Section 2 --- Grammar

PRONOUNS

Pronouns are usually attached to the beginning of the verb.  If the verb has
only a subject pronoun, the pronoun particle is attached to the beginning of
the verb.  If the verb has both a subject and a direct object, then subject
pronoun particles are used for both the subject and object (subject then
object).  If the verb has a direct object only, then the object paticle is
used.

The object form is usually only used when alone.  Genative case uses the
subject form.  Dative uses the subject form when there is motion to/from
the indirect object, while the object form is used when only the position
of the indirect object is implied.

In this list, the subject phoneme is given, then the object, then the
description:

t  s  -- I,          first person singular
k  f  -- you/thou,   second person singular
?  h  -- one/he/she, third person singular, animate
p  T  -- it,         third person singular, inanimate
d  z  -- we,         first person plural, including person spoken to
n  Z  -- we,         first person plural, excluding person spoken to
                   (/n/ turns to /d/ when both /n/ and /Z/ are used.
                    /dZ/ sounds like 'j' in English)
g  v  -- you/ye,     second person plural
b  D  -- they,       third person plural, animate
m  S  -- they,       third person plural, inanimate
                   (/m/ turns to /t/ when both /m/ and /S/ are used.
                    /tS/ sounds like 'ch' in English)
x  l  -- that,       last sentense/concept, demonstrative pronoun


CASE/TYPE PARTICLES

Ferengi has a set of vowels that are attached to word roots to show what
type of word it is.  These somewhat resemble cases in Latin, so the
names from Latin cases are used.  These vowels are attached to the end of
the ROOT of a word.

o   Nominative (subject)/Default
^   Accusative (direct object)
i   Dative (indirect object)
u   Genitive (possesive)
e   Process/Instrument
y   Adjective/Participle
a   Verb
r   Verb 'to be' (attached to adjectival root)


VERB PARTICLES

Verb modifiers are items that are attached to the end of the verb,
participle, or gerund, immediately following the case vowel.  They are
listed in the relative order in which they are usually attached.

Tense (listen in order of most common usage)

(nothing), t, v   present
s, g, z           past
k, x              future
vt                Imperative/NOW/Emphatic
ts                Present perfect
xt                Future imperfect (now and in the future)
gz                Past perfect
ks                Future perfect

Auxiliary

p    Not/Negation
z    Question
m    Plural  (Actually for nouns, added after case particle)
ub   Passive


CONSTRUCTING VERB PHRASES

Now that you have pronouns, cases, and modifiers, you need to know now to
attach them to verbs.  Verb phrases in Ferengi usually end up being single
words, and they can get rather long.  Here, I will build a few example
words, using the root for 'see', which is /v/:


"Have I not seen you?"
t {I} k {you} v {see} a {verb} ts {present perfect} p {not} z {question}
/tkvatspz/
[t@k-vats-p@z]

"Do I see myself?"
t {I} s {me} v {see} a {verb} z {question}
/tsvaz/
[ts-vaz]

"I will have been seen."
t {I} v {see} a {verb} ks {future perfect} ub {passive}
/tvaksub/
[t@vak-sub]

"To be seen"
v {see} a {verb} t {present} ub {passive}
/vatub/
[va-tub]

In the case of imperatives, the pronoun (/k/ or /g/) is usually given
explicitly.

"See!" (command to no one in particular or emphatic)
v {see} a {verb} vt {imperative}
/vavt/
[vavt]

"(thou) see!"
k {thou} vavt
/kvavt/
[k@vavt]

"(ye) see!"
g {ye} vavt
/gvavt/
[g@vavt]

There are some other situations to consider.  Gerunds are simply made by
giving a verb root a noun (accusative, etc.) ending, plus a tense.
Participles are distinguised from adjectives by having a tense particle
attached.

"seeing"       - /vyt/  (participle)  ("_Seeing_ this in context, we...")
"seeing"       - /vot/  (gerund)  ("_Seeing_ is believing")
"having seen"  - /vyts/ (participle), /vots/ (gerund)


PARTICLES STANDING ALONE

There are cases when some of the above listed particles and attachments
will have to stand alone.  For example, the word "my" is the pronoun /t/,
attached to the genitive particle /u/, making the word /tu/.

