𞤅𞤢𞤺𞥆𞤭𞤼𞤮𞤪𞤣𞤫
Petites leçons de grammaire
Comment fonctionne le pular, pas à pas. Chaque exemple est en ADLaM.
1 Les pronoms sujets I, you, he, she, we, they — the short words that start a sentence.
Pular has seven subject pronouns. There are two words for “we”: 𞤫𞤲 includes the person you are talking to, 𞤥𞤫𞤲 does not.
| Pular | Latin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 𞤥𞤭 | mi | I |
| 𞤢 | a | you |
| 𞤮 | o | he / she |
| 𞤫𞤲 | en | we (including you) |
| 𞤥𞤫𞤲 | men | we (not you) |
| 𞤮𞤲 | on | you (plural or polite) |
| 𞤩𞤫 | ɓe | they |
The ending of the verb tells you when it happens:
- 𞤃𞤭 𞤻𞤢𞥄𞤥𞤢𞤼𞤢𞥄 I do not eat
- 𞤃𞤭 𞤻𞤢𞥄𞤥𞤭𞥅 I ate
- 𞤃𞤭 𞤻𞤢𞥄𞤥𞤮𞤴𞤢𞤴 I will eat
2 « Je suis en train de … » : pronoms composés Use 𞤥𞤭𞤯𞤮, 𞤥𞤫𞤯𞤫𞤲… for what is happening now, and for states like “I am tired”.
Compound pronouns come from the simple pronoun plus 𞤲𞤮. They describe something going on, or a state.
| Pular | English |
|---|---|
| 𞤥𞤭𞤯𞤮 | I am / I have |
| 𞤢𞤯𞤢 (𞤸𞤭𞤯𞤢) | you are |
| 𞤮𞤥𞤮 (𞤸𞤭𞤥𞤮) | he / she is |
| 𞤫𞤯𞤫𞤲 (𞤸𞤭𞤯𞤫𞤲) | we are (including you) |
| 𞤥𞤫𞤯𞤫𞤲 | we are (not you) |
| 𞤮𞤯𞤮𞤲 (𞤸𞤭𞤯𞤮𞤲) | you are (plural) |
| 𞤫𞤩𞤫 (𞤸𞤭𞤩𞤫) | they are |
- 𞤃𞤭𞤯𞤮 𞤻𞤢𞥄𞤥𞤵𞤣𞤫 I am eating
- 𞤃𞤭𞤯𞤮 𞤻𞤢𞥄𞤥𞤵𞤣𞤫𞤲𞤮 I was eating
- 𞤃𞤭𞤯𞤮 𞤻𞤢𞥄𞤥𞤮𞤴𞤣𞤫 I am about to eat
- 𞤃𞤫𞤯𞤫𞤲 𞤶𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤺𞤢𞥄 We are cold
- 𞤃𞤭𞤯𞤮 𞤪𞤮𞤲𞤳𞤭 I am tired
3 Les pronoms compléments Me, you, him, us, them — they come right after the verb.
Object pronouns follow the verb.
| Pular | English |
|---|---|
| 𞤤𞤢𞤥 / 𞤥𞤭 | me |
| 𞤥𞤢𞥄 | you |
| 𞤥𞤮 | him / her |
| 𞤫𞤲 / 𞤥𞤫𞤲 | us |
| 𞤮𞤲 | you (plural) |
| 𞤩𞤫 | them |
- 𞤀𞤤𞤬𞤢𞥄 𞤲𞤮𞤣𞥆𞤭𞥅 𞤤𞤢𞤥 Alpha called me
- 𞤌 𞤪𞤮𞤳𞥆𞤭 𞤤𞤢𞤥 𞤣𞤮𞤤𞤮𞤳𞥆𞤫 He gave me a shirt
- 𞤖𞤭𞤥𞤮 𞤲𞤫𞤤𞤣𞤭 𞤩𞤫 𞤨𞤢𞤯𞤫 He brought them shoes
4 Les pronoms d’insistance Put weight on who did it, often after 𞤳𞤮 (“it is”).
| Pular | English |
|---|---|
| 𞤥𞤭𞤲 | me, myself |
| 𞤢𞤲 | you, yourself |
| 𞤳𞤢𞤲𞤳𞤮 | him / her, himself |
| 𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤲 / 𞤥𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤲 | us, ourselves |
| 𞤮𞤲𞤮𞤲 | you, yourselves |
| 𞤳𞤢𞤥𞤩𞤫 | them, themselves |
- 𞤑𞤮 𞤥𞤭𞤲 𞤼𞤭𞤺𞤭 𞤱𞤭𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤯𞤵𞤥 I wrote it myself
