detailedGrammar.md

9. Detailed Grammar

TOP / JP

Basically, the SFGPL must adhere strictly to the grammar as described in sentence pattern, but the rest may be decided to some extent by the user. However, an exemplary grammar is described in this chapter.

How to qualify a sentence

To modify a whole sentence, you basically modify the verbs in that sentence by using na. For example, in the example sentence "I go to Tokyo.", the "to Tokyo" part is a modifier. In this case, the SFGPL uses the following.

ta ga na sa 'go' li pun fa 'Tokyo'

Another alternative is to use me.

me ta ga sa 'go' so li pun fa 'Tokyo'

Prepositional usage in English

In particular, when modifying verbs, like prepositions in English, they are expressed using li and DeterminerN. Examples of English prepositions and SFGPLs are given in the following table.

English	Meaning	SFGPL
at/in/on/to/from	Time	li pin
at/in/on/to/from	Place	li pun
for	Reason	li pon
for	Way/Means	li ban
from	Start	li fan
to	End	li fen
between/among	Section	li fin
in	In	li fun
into	Into	li tun fun
out	Out	li fon
up/over	Move&Above	li tun man
above	Above	li man
down	Move&Below	li tun men
under	On&Below	li min men
below	Below	li men
on	On	li min
right	Right	li mun
left	Left	li mon
near	Near	li tin
by/about	By/About	li tan tin
with	With	li ten tin

Grammar of comparative expressions

In the SFGPL, comparative expressions using comparative classes in English are defined by mo, but not comparisons using superlative or equivalent classes. It is recommended that such sentences be expressed as follows.

Comparative degree

Comparative expressions such as "A is B(-er) than C" are expressed by mo. "My bag is bigger than yours." is expressed as follows.

mo mi ga so san fa 'big' so wan sen ge

Superlative

Comparative expressions such as "A is the B(-est) in/of C" are expressed with the following syntax.

me A V ka ki B li fun C

"My bag is the biggest in my class." is expressed as follows.

me mi ga so san fa 'bag' so ka ki wan li fun mu ga so san fa 'class'

When expressing "the N-th X(-est)", a numerical value is added to the modifier, as in ka X li N. "My bag is the second biggest in my class." using ordinal numbers is expressed as follows.

me mi ga so san fa 'bag' so ka ki ka wan li mal pil li fun mu ga so san fa 'class'

Equivalent classes

Comparative expressions such as "A is as B as C" are expressed with the following syntax. In this case, use wen to mean "similar".

me ba A C V ka B wen

"My bag is as big as his." is expressed as follows.

me ba mi ga so san fa 'bag' sen lan gi so ka wan wen

Diachronic sentences

Constant matters and facts, such as customs, periodic matters and unchanging facts, are expressed by not adding a tense, as is the case with the present.

To express "I cook every day." in SFGPL, use the following.

ta ga na sa 'cook' li pin me fa 'day' so la 'every'

"The Earth revolves around the Sun." in the SFGPL can be expressed as follows.

ta fa 'Earth' na sa 'revolve' li tun tin fa 'Sun'

And to express "English is spoken all over the world." in the SFGPL as follows.

ta fa 'English' na ne sa 'speak' li fun dan fa 'world'

Syntax for expressing existence

When creating a sentence that simply states that something exists, use gen. This has the same meaning as the English There is/are construction. For example, "There is a book on this table.".

ta fa 'book' na gen li pun ma gu so fa 'table'

Topic-prominent linguistic grammar

It is possible to produce sentences like those in topic-prominent languages, which are common in East Asian languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Indonesian. A topic-prominent language is a language in which, in addition to the usual subject, there is a grammar that allows the subject of the sentence to be presented. This makes it easy to produce sentences that contain both a topic and a subject. The SFGPL allows for the production of sentences containing topics in a simplified manner, though not in the explicit manner of the East Asian languages.

Sentences containing a subject or one of the topic or subject

Sentences containing a topic or subject fragment are constructed in the same way as sentence type.

Sentences containing both a topic and a subject

A sentence containing both a topic and a subject is expressed as follows. In this case, “T” is the topic, and “C” consists of comments (sentences, words, etc. that explain the topic).

ma T so C

As an example, the Japanese phrase "象は鼻が長い"(“Elephants have long noses” [topic: elephant, subject: nose]) can be expressed in SFGPL as follows.

ma fa '象' so me fa '鼻' so la '長い'
ma fa 'elephant' so me fa 'nose' so la 'long'

Wordbook

English	SFGPL
I	ga
go	sa 'go'
to Tokyo	li pun fa 'Tokyo'
bag	fa 'bag'
big	wan
yours(possessive)	sen ge
my class	mu ga so san fa 'class'
his(possessive)	sen lan gi
cook	sa 'cook'
every day	me fa 'day' so la 'every'
the Earth	fa 'Earth'
revolve	sa 'revolve'
the Sun	fa 'Sun'
English	fa 'English'
speak	sa 'speak'
all over the world	li fun dan fa 'world'
book	fa 'book'
on this table	li pun ma gu so fa 'table'
象(elephant)	fa '象'
鼻(nose)	fa '鼻'
長い(long)	fa '長い'
elephant	fa 'elephant'
nose	fa 'nose'
long	la 'long'