have you got your clothes on?" the preposition here would be ival.)

araf "in", like ival, this preposition does not correspond exactly to English "in". Taking the example just given, if your hand is immersed in a bucket of water, then the water is ival your hand, and your hand is araf the water, i.e., engulfed, immersed, surrounded. The connotations of araf are quite broad, but suffice here to say that it conveys the sense "in, within, characterized by, consisting of."

idel along, "down/up" (e.g., the street)

gani past, by ("He walked past the house;" "She walked right by me")

ilu through (as through some surrounding or cylindrical space, or an opening, or piercing through: "through the needle's eye"; "the bullet went through him;" "We drove through the tunnel"); this preposition would not be used in a phrase like "we walked through the forest" or "I have grown to love her more and more through the years" or "the eagle soared through the air." In that sense, "through" is expressed in Vayoti by itar (below).

inel along (the surface of; e.g., "The car slid along the icy road", "The ball rolled along the grass"; "the train goes along the tracks")

teral, t'ral across (with reference, like in English, to either movement or position: "He walked across the room;" "He lives across the street")

ina on (in the simplest sense: "on the desk;" "on my head;" "the star on the Christmas tree"; note, this preposition does not mean "onto")

isa in (in the simplest sense, both concrete and abstract: "in the room;" "in the house;" "in this country;" "in this situation;" "in the first half of my life")

itna onto

itsa into (note, after itsa, the definite article to tends to sound like ta, thus "into the" in Vayoti sounds rather like itsa-ta; this is only so if the article is in the singular--when the definite article is plural--tots--it retains its "o" sound after itsa)

itar through, by means of ("We walked through the forest;" "Through perseverance and hard work, you can succeed;" "The eagle soared through the air;" "I have grown to love her only more and more through the years"); in its second connotation there is some overlap between itar and par (below).

ige by, next to ("He is standing next to the statue;" "Stand by me")

igge not literally translatable, but the sense of this preposition is "in the act of" or "in the process of". It is used before a verb (in basic, infinitive form) in sentences like "I saw him [igge] walking;" "We heard the children [igge] singing;" "How can you sleep with the baby [igge] crying so loud?"

ipra by (in the instrumental sense, followed only by noun or pronoun: "This was painted by me")

ast at (i.e., located at, present at; also used with relation to time: "Were you at the fair?;" "Joe is at work now;" "I will see you at three o'clock") Note that, unlike in English, the Vayoti preposition is used with reference to ALL categories of time (day, month, year). So, where English requires three different prepositions ("in 1997, in March, on the 15th, at 2:30 in the afternoon"), Vayoti uses ONLY ast: ast 1997, ast March, ast the 15th, ast 2:30 ast the afternoon."
Note: ast can contract with the definite article to, to form asto

par by (in the instrumental sense, followed only by a verb: "You will succeed by working hard;" "By insulting the president, you destroyed your chances for advancement")

hirsh behind

sherev in front of

tanur, tanur after (re: time)

avnur before (re: time)

supri over

turi around

idral apart, out (as in "spread out", not "go out")

id, ida from, out of, "of" (a country, a person, a room, "one [out] of the children")

apo off, off of

vekh away

spigra throughout, "around", here and there, at places in ("I don't see him now but he was walking around here a few minutes ago;" "We traveled throughout America;" "Throughout my life I've experienced great blessings from God")

dadis out

ineg against, "con" (i.e., "opposed to", not as in "against the wall" or even "fighting against cancer", but strictly in the sense of being opposed to something in principle, i.e., like in "pro and con") So, this preposition would be used in a sentence like, "I have no choice but to be against this proposal."

ipos "pro", for, in favor (of) (the opposite of ineg)

if against (in all other senses apart from ineg/"con") So, this preposition is used in such sentences as "Put the ladder up against the wall;" "She is carrying a valiant fight against cancer"; "The two presidential candidates are contending furiously against each other."

