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Saying it in Agazan
These pages are recipes, not lessons. Each one shows how forms you already learned answer an English question, and links the grammar it needs. Read them in any order once the linked sections are familiar.
| Page | For English like |
|---|---|
| People, things and places | as for X, whose, someone's act, would rather, different from, office titles, do the same to it |
| Amounts, sizes and time | from least to most, both are, two meters taller, most of, 25% of, hard to, units, dates |
| Reasons, knowledge and plans | because vs if, judging by, know, biased, overconfident, would have, habits, start / stop doing, as of 22 July, dreading / I felt then / it's their fault |
| Asking and answering | You saw WHAT?, Really?, asks who, ask her to, Just X? / How about X?, admittedly, What a big dog!, by the way |
| Tense and modals | walked, has walked, is walking, will walk, used to, can, may, must, should |
On this page
One English word, many jobs
English by, for, about, as, and against each cover several jobs. Pick the Agazan job, then open the section that teaches it.
by
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| who does the action (seen by Azawan) | subject /z/ (you may front the object) | Who acts, word order |
| tool (writes by / with a hammer) | hook ael (using) + /b/ | Hooks |
| place (by the station) | hook om (near) + /b/ (or ol at) | Hooks |
| deadline (by 15:30, by the storm) | homal + /b/ (or homal barl + sentence) | By a deadline |
| deadline a day away (by tomorrow) | homal + a signed count in /b/ | Count from now |
| manner (by walking hastily) | ordinary adverb /h/, no /b/ | Adverbs |
| origin (Alahen from the city) | hagum / gagum + /b/ | Of relations |
for
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| recipient / addressee (tells Alahen) | unhosted /b/ | Extra nouns |
| swap (a book for a hammer) | hehem + /b/ | Exchange |
| intended get (works for a money-bag) | hook el + /b/ | Hooks |
| intended outcome (practices for a race) | hogom + /b/ | So that |
| sake as reason (walks for relatedness) | sake tho on /th/ | Motive |
| noun’s purpose (my gift for relatedness) | sake tho on /ɡ/ | Motive |
| my belonging + sake (my tent serves the physical sake) | sake tha / thu on /ɡ/ | Sakes |
| duration (for three hours) | measure phrase | Measure phrases |
| frame one sentence (as for Azawan) | hahehom + /b/ | As-for |
's / of
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| in B's use (Azawan's dog, my house, my seat), B's turn or occasion (Azawan's birthday) | hook em + /b/ | Whose |
| care of a person (Azawan's patient) | gahabom + /b/ | Social relations |
| legal ownership (the dog Azawan owns) | gegabem + /b/ | Of relations |
| social tie (Azawan's friend) | tie root on /ɡ/ -m + /b/ | Social relations |
| part / contents / material (a hand of Alahen, a teapot of tea) | gobom / gahem / guwum + /b/ | Of relations |
| origin (Alahen of the city, the sound of the drums) | gagum + /b/ | Of relations |
| someone's act (Azawan's walk, the monkey's tricks) | the act as a sentence, then its verb root in -r | Someone's act |
| personal / private (a personal matter) | hook em + the owner: em bamagon | Whose |
| my belonging + sake (my tent serves the physical sake) | sake tha / thu on /ɡ/ | Sakes |
about
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| regarding / as for (about Azawan) | hahehom + /b/ | As-for |
| now, about (now, about Azawan; speaking of Azawan) | /x/ + the noun: xazawan | Topic |
| what was said (tells that the dog runs) | stand-in darl (often /d/) | Dependent clauses |
| approximate amount (about three) | number -m (~) | Number endings |
| approximate clock (around 15:30) | clock -m | Time |
| gist of wording (something like “…”) | span paraphrase ~ | Exact, paraphrase, proper |
| place (walks about the house) | hook am (amid) or uol (through), not topic | Hooks |
as
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| kind / role (Azawan as a dog) | classification /ɡ/ | Kind / role |
| same one (Alahen as Azawan) | SAME + /b/ | Identity |
| same time (as Alahen walks) | huwem barl | Dependent clauses |
| reason / since (as Alahen walks) | thevem barl | Because |
| grounds (as the sky is gray, it will rain) | thunem barl / thobam barl | Evidence clause |
| equal degree (as sleepy as) | equative ae | Equatives |
| falls short (not as sleepy as) | reverse rank ue | Reverse rank |
| most that can be done (as fast as possible, as small as you can) | ABIL bar thezexal + tie ae | Every bar |
| frame one sentence (as for Azawan) | hahehom + /b/ | As-for |
| resemblance (walks as / like a duck) | humum + /b/ | Simile |
| resemblance to an event (walks the way a duck swims, as a hand moves through hair) | humum barl + the event | Simile |
| pretense (as if they walk) | NOTIONAL | Notional |
| dated books (as of Friday) | huhum / huram + /b/ | As-of |
against
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| opponent (fights against a guard, Azawan versus Alahen) | hook uel + /b/ | Hooks |
| a rule, a person's no, or a plan (against the rules, against their will, contrary to the plan, against my decision) | hook uem + the /th/ stance it goes against | Contrary to a stance |
| what you were told or expected (contrary to what I was told, against my gut) | hook uem + a channel | Channels after uem |
| a noun in the way (against the rain, despite the rain) | hook uem or hezom + /b/ | Hooks, dependent clauses |
| an event in the way (even though Alahen said no) | hezom barl + the sentence | Dependent clauses |
| someone's interest (against Alahen's interest) | unmet sake word + /b/ | Sakes |
Everyday words
One English word, one row: the form that says it and the section that teaches it.
