Romini language

General information

The Romini language is one of the last human-based tribal languages left on Avlis. The language is not widely known outside the families and clans that make up the Romini people. Owing allegance to no nation or people, the Romini are the oldest and supposed favorite mortal creation of the god Mikon. The first humans to appear on Avlis were the ancestors of the Romini, created directly by Mikon. When created, Mikon commanded them to spread over the planet and bring balance to the world. They were told to be free, yet fair, and to call no one place their home, but rather many places. They are insular, and follow the strict guidelines set down by Mikon, and their culture and language are strongly gender-based.

Mikon's greatest gift to the Romini was the freedom to choose their life paths on an individual basis. He did not restrict them to the ways of good or evil, nor law or chaos. He simply told them to be. He told them that they must do what the moment requires and not to worry about past or future, but rather to exist as needed for the immediate time period. Much to Mikon's pride, his creation took his words to heart and did exactly as he bade them. The Romini spread throughout Avlis and adopted whatever personalities suited their cause. In addition to possessing the inner joy that nomad people often have, the Romini are crafty and cunning. No matter what their philosophy in life, they refuse to be oppressed and will strike back at oppression with eerie effectiveness, grace, and subversiveness. Romini live by the flow of the water in the rivers, and the smell of the air in the breeze. They do what is needed, when it is needed, and never any other time. The Romini as a people are on tolerable terms with all races and nations, though on a societal level they are seen as thieves and troublemakers whenever they roll into town. City-folk often have stories about being cheated or kidnapped by the Romini.

Although they are often berated for being loyal to no one, Romini are actually intensely loyal to each other. A Romini will not kill or harm another Romini unless it is totally necessary, and even then they will seriously consider not doing it. Whenever a Romini finds another of their kind in trouble, they will always find the best way to aid them when possible. Though they are diverse and scattered throughout the world, they have a tremendous sense of their own unity and culture. Even a Romini born in Tyedu who meets a Romini from M'Chek will converse as if they were brothers who have known each other their whole lives. It is this closeness that has allowed them to survive as a people and not become so scattered that they are forgotten. If one is Romini, they are part of the overall Romini identity... one of them. If one is not, they are georgio, the most common term for a non-Romini.

Conjugating Verbs

Infinitives end in “av” or “au” (masculine or feminine). Verbs are conjugated by taking off the suffix “av” or “au” and replacing it with the appropriate ending, and adding the personal pronoun before the verb.

Personal pronouns

I...........me
You.........tu
He/She......voj/vou
We..........ame
You (pl)....tume
They........von
It..........pe

Present tense

I............me (verb)
You..........tu (verb+es)
He/she.......vou/voj (verb+el)
We...........ame (verb+as)
You PL.......tume (verb+en)
They.........von (verb+en)
It...........pe (verb+el)

Example:

I arrive......me aresav
You arrive....tu areses
He arrives...voj aresel
She arrives...vou aresel
We arrive.....ame aresas
You (PL) arrive..tume asresan
They arrive......von areasen
It arrives.......pe areasel

Past tense

I.............me (verb+lem)
You...........tu (verb+ljan)
He/she........vou/voj (verb+ljas/laji)
We............ame (verb+ljam)
You (PL)........tume (verb+ljan)
They............von (verb+le)
It.............pe (verb+ljo)

Example

I asked.......me puslem
You asked.....tu pusljan
He asked......vou pusljas
She asked.....voj pusiljas
We asked......ames pusljam
You (Pl) asked.....tume pusljan
They asked.......von pusle
It asked.........pe pusljo

Future tense

I..........me (verb+dem)
You........tu (verb+djan)
He/she.....vou/voj (verb+djas/daji)
We.........ame (verb+djam)
You PL.....tume (verb+djan)
They.......von (verb+de)
It.........pe (verb+djo)

Example

I will buy......me tindem
You will buy....tu tindjan
He will buy.....vou tindjas
She will buy....voj tindaji
We will buy.....ame tindjam
You (pl) will buy....tume tindjan
They will buy........von tinde
It will buy........pe tindjo