fi for ("a gift for you; please do this for me; you can buy this for a dollar; Christ died for our sins")

ik concerning, relative to, with respect to, "at", as in, "at the prospect of" ("We were terrified at his dreadful aspect"), "as to", "as for"

kom with

da about

t'rur, tor during, while ("During the war..."; "While I was waiting...")

deg since (re: time, only) ("Since 1970, I've lived in Paris;" "Since he came, he's been only trouble")

o, oa since, as (re: cause and effect, consequence, basis, premise, condition) ("As president, I must make the decision;" "Since they're here, we can begin")

nizi down

uver up

opid although, though, "while" (not relative to time) ("While he's a good manager, I doubt he is technically proficient;" "Although I have been only a short time, I think I already understand the situation well")

adad near

ivaro forward

ovari back, backward

avirrvi backwards, in reverse

NOTE: to differentiate between the preposition opid and the phrase "or from" which would be op id, the latter is generally pronounced as op ida. But even if op id is pronounced op id, there should be an audible syllabic contrast between the preposition o-PID and the phrase op-ID.


Collocations

Collocations are the pairing of verbs and prepositions in set, established, normalized phrases.

When in English a verb is followed by its typically related preposition to convey, essentially, the action indicated by the verb, we think of these collocations as "two-word verbs" (usually stemming from the Germanic roots of English rather than the Latin ones); thus: go out, come in, lie down, look up. In these collocations the verbs literally refer to going, coming, lying and looking.

When a "two-word verb" is also "idiomatic" in its nuance, the meaning of the phrase has little or even nothing to do with the literal sense of its components. Thus "look up" can mean, literally, to look up into the sky, but it call also, idiomatically, mean "look for and find", as in "I looked up the word in the dictionary."

So, we may say that we have, in English, "literal two-word verbs" and "idiomatic two-word verbs". Most often, one and the same phrase (like "look up") is in both categories, the context deciding whether the literal or idiomatic sense is intended. For example:

The deer ran across the field.
I ran across a fascinating article in the newspaper.

Vayoti contains no "idiomatic two-word verbs". It does, however, contain many "literal two-word verbs", with which the speaker or writer must use the preposition after the verb if the verb is to make sense.

"Fixed Collocations" are those two-word verbs which always require the presence of the preposition after the verb, even if it is the final word in the sentence. This should not be at all foreign to the English-speaker since, for example, the English-speaker knows that "down" is NOT optional if he means to communicate "I want to lie down." "I want to lie" certainly fails to communicate the same thing!

In the list below, when a collocation is absolutely fixed, meaning the verb may never be expressed without its associated preposition, the whole two-word verb will be underlined. For example:

a'y'lu supri to erupt

The verb a'y'lu makes no sense without the preposition supri.

Naturally, in the case of all Fixed Collocations, no Aspectual Suffix is ever added, since the presence of an immediately related preposition obviates the need for an Aspectual Suffix.

A Partially Fixed Collocation is one where the preposition usually follows the verb, but in the absence of a direct or indirect object, it may be dropped (or, it may be retained!).

For example, "to hoard" in Vayoti is kuzdir (kom).

kuzdir is "hoard" and the preposition kom means "with."

Take special note! We do not say "to hoard with" in English. In English one hoards something, directly. "To hoard" takes a direct object. "He hoarded his money", NOT "He hoarded with his money."

But the Vayoti concept is such that "hoarding" is an action you do with something. This requires flexibility and adaptability on the part of the English-speaker. Prepositions, and their relation to verbs, are among the least readily "transferable" concepts between languages. Each language conceptualizes these relationships in its own way. The collocations listed below are those which are either fixed or, to the English-speaker, counter-intuitive. To think in Vayoti, the English-speaker must not think of "hoarding something" but rather "hoarding with something" (hopefully, hoarding with his Vayoti vocabulary!).

Similarly, in English we may "hate" someone directly (though one hopes otherwise); no preposition needed. But in Vayoti one hates ik someone--ik meaning "concerning, relative to, with respect to, in relation to."

