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Lesson 10: Indirect Object

How to Use This Lesson

Every lesson is divided into five sections. Please move through them in this order: Warm-Up, Grammar, Vocabulary, Exercise, Review, and then Exercise and Review once more to see how much you've improved.

Do not try to memorize! Just read through the content attentively. We will have plenty of exercises and reviews later!

How much do you remember from the first lesson?

Check the boxes for words you think you know. Then click Show Answers to reveal the meanings.

Indirect Object

We know how to say who does something (a), what action they do (i), and what they do it to (e). So we could, for example, say:

a nim i boemo e mo
 ↓        ↓       ↓     
 I     cook   the food

But, for some verbs, this structure sounds incomplete. For example:

a nim i anona e moulu
 ↓        ↓       ↓     
 I     give   the milk
I give the milk... to whom? We need another complement there! If we want to say: I give milk to the baby. The baby is the not the thing being given, but the one receiving it. For that, we use u!

U is the marker to indicate indirect objects, which in English usually translates to "to/for". For example:

u falen = to the child

So the full sentence is:

a nim i anona e moulu u falen
 ↓        ↓       ↓       ↓
 I       give    milk   to baby

These are the mnemonics for the markers: Agent Initiates Engaging Unto

Just like with the other markers, word order is flexible. You can use whatever order feels most natural to you:

a nim i anona e moulu u falen
           =
u falen i anona e moulu a nim

I give milk to the child.

Now try to say: She gives coffee to my sibling.

Now, u pairs naturally with these verbs we've already seen:

anona  = give    → i anona e [thing] u [person]
anita  = take    → i anita e [thing] u [person]  (take to)
anocari = leave  → i anocari e [thing] u [person]  (leave for)

Try to say: We need to give the bottle to you.

In sum:

u = to / for [someone]  (indirect object, verb complement)

a [subject] i [verb] e [thing] u [recipient]

Now try to create a sentence using u, or 3 if you're up for a challenge!

YA SUBCLUSTER

Last lesson, we learned about the YA cluster. It is about objective characteristics, or traits that can be measured.

Today we will learn YA Subclusters! Look at the list of words below.

Remember, do not try to memorize them. Just read it through attentively.

Oravia English
yahci sharp
yahlul smooth
yahgor solid
yalnou deep
yalen long
yaltan big

What do you notice about these words? Can you spot any patterns with YAL and YAH?

🌍 Sound Connections

Ci means sharp, like Mandarin 刺 cì (to stab, prick, sharp); Arabic سكين sikkīn (knife, sharp); Sanskrit छिद् chid (to cut, sharp action); Swahili kisu (knife, sharp).

Tan comes from Greek Titan (giant).

That's why we have:
wiltan = city (human-made geography + large), just like yaltan = big/large (objective quality dimension + large).

You are now ready for the Exercise!

Matching Games

Time to practice! Match the Oravia words with their English meanings. Use sound-meaning associations as clues. For example, the subcluster sound tells you the category, even for words you haven't seen before.
If you don't remember or make a mistake, that's totally fine! We will have plenty of opportunities to practice. Right now just give it a try.
Click one word from each column to match them. The game will check automatically when you select both words.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Matching Games

Time to practice! Match the Oravia words with their English meanings. Use sound-meaning associations as clues. For example, the subcluster sound tells you the category, even for words you haven't seen before.
If you don't remember or make a mistake, that's totally fine! We will have plenty of opportunities to practice. Right now just give it a try.
Click one word from each column to match them. The game will check automatically when you select both words.

After completing the Exercises and Review, try it again to see how much you've improved.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Review Missed Words

This section shows words you got wrong during practice. If you didn't miss any, this will be empty - great job! 🎉

🎉 Lesson 10 Complete!

If you missed any words, check the Review tab to practice them again.

Come back tomorrow for Lesson 11.