Syntax

The basic word order is SVO, though this is flexible because the order of the clause-internal phrases is so strict. Since the direct object role is marked by a preposition (na), the direct object is treated as a prepositional phrase, though in clauses with multiple PPs, na-phrases usually come last.

The standard order of most noun phrases is:

1. Preposition
2. Determiner
3. Numeral
4. Noun
5. Adjective (phrase)
6. Plural Marker
7. Genitive (phrase)
8. Relative (clause)

For example:
‘He went with those three ugly men from John’s village who stole my brother’s dog.’

Ru le ye me li-la triya vorju burta (ya) fra viliku Djana, ke-kwaru le fraste na kanu de ma bratotcu.

S

V

1

2

3

4   5   (6)

1   4

7

8-S

V

1   4

1

2

4

ru

le yite

me

li-la

triya

vorju burta (ya¹)

fra vil-iku

Djan-a

ke-kwa-ru

le fraste

na kanu

de²

ma

brat-otcu

1sg.ani

pst go

cmt

dst-dem

3

man ugly (pl)

from town-dim

John-poss

rel-inter-person

pst steal

acc dog

poss

1sg.poss

sibling-msc

he

went

with

those

three

ugly men

from village

John’s

who

stole

dog

of

my

brother

He went with those three ugly men from John’s village who stole my brother’s dog.

¹ Normally it is not permissible to use ya with a number, but it may be used optionally if separated from the noun by at least one adjective.
² Here the possessive phrase is rendered with de because the possessive-cum-adjective structure is mainly used with a single word or name. If the phrase had been “...the child’s dog,” it would usually be rendered as na kanu kinda, but the extra word ma ‘my’ causes it to default to the de-construction. “Na kanu ma-bratotca” and “na kanu de kindu” are not wrong, just less common. (Note, too, that there is a special hyphenated construction when you “adjectivize” a noun with a determiner.)

The standard order of most adjective phrases is:

1. Determiner
2. Number
3. Noun
4. Adverb of degree (modifying the adjective)
5. Adjective

For example:

‘That is a very good cat.’

Li-laru se gatu muji brava.
S	V	3	4	5
Li-la-ru	se	gatu	muji	brva
dst-dex-3ani	cop	cat	aug	good
That (one)	is	cat	very	good
That is a very good (well-behaved) cat.

The standard order of most verb phrases is:

1. Conjunction
2. SubjectAdverbs (other than particles and negatives)
3. Particles
   1. Voice (ga, dri)
   2. Mood (si, ba)
   3. Aspect (ha, sta, gi)
   4. Tense (go, le)
   5. Negative Marker (ne)
4. Verb
5. Prepositional Phrases (other than direct and indirect objects)
6. Indirect Object
7. Direct Object (with na)

Emphatic clauses are those that use a copula (“to be”) to join a noun or pronoun to another noun that identifies it. (NB: “Emphatic clause” apparently means several very different things in various languages.) These may seem “backwards” in Europic: Their structure is similar to the construction in Welsh, for example. Rather than ‘I am a writer,’ the phrase would be rendered as “Writer am I” (“Awdur dw i”): Krivoru se mu.

In the case where one element is a pronoun and the other is a noun, the noun comes first. If the pronoun is expletive, it may be dropped entirely: ‘That is a dangerous animal!’ Djuru prikla se laru! → Djuru prikla se!

When both elements are pronouns, particularly when one is expletive, the first may be dropped entirely: ‘It’s me!’ Laru se mu! → Se mu!

Emphatic clauses usually require se ‘to be’ as a copula, but there are a few other verbs which sometimes use this structure, such as hete ‘to be named’ (Maryu hete ru ‘Her name is Mary’) or ble ‘to become’ (Vatrotcu le ble ru ‘He became a father’).

Polar questions (also known as yes-no questions, binary questions, or boolean questions) are formed by adding the particle kwa to the beginning of a clause. (While there is no good English translation for this word, it is directly equivalent to Esperanto ĉu, Japanese ね, or Chinese 嗎. If you really wanted to translate this word directly into English, you might think of it as ‘is it the case that’ or ‘is it true that’. It is also directly comparable to French est-ce que.) The word order within the clause does not change as it does in many European languages. E.g.:

• You can come tomorrow. → Can ⇄ you come tomorrow?
• Tu pe krasti kwe. → Kwa tu pe krasti kwe?

