Grammar
The essential details to get a grasp on Kokanu grammar and start exploring how to express yourself and communicate. The coverage is very fast paced and minimally detailed, more detailed articles are linked if you want to expand your knowledge of a given area.
This guide assumes you have some familiarity with the Kokanu vocabulary. Words that directly affect the grammar are explained here in the guide, but other words used in the example sentences will not. You click on any Kokanu word to see a definition of the word.
Pronunciation
The letters p, t, k, w, l, m, n, s, and h are all pronounced the same as their equivalents in the IPA and in English.
The letter j is pronounced like its equivalent in the IPA, which is the sound of the letter y in “yellow”. The letter c is pronounced like /tʃ/ in the IPA, which is the sound of the digraph ch in “chat”.
The vowels a, e, i, o, and u are pronounced the same as their equivalents in the IPA. Spanish is a common example of a language with all these sounds. The only two that are pronounced on their own in English are i, like the digraph ee in “see”, and o like the o in “cold”. The letter u is pronounced like the end of diphthong in the word `tow`, similar to the English exclamation “oooo”, with the tongue resting completely. The letter a is close to the a in the word “ash” or the a in “malt” but with the tongue much more relaxed, not raised like in "ash" or pushed back like in "malt". The letter e is close to the e in “get” but with the tongue more raised like i in "see", around the halfway point between the two.
For those that cannot pronounce some of these sounds exactly, there shouldn't be a problem as long as each one is pronounced differently from all the others. The sounds of the language are limited and spaced out in the mouth such that each letter can be approximated in a variety of ways without sounding too much like any other letter. Ask in the discord for help if you struggle with any of the pronunciations, and you will likely find a pronunciation that works for you.
Base Forms
Every word has one base form, either base noun, base verb, or base modifier. Any word can act in any form, but its base determines how it acts in other forms. You can always distinguish when a word is being used as a noun, verb or modifier.
Verbs are marked by the particles le and o.
Nouns are marked by the prepositions, like men, in, ke, and wija
men mi le makan in makan “I eat food”
Modifiers are activated when placed after a noun or verb.
men mi le makan wiki in kuwosi makan “I quickly eat an edible fruit”
Check out the Word Derivations guide for more info.
Relations between action and noun phrases
The structure of a Kokanu sentence is formed from an action phrase, marked by le or o, surrounded by noun phrases which relate to the action in some way. men marks a noun phrase which is the agent of the action. in marks a noun phrase which is the object of the action. ke marks a noun phrase which is the recipient of the action. wija marks a noun phrase which is the instrument of the action. The action phrases and noun phrases can be placed in any order as long as they are marked properly.
wija moto in makan le anta men mi “I prepare food using fire”, “I cook food”
When the subject is at the start of a sentence, however, men can be dropped.
Prepositions, le, and o can be negated by placing no after them. no does not serve any other function.
These three sentences mean the same thing but have different emphasis:
mi le no makan in kuwosi “I don’t eat fruit” (but I may do something else to it)
mi le makan in no kuwosi “I don’t eat fruit” (but I may eat something else)
men no mi le makan in kuwosi “I don’t eat fruit” (but someone/thing else may)
Conjunctions in Kokanu can be between nouns in a phrase, or between sentences.
mi le makan in kuwosi un ukama “I eat fruits and vegetables”
mi le makan in kuwosi un mi le lo sun jan ne “I eat fruits and I leave”
An imperative statement is created by replacing a subject + le with just o (no subject).
For more information, check out our Using the Parts of Speech guide.
Relations between words within phrases
Modifiers come after a noun to indicate an adjective, or after a verb to indicate an adverb. Quantity words serve ordinary functions as modifiers, but have an additional quantity function when preceding a word.
niju tope “several goodnesses”
The word je is similar to the word “of” in English. The word following it is always derived as a noun.
tipa je makan “food box”, "lunchbox"
kuwosi ha mi “my second fruit”
kuwosi je ha mi "us two’s fruit”
The word wa marks a modifier without any noun or verb needing to precede it, and applies to the entire phrase before it.
kuwosi je ha mi wa hunsi “us two’s red fruit”
For more information, refer to our Clarifying Descriptions guide.
Relations between clauses within phrases
ta starts a new clause (sentence within a sentence), while te starts a new clause and marks the first word as a verb. The te clause can modify a noun, and in these cases the noun being modified is the subject of the clause.
nin te makan "person who eats"
te can also be used without modifying a noun to create a clause that starts with a verb anywhere in a sentence, but the clause must end with a comma if more comes after it.
te makan in kuwosi, le tope "eating fruit is good"
ta functions like te, except that it doesn't mark the first word that follows it as a verb, so the clause may start with a subject or any other preposition. It is simple to use when not modifying a noun.
ta mi le makan in kuwosi, le tope "it's good that I eat fruit"
mi le pon in ta tu le pasan "I cause that you are happy", "I make you happy"
When ta does modify a noun, it is more complicated. te tells you that the noun being modified is the subject of the following clause, ta doesn't say anything about the role of the noun being modified in the clause.
nin ta mi le suki might seem like a direct translation from English "person that I like", but in Kokanu it's meaningless. The clause mi le suki sits next to the word nin with no relation between them. It would be like saying in English "place that I go". You have to establish the role of "place" in the clause "I go", i.e. "place that I go to" where "to" tells you that "place" is the direction/goal of the clause "I go". Kokanu does this in a very similar way.
nin ta mi le suki in "person that I like", where in indicates the role of nin in the relative clause.
Sentence: mi le suki in nin "I like the person"
Noun: nin ta mi le suki in "person that I like"
Any preposition can be used to make this relation.
jan ta mi le lo ke "place that I go to"
jon ta mi le tun in ne wija "tool that I do this with/using"
The preposition at the end of the clause is called a "dangling preposition", and it's the preposition that would have been used on the modified noun in a normal sentence, e.g. "the place that I go to," "I go to the place"
Alternatively, unlike in English, the clause can be written out as a full sentence, where ja refers back to the noun being modified.
In the last example, ja can be dropped from the end, leaving the dangling preposition, which is how it's always done in English.
In any case, the clause must end with a comma if more follows.
kuwosi ta nin le makan in, le tope
For more information check out our TODO guide.
Coupling Word Particles
we and mu are particles that apply to the next word only, creating a "coupling". we negates modifiers
sikin we konen “improbable event”
kuwosi we makan “inedible fruit”
For more information, check out our Coupling Modifier Negator guide.
mu constructs a noun that is a "doer" of an action, or the agent of the action.
To make the agent cause the action rather than do the action, you can make pon the action of mu, with the actual action joined by je.
For more information, check out or TODO guide.
You've completed the grammar introduction. Congratulations! Now finish learning the vocabulary and get involved on the Kokanu Discord server. Thank you for joining our growing community.