Ilaini text

Ferhin veth lea ruvena custat, namudhena so nutena.
Ferhin rozen lea farisin lipole lusta naverayt.
Ferhin shon hul so chinyin lin.

Jahunie ti, hanie ferynas, hestayn:
Farinas morhien foy zylenet,
Gyrn, nane tin, ani hine chalenet,
Lastin so baryenin tinin farineneyt.

Ilaini interlinear

ferhin  veth    lea ruvena  custat   na.mudhena  so   nutena
N-nom-s N-nom-s REL N-acc-p V-PRS-3s NEG.N-acc-p CONJ N-acc-p

ferhin  rozen   lea farisin li.pole lusta     na.verat
N-nom-s N-nom-s REL N-nom-c  P.pp   V-PRS-INF NEG.V-PRS-3s

ferhin  shon    hul     so   chinyin lin
N-nom-s N-nom-s N-nom-s CONJ N-nom-c N-nom-s

jahunie ti   hanie   ferynas hestayn
ADV     P2sO N-voc-s N-voc-s V-PRS-1p

farinas morhien foy zylenet
N-nom-s N-loc-s pp  V-INC-IRR-3s

gyrn    nane    tin  ani  hine chalenet
N-nom-s N-nom-s POSS P1pO ADV  V-INC-IRR-3s

lastin  so   baryenin tinin      farineneyt
N-nom-p CONJ N-abl-p  POSS-abl-p V-INC-IRR-3p 

Ilaini glossary

N - Nouns and adjectives

Nouns and adjectives are one word class and can be interchanged freely.

baryn - footstep
chinyn - nail, talon (collective plural: chinyin = claw)
farinas - spring (= the season that things sprout)
farisin - herbs, plant life
ferhin - Winter
ferynas - bouncy (like Tigger)
gyrn - sun
hanie - adolescent, boy/girl, lad/lass (gender neutral)
hul - cruelty, hardship; cruel
lasten - flower
lin - point, pin; sharp
morhin - the earth, the ground
mudh - health; healthy
nane - mother
nute - (small) child, weaned but not talking intelligibly yet
rozen - rock, boulder, rocky outcrop
ruve - old (only of people); old person
shon - beak (of a bird)
veth - wolf

V - Verbs

The inceptive irrealis (with infix -en- and -e- in the ending) is used for wishes, prayers, prophecies etcetera.

chala - to see, to look (at) (hine chala = to look upon)
custa - to take, to seize, to grab
farina - to sprout
hesta - to invoke a god, to pray
lusta - to take root, to grow
vera - to be able
zyla - to dance

pp - Postpositions (both, as it happens, with the locative)

foy - on, over (covering distance or terrain; not "above", it has to be touching)
pole - on, on top of

ADV - Adverbs

hine - (from) above
jahunie - for that reason, that's why

P - Pronouns

ani - 1st plural object - us
lea - relative pronoun
li - 3rd neuter - it
ti - 2nd singular object - thee/you
tin - 2nd singular possessive - thy/your (possessive pronouns are adjectives and are declined accordingly)

Miscellaneous

na - negative prefixE
so - and

Ilaini grammar notes

Abbreviations:

N - noun
V - verb

nom - nominative
voc - vocative
acc - accusative
abl - ablative
loc - locative

1, 2, 3 - person
s - singular
c - collective
p - plural

PRS - present tense
The imperfective aspect is unmarked (i.e. has a zero marker)
INC - inceptive aspect
IRR - irrealis (a mood treated grammatically as a tense)

REL - relative
ADV - adverb
NEG - negation
CONJ - conjunction
pp - postposition (postpositions are usually suffixed to pronouns)
O - object form (of pronouns)

Random remarks

Ilaini is relentlessly SOV, allowing only parts of a compound object or object clause to be pushed out of the sentence structure.

If a sentence seems to have no subject, you probably need the implied subject of the verb. Collective subjects take a singular verb.

There is no copula; mere juxtaposition does the job for the present tense.

Smooth English translation

Winter is a wolf that seizes the old, the ill and the little children.
Winter is a rock that herbs can't grow on.
Winter is a cruel beak and a sharp claw.

That is why we pray to you, bouncy lad:
That spring will dance over the earth,
That the sun, your mother, will look upon us,
That flowers will spring up from your footsteps.