Istro Romanian grammar

Morphology

The theorized evolution of Istro-Romanian from Daco-Romanian, a language that may have evolved independently, shows two distinct features:

1. Noun declination shows a rationalisation of forms: normal noun declination of Romanian has almost totally disappeared in Istro-Romanian;
2. Whereas verbal inflexion is more conservative and its evolution is not so pronounced.

Nouns

The article has two forms: definite and indefinite. The definite article may be nominal or adjectival. The nominal being added to nouns, and the adjectival placed before adjectives.

The nominal forms are: for masculine nouns: -l and -le, for feminine -a in the singular, and for masculine -i and feminine -le in the plural.

However, as in spoken Daco-Romanian the -l of the masculine singular definite article is dropped leaving the linking -u- vowel, e.g. DR lupul > IR lupu (the wolf), DR ursul > IR ursu (the bear), DR mielul > IR mľelu (the lamb).

The -le ending is used for all masculine singular nouns ending in -e, e.g. fråtele (the brother), sorele (the sun), cărele (the dog).

Some examples of Masculine nouns showing case endings, nominative=accusative, genitive=dative. The vocative case is not shown as this normally corresponds with the nominative.

Feminine nouns

The -a replaces -ĕ and -e, e.g. cåsĕ > cåsa (the house), nopte > nopta (the night); however a few feminine nouns ending in a stressed -e behave differently, e.g. ste > stevu (the star), ne > nevu (the snow).

Neuter nouns behave as Masculine nouns in the singular and Feminine in the plural (sometimes known as Mixed nouns)

The forms of the adjectival article are ćela for the masculine and ćå for the feminine singular, and in the plural masculine ćeľ and feminine ćåle, e.g. ćela bur (the good one).

The masculine indefinite article is un and feminine is o. The declination of the indefinite article has disappeared. Examples: un om (a man), un cå (a horse), o misĕ (a table), o båbĕ (an old woman).

Adjectives

Adjectives also have three genders, the masculine and feminine forms from the Latin, while the neuter form is of Slavic origin. E.g. bur, burĕ, buro (good). The comparative adjective is måi bur (better) and the superlative is ćel måi bur (the best).

The adjective may precede the noun: bura zi ((the)good day), which in itself can be made definite by the change of -ĕ to -a; or follows the noun: feta muşåtĕ (the beautiful girl).

Pronouns

Definite pronouns can be personal, possessive, demonstrative, relative and interrogative.

Personal pronouns

e.g. m-åm ărs (I laughed), l-åi vezut (you saw him)

Possessive pronouns:

e.g. mev ćåće (my father), lui căre (his dog), ľei måie (her mother), noştri cåľ (our horses)

Demonstrative pronouns

May also begin with ţ- or ť- e.g. ţest om (this man)

Likewise may begin with ţ- e.g. ţåle lingure (those spoons)

Relative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns

Indefinite pronouns

(M - F)

one: un - o

some: vrun - vro

one/a: ur - o

not a: ničur - ničurĕ

nothing: nimic

something: ćeva

other: åt - åta - åto

each: saki - saca - saco

whichever: cătcoder

Cardinal numbers

The majority of cardinal numbers are from Latin stock, with several borrowings from the local Slavic

1. un/ur (M), o (F)
2. doi (M), do (F)
3. trei
4. påtru
5. ćinć / ţinţ
6. şåse
7. şåpte
8. opt / osăn
9. devet
10. zåće / zeće / deset
11. urprezåće / iednaist
12. doiprezåće / dvanaist
13. treiprezåće / trenaist

19. devetprezåće

20. dovotezåće / dvadeset / dvaiset

21. dovotezåće şi ur

30. treivotezåće

40. cvårnaru

50. ćinćvotezåće

...

100. sto

101. sto şi ur

200. dovotesto

1000. miľår / tisuť / tåvžânt

Notes:

11 is composed of '1 on 10' ur-pre-zåće

20 is composed of '2 times 10' do-vote-zåće, likewise, 200 is '2 times 100' do-vote-sto

1000 miľår comes from Venetian dialect, tisuť from Slavic, and tåvžânt from German.

Ordinal

(M - F)

1st. prvi - prva

2nd. doile - dova

3rd. treile - treia

4th. påtrile - påtra

5th. ćinćile - ćinća

6th. şåsele - şåsa

7th. şåptele - şåpta

8th. osmule - osma

9th. devetile - deveta

10th. desetile - deseta

last zådni / zădăńu - zådńa