Press a letter on your screen to hear it's name.
Phonology Consonants: * /p/ - p * /b/ - b * /t/ - t * /d/ - d * /k/ - k * /ɡ/ - g * /f/ - f * /v/ - v * /s/ - s * /z/ - z * /ʃ/ - x * /ʒ/ - ż * /m/ - m * /n/ - n * /ŋ/ - ng (occurs only at the end of syllables) * /l/ - l * /r/ - r * /j/ - j * /w/ - w * /h/ - h * /ʔ/ - għ (always precedes or follows a vowel) * /t͡ʃ/ - ċ * /d͡ʒ/ - ġ Vowels: * /a/ - a * /ɛ/ - e * /i/ - i * /ɔ/ - o * /u/ - u Diphthongs: * /aj/ written as "aj" * /ɛj/ written as "ej" * /ɔj/ written as "oj" * /iw/ written as "iw" * /ew/ written as "ew" * /aw/ written as "aw" Phonotactics: Syllables typically follow a (C)V(C) structure. Consonant clusters are relatively common at the beginning and end of words, influenced by Semitic and Romance languages. Għ may act as either a vowel or a consonant. Grammar Basic Sentence Structure: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) Nouns: * Nouns have grammatical gender (masculine and feminine). * Plural formation is complex, often involving broken plurals (internal vowel changes and/or the addition of suffixes) similar to Semitic languages. Some plurals are formed using suffixes, while others change their internal vowel structure. * No case system is present, but prepositions dictate the role of the noun in the sentence. * Definite articles exist, inflecting based on the initial letter of the noun and potentially merging with prepositions. * Example: * Singular Masculine: *il-ktieb* (the book) * Plural Masculine: *il-kotba* (the books) - broken plural * Singular Feminine: *il-mara* (the woman) * Plural Feminine: *in-nisa* (the women) - broken plural Verbs: * Verbs are highly inflected for tense, aspect, mood, person, and number. * Verbs are built upon a tri-consonantal root (similar to Semitic languages). Vowels are inserted between these consonants to indicate different grammatical functions. * Prefixes and suffixes are used extensively to indicate tense, aspect, and mood. * Auxiliary verbs are used for compound tenses. * Conjugation example (simplified, verb root *ktb* meaning "write"): * Present: * Jien nikteb (I write) * Int tikteb (You write) * Hu/Hi jikteb (He/She writes) * Aħna niktbu (We write) * Intom tiktbu (You all write) * Huma jiktbu (They write) Adjectives/Adverbs: * Adjectives generally follow the noun they modify. * Adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number. * Adverbs are often formed by adding a suffix (e.g., *-ment*) to the feminine form of the adjective, but not always. Articles: Definite articles (*il-*) are common and can elide or assimilate before certain sounds, merging with prepositions. Prepositions: Prepositions precede the noun phrase and can sometimes merge with the definite article. Possessives: Possessive pronouns can either precede or follow the noun, depending on emphasis and style. Spelling/Writing System The language uses a modified Latin alphabet. The digraph "għ" represents a sound, and it can affect surrounding vowels. Example Words *ktieb* (book) *mara* (woman) *nikteb* (I write) *tajjeb* (good) *bil-mod* (slowly) *il-belt* (the city) *dar* (house)
