[[/wordlist|Week 6 wordlist]]

== Prepositions ==

`her` and `sjir` normally mean "above" and "below" respectively, but they're often used to mean something like "more than" and "less than". They can only be used this way as base prepositions, not as their nisbe derivatives `heri` and `sjiri`. Therefore `lamok ku sjirc` "I am less of a dragon than you" and `lamok ku sjiryoc` "I am a dragon who is underneath you".

`ar` and `na` can both be translated as "to" or "at". The difference between the two is that `ar` indicates direction or attachment to a surface, while `na` indicates the goal or recipient. For example, if you were going `ar` a city, that's the direction you're heading even if you plan to keep going beyond it, whereas if you're going `na` a city, it's your destination, but you might be taking a scenic route.

`ar`, in its meaning of attachment, can also share the translation "on" with `her`. The difference here is that `her` never denotes attachment, only placement on a horizontal surface.

While `na` normally means "to" or "for", it can also be used to express possession, and this is the normal way to translate Common "have". This has already been seen in its nisbe `ne`, used to express "of" in the indirect possessive. There are two ways to do this: either use `na` in an existential sentence (`shin na lamok` "the dragon has a lake", literally "there is a lake for the dragon"), or use `ne` as the object of a nominal sentence (`shin ne lamok` "the dragon has a lake", literally "the lake is that which is for the dragon").

A special rule unique to `na` is that when it's used with a suffix pronoun (e.g. `no` "for me", `nac` "for you", etc.) the whole word becomes a clitic. Like other clitics, it will try to be the second word, though when there are other clitics present, `na` will always follow them: `'iye lamok tu naqh canat` "this second dragon is for him".

`im` "in" can be used to talk about a temporary state of being, such an occupation. Since the nominal sentence by default refers to extended periods of time, as though `'iye` were built in, this provides the temporary variant: `tak ku im lamok` "see, I'm presently a dragon", compared to `lamok ku` "I am a dragon".

`re` when used as an adverb serves exclusively to indicate questions, and can also only appear initially. `re` can occur both with and without other question words, and isn't required to mark questions in either case: `tak cu im?` "are you are", `re cu im` "are you here", `matu im` "who is here?", `re matu im` "who is here?".

== Pronominal Adverbs ==

Each non-personal pronoun has a set of adverbs derived from them, combining the meaning of the base pronoun with the meaning of the suffix applied. Much like how non-personal pronouns behave like class C nouns, the stem that the suffixes are added to are found by deleting the final vowel: `t-` from `tu` "that", `zy-` from `zyu` "something", and so on. The stem for `talu` "this", however, is `l-`. The suffixes are: `-a` "in _​_​_ way", `-ar` "for _​_​_ purpose", `-aweqh` "for _​_​_ reason", `-ayen` "by _​_​_ means", `-em` "in _​_​_ place", `-ol` "at _​_​_ place", `-emya` "in _​_​_ time", `-olya` "at _​_​_ time". These last two pairs of in/at contrasts are a pit fiddly, but the distinction can be seen as viewing the place/time from within (`-em(ya)`), and viewing the place/time from outside (`-ol(ya)`).

== Partitive Possessive ==

A special use of the direct possessive can be found when the possessor (the second noun) is either plural, or otherwise expresses the notion of something with many alike parts, and the possessed noun (the first one) is something that could be one of those parts. Non-personal pronouns are generally applicable in this role, since by their nature they can stand for any noun as required by context - for example, `nughu lamkan` "each dragon" is in fact an example of this, being literally "each one out of a group of dragons" - but otherwise the range of things that can be the first noun is pretty limited. For example, with the noun `nat` "forest" as the possessor, pretty much only `ne` "tree" could stand as the first noun: `ne nat` "a tree of the forest".