In most European languages, Wh–Questions (yeah, sorry, that’s just what they’re called) are formed with an interrogative word, such as ‘who’, ‘where’, ‘what’, &c – those words that in Europic begin with kw- – and these words generally appear at the beginning of the clause. In Europic, however, pronominal interrogatives (those question words ending in -u) may appear at the beginning of the clause for emphasis, but normally they occur after the verb, particularly in clauses where they are the object of the verb. Where the interrogative is adverbial (when, how, where, how much) they precede the verb as other adverbs. The following are the unmarked (normal) orders for each type of question:

The pronominal interrogatives consist of those question words which act as pronouns, which is an irksomely roundabout way to describe them. More specifically, words like ‘who’ or ‘what’ which refer back to a noun. Even more specifically, these are any of the kwa-correlatives which end in -u. As specifically as I am willing to get in this space, they may be any of the following interrogatives: kwaru ‘who’, kwasu ‘what’ kwantu ‘how many/much (of it)’, kwayaru ‘what kind of person’ and kwayasu ‘what kind of thing’.

When a pronominal interrogative is used as the subject of an emphatic (“identity”) clause, they follow the verb (usually se).

• What is your question? Ta frasku se kwasu? (“Your question is what-thing?”)
• Who is that woman? Laru djenu se kwaru? (“That woman is what-person?”)

When a pronominal interrogative serves as the subject of a sentence in which there is a direct object, it takes the primary (subject) position, i.e. it comes at the beginning of the clause, before the verb.

• Who ate my eggs? Kwaru ha mandjoke na ma wovu ya? (“What-person has eaten (acc.) my eggs?”)
• What happened to your house? Kwasu le sketce na ta mezu? (“What-thing did happen to your house?”)

When a pronominal interrogative serves as the object of a sentence (direct or indirect - which is irrelevant, because there’s not really such a thing as a direct object in Europic), it follows the verb and is preceded by a preposition.

• What are you doing? Tu de na kwasu? (“You do (acc.) what-thing?”)
• How many are you taking? Tu ye na kwantu? (“You go with how-many?”)

Adverbial interrogatives are those question words which are neither pronouns nor determiners; they pose questions that ask about time, location, motivation, or manner. Specifically, they are the interrogatives ending in -o: kwaro ‘where’, kwano ‘when’, kwamo ‘how’, or kwayo ‘why’. Adverbial interrogatives tend to immediately precede the main verb of the clause.

• When is your sister coming? Ta bratu kwano kwe? (“Your sibling what-time comes?”)
• Where did I put my keys? Mu kwaro le mete na ma klutcombu? (“I what-place did put (acc.) my key-collection?”)

Finally, adjectival interrogatives are simply determiners that are interrogative in nature. They are always accompanied by a noun or noun phrase and they stick with their noun, wherever that happens to fall in the clause. Adjectival interrogatives consist of kwa ‘which’, kwanta ‘how much/many’, and kwaya ‘what kind of’.

• How many children do you have? Tu he na kwanta filu? (“You have (acc.) how-many child(ren)?”)
• Which person said that? Kwa djentu le dike na lasu? (“Which person did say (acc.) that-thing?”)
• What kind of animal is it? Kwaya djuru se? (“What-kind-of animal is [that/it]?”)

The comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs are achieved with the use of suffixes.

• -oz- forms the comparative, equivalent to ‘more’ or ‘-er’.
• -ist- forms the superlative, equivalent to ‘most’ or ‘-est’.

For example:

• fakla ‘easy’ → fakloza ‘easier’ → faklista ‘easiest’
• fakli ‘easily’ → faklozi ‘more easily’ → faklisti ‘most easily’

The superlative does not take the determiner la as it does in many languages, as definiteness is implied in the construction, but as the determiner became more of a true article and less of a neutral demonstrative, it later became common to include it in colloquial Europic.

Two nouns being compared are joined by the preposition kwo ‘than’.

• Li-lasu le se kaku branista na ke-kwasu mu le-lano mandjoke. Su le se metci branoza kwo Marya-lu! ‘That was the best cake I’ve ever eaten. It was even better than Mary’s!’
• Djanu vlokozi krende kwo Dwardu, be Milyu vlokisti krende. ‘John runs faster than Edward, but Emilia runs (the) fastest.’