Lesson 2: A & I Markers

Last lesson, mo meant food. The same word can also mean eat. So how do you know which one you are looking at?

Grammar

i tells you: this is the action

Put i before a word when it is being used as a verb:

i mo

Now add the person doing it.

a marks the subject, as in A = Actor.
i marks the verb, as in I = Initiates.

The pattern is:

a [subject] i [verb]

a nim i mo

Click to Reveal Translation

*I eat.*

With a simple pronoun, a is very often left out in ordinary speech:

nim i mo

Click to Reveal Translation

*I eat.*

In a short utterance about yourself, nim is often left out too:

i mo

Click to Reveal Translation

*I eat.*

So all three occur:

a nim i mo → nim i mo → i mo

In conversation, i mo can simply mean “I'm eating.” Nim is used to make the subject explicit.

Vocabulary

Clusters: the semantic domain

Last lesson you saw boemo “kitchen”:

BOE + MO → house space + food/eating → kitchen

The opening part is especially important. A cluster is a semantic domain, it tells you what kind of thing or idea the word is. Other building blocks add associations inside that domain.

For example, BOE tells you that boemo is a house-space concept. MO connects it with food/eating.

If a word starts with AN, expect an action. YAL points to size and dimensions. You already know VAR, the face/head area, from Lesson 1. And so on.

Building blocks

AN — action. Mnemonic: AN action.
VU — movement. Mnemonic: Velocity, underway.
YAL — size and dimension. Mnemonic: a yard measures size.
GAI — small. Mnemonic: a tiny grain.

Try varmo

You already know both pieces from Lesson 1:

VAR = face/head area.
MO = food/eating.

What body part comes to mind for varmo?

Reveal

**varmo** = **mouth**.

Now compare:

boemo = house room + food/eating → kitchen
varmo = face/head area + food/eating → mouth

The shared MO creates an association and gives you a clue. And the opening cluster tells you what semantic domain the word belongs to.

Words

Oravia	Meaning	Breakdown
anvu	move, go	AN action + VU movement
yalgai	small	YAL size + GAI small
varmo	mouth	VAR face/head area + MO eating

Put it together

From Lesson 1

mo = eat / food
boemo = kitchen / cook

a nim i anvu

Click to Reveal Translation

*I go.*

a hay i mo

Click to Reveal Translation

*They eat.*

run varmo

Click to Reveal Translation

*your mouth*

Your turn

Write one sentence with nim or hay, then write one sentence about yourself without nim.

Mini Review

Quick review:

Continue to Lesson 3 →