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Word endings
A content word’s last letter tells the listener how to take this meaning: a new ordinary kind, a published abstract sense, or a name. That last letter is the word ending.
Outside a sentence (a list, a heading, a dictionary line) you write root + ending with no first-letter job mark. That spelling is a citation.
On this page
Beginner
First mention, concrete (-l)
When you mention a kind of thing for the first time, in its everyday concrete meaning — a scene you could point at — end the citation with -l. The listener treats it as a new, ordinary instance of that kind. English for the citation is the bare kind, with no article. (cue: l ≈ look / concrete)
azawal"swan"
First mention, abstract (-m)
Sometimes the meaning you want is the published abstract sense for that root: a job you cannot really point at, riding on the concrete picture. When you introduce that sense for the first time, end the citation with -m. (cue: m ≈ meaning / abstract)
azawam"grace"
Compare with: the everyday picture of the same root uses -l (azawal swan). Grace is the published abstract of azawa, so the citation is -m. (cue: from swan: the glide of grace)
Nationality words are an exception: the people/quality sits on -m even though you can meet a Japanese person (gahebam). That is still the published second sense of the place root, not a name (-n).
Named (-n)
When the word is a name (this person or this place, not a kind of thing), end the citation with -n. First cases are people and places. (cue: n ≈ name)
azawan"Azawan"
Compare with: the same root as a kind is azawal swan; as the published abstract, azawam grace. -n names the person.
Most published roots can be your own name this way. Pick one here, or from the lexicon. Examples marked as yours then show it.
Pick an Agazan name. Any published root becomes a name with -n.
Loading names…
Or pick your own in the lexicon (Use as my name on a row). Until you choose, examples marked as yours use amagon, the word for whoever is speaking.
Greeting
You can say a named citation with a period to greet someone or to say a simple goodbye. In either case, offer your own name. At the start, that is how you walk in; at the end, it is how you leave. The spelling is your name as you just wrote it; there is no extra first letter.
n.speaker
Your name, said as hello or goodbye.
The greeting names you, not the person you greet, so it works the same for a stranger whose name you don't know and for a whole room: n. said to a group is hi, all.
Compare with: the same citation in a list or heading has no period and is not a greeting or goodbye.
The three endings
The last letters you just used, on the same root azawa:
| Agazan | Use | English | Cue |
|---|---|---|---|
azawal | first mention, everyday kind | swan | l ≈ concrete |
azawam | first mention, published abstract | grace | m ≈ abstract |
azawan | this person or place as a name | Azawan | n ≈ name |
Writing
A citation is lowercase root + ending (azawal, azawam, azawan). English for a citation is the bare sense (swan, grace, Azawan), with no article. In a sentence you will add a first letter for the word’s job; that is the clause page. A greeting is the named citation as a whole opening (n.).
Translation practice
Short drills for Beginner. Try each item before opening Show answer. Choose -l (new concrete), -m (new abstract), or -n (named). Every answer is a citation (no first-letter job mark). For a name, the English prompt is the sense (grace), not the nativized spelling (Azawan), except the greeting items.
Setting: a classroom
Roots used here (English is what you produce; Agazan is the citation, or the in-clause word when a role letter is part of that English; Same root as is the everyday citation when that English is not the citation kind; Cue is optional memory helper):
| English | Agazan | Same root as | Cue |
|---|---|---|---|
| school | uzugul | ||
| chair | ehahel | ||
| pencil | ebeyol | ||
| draft | ebeyom | ebeyol pencil | ✏️: marks you can still erase |
| book | ubugal | ||
| knowledge | ubugam | ubugal book | 📖: what a book holds |
| magnify | amagal | ||
| scrutiny | amagam | amagal magnify | 🔍: close examination |
| bell | ebehul | ||
| alert | ebehum | ebehul bell | 🔔: warning attention |
| projector | ebuhel | ||
| bar-chart | abohal | ||
| analysis | aboham | abohal bar-chart | 📊: examining the quantities |
| grace | azawam | azawal swan | 🦢: the glide of grace |
| grace (as a name) | azawan | ||
| courage (as a name) | alahen | ||
| beauty (as a name) | ahaben | ||
| your name | n | from the name helper above |
English → Agazan
1. school (citation)
Show answer
uzugul
school
2. chair (citation)
Show answer
ehahel
chair
3. pencil (citation)
Show answer
ebeyol
pencil
4. draft (citation)
Show answer
ebeyom
draft
5. knowledge (citation)
Show answer
ubugam
knowledge
6. scrutiny (citation)
Show answer
amagam
scrutiny
7. beauty, as a name (citation)
Show answer
ahaben
Ahaben
8. Hello — the speaker is Alahen.
Show answer
alahen.