Pronouns can even stand alone if it is necessary to emphasize them.  In that
case, object pronouns are used in conjuntion with the accusative case
particle in proper circumstances.  For example, "I see you", which is /tkva/,
can be split up into:

to {I + nominative} f^ {thou + accusative} va {see + verb}
/to f^ va/

Genative pronouns act as adjectives and therefore follow the word they
modify:

"My hand"
kaxo {hand + default} tu {I + genative}
/kaxo tu/

In cases where the possession is less imporant than something else in the
sentence, genative particles can be attached to the end of the word, so the
above phrase would become /kaxotu/, which results in virtually no change
in pronounciation, but in writing, it shows a difference.

As noted above, the dative case uses subject pronoun forms to imply motion,
and it uses object pronoun forms to imply location.

It is extremely rare, but /u/ by itself can act as a definate article
("the").  It follows the word that is definate.  I do not know where it is
approriate, so I suggest that you don't bother using it.  There is no
indefinate article ("a", "an").

WORD ORDERING and EMPHASIS

In some cases, when one word modifies another, the modifier (adjective or
adverb) immediately follows the word it modifies.  The phonemic system
used here shows them seperate, but the Ferengi often attach the modifer
directly to the end of the modified word in their writing system.

However, there is no other default word ordering in the sentence.  Since
all parts are marked in the word by a case particle, there is no need for
a specific ordering to the words.  Therefore, the Ferengi take advantage
of this for emphasis.  Words are generally placed in order of importance,
and loosely in order of newest-information to oldest-informaton.

For example, if you wanted to say, "_I_ see you", with "I" being very
important, then the sentence would be ordered thus:

/to kva/
[to k@va]

However, if the verb "see" were more important, it could be ordered like
this:

/va to f^/

But most often, pronouns aren't emphasized, and the sentence would simply
be /tkva/ [t@kva].

Now consider a sentence that doesn't need much emphasis, but is presenting
you with new information.  Take the sentence, "Dak sees PraaN", where
you know who /Dak/ and /PraaN/ are, but you don't know that one sees the
other (which is why you are being told this sentence in the first place).
Then the sentence would be ordered thus:

/va Dako PraaN^/

In the case of imperatives, the pronoun (/k/ or /g/) is given explicitly.

In addition to word ordering, there is a suffix which is often used for
emphasis.  As an example, here is the Ferengi standard greeting:

bj {profit} a {verb} vt {imperative}
/bjavt/
[bjavt]

This sentence means "Profit!", but it is not directed at anyone (no subject
pronoun), so in actuality, its meaning is a strong emphasis on the word
'profit', which is what Ferengi like to make a lot of.

But this /vt/ attachment has spread to other words, and can be used to
emphasize something.  /Gal/ is the root of "red", and therefore, /Galy/
is the adjectival form of the word used in speech.  If you wanted to say
"RED" or "very red" or "really red", putting much emphasis on the fact that
something is red, then you could use the word /Galyvt/.  Since adjectives
must follow the nouns they modify, this can be very useful.


THE VERB "TO BE"

There is no root word for "to be" in Ferengi.  Rather, it is a vowel that
is attached to an adjective, turing the adjective into part of a verb
phrase.  From above, you saw that /Gal/ is the root for "red".  If something
"IS" red, then you attach the vowel /r/ and get /Galr/.  If _I_ am red, then
you get this:

t {I} Gal {red} r {is/am}
/tGalr/
[t@Galr]

In a case where you absolutely NEED the verb "to be", then you simply
stand it alone with tense and auxilaries attached to the end.

"to be"
/rt/

"to have been"
/rts/

"to not be" or "not to be"
/rpt/
[rp-t]
(notice the change in attachment ordering for ease of pronounciation)

"to be been" (which makes no sense in English; passive of "to be")
/rtub/

"to be?"
/rtz/
[rt-z]

"To be or not to be, that is the question.
/rt mala rpt, xr zil^/

/r/ is seldom used as just shown above, but it has been found in cases where
an object being referred to was in visual proximity to the speaker and it
was very important.  For example:

"This money IS mine!"
/rt bvo tu/
[rt b@vo tu]

"My name IS Silu."
/rt dZfkotu silu^/
[rt dZ@f-kotu sliuw^]


QUANTIFIERS

In English, quantifiers act just like adjectives, but in Ferengi, where
numbers and quantities are very important, words that specify how much
there is of something go before the nouns they modify.  They are used as
shown with out any sort of ending attached.

