Grammar pp. 15-17

Indefinite and definite articles – masculine nouns

Ending in a labial consonant:

ien kripp (a child) krippin (the child)

ien wep (a puppy) wepin (the puppy)

Ending in ‘k’ or consonant plus ‘g’, which softens:

ien korg (a basket) kordjin (the basket) ien påyk (a boy) påytjin (the boy)

Ending in a vowel (eri); ending in a dental, alveolar or retroflex consonant:

ien eri (a hare, rabbit) erin (the hare, rabbit) ien kall (a man) kalln (the man) ien såmår (a summer) såmårn (the summer) ien uott (a mitten) uottn (the mitten)

Pronouns

Personal pronouns:

ig I du you (singular) an, -n he, it (masculine noun) ą̊ she, it (feminine noun) eð it (neuter noun) wįð we ið you (plural) dier they

Demonstrative pronouns:

isn, isn-jär this, this here (masc.) an-dar that, that there (masc.) isų, isų-jär this, this here (fem.) ą̊-dar that, that there (fem.) ittað, ittað-jär this, this here (neut.) eð-dar that, that there (neut.)

Indefinite articles (a, an)

masculine ien feminine įe neuter iet

Verbs

The dalska/spilå group (A1)

In Elfdalian, one often cannot (automatically) know the forms of a verb, other than its infinitive.

Compare the same relationship in Swedish:

infinitive preterite (simple past) tala talde läsa läsade binda bindade

Because of this, in this compendium1, it is stated for each verb which group it belongs to. From

the verb group, we are able to conjugate the actual verb.

Like Swedish (and English), Elfdalian has weak and strong verbs. The weak verbs (A group) is

divided here into five groups. The largest of these groups is A1, the dalska/spilå group (see also

appendix 3). Verbs of the dalska type are long-syllable, those of the spilå group are short-

syllable. Essentially, the following rules apply:

Long-syllable verbs have the ending –a in the infinitive and the ending –er in present

singular.

Short-syllable verbs have the ending –å and the ending –är in present singular.

3rd person plural in present tense is identical with the infinitive, for example:

infinitive 3rd person plural – present tense dalska dier dalska

1 compilation (of Elfdalian grammar)

Ending in ‘-a’, example: dalska

ig, du, an, ą̊, eð dalsker (wįð) dalskum (ið) dalskið dier dalska

Other verbs using this pattern are bruka (to use) and ietta (to be called).

Ending in ‘-å’, example: spilå

ig, du, an, ą̊, eð spilär (wįð) spilum (ið) spilið dier spilå

Other verbs using this pattern are kuoga (to look) and luvå (to promise).

Irregular verbs

wårå (to be)

ig, du, an, ą̊, eð ir (wįð) irum (ið) irið dier irå

åvå (to have)

ig, du, an, ą̊, eð ar (wįð) amme (ið) avið dier åvå