Dwarvish Grammar, Volume 1

Chapter 1: Simple Sentences

Dwarvish follows the word order structure of English to determine the function of a word in the sentence. This is the subject-verb-object word order. For example:

I buy a shield.
Mich caufoch washelg. = I buy shield.

Dwarvish is a simple but robust language. The particles ‘a’ and ‘the’ do not exist in dwarvish. Dwarvish also has no verb tenses. This means that the following sentences…

I buy a shield.
I bought a shield.
I will buy a shield.

… are all translated as:
Mich caufoch washelg.

Dwarves usually understand through the context of a sentence which tense is intended. When the meaning is ambiguous, dwarves use time words to clarify. For example.

Mich caufoch washelg voromlag.
I bought a shield yesterday.

Mich caufoch washelg nairlag.
I will buy a shield tomorrow.

Dwarvish has no plural forms. So again the sentences…

I bought a shield.
I bought shields.

… are both translated as:
Mich caufoch washelg.

Again, dwarves usually understand from the context of the conversation, but in ambiguous situations numbers or adjectives are used. For example:

Mich caufoch dwei washelg.
I bought two shields.

Mich caufoch vieluth washelg.
I bought many shields.

Speaking of adjectives, as in English adjectives are placed in front of the nouns they modify.

Mich caufoch dwei beddegh washelg voromlag.
I bought two old shields yesterday.

Negative sentences are also simple. To make a negative sentence, add the word for no, ‘nae,’ before the verb.

I did not buy a shield yesterday.
Mich nae caufoch washelg voromlag.

I will not buy a small shield tomorrow. I will buy a big shield.
Mich nae cauloch klein washelg nairlag. Mich cauloch grobbi washelg.

Dwarves have a very tight-knit clan and guild-based culture. As such, they understand each other very well, to the point that they can often finish each others’ sentences. So when it would be understood, the subject is sometimes omitted from a sentence. For example:

I bought a shield = ‘mich caufoch washelg,’ but many dwarves would simply say ‘caufoch washelg.’

In dwarvish the finite verb, the infinitive form (to be, to love, to kill, etc.), and the gerund form are all the same word. So ‘see’, ‘to see,’ and ‘seeing’ are all expressed by the word ‘fascoch.’ Perhaps the hardest thing for foreigners to understand about dwarvish is the latter, gerunds, because this sometimes creates sentences that are hard for non-dwarves to understand, such as:

Desufoch aalen aeoch gude.
Drinking ale is good.

Vercaloth aeoch versaoch.
To lose is to die.

Chapter 2: Pronouns and ‘to be’

In English, the personal pronouns change when converted from subject to object (I versus me, for example). This is not the case in dwarvish.

I/me - mich
We/us - wair
He/him - ee
She/her - ie
It - edh
You - daibh
They/them - siad
This - ses
That - din

Example sentences:

We bought old armor.
Wair caufoch beddegh pantsung.

They attacked us.
Siad anspoch wair.

You killed him!
Daibh mabtoch ee!

He killed himself.
Ee mabtoch ee.

She will not bless me.
Ie nae behnoch mich.
In many languages the verb ‘to be’ is irregular. Not in dwarvish. The dwarvish verb ‘aeoch’, to be, does not change.

I am a dwarf.
Mich aeoch dwerven.

She is not nice.
Ie nae aeoch gehagh.

Gorethar is a good deity.
Gorethar aeoch gude deigott.