/puk/   None of
/kyf/   All of/Every
/Goz/   Many
/Zrn/   Some of
/gip/   Not all of
/fis/   Few
/kjy/   Only
/gelm/  More


NUMBERS

The Ferengi number system is a highly organized, efficient way of
communicating numbers that partly evolved from their heavy use of numbers
and partly contrived by the Ferengi in order to improve further their
efficiency.  You will soon find the number system to be very elegant and
often more straightforward than English.  The only drawback is that the
number system is not base 10 (decimal), but rather base 20 (vigesimal).
Let's begin with the names of their first 20 numbers:

 0  /pen/    10  /ned/
 1  /Din/    11  /wix/
 2  /gid/    12  /vog/
 3  /Ca/     13  /xee/
 4  /tal/    14  /j&t/
 5  /kip/    15  /dy/
 6  /saa/    16  /Vet/
 7  /zik/    17  /San/
 8  /mO/     18  /qun/
 9  /Nat/    19  /Xaw/

There are next two very important things you can do these words.  Firstly,
which will become imporant later, if you add /i/ to the end of a number,
you make it negative.

But of more immediate concern, if you change the final consontant to (or
add it to the end if the last letter is a vowel) an /m/ to the end, you
are making a number with is 20 to the power of that number.  For example:

/Dim/   =  20^1   =      20
/gim/   =  20^2   =     400
/Cam/   =  20^3   =   8,000
/tam/   =  20^4   = 160,000
etc.......

To understand a number when written in words, you then have to understand
the ordering.  Put in technical terms, given a number-word, if a word of
lower intrinsic value is to the right, it is simply added, while if
a word of lower intrinsic value is to the left, it is multiplied.  You can
see this in English where the number '202' is written "two-hundred two".
You can see that the 'two' to the left is multiplied by the 'hundred', while
the two on the right is simply added.

Note that since you can make a number negative by a simple addition if /i/,
you can 'add' a negative number to a larger number to improve efficiency.
In fact, you can do that all you want, but it can get complicated and
and lead to confusion when overused.  Ferengi are people, not computers,
so when the numbers get too complicated with negatives, it is often better
to sacrifice efficiency for understandability.

Here are some examples:
  42    /gid-Dim gid/         (2*20 + 2)
 457    /gim gid-Dim San/     (400 + 2*20 + 17)
7999    /Xaw-gim Xaw-dim Xaw/ (19*400 + 19*20 + 19)
7999    /Cam Dini/            (8000 + -1)
7980    /Xaw-gim Xaw-dim/     (19*400 + 19*20)
7980    /Cam Dimi/            (8000 + -20)

Now, note something interesting and useful.  Take the number /gid/ (2), for
example.  When adding /m/ or /i/, you have to process the suffixes in order
from left to right.  Observe:

/gid/     2
/gim/     20^2         =  400
/gidi/    2 * -1       = -2
/gimi/    20^2 * -1    = -400
/gidim/   20^(-2)      =  1/400 = 0.0025
/gidimi/  20^(-2) * -1 = -0.0025

As you can see, the /i/ at the end makes the whole number negative, whereas
if it is encountered first, it makes the number negative before it becomes
the exponnent for 20.

This allows one to communicate in terms of fractions with relative ease and
it has the advantage over English in that you can't lose your place when
someone reads off consecutive digits after the decimal (or vigesimal or
radix) point.


0.05      /Dinim/              (20^(-1))
0.5       /Dinim ned/          (20^(-1) * 10)
0.55      /Dinim ned Dinim/    (20^(-1) * 10 + 20^(-1))

The rule of ordering for 0.5 may look backward at first, but it is
consistent in that /Dinim/ is of lower intrinsic value than /ned/, and is
therefore multiplied.

