Nouns & Adjectives
Nouns are marked for six cases and two numbers. Adjectives precede nouns, and must agree in case and number.
Rennukat has fewer locative cases than a few of my other conlangs. I didn’t want it to have too many, since that would make it a little too similar to Finnish.
Case |
Singular | Plural |
Nominative |
– | -(i)t |
Accusative |
-(i)cha | -(i)chat |
Genitive |
-o |
-ot |
Dative | -(i)lla |
-(i)llat |
Ablative | -(i)hty |
-(i)htyt |
Allative | -(i)nne |
-(i)nnet |
Pronouns
Rennukat has a lot of pronouns. There are five 1st-person pronouns, three 2nd-person pronouns, and three 3rd-person pronouns. I didn’t want to put gender on the 3rd-person pronouns, so decided that some of the 1st-person pronouns would be gendered instead – much like what Japanese does.
All pronouns have rather irregular declensions when compared to other nouns.
1st-Person Pronouns
There are two sets of 1st-person pronouns: casual and formal. Casual pronouns are used in casual and informal settings, and formal pronouns are used in formal settings and by professionals such as teachers, civil servants, & people in the military.
The most commonly used casual pronouns are the gendered ones. The plural forms of gendered pronouns mean “we men”, “we women”, “we agender people” rather than referring to a group that one is part of – the general casual plural is used for that.
The male casual pronoun is ohu, which is a contraction of de bohku “this man”. It is often shortened even further into o’u /oʊ/ in the nominative.
|
Singular | Plural |
Nominative |
ohu | ohut |
Accusative |
ocha | ochat |
Genitive |
oho |
ohot |
Dative | olla |
ollat |
Ablative | ohty |
ohtyt |
Allative | onne |
onnet |
The female casual pronoun is ein, a contraction of de eillin or d’eillin “this woman”. An earlier form was d’ein.
|
Singular | Plural |
Nominative |
ein | einit |
Accusative |
eicha | eichat |
Genitive | eino |
einot |
Dative | eilla |
eillat |
Ablative |
eihty |
eihtyt |
Allative | einne |
einnet |
The agender casual pronoun is dyrru, which is a contraction of de kyrru “this agender person”.
|
Singular | Plural |
Nominative |
dyrru | dyrrut |
Accusative |
dycha | dychat |
Genitive |
dyrro |
dyrrot |
Dative | dylla |
dyllat |
Ablative | dyhty |
dyhtyt |
Allative | dynne |
dynnet |
The general casual pronoun is minno. It is less informal than the gendered pronouns, but less formal than the 1st-person formal pronoun.
|
Singular | Plural |
Nominative |
minno | minnot |
Accusative |
minnocha | minnochat |
Genitive |
minnou |
minnout |
Dative | minnolla |
minnollat |
Ablative | minnohty |
minnohtyt |
Allative | minne |
minnet |
The one formal 1st-person pronoun is arre.
|
Singular | Plural |
Nominative |
arre | arret |
Accusative |
arrecha | arrechat |
Genitive |
arro |
arrot |
Dative | arrella |
arrellat |
Ablative | arrehty |
arrehtyt |
Allative | arrenne |
arrennet |
Minno and arre are the original 1st-person pronouns. The gendered ones came later.
2nd-Person Pronouns
There are three distinct 2nd-person pronouns: informal/subordinate, formal/superior, and general/peer.
The informal/subordinate pronoun is used when addressing subordinates and people younger than the speaker. It is used by teachers speaking to their students, professionals speaking to their clients, parents speaking to their children, people in the military speaking to civilians, and the Avatar when addressing anyone.
|
Singular | Plural |
Nominative |
jassu | jassut |
Accusative |
jacha | jachat |
Genitive |
jasso |
jassot |
Dative | jalla |
jallat |
Ablative | jahty |
jahty |
Allative | janne |
jannet |
The formal pronoun is used when addressing superiors and people older than the speaker. It is used by students addressing teachers, people speaking to hired professionals (doctors, lawyers, plumbers, etc), children speaking to their parents, civilians speaking to people in the military, and anyone speaking to the Avatar.
|
Singular | Plural |
Nominative |
fynne | fynnet |
Accusative |
fycha | fychat |
Genitive |
fynno |
fynnot |
Dative | fylla |
fyllat |
Ablative | fyhty |
fyhtyt |
Allative | fynne |
fynnet |
The general/peer pronoun is used when addressing people equal in status or age to the speaker. It is used among friends, siblings, people in relationships, and civil servants speaking to civilians & vice versa.
|
Singular | Plural |
Nominative |
kevai | kevait |
Accusative |
kaicha | kaichat |
Genitive |
kevo |
kevot |
Dative | kailla |
kaillat |
Ablative | kaihty |
kaihtyt |
Allative | kainne |
kainnet |
3rd-Person Pronouns
Third person “pronouns” consist of a demonstrative followed by the ollin “person”. It is possible to use gendered words such as bohku, eillin, and kyrru, but the use is discouraged as it is considered rude. The contracted forms of the demonstratives de, no, and tau, (d’, n’, and t’) are used unless the speaker wants to be exceptionally formal.
D’ollin, meaning “this person, close to me”, is used when the speaker is talking about a person close to them.
N’ollin, meaning “that person, close to you”, is used when the speaker is talking about a person close by to the person they are speaking to.
T’ollin, meaning “yonder person, far away from both of us”, is used when the speaker is talking about a person that is far away from everyone involved in the conversation.
Demonstratives
Rennukat has three demonstratives: a proximal, medial, and distal.
|
Demonstrative | Meaning |
Proximal |
de | This |
Medial | no |
That |
Distal | tau |
Yonder |