Grammar Overview

Lio Sabaalè grammar is inspired by West African languages (Yoruba, Bambara, Igbo, Twi); East Asian languages (Mandarin, Vietnamese); and Austronesian languages (Malay, Tagalog, Māori).

Verbs are not conjugated and nouns are not declined. Every word has one form that never changes, but can be extended with prefixes and suffixes in a regular way.
In linguistic terms, Lio Sabaalè is analytical and isolating. This means that grammatical information is conveyed through word-order and separate words rather than inflection, and there is a low number of “morphemes”, or units of meaning, per word.

Parts of Speech

There are five main parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and particles.

Verbs and nouns take on the role of adjectives.

Most verbs can function as nouns, and many nouns can function as verbs, with no change in form. The part of speech is indicated by word-order and particles.

Most of the functions of prepositions are handled by verbs, nouns, and word-order.

Word order

The basic word order of a sentence is the same as English:

subject — verb — object

Misi kai lè ikan.
“The cat ate the fish.”
(misi = cat; kai = eat; ikan = fish)

N non mu pui kàfa sùbane.
“I drank a cup of coffee this morning.”
(n = I; non = drink; pui = cup)

Yo aya de ɲìɲì mu poko.
“The children are throwing a ball.”
(yara = child; ɲìɲì = throw repeatedly; poko = ball)

Indirect Objects
An indirect object is the recipient of an action that is performed on something else (the direct object). Indirect objects come before direct objects, like so:

subject — verb — indirect object — (dà) — direct object

The particle dà can be placed before the direct object, but this is not needed.

Àsika mo ba lè mo mu lihun.
“My teacher gave me a book.”

Àsika mo ba lè saba cidugu nìa dà lihun.
“My teacher gave all the other students books.”
(Here, dà is used because the indirect object is very long.)

N kò ki omi, jè iki ma ba mo ìni.
“I asked you for water, but you did not give me anything.”

Copula

The “copula”, or the word for “to be”, is sè. Its negative form is man sè.
This can only be used before a noun or a pronoun. It is never used before qualitative verbs: you cannot say one sè bai, you must say one bai “this is good”.

Ono sè nunsìn baro ì mo.
“That’s my new shirt.”

N sè àtaa yà.
“I am his/her father.”

Unù sè lubon nbà katò?
“Are you friends or foes?”

Làlalu sè ko bere man to.
“The problem is that there isn’t much time.”

Ono sè ǹbe lihun?
“Which book is that?”
Sè itàn Odise.
“It’s the Oddyssey.”

This copula sè cannot take any predicate markers apart from the negative man. To express other meanings, such as future or infinitive, or to use it in serial verb constructions, one uses the verb tà “become”.

Àci mo de fe kà tà nbudòsa.
“My son/daughter wants to be an engineer.”

Kin ye tà lubon.
“Let’s be friends.”

Predicate Markers

Predicate markers are a special kind of particle (short grammatical word). They come after the subject of the sentence (the person or thing that the sentence is about), and before the predicate of the sentence (what the subject is or does). For example:

O de nentaka.
“He/she is walking.”
(o = “he”, de = predicate marker, nentaka = walk)

Predicate markers are used for tense-aspect, mood, negation, location, and possession.

For example, the sentences Kin de dajèn “We are taking time off” and Kin ye dajèn “Let’s take time off” differ only in the predicate marker that is used, de or ye.
Ikin la dajèn, “We are not taking time off”, differs in the predicate marker and the negative pronoun.

Existential and possessive sentences
(“There is” and “to have”)

Existential sentences
Existential sentences are those sentences which in English are expressed with “there is” or “there are”. In Lio Sabaalè, they use the predicate marker de. The negative, “there is no” or “there isn’t any”, is expressed with the predicate marker la.
The word order is:

subject — de — (relational noun) — location
subject — la — (relational noun) — location

The location can be marked with a relational noun like ni, but this is not always required.

Mu mìnò de sèi nti. “There is a seat under the tree.”

Tabotabo de nun ɲasi. “There are rabbits in the grass.”

Possessive sentences
Sabaalè does not have a word for “to have”. Instead, it uses the predicate markers de and la. The possessor, the person who has something, is treated as a location. This means that the word order is opposite form English.

subject — de — (relational noun) — location

The relational nouns ni “location”, mai “hand” and du “head” can all be used. Ni is more neutral. Mai implies that the thing is actually on one’s person. Du refers to larger property or more abstract possessions.

Musi àlama de ni mo. “I have some apples.”

Nuasen dua de ni nnaa mo. “My mother has two older siblings.”

Òwo de du yà. “He/she has money.” “They have money.”

Amount
In order to say that there is a lot, not much, or enough of something, you do not use this existential pattern. Instead, you use the qualiative verbs to “to be much/many”, kami “to be few”, kafa “to be enough”, etc. The word order is like this:

subject — location/possessor — [predicate marker] — to/kami/kafa

Lu nine to. “There are a lot of people here.”
(Literally, “The people here are many.”)
Òwo mo man to. “I don’t have much money.”
(Literally, “My money is not much.”)

