Selsimicu has the 5 vowels a, e, i, o & u, as well as the consonants ', p, b, t, c, k, f, s, z, x, m, n, ñ, w, l, j, r & q.
The structure of Subject - Object - Verb is used: "she harvests berries" being "nata papafrim ūpowan" (she berries harvest).
Adjectives are stative, but with the suffix -(u)n they become applicative, modifying whatever noun or verb is before them: Compare "pafrim toi" (the berry is big) to "pafrim toin" (the big berry). Adjectives and adverbs are the same.
There are three noun classes, being Animate [A], Inanimate [I] and Postanimate or Otherworldly [O]. Otherworldly nouns aren't pluralized, but nouns of the other two are. This pluralization is done by reduplicating the word's first syllable, plus some caveats.
Selsimicu has pronouns and the verb "to be" separated by these classes, these being: "asa" for 1st person ("me", "I"), "oto" [A], "oteli" [I] and "otsin" [O] for 2nd person ("you"), and "nata" ([A], "he", "she", "they"), "neko" [I] and "no'o" [O] ("it").
For sentences where the subject is 1st person, use "kres" as "to be" verb. When the subject is 2nd OR 3rd person and [A], use "ñaf". When it's 2nd person and not [A], use "fi", and when it's 3rd person and not [A], use "cu".
Finally, ask questions with the word "cenar" replacing what you're asking about: "cenar zweñ" - "who (or what) is leaving?"; or with "tzat" leading the sentence, for a yes or no question: "tzat oto zweñ" - "are you leaving?"
Read the following small story, and answer the three questions about it afterwards:
asa tosno piris. asa tosno tzu ken. asa tosno seika nitsan.
asa sēlsijan uzi. "ñosaiko*. asa Suri mable. tzat oto tosno tzu?", asa eswa
"ñoi*! asa Miski mable. asa tosno tzu ken, atke** Kabi neko tzu!", Miski eswa
"Kabi cenar cu?" asa zurēk. "asa Kabi bewtoz. farixi natan ñotun.", Miski zurēk
asa farixi seika. asa farixi ñotun uzi.
"ñosaiko. tzat oto Kabi fi? tzat oto tosno tzu?"
"ñoi! asa Kabi fi ken. asa Cabi fi! atke asa tosno tzu. tzat oto neko piris?"
"asa piris", asa eswa. "asa tepsu", Cabi eswa. asa zweñ.
asa tosno tzu. asa zaf.
*ñosaiko / ñoi - "hello" and "hi" respectively
**atke - "but" or "however"
Now, answer the following questions:
Drag and drop the proper words for the following images:
Careful! It's only one way.
pafrim
tazim
cawa
jofoñ
papafrim
Aren't quite sure you heard something correctly? Well, if this has ever happened to you, and you were told off for saying "what?" instead of... something else? Then don't worry! Selsimicu distinguishes between these two, so no one can tell you off! If you want someone to repeat what they just said, or are seeking confirmation about something, you say "ce"! This usually looks pretty similar to cenar, especially in isolated sentences:
(what did he say?)
(he said WHAT?)
...but, "ce" works under the assumption that the other person already stated the information, and you're just replying shocked or confused. So, if the other person said:
(he said that i'm ugly!)
then you'd say the cenar sentence before this ("what did he say", genuinely asking), and the ce sentence after (to express confusion or shock about what he said)! Once you get the hang of it, it becomes a very useful distinction to make!
Congratulations! You are now one step closer to learning Selsimicu for realsies! If you ever get to holding an actual Selsimicu conversation, this lesson will have been very useful!
Next up is your first ever recap, where we'll go through exercises featuring all the topics of our previous 5 lessons! Click continue whenever you're ready, or just go to Lesson 6 if you want.