Place and path
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| in / into / inside / within (runs into a train, sits inside the house) | hook al + /b/; the verb says whether anything moves | Locative relations |
| on / onto / upon (sits on a chair, climbs onto the table) | hook aol + /b/; the verb says whether anything moves | Hooks |
| beside / next to / nearby (sleeps near me) | hook om + /b/ | Hooks, here and there |
| under / below / beneath (sleeps under the tree) | gravity down hadahel (on a noun, gadahel) + /b/ | Gravity |
| above / upper (the book above the tree) | gravity up habahal (on a noun, gabahal) + /b/ | Gravity |
| left side / right side / behind / in front of (behind the house) | a direction with th + o + /b/ landmark, such as gazavathol bahazal | Landmark's own front |
| with / alongside / along with (runs with Alahen) | han + /b/ | Join-relations |
| without / apart from (walks apart from the house) | huan + /b/ | Join-relations |
| via / by way of / through / along (goes via the station, walks along the road) | hook uol + /b/ (uom for a setting) | Hooks |
| off / away from / out of (walks off the road) | hook ul + /b/ | Hooks |
| off (switched off, disconnected) | govahal (disconnection, as an adjective) | Adjectives |
| outside / external / outdoors (sits outside the house) | hook al + the landmark + the join bul (in, not the house): al bahazal bul | Hooks, negation |
| throughout / all over (walks throughout the house) | ol bual everywhere, then the landmark's hook: ol bual al bahazal | Somewhere, nowhere, everywhere |
| abroad (in another country) | ol bagul bur (the kind country, then some other one) | Somewhere, nowhere, everywhere |
| overseas (across the water) | ebum across + the water: hebum bohahal | Locative relations |
| bottom (the low part of a thing) | zadahel gobom bahazal (a down part of the house) | Of relations |
| parallel (parallel to Alahen) | the direction, then like: gamem gumum balahen | Simile |
| lean / tilt | vadahel hrubul (almost falls) | Already, still, not yet |
| corner / around the corner | zadadol (the corner); ol badadol at the corner; hugem badadol around the corner | Locative relations |
| beyond / farther than | rank on distance: zahazal zel gazedam (farther than the house) | Bar words |
| versus / against (Azawan versus Alahen) | hook uel + /b/ | Hooks |
| somewhere / nowhere / everywhere / elsewhere | ol bar / ol bal / ol bual / ol bur | Somewhere, nowhere, everywhere |
Coming, going and following
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| come (is coming to you) | motion verb vuvudel + hook oel + /b/ for the person it heads to | Here and there |
| bring / take (brings me the package) | valagel (carry) + object + oel (toward) or ul (away from) | Here and there |
| arrive / reach (has arrived at the house) | hoham (already) + vuvudel + oel + /b/ | Already, still, not yet |
| approach / head for | vuvudel + oel + /b/ (no hoham: still on the way) | Locative relations |
| follow (walks behind Alahen) | manner direction hazavathol + /b/ for whoever leads | Landmark's own front |
Matched lists and last resorts
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| X and Y are A and B, respectively | the subject list, the adjective list, then wazem before the second join: zazawan zalahen zal gelavam gamazam wazem gal | Respectively |
| X and Y walk and run, respectively | the same shape on verbs: zazawan zalahen zal vowogal varahal wazem val | Respectively |
| as a last resort / only if nothing else works | the occasion + huel (herehel huel) | Ranked occasions |
some- and any- words
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| something / someone / thing / stuff (unnamed) | zar; with a kind, zobel zar | Unspecified member |
| anything / anyone / anybody | zor; with a kind, zobel zor | Unspecified member |
| somehow / in some way | humum bor (like some unspecified one) | Simile, unspecified member |
Adjectives made from a noun (golden, royal, solar)
English often makes an adjective from a noun by adding an ending (gold → golden, sun → solar). Agazan needs no ending for that. Put the noun's root on /ɡ/ (adjectives): the adjective means of that kind. The ending picks the sense: -l is the everyday thing, -m is the abstract quality. Use -l for stuff you can touch (gold, sun) and -m for a quality or field (royalty, life, institution). For made of, the of-relation with the stuff in /b/ says it outright.
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| golden | gogodal (made of gold: guwum bogodal) | Adjectives, of relations |
| wooden | guwul (made of wood: guwum buwul) | Of relations |
| royal | gebebum (royalty) | Adjectives |
| solar | gazahel (of the sun) | Adjectives |
| musical | gumuyum (composition) | Adjectives |
| biological | gahadem (of life) | Adjectives |
| institutional / political / public (run by the state) | gagedum (institution) | Adjectives |
| financial | gamol (of money) | Adjectives |
| physical (of the body) | gegezem (body) | Adjectives |
| agricultural | gavavom (cultivation) | Adjectives |
| experimental | gudum (experiment) | Adjectives |
| structural | gobom (a piece of the structure; add the whole in /b/) | Of relations |
| native (native to the country) | gagum + /b/ for the place: zobel gagum bagul | Of relations |
zazawan dahazal gogodal vahahal.z-Azawan | [d-house | g-gold] | v-see
"Azawan sees a golden house."
Topic and talk
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| now, about Azawan, speaking of Azawan | /x/ + the noun: xazawan | Topic |
| now, about Sam (a foreign name) | x@<Sam> | Topic, spans |
| now, about the word “odoga” | glelel x<odoga> | Topic, mention |
| now, about Onodan Alahen (the work) | x@[onodan alahen] | Topic, cite |
| back to Azawan, as I was saying about Azawan | /x/ + whole stem + -r: xazawar | Return |
| anyway, Azawan … (after a side topic) | or xazawar … | Return, resume hooks |
| what are we talking about? | yol zar gahehom. | Asking about the topic |
| one, generic you, people (in general) | oben | Generic pronoun |
Greetings
| English itch | Agazan job | Teach |
|---|---|---|
| hi / hello / goodbye | your own name said with a period: n. | Greeting |