Gavári is designed to be simple and regular. No verb “to be”, no separate possessive pronouns, and a small set of tense particles (pa, fa, wa).
Bilu veru, maua sunua. Minu fa gavo sap nuai larug. “Good morning, my son. We will go to the store later.”
Personal pronouns are used for everything – subject and possessive “my/your/their”. There are no separate possessive forms.
Possession = pronoun + noun:
Maua fale My house
Taua car Your car
Io sunua His son
Yona dunua Her daughter
Minu famua Our family
Laua fale Their house
Yua amun You all's friend
Bilu veru, maua sunua. Good morning, my son.
Gavári has no normal “to be” verb and no articles like “a / an / the”. The subject is followed directly by an adjective or verb.
Maua lena. I am tired.
Taua felin. You are happy.
Fale faru. The house is big.
Minu amunlan. We are friends.
Word order is usually:
All base verb forms end in -o: gavo (go), meao (eat), inuo (drink), wivo (want), vahro (work)…
Tense and mood are shown with particles placed after the pronoun and before the verb:
Maua gavo sap nuai. I go to the store.
Maua pa gavo sap nuai. I went to the store.
Maua fa gavo sap nuai. I will go / I’m going to go to the store.
Maua wa gavo sap nuai. I would go to the store.
Put Noa after the pronoun and before the tense marker or verb:
Maua noa wivo gavo. I don’t want to go.
Maua noa gavo sap nuai. I don’t go to the store. (more “never / usually don’t”)
Maua noa pa gavo sap nuai. I didn’t go to the store.
Maua wivo meao ramua-fanu. I want to eat lunch.
Minu pa vahro veru. We worked this morning.
Gavári uses two main location words:
Minu hanu fale. We are in the house.
Maua ke skolu / Mi hanu skolu. I’m at school / I’m in (inside) the school.
Laua hanu car. They are in the car.
Maua ke pesta talu mi amunlan. I’m in the street with my friends.
Minu ke pesta-fale. We are in the neighborhood.
Laua ke gavári-veru. They are in the homeland / on Gavári.
Maua ke nuai. I am at the store. / on Gavári.
Gavári forms plurals using -LAN at the end of any noun. Amun-Amunlan, Fale-Falelan, Nuai-Nuailan
Adjectives do not get pluralized, only nouns.
Maua ninu amunlan. My new friends.
Maua bonu carlan. My brother's cars.
Maua fa wero mi conuahlan. I am going to see my children.
Remember - Adjectives are always singular.
The Gavári word SAP is used to show motion to a place/location and also when using the verbs savo and falu. Mi gavo sap ti fale. I am going to your house. Mi pa savo sap yona. I told her.
Maua fa gavo sap yona fale. I will go to her house.
Io pa savo sap ti bonu. He told your brother.
Maua pa gavo ti fale onu mi pa savo sap yona mi pa nuaio fanu. I went to your house and I told her that I bought food.
SAP is not used with savo when you are using it to mean "I said". For example: "I said I was tall" would not use sap....only when there is an object you are speaking directly to.
If the subject does not change after a comma or coordinating conjunction (and, but, etc...) there is no need to reuse the pronoun.
Yona hanu nuai, beli lango gavo sap skolu. She is in the store, but she needs to go to school.
If she (yona) continues as the subject of the sentence it can be omitted.
Bilu veru, maua sunua. Good morning, my son.
Bilu veru, maua famua. Good morning, my family.
Maua lena, noa wivo gavo sap nuai. I am tired, I don’t want to go to the store.
Minu fa gavo sap fale-naua ni verdag. ni = this We will go to the beach house this weekend.
Maua meao ramu-fanu, onu fa inuo hona-poa. I eat breakfast and will drink a glass of water.
Laua pa vahro ke veru, onu fa napao noru. They worked in the morning and will sleep at night.
Minu amunlan, onu hono-noku ke verdag. We are friends, relaxed on the weekend.