Alahen
9. Hello — say it with your own name.
Show answer
n.
speaker
Agazan → English
1. ubugal
Show answer
book
book
2. ebehul
Show answer
bell
bell
3. ebuhel
Show answer
projector
projector
4. ebehum
Show answer
alert
alert
5. aboham
Show answer
analysis
analysis
6. azawam
Show answer
grace
grace
7. alahen
Show answer
Alahen courage (as a name)
8. azawan.
Show answer
Azawan Azawan. (hello — the speaker is Azawan)
Intermediate
Reminder:
Intermediate sections assume you have read the beginner sections of every page.
Proper name (-n)
Beginner used -n for a person’s or place’s name. You can also mark a title, proper label, or conventionally unique name on any role letter: a named race as the verb, a named style as the adjective, a named standard as the adverb. The first letter still says the clause job; -n says you mean that titled instance, not a generic kind.
zahaben vezehen.z-Ahaben | v-Ezehen
"Ahaben sings Ezehen" (that titled song).
The rest of the role map (same -n):
| Agazan | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
/z/ /d/ /b/ + -n | this named entity | person, place, titled work, unique referent (Azawan, Paris, the Odyssey; book by [Rowling]) |
/v/ + -n | this named event, rite, or titled action | perform [Hamlet], run [the Boston Marathon], observe [Ramadan] |
/ɡ/ + -n | this named style, tradition, brand, or category | [Art Deco] furniture, [Buddhist] monastery, [iOS] app |
/w/ + -n | named scale, grade, or criterion on the following adjective | spicy [Scoville], large [King-size] |
/h/ + -n | named standard, channel, or official frame | according to [GAAP], in [Q3] as the named quarter |
/y/ vocative + -n | address this named person, place, or title; on /y/, -n always calls | yalahen; a kind as a title (yagavon); titled group (Team Alpha) |
Another exception: a stand-in with -rn (single vowel) or -n (stacked vowel) names a sentence-content category, such as a statement, question, command, or prohibition. On /v/, these endings give the corresponding lexicalized response verbs, such as state, confirm, or decline.
Compare with: join words use -n as join packaging or join content (fence joins, clause sequence, join-act / join-relation stems). These and lexicalized stand-ins are the exceptions where -n does not mark a proper name.
Titled phrases (hook, join, span)
A store, title, or handle can be several words. Put -n on the hook, join, or span that packages them. That letter names the whole phrase. Each inner word keeps its own ending: a kind stays -l, an abstract stays -m, a resume stays -r, and a person or place that is itself a name still takes -n.
dedehel on dagavel.NAME[d-tea | instead | d-coffee]
"Coffee-Instead-of-Tea" (a cafe name)
| Package | Where -n sits | Inner words |
|---|---|---|
| hook | the hook (on, extra-noun -n, …) | sides keep -l / -m / -r, or -n if that side is a name |
| join | the join (zon, …) | members keep their usual endings |
| span | the fence (@ / spoken -n) | interior tokens keep their usual endings |
A short one-word name, or a compact multipart name with mid-word x, still ends the content word in -n (phrasal proper names).
Phrasal proper names (mid-word x)
English often writes a given name plus family as two words. In Agazan a short multipart proper name (given + family, a compact place label, a shop name) is one content word: roots join left to right with mid-word x (ordinary compound order), and -n names the whole as one person or place. That one word fills one slot and is one resume target.
zohuxaluden vowogal.z-Ohu-x-Aluden | v-walk
"Uhudexaloden walks."
| Agazan | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
zohuxaluden | nativized multipart (roots + mid-word x) | Uhudexaloden (wish×guidance: one person) |
dohuxaluden, bohuxaluden | same name in other slots | one named place / person as object or argument |
zagavexedehen, zagavexedehexowoden | sense / shop label (two or more lexicon roots) | Coffee-Tea; Coffee-Tea-Water |
A nativized loan (adapted Agazan root + ordinary ending) uses the same four last letters as any content word. A lexical compound is also one slot-filler: one stem, not mid-word x (zebedalahazal bedroom).
Compare with: adjacent bare same-role words (zohun zaluden) are two people in a join.
Continue (/x/): overview
Beginner used -n as a name on cited roots and on content words. On /x/, the last letter follows the continue family:
| Agazan | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
| one of six linkers + -m (firm -l on three) | glue one finished sentence to the next | but, therefore, … (linkers) |
other /x/ root + -l / -m / -n | introduce a topic | now, about X; let’s now talk about X |
/x/ root + -r | return to a topic | back to X |
| clause join + -n | sequence | and then xan, … (joins) |
Prefix-less discourse hooks use hook endings. Hook -n titles a proper-name phrase (hooks).
Number-word exception
Beginner used -l / -m / -n as reference on citations. On number words, those same letters (and -r) have number-specific meanings. After a role letter, the number marker r may start a cluster that only number words use (phonology.md).
Translation practice
Short drills for Intermediate. Try each item before opening Show answer. The point is -n as a title on any role letter, one x-compound name, or an office handle.
Setting: a hospital ward
Roots used here:
| English | Agazan | Same root as |
|---|---|---|
| Azawan | azawan | |
| Alahen | alahen | |
| Ahaben | ahaben | |
| hospital-bed (ward name) | ahazoxebedan | |
| bed | ebedal | |
| sit | vehahel | ehahel chair |
| see | vahahal | ahahal eye |
| write | varadal | aradal write |
| run | varahal | arahal run |
| Hospital (named frame) | hahazon | ahazol hospital |
| Azawan (brand) | gazawan | azawan Azawan |
| Ahaben (brand) | gahaben | ahaben Ahaben |
| Temperature (named standard) | heveden | evedel thermometer |
| Sleep (titled rest) | vezeban | ezebal sleep |
| Intrusion (titled action) | vazehen | azehel syringe |
| Emergency (titled event) | vamaban | amabal ambulance |
| Emergency (named frame) | hamaban | amabal ambulance |
English → Agazan
1. Azawan sits according to Hospital (the named frame).
Show answer
zazawan vehahel hahazon.
z-Azawan | v-sit | h-Ahazon
2. The bed is an Azawan (the brand).
Show answer
zebedal gazawan.
z-bed | g-Azawan
3. Ahaben observes Sleep (the ward’s titled rest hour).
Show answer
zahaben vezeban.
z-Ahaben | v-Ezeban
4. Azawan sees Hospital-Bed. (the ward’s phrasal name)
Show answer
zazawan vahahal dahazoxebedan.
z-Azawan | v-see | d-Ahazo-x-Ebedan
5. Alahen performs Intrusion (that titled procedure).
Show answer
zalahen vazehen.
z-Alahen | v-Azehen
6. Alahen performs Emergency (that titled drill).
Show answer
zalahen vamaban.
z-Alahen | v-Amaban
Agazan → English
1. zahaben vehahel hahazon.
Show answer
z-Ahaben | v-sit | h-Ahazon Ahaben sits according to Hospital (the named frame).
2. zazawan varadal heveden.
Show answer
z-Azawan | v-write | h-Eveden Azawan writes according to Temperature (the named standard).
3. zebedal gahaben.
Show answer
z-bed | g-Ahaben The bed is an Ahaben (the brand).
4. zahazoxebedan varadal.
Show answer
z-Ahazo-x-Ebedan | v-write
Hospital-Bed writes. (the ward, as an office)
5. zahaben vazehen.
Show answer
z-Ahaben | v-Azehen Ahaben performs Intrusion (that titled procedure).
6. zalahen varahal hamaban.
Show answer
z-Alahen | v-run | h-Amaban Alahen runs in Emergency (the named frame).
See also
- pronouns.md: resume -r; special
amago/ehodo/aha/una - plurality.md: -x after the ending
- clause.md: role letters; adding a first letter to a citation
- spans.md: mention / opaque when the form or a foreign acronym is the point
- x-compounds.md: long titles as ordinary compounds
- Titled phrases: hooks.md, joins.md, spans.md