Nouns

Nouns are one of the word types in Krestia that make up a portion of the semantic content in prose and speech. Nouns are divided into several subcategories, which are detailed in the following sections.

Common nouns

Simple nouns are the most encountered nouns, consisting of a single word each. In their lemma form, they end with a CV syllable, which consists of a silent plosive or a nasal, followed by a front vowel. Thus, the possible endings are: -mi, -me, -ma, -pi, -pe, -pa, -ni, -ne, -na, -ti, -te, -ta, -ki, -ke, -ka. The following are examples of common nouns:

In Krestia, common nouns also encompass words that would normally be adjectives in natural languages. Examples include:

Semantically, such nouns represent objects that are described using the adjective. This means that the Krestia word for “red” actually means “a red object”, and Krestia uses identity derivations to attach them to nouns, described below.

Personal pronouns

In contrast to most natural languages, personal pronouns are categorized as nouns instead of pronouns, which in Krestia consist of anaphoric pronouns only. This is because unlike anaphoric pronouns, which are unmodifiable and uninflectable, personal pronouns are treated in the same way as regular nouns. The pronouns that are used to refer to people and other unnamed entities are:

They can be pluralized to denote multiple people or objects, as described below.

Associative nouns

Associative nouns represent objects or concepts that are commonly associated with another noun. They encompass the concept of inalienable possessions, such as body parts and familial relationships. They also include intrinsic properties of objects, such as size and weight.

Like simple nouns, associative nouns are also categorized into countable and uncountable associative nouns. However, to provide more word order flexibility, each associative noun also come in prefix and postfix forms, which are used to place the associative noun before and after the associated noun, respectively. Associative nouns are marked by “-dre” and “-gre” for prefix ones, and “-dri” and “-gri” for postfix ones.

Examples of associative nouns:

The prefix form of an associative noun attaches to a noun after it:

ligre	epi
name_of	1P
My name

The postfix form attaches to a noun before it:

epi	ligri
1P	name_of
My name

Note about the dictionary: The dictionary lists associative nouns in their prefix forms.

Inflections and derivations

Predicative identity (PID)

The predicative identity derivation is used to form a complete sentence with a given noun. Effectively, for any noun, the predicative identity turns it into “is a <noun>”. Nouns undergo this derivation by appending “-s”, which effectively turns it into a 1-verb. The following table gives examples of nouns with this derivation:

In sentences, these verbs are used to identify objects:

Luna	lunatas
sun	star-PID
The sun is a star.

Attributive identity (AID)

For a noun that means “X”, this derivation changes the meaning to “which is X”, which is used to modify other nouns. It has two variations, prefix and postfix. Prefix attributive identity puts the modifying noun before the modified noun, and is created by appending “-r” to the noun, whereas postfix puts it after, and is created by appending “-l”. The following table gives the attributive identity derivations of the previously demonstrated nouns:

Examples of this derivation in action:

lepa	mekal
apple	red-AID_L
A red apple (literally, "An apple that is something red")

The two words can also be flipped:

meka	lepal
red	apple-AID_L
A red apple (literally, "A red object that is an apple")

Possession (POS)

This inflection is used to indicate that the object denoted by the noun is a possession of a context-determined owner. It is formed by appending “-nsa” to the noun. The following table gives examples of the possession inflection:

Usually, the own possession inflection is used to indicate that the subject is performing an action on the object, which is owned by the subject (e.g., “I wash my hands.”). In these sentences, the object of the sentence would use the own possession inflection:

epi	rilet	bedrensa
1P	wash	hand_of-POS
I am washing my hands.

This is merely a convention, though, as this inflection can also appear in other places where the owner can be inferred from context, but not explicitly stated:

eratei	imiltansa
go-IMP	room-POS
Go to your room!

Existential (EXS)

The existential derivation is used to state that an object exists in some environment, corresponding to the expression “there is/are …” in English. This derivation forms a 0-verb from a noun, ending in “-m”, to mean “there is/are <noun>” or “<noun> exists”.

The newly formed verb can be modified by adjectival nouns, as before:

livetim	renepel
bed-EXS	clean-AID_L
There is a clean bed.

toterim	nal	Rina
child-EXS	named	Rina
There is a child named Rina.

Commonly used modifiers

The following is a list of modifiers that are commonly used by nouns.

Quantity: sil, vel, sel

These modifiers are used to indicate the quantity of a noun or mass:

• sil: one
• vel: many
• sel: specified by a number

Usually, when the number of a noun is unimportant, it is omitted:

Livi	buvlit	lepa
Livi	eat	apple
Livi is eating apples.

In this example, the English translation uses the plural form of “apple”, but in in the Krestia text, it does not necessarily imply multiple apples, as the number is unspecified. Thus, a precise translation would be “Livi is eating one or more apples”. A direct translation of the English sentence back into Krestia would be:

Livi	buvlit	lepa	vel
Livi	eat	apple	<many>
Livi is eating apples.

To indicate a single apple:

Livi	buvlit	lepa	sil
Livi	eat	apple	<one>
Livi is eating an apple.

To indicate a specific number of apples:

Livi	buvlit	lepa	sel	vora
Livi	eat	apple	<quantity>	two
Livi is eating two apples.

In addition, if the number is irrelevant or not applicable, it is omitted:

epi	tatretes
1P	person-PID
I am a person.

In this example, “epi tatretes sil” would also have been grammatically correct, but because of the presence of “sil”, it implies that the speaker is a single person as opposed to multiple people.

The personal pronouns can also be pluralized:

Krestia does not syntactically distinguish countable and uncountable nouns, but in the dictionary, for words that are commonly uncountable in natural languages like those that represent substances (e.g. water), their quantified meaning will be listed. As an example:

aki	prilivet	luvema
3P	*POT-look_at	rain
They can see the rain.

In this example, luvema, which means rain, is uncountable in many natural languages. In Krestia, it’s possible to quantify the noun, in which case it will mean “raindrops”:

aki	prilivet	luvema	sel	nona
3P	*POT-look_at	rain	<quantity>	3
They can see three drops of rain.

Another: konal, keral

These modifiers indicate that the modified noun refers to an instance that’s different from one that has already been mentioned; thus, they correspond to the adjectives “another” and “other” in English. Between the two, “konal” means that the original object should be inferred from context:

epi	prilivet	tatrete	sil	iti	prilivet	tatrete	konal	sel	vora
1P	*POT-look_at	person	<one>	2P	*POT_look_at	person	<other>	<quantity>	two
I see one person. You see two other people.

On the other hand, “keral” states the excluded entity explicitly:

iti	prilivet	tatrete	keral	Livi
2P	*POT-look_at	person	<other_than>	Livi
You see a person other than Livi.