When a collocation is not absolutely fixed, this will be shown by placing the preposition in parentheses. In most cases, these Partially Fixed Collocations are counter-intuitive to the English-speaker, not literally translatable of the English formulations. For example, in English one atones or compensates for the failing or fault of another. But in Vayoti the preposition after ewont (atone, compensate) is if, which means "against" (if it helps, imagine saving money "against" a rainy day, i.e., for that eventuality!).

With Partially Fixed Collocations, the preposition may be used at the end of a sentence, even with no object following, for emphasis. It may also be left out.

NOTE! The biggest difference between Fixed and Partially Fixed Collocations is this: in a Fixed Collocation, the preposition ALWAYS follows the verb, even when there is a direct object. In such cases the direct object will come after the preposition.

Example: "I oppose this" = bo ingor ineg sif (bo=I; ingor=oppose; ineg=against; sif=this) ingor ineg is a Fixed Collocation. Even if you simply wanted to say "I oppose!" you would have to say bo ingor ineg! ingor makes no sense without ineg.

Also, a second preposition may follow the "fixed" preposition (as often happens in English with idiomatic verbs: "My car broke down at the supermarket;" "I was fed up after the terrible rehearsal;" "I won't give in during the meeting").

Example: "I will oppose throughout the meeting" would start as bo swi ingor ineg t'rur salorr.... (bo=I; swi=Future Continuous Time Particle; ingor ineg=oppose; t'rur=during; salorr=all).

But in a Partially Fixed Collocation, the preposition may be left out (at the end of a sentence), and, also, the direct object may be placed between the verb and its accompanying preposition, like in English, e.g., "I put the ball down," the two-word verb being "put down" and the direct object "the ball" dividing the two-word verb.

Example: funats conveys something like "entangle, enmesh, implicate, embroil, involve, drag into, inveigle" and its associated preposition is itsa (into). In a sentence like "Don't drag me into this," the object ("me") can come between the verb and its associated preposition: ban funats bro itsa sif (ban=not/don't; bro=me; sif=this)

Example: "attach" in Vayoti is ejuna, and its associated preposition is itna ("onto"). This is a Partially Fixed Collocation. A direct object could be placed between these words to denote attaching something onto something. At the end of a sentence like "Don't become attached", the Perfect Participle ejunatu may be followed by itna (even without an object!), or not. The intentional addition of the preposition is instinctively understood in Vayoti as a way of emphasizing, underlining the verb.

And with that, here is the list:

refuse ayar (apo)
store up, build a reserve of ks'hut (kom)
relate to; identify with tra (ipra)
greet trabed (kom)
wrong (i.e., to wrong somebody) witri ineg
to be in allegiance (to) pifala (ites)
hate, abhor t'yelik (ik)
entangle, enmesh, implicate, embroil, involve, drag into, inveigle funats (itsa)
oppose ingor ineg
be for, advocate ipsor ipos
envelop, cloak, enfold ivlan turi
penetrate ilum itar
abut igum kom
fail to grasp, be oblivious of, miss the point of ganiv (araf)
well up, come to the brim furir uver
project, stick out mun dadis
fail (at something) kem (araf)
drill (into) bir (itsa)
summon, beckon/call to oneself kazhdelem (itna)
abstain, refrain from tselnir apo
atone, compensate for ewont (if)
induce, prevail upon, try to persuade samsu (supri)
negate, deny e'y'stri nizi
discuss, examine, talk over kamvid da
frame fusuf turi
hiss sfishum dadis
hoard kuzdir (kom)
infiltrate zhotrob (ilu)
inflict, impose jisterf (itna)
kneel (down) galnem nizi
kneel (be kneeling) galnem ast
lose, misplace something ravon (vekh)
pamper, indulge, spoil, baby evnun (dadis)
pant hakha ilu
perplex, mystify, bewilder, confuse hiktrin (idru)
deny, renounce t'rekwer ik
stretch (out) epsant (idral)
tolerate bruk kom
cope, deal with, handle, manage mantseto kom
erase urra vekh
obliterate gul vekh
get dressed hawesi (araf)
beseige gregu turi
hemorrhage tenun dadis
spark (lit. and fig.) skurum dadis
honor e fi (I honor him: bo e fi dri)
surprise, catch unawares, give a "start" to, startle t'yint itna
associate, spend time with, frequent menver ast
shock, leave aghast, stupefy hwint ilu
amaze profoundly, impress unexpectedly, exceed the expectations of stir supri
abound ashchenti idral
influence, affect pramome (itna)
bloom, blossom taltsi idral
chop down smiz nizi
find out about, begin to understand/apprehend/learn about mwinido (araf)
concentrate (mentally) dess (ina)
care for, tend to, treat, shepherd, pastor peva (supri)
be careful, cautious, beware, watch out givro (if)
defeat, conquer tle (supri)
revere, be in awe of kav (ik)
inconvenience, trouble, cause difficulty for mirsam (kom)
tremble, shudder hrov (ilu)
sit down tisami nizi
liken k'martri (kom...kom..., or, kom-kom)
spend the day d'yuner idel
embody, incarnate tomner araf
need dewasi (araf)
depend spenav ipra
discern idelzo (ast)
jut out, stick out, protrude gufna dadis
get used to huwake fi
last peleyu ik
miss, pine, long for eraro da