Verb list

Regular Verbs
Common	Romini
To arrive	aresav
To ask for	molinav
To ask	pušau
To become (drunk)	matojau
To begin	lav
To believe	patjav
To bless	narbau
To bite	dandav
To bring	anav
To bring	anav
To buy	tinav
To carry	igelav
To cast	pav
To clean	hoozharav
To come	avav
To craft	chatinav
To cut	cshinav
To dance	khelav
To die	merau
To do	kerav
To eat	xav
To enjoy	dehav
To fear	darav
To fight	marav
To finish	resavav
To follow	denedìnav
To forget	bisterav
To freeze	marhonav
To get	astrav
To give	dau
To go	zau
To greet	resav
To grow	baryovav
To hear, listen	shoonav
To help	akandav
To hide	garavav
To hire	yavav
To hit	marav
To hope	nadav
To kill	maranau
To kiss	choomidav
To know, understand	zanau
To laugh	asau
To learn	siklovav
To leave	mookav
To lie	hohavav
To live	mau
To look	dikhav
To lose	nashalav
To love	jubisarav
To meet	arakhau
To mix	ehminav
To open	putrav
To play (music)	bashalav
To put	tovav
To read	chetinav
To recognize	penjarav
To respect	saidinau
To run	prastav
To say	phenav
To see	dikhav
To sell	tianau
To send	bichalav
To serve (food)	cshorav
To shoot	farav
To shut, close	phandav
To sing	gilyavav
To sit	beshav
To sleep	sovav
To start	astarav
To stop	aschav
To survive	nakhyarav
To take	lau
To teach	sikavav
To think	godisarav
To wake	jangarav
To walk	phirav
To want, desire	kamav
To watch	dandinau
To weave	katav

There are two, commonly used irregular verbs: “to be” sem and “to have” isi

Irregular Verb "To Be" Sem
Common	Present	Past	Future
I	me sym	me symas	me sydem
You	tu san	tu sanas	tu syndan
He/She	vou/voj sy	vou/voj sas	vou/voj sayjas/sayji
We	ame sam	ame samas	ame samam
You.PL	tume san	tume sanas	tume sanjan
They	von sy	von sas	von syde
It	pe sy	pe san	pe sydo

Irregular Verb "To Have" Isi
Common	Present	Past	Future
I	me isi	me isas	me isidem
You	tu isan	tu isnas	tu isidan
He/She	vou/voj isoi	vou/voj isnan	vou/voj isijas/isiji
We	ame isam	ame isamas	ame isimam
You, PL	tume isan	tume isanas	tume isijan
They	von ision	von isisas	von iside
It	pe isoi	pe isnan	pe isido

Syntax and Grammar

Sentence structure in Romini is almost exactly the same as common. That is, generally, the sentence "The cat ran under the table" would be structured the same way in both common and Romini: "Le pisika pe prastaljo karing o skafidi." Adjectives tend to follow nouns, however, rather than procede them. Many times those fluent in Romini tend to slur, or run their words together, so that sometimes the articles or adjectives become appended to the nouns or verbs. For example, "Big man" becomes "Rom'bar'o," rather than "Rom barbo." Oftentimes this is one way that the insular Romini are able to tell those who are apart from them, non-Romini, or gadjen.

Adjectives:

alive žuvindo
bad nasul
better maj mišto
big barba, barbo
clean užo
cold sudri
dead merani
dirty midsek
good misto
hot tato
new nevi
old (age) phura (f), phural (m)
old purano
short skurto
small tikno
smart barlo
stupid dilo
tall uce
unclean (status) magerdo
young novi

Colors:

White parne
Black kalo
Blue naja
Green aveda
Red lolile
Orange ojako
Yellow khaja
Brown trinel
Purple oolija
Grey, silver suy

Numbers:

Zero khono
One ehk
Two dooy
Three ootrin
Four ooshatar
Five oopanch
Six ooshov
Seven efta
Eight ohto
Nine eyna
Ten desh

Eleven deshehk
Twelve deshdooy
(etc)

Tens -desh (ie, seventy is “eftadesh”)
Hundreds -shel (ie, seven hundred is “eftashel”)
Thousands -milya (ie, seven thousand is “eftamilya”)