This number system can become exceedingly difficult for the unexperienced,
especially when dealing with fractions.  There is no SIMPLE conversion
between decimal and vigesimal like there is between, for example, hexidecimal
and binary.  In order to make things easier, I will later add a piece of
C code to the end of this text file that will convert from decimal to
vigesimal and also written form.

In dealing with computers, the Ferengi have adapted to using their number
system for communicating in Hexidecimal.  This can get very confusing,
because it sounds like they're using their base-20 number system if you
don't realise that they're using base 16.  Basically take all the 20's
above and replace them with 16's and only use the digits from 0 to 15.
If someone did that in English, using our normal speech for base-10 to
communicate base 8 numbers, then someone saying "twenty" would actually
mean "16" (decimal), rathern than "20" (decimal).

Likewise, you could use this number system to communicate base 10, but it
would be to a Ferengi like it would be to us for someone to use our number
system to communicate in base 5.  When they said "one-hundred", they'd
actually mean "25" (decimal), rather than "100" (decimal).


QUESTION WORDS

The following is a list of roots for basic question words.  To them, you
would attach the proper case ending for its place in the sentence.
Additionally, the verb needn't necessarily have the question auxiliary
/z/ attached, and if the verb is "to be", the verb can be omitted
altogether.

/ug/   Who/whom
/am/   What
/pod/  Why
/in/   When
/pk/   Where  [p@k]
/a?/   How
/Ng/   How much  (/Ngo/ = [N-go])

When Ferengi greet each other, it is polite to ask how one feels.  In
Ferengi, you do not ask how one feels; you ask what is the state of one's
inner peace.  The root word for "inner peace" is /kin/.  Here is the
proper form of the question:

"How are you?"
amo {what + nominative} kino {inner-peace + default} ku {you + genitive}
/amo kino ku/

As you can see, there is no "is" in this sentence, and there is no question
particle /p/.  These can be implicit in the use of /amo/.

English puts predicate nominatives ('object' of "to be" sentence) into the
nominative case, but Ferengi does not.  If I were to say "I am he" in
Ferengi, it would be /to rt h^/ (or whatever word ordering you choose),
which puts /h^/ ("him", actually) into the accusative case.  However, there
are cases where this rule is violated, and the above greeting is one of
those cases where a gramatically incorrect statement is so often used
that it becomes accepted as standard.  (Like "It is me" in English which is
technically wrong but generally accepted.)


CONJUNCTIONS

When you need to join together more than one word as the subject of or
object of a sentence, in English, you use conjuntions.  The same is done
in Ferengi.  Most often, the conjunction is placed between each of the
elements of a list.  The whole list is kept together as a unit, and the
items are listed in order of importance or arbitrarily, depending on the
point of the sentence.

"A and B and C and D...."
/A wen B wen C wen D..../

However, due to influence from alien languages, some Ferengi have adopted
a slightly more efficient (but sometimes confusing) approach:

"A, B, C, and D...."
/A, B, C, wen D..../

Also, in place of /wen/, the suffix /wn/ can be attached to the end of each
word:

"A and B and C and D...."
/Awn Bwn Cwn D..../

When more than one pronoun is the subject or object of a sentence, the
pronouns are detached from the verb:

"You and I see him."
kown {you + nominative + and} to {I + nominative} ?va {him + see + verb}
/kown to ?va/
or
/ko wen to ?va/

Other conjuntions function in the same way.

and              -wn or wen
or (inclusive)   lala
or (exclusive)   mala
but              imp


GAPPING

It is often the case that someone will have a list of subjects and objects
all associated by the same verb in the same sentence.  Consider this
sentence:

"John ordered hotdogs, Dan ordered a hamburger, and Sue ordered an apple."

Using gapping, one can remove some unnecessary redundancy and come out with
this:

"John ordered hotdogs, Dan a hamburger, and Sue an apple."

This same sort of thing can be done in Ferengi, but due to the flexibility
in word-ordering, there are a number of possible combinations.  For the
following, "S" is a subject, "V" is a verb, and "O" is a direct object.
First is given the full version, followed by the collapsed version.
Parentheses are used here ONLY as a visual aid.