persevere, keep on, persist neye ilu (ste) (i.e., to persevere in doing something: neye ilu conveys the persevering, and the following verb, if there is one, is an infinitive beginning with ste)

relent, abate, ease off, slacken aslegn (apo, or, ste) (i.e., if you mean easing off on an action or abstract state, rendered as a noun [e.g., "he eased off on his hatred"], you would use the preposition apo, but if you want to name the action directly as a verb, you would create an infinitive by placing ste before the verb; note that this formulation is foreign to English--we do not say "He relented to pursue us", but in Vayoti...they do!)

stimulate, energize, galvanize, perk up zikhi uver (ste)
master, overcome pati supri
swear, pledge, vow, take an oath (to) hut'ya nizi (ste)
trust butisa da
infer, extrapolate, deduce mohat idral
explore, go exploring piran (spigra)
stick, cling, adhere ukesha (ina)
attach ejuha (itna)
rain torrentially, come down 'in buckets' filler nizi
follow iskeva hirsh
abound ashchenti idral
strive opase (ik)

possess intrinsically, inherently, from birth, be endowed with e'w'la ival (di e'w'la ival frimeyya id yukhi = He possesses peace from nature; he has always been, by nature, an intrinsically peaceful person)

be intrinsically and utterly foreign to, alien to, "other" i'w'la (fi) (klu vanta ste duwizlaf i'w'la fi oplu lukta = Your evil speech is utterly foreign to our people/nation; klu=your; vanta=speech; ste=adj. marker; duwizlaf=evil; [i'w'la fi]; oplu=our; lukta=nation, people, tribe)

(Notice that you can end a sentence or phrase with i'w'la and no associated preposition, but you must always use ival after e'w'la.)

negotiate a matter through, hammer out a deal, settle a matter between "yourselves" pledz (kom) (sinsan) (sinsan = "each other; one another")

boil over bednu dadis

discover fest (sherev)
(Note how different the Vayoti concept is. In English we "discover something" but in Vayoti the verb fest takes the preposition that connotes "in front of, before"; the verb may be used, at the end of a sentence, with no preposition, but the preposition is required before any noun that, in English, would be the direct object. Thus, "to discover God's love" is ste fest sherev edwoksa prigarva)

be characteristic of, typify, characterize ala (ik) (thus, "Love characterizes God" = prigarva ala ik edwo; special note: ik may be dropped before an object pronoun, i.e., me, him, us, etc.; for example: prigarva ala tri = loves typifies them)

forge, "to smith" guv dadis
perish, get killed, go to waste b'vez vekh
erupt a'y'lu supri
be lacking, wanting, in deficit, absent manksala (ik)
enjoy brog id

lust druv ilu (ik) (that is, the verb itself is expressed invariably with ilu, but if the object of lust is named afterwards, it is preceded by ik; thus, "he was lusting" = di shan druv ilu; but "he was lusting after her" = di shan druv ilu ik dri)