Emotions

Anger range, holyan
Sorrow rovga
Happiness
Fear menga

Conjunctions. articles, prepositions

A jekh
Above, across opral
About miro
And thaj
Another vareso
Behind, back doom
Both duj
End agor
For de
From kerdi
Front anglal
In ande
If i
Middle mashkari
No na
Not naj
Of pa
Or ori
Out avri
Some niste
None khon
That kadoan
The la (feminine)
The le (masculine)
The o (generic)
This kadoa
To kaj
Under karing
Very maj
With peska
Yes hai

Interrogatives

How sar
What so
When kana
Where (is it?) kaj
Which savo
Who kon
Why soske

Nouns

Plural: add “ja” if feminine, “ji” if masculine
Female nouns end in vowels, male nouns in consonants

Animals animal animalo hide (animal skin) morči animalosti ant kir bull guruv cat pisika chicken khajni cow guruvni dog žukel ox gooroov wolf ruv wyrm (dragon) omida

Body parts arm vast back zeja belly peř body trupo breast čuči ear kan elbow kui eye jakh eyebrow phova finger naj foot laban hand vaste hair bal heart, soul ilo hip maškar horns singa knee čang leg punřo lip ušt mouth muj neck, throat koř nose nak skin morči teeth danda teardrop jasfa tongue šib

Food Apple phaba bacon mas thulo bread manřo butter unto cake prežitura cheese tiral corn misiri egg anřo flour ařo sugar thud milk zaro nut anchor wheat div

People

Non-Romini georgio(f), georgen (m), also: gadzo (f), gadzen (m); also: gadjo (f), gadjen(m)(usually the plural is implied)
Child chavo
Boy raklo
Son sejo
Brother phral
Man rom
Husband mursk
Girl rakli
Daughter seji
Sister phrali
Woman romjo
Wife zuvli
Father dadesk
Mother mameska
Grandfather papesk
Grandmother mamoska
Aunt baba
Uncle babosk
Niece raklori
Nephew rakloro
Cousin pralisko (f), pralisken (m)
Friend prieteno (f), prieten (m)
Enemy jostumalo(f), jostumalen(m)
Witch drabarni
Wizard drabarn
Priest, cleric drabenshena
Healer drabengro
Bard, singer giliri
Thief choro
Warrior ketano
Nobody khonik
Somebody nistenik
Family kompania
Clan shena
Tribe natsia

Miscellaneous

Bed pato Boat barka Castle kastelo Chair skamin Clothes gada Demon, devil beng Door udar Dress rokja Earth phuv Fire jag Flower luludi Forest ves Gold sumnakaj Grass cjar Honor pativ Ice payo Land tan Light lumina Luck baxt Magic drabi Market piaco Moon sonuto Mountain bur Name anav Rain brisind River len Road drom Sea marja Snow iv Song gili Spring sartiura Spirit, bad mulo Spirit, good leshya Star ceraja Summer khamende Sun kham Sunrise drosin Sunset drosara Sword spada Table skafidi Town foros Tree kast Village gav Wagon vurdo Water paj Weather tsiroos Wind braval Wine moljasa Winter ivende

Time (timpo)

Years ando
Days dies
Months sono
Hours hories
Minutes minos
Now akana
Long ago demult
Today ades
Tomorrow texara
Yesterday arati
Morning drosi
Afternoon drosa
Evening, night iraat
Midnight mashkari iraat (literally, middle night)

Expressions:

How many, how much? Sode?
Goodbye (Go forth!) Kele!
Hello Sastipe!
Thank you Gestena
You’re welcome Pesan khuno (literally, “it was nothing.”)
I’m sorry M’sym rovgi
Of course Hai shava
Good morning! Misto drosi!
Good night! Kushti irrati!
My love myro/muro jubisarel
Beloved ves' tacha
Yes, I swear! hai'she'li!
Truth? Her’y?
There are many paths Vai’datha ( an expression of either hope or resignation)
By the gods! Li' ha' eer!
Nonsense! Shesti!
Do you understand? Hai zana? Also: Hai shala?
Shit! Sheka!
What a fool! So trekoth! (what a gullible person!)
Wonderful! Forshava!