Òwo ki kafa ma? “Do you have enough money?”
(Literally, “Is your money enough?”)

Ǹ te ke taa yo kami. “There are few who can.”
(Literally, “Ones who can do it, they are few.”)

Commands

Positive commands are the same as statements, but the subject is omitted. You can optionally add a sentence-final particle like a.

Negative commands are formed with the predicate markers kà ma:

Kà ma lai dùn ne. “Don’t come in here.”

To say “stop [verb]ing”, add the complement lè:

Kà ma jèjene lè mo. “Stop bothering me.”

There are a few ways to make a command into a polite suggestion.
You can use the predicate marker ye, and optionally add the adverb sù bai (“if that’s okay”): Ye lie nò sù bai. “You should take a seat, if that’s okay.”
To make a polite suggestion, use the predicate marker kà and add the sentence particle dun: Kà lie nò dun? “How about (you) take a seat?”

Sentence-final particles

Lio Sabalè has several short words that can be placed at the end of a sentence to convey the speaker’s intention or mood.

Ma
Yes-or-no questions.

Mèe
Yes-or-no questions, but indicates uncertainty, doubt, or hesitation. Like saying “maybe” in a question.

O naimà bia mèe? “Is he/she maybe at work?”

Dun
1. Follow-up question
2. (After a noun or pronoun) asking how or where someone or something is
3. Makes a wh-question sound softer and more polite

Sà
Confirmation of a question, or agreement with previous statement.

Taa
Assertion, appreciation, or praise with a connotation of surprise.

Mìnde ne co kai nte taa!
“These noodles are so tasty!” “How tasty these noodles are!”

A
Emotion, surprise, certainty, emphasis, impatience, enthusiasm. Used for declarative sentences and commands.

Àa

Impatience or frustration. Musòn àa! “Just a minute (stop rushing me)!”
Disbelief at new information: “wow, … really?”

Wo
An uncertain guess.
Can also be used at the end of conditional clauses.
Can come at the end of a suggestion to make it more polite and indirect.

Bà
Assertion that disagrees with a previous assumption or statement. Especially used in arguments.

Kaa
Double-checking, tag question. Indicates that the listener should already know the information, or should already agree with it.
(From Cantonese 𠺢)

Topic-Comment Sentences

Sometimes the usual Subject-Verb-Object word order can be ignored, and the topic of the sentence can be pulled out and placed at the beginning. The “topic” is a noun (or infinitive verb phrase) that all speakers are already talking about.
This is a bit like using a definite article (“the”), or saying “when it comes to …”.

Topics can be indicated by putting the particle a after, but this is not required.

Topics can be used to introduce a time or place.

Adverbs

There are two kinds of adverbs: adverbs per se, deverbal adverbs, and denominal adverbs. Adverbs per se are words that are adverbs in themselves, and do not come from verbs. Deverbal adverbs are adverbs that come from verbs. Denominal adverbs are adverbs that come from nouns.

Adverbs usually come after the verb phrase. Some specific adverbs can come before the verb (they precede the predicate marker as well).

Adverbs with ⟨i⟩
A whole verb phrase can be subordinated as an adverb with the predicate marker i. This means “by —ing”, “while —ing”, or “from —ing”.

N ɲukoko lè jì sànbipe i len teke.
“He/she sprained his/her ankle playing football.”

Comparison

Comparison is formed by adding the marker wa, “more than”, after a qualitative verb. The verb itself does not change.

O kao. → O kao wa mo.
“He/she is tall.” → “He/she is taller than me.”

Mui ne gàran sài. → Mui ne gàran sài wa ǹ no.
“This one is expensive.” → “This one is more expensive than that.”

Pòndo lè to. → Pòndo lè to wa muama.
“It’s much shorter.” → “It’s much shorter than before.”

The meaning of “not as … as” uses a negative particle, and the marker te “arrive at” comes after the qualitative verb.

O man kao. → O man kao te mo.
“He/she is not tall.” → “He/she is not as tall as me.”

Mui ne man sài gàran. → Mui ne man sài gàran te ǹ no.
“This one is not expensive.” → “This one is not as expensive as that.”

The meaning “as … as” uses the adverb don “same” followed by the relative noun ko “what someone is like”.

O kao. → O kao don ko tùiya.
“He/she is tall.” → “He/she is as tall as a giraffe.”

Superlatives (most, -est) are formed with the adverb dìwan.

O kao dìwan. “He/she is the tallest.”

Passive Voice

The suffix –kà can make an active verb into a passive stative verb, like a perfect participle. This also carries the connotation that something has been done well or completely. With the future aspect marker za, it means “-able”.

gi “to wear” → gikà “it fits”
beni “to bend” → benikà “it is bent”
dìn “to steady” → dìnkà “it is steady, stable, certain”

The preverb ju can form the passive voice. This carries the connotation that the subject has been changed or harmed in some way. The pattern is like this:

Subject – Predicate marker – ju – Agent – Verb

Mu boi kini lè aya. → Aya ju mu boi kini lè.
“A snake has bitten the child.” → “The child has been bitten by a snake.”