(S1 V O1), (S2 V O2), wen (S3 V O3).
 can become
(S1 V O1), (S2 O2), wen (S3 O3).        -or-
(S1, S2, wen S3) V (O1, O2, wen O3).

(O1 V S1), (O2 V S2), wen (O3 V S3).
 can become
(O1 S1), (O2 S2), wen (O3 V S3).        -or-
(O1, O2, wen O3) V (S1, S2, wen S3).

(V O1 S1), (V O2 S2), wen (V O3 S3).
 can become
(V O1 S1), (O2 S2), wen (O3 S3).

(V S1 O1), (V S2 O2), wen (V S3 O3).
 can become
(V S1 O1), (S2 O2), wen (S3 O3).

(S1 O1 V), (S2 O2 V), wen (S3 O3 V).
 can become
(S1 O1), (S2 O2), wen (S3 O3 V).

(O1 S1 V), (O2 S2 V), wen (O3 S3 V).
 can become
(O1 S1), (O2 S2), wen (O3 S3 V).

When the subjects and objects of the reduced parts are pronouns, you can
put the pronouns together followed by /a/.  For example /tkva/ with the
verb removed becomes /tka/.

/tkva, tsva, wen ?pva/     "I-you-see, I-me-see, and he-it-sees."
[t@kva, ts-va, wen ?@p-va]
  can become
/tka, tsa, wen ?pva/       "I-you-, I-me-, and he-it-sees."
[t@ka, tsa, wen ?@p-va]

This relative ordering can be quite important.  Here are some rules.  The
first two override the second two.

-- if the verb is last, the last group has the verb
-- if the verb is first, the first group has the verb
-- if the subject is first, the verb is at the first group or in the center
-- if the object is first, the verb is at the last group or in the center


PHATIC SPEECH

As with any language, Ferengi has a number of commonly used phrases that
are used for greeting and politeness.  The commonly used Ferengi greeting
show a strong bias toward the Ferengi general mindset and attitude.

The Ferengi word for 'hello' expresses their strong desire for acquiring
profit.  It is a verb which means 'profit', is had the emphatic/imperative
suffix attached, and it does not have any pronoun attached, showing that
'profit' is basically a very important thing.  You could also say that it
is commanding that no one in particular make profit.

"Hello!"
/bjavt/
"Profit!"  (imperative/emphatic)

Normally when you say 'goodbye' to someone, you usually have the wish to
see them again (so you can sell them more things).  The Ferengi use the
same very important word /bjavt/, plus an expression of interest in
being seen again.

"Goodbye!"
/bjavt vatub/
"Profit!  To be seen."

Some times, /bjavt/ is omitted from /bjavt vatub/.

It is always polite to ask how someone is feeling, etc.  The Ferengi have
discovered the value of being polite to their customers and suppliers, and
to a Ferengi, one way of being polite is to express a positive interest in
how well one's business is going.  The Ferengi have a root word /kin/ which
means a number of emotionally associated things, including "inner peace"
and "economic status".

"How are you?"
/amo kino ku/
"What is your inner-peace/economic-state?"

When greeting anyone, it is polite to refer to them with a title that
honors him.  In any case where you don't know what the title of the person
to whom you are speaking, or you just want to be brief about it, you
can refer to them as /blk/.  /blk/ is used regardless of relative rank or
standing.

In cases where you do know what the rank of someone is, these are the
standard ranks:

Pilch       /piltS/
Zok         /zak/
TarkMon     /tarkman/
QuoMon      /kwoman/
KoMon       /koman/
Sub DaiMon  /ufdeman/
DaiMon      /deman/
Miser       /ekfaple/
Sub Nagus   /ufneg^s/
Nagus       /neg^s/

PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions are simply attached to the beginning of the first word of a
prepositional phrase.  There are also a few postpositions that only work
with individial words and are attached to the end.


GENDER

The Ferengi society is strongly biased toward males.  Their females are not
allowed to wear clothing, learn the rules of acquisition, or much of anything
else for that matter.  Ironically, their language doesn't address this.
It seems that the Ferengi either don't care, or they assume everything to be
masculine or neuter.

There are words for "mother", "daughter", "sister", etc., but there is
special about them compared with the corresponding male counterparts.