- 𞤑𞤮 𞤳𞤢𞤲𞤳𞤮 𞤢𞤪𞤭 He came himself
- 𞤑𞤮 𞤳𞤢𞤥𞤩𞤫 𞤼𞤭𞤺𞤭 𞤦𞤮𞤲𞥆𞤭 𞤯𞤵𞤥 They broke it themselves
5 Les verbes : trois terminaisons 𞤵𞤺𞤮𞤤 does it, 𞤢𞤺𞤮𞤤 does it to oneself, 𞤫𞤺𞤮𞤤 has it done to it.
In the dictionary form (infinitive), every Pular verb ends in one of three ways:
| Ending | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 𞤵𞤺𞤮𞤤 | active: the subject does it | 𞤤𞤮𞥅𞤼𞤵𞤺𞤮𞤤 — to wash |
| 𞤢𞤺𞤮𞤤 | reflexive: the subject does it to itself | 𞤤𞤮𞥅𞤼𞤢𞤺𞤮𞤤 — to wash oneself |
| 𞤫𞤺𞤮𞤤 | passive: it is done to the subject | 𞤤𞤮𞥅𞤼𞤫𞤺𞤮𞤤 — to be washed |
More examples: 𞤻𞤢𞥄𞤥𞤵𞤺𞤮𞤤 (to eat), 𞤶𞤢𞤲𞤺𞤵𞤺𞤮𞤤 (to study), 𞤶𞤮𞥅𞤯𞤢𞤺𞤮𞤤 (to sit down), 𞤴𞤭𞤯𞤫𞤺𞤮𞤤 (to be loved).
6 Les personnes : singulier et pluriel Words for people often end in 𞤱𞤮 for one person and 𞤩𞤫 for several.
Many words for people end in 𞤱𞤮 when there is one person, and in 𞤩𞤫 when there are several.
| One | Many | English |
|---|---|---|
| 𞤥𞤢𞥄𞤥𞤭𞤪𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮 | 𞤥𞤢𞥄𞤥𞤭𞤪𞤢𞥄𞤩𞤫 | grandparent |
| 𞤲𞤫𞥅𞤲𞤭𞤪𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮 | 𞤲𞤫𞥅𞤲𞤭𞤪𞤢𞥄𞤩𞤫 | mother |
| 𞤦𞤢𞥄𞤦𞤭𞤪𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮 | 𞤦𞤢𞥄𞤦𞤭𞤪𞤢𞥄𞤩𞤫 | father |
| 𞤺𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤭𞤪𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮 | 𞤺𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤭𞤪𞤢𞥄𞤩𞤫 | spouse |
| 𞤶𞤢𞤲𞤺𞤮𞥅𞤱𞤮 | 𞤶𞤢𞤲𞤺𞤮𞥅𞤩𞤫 | student |
Other words change differently: 𞤩𞤭𞤯𞥆𞤮 → 𞤩𞤭𞤩𞥆𞤫 (child → children), 𞤩𞤫𞤴𞤲𞤺𞤵 → 𞤩𞤫𞤴𞤲𞤺𞤵𞥅𞤤𞤭 (wife → wives). The dictionary lists the plural in “other forms”.
7 Poser des questions Where? When? What? — and the ADLaM question mark ؟
A question ends with the question mark ؟. The question word usually comes first.
- 𞤖𞤮𞤲𞤼𞤮 𞤩𞤫 𞤸𞤮𞤯𞤭؟ Where do they live?
- 𞤑𞤮 𞤸𞤮𞤲𞤼𞤮 𞤶𞤭𞤦𞤭𞤲𞤢𞤯𞤢𞥄؟ Where were you born?
- 𞤑𞤮 𞤸𞤮𞤲𞤣𞤫 𞤶𞤭𞤦𞤭𞤲𞤢𞤯𞤢𞥄؟ When were you born?
- 𞤖𞤮𞤲𞥆𞤮 𞤄𞤢𞥄𞤦𞤢 𞤆𞤢𞥄𞤼𞤫 𞤭𞤲𞥆𞤫𞤼𞤫𞥅؟ What is Paté’s father’s name?
- 𞤖𞤮𞤤 𞤳𞤮 𞤱𞤮𞤲𞤭 𞤀𞤁𞤂𞤢𞤃؟ What is ADLaM?
And the answers: 𞤑𞤮 𞤂𞤢𞤦𞤫 𞤥𞤭 𞤶𞤭𞤦𞤭𞤲𞤢𞥄. (I was born in Labé.) · 𞤃𞤫𞤯𞤫𞤲 𞤸𞤮𞤯𞤭 𞤁𞤢𞥄𞤦𞤮𞤤𞤢𞥄. (We live in Dabola.)