Lessons

Lessons — Prepositions

Prepositions are auxiliary words placed before nouns, hence their name. Majority of Indo-European languages uses prepositions together with nouns to describe directions, locations and time intervals. However, in Nûrlâm such words are usually placed after nouns, and are called postpositions which will be discussed in the following lesson. Nûrlâm has both pre- and post-positions, and such words are collectively called adpositions.

While postpositions in Nûrlâm are always used to describe locations or directions, prepositions mostly describe time or actions towards persons or objects. And words describing locations are placed before nouns only if they consist of two syllables.

New words

  • bug (against [someone or something])
  • gus (about [someone or something])
  • ik (before [time], by [some time])
  • la (after [time])
  • lata (under, beneath, below)
  • shi (at [exact time], in [time of day])
  • tala (above, over [vertically], on top of)
  • ândh (evening, dusk)
  • ânsh (morning, dawn)
  • ânth (early)1)
  • ârsh (day, noon)
    • ârshik (yesterday)2)
  • fugh (night)
  • kârsh (sea)
  • kaup (hill)

Examples

  • about some shit = gus mûd push
  • above the sea = tala kârshum
  • against wraiths = bug gûl
  • after 7 years = la udug lau
  • at night = shi fugh
  • before the dusk = ik ândhum
  • below the dirt = lata dugum
  • beneath the water = lata nînum
  • by the dawn = ik ânshum
  • on top of the tower = tala lugum
  • over the hills = tala za kaup3)
  • under the mountain = lata rodum

Word order

The whole phrases made of prepositions with nouns act together similar to adverbs and adjectives, and are always placed after the words they describe. Some prepositions may be used without nouns as adverbs.

Examples

  • Come after ⇒ Skât la.
  • Orcs walk at night ⇒ Uruk ukhû shi fugh.

Exercise 1

Translate from English into Nûrlâm:

  1. a tower stands on top of this hill
  2. all trolls fled before the dawn
  3. dwarves live under this mountain
  4. eight orcs came late in the evening
  5. humans spoke about life
  6. make [a] fire at night
  7. old demons sleep beneath the sea
  8. orcish warriors are resting after the hunt4)
  9. scary dragon burns a slave alive after the bad day
  10. yesterday the warrior fought against the Nazgûl

show answers

show answers

  1. ash lug binâ tala za kaup
  2. ûk olog irzuzû ik ânshum
  3. gazat kîbû lata za rod
  4. skri uruk skâtuzû lad shi ândhum
  5. tark gashnuzû gus slai
  6. kramp ash ghâsh shi fugh
  7. kû rog lorû lata kârshum
  8. urukûrz mau(h) kâtû la farbum
  9. uf lûg ghâshâ ash snaga kîbarz la fik ârshum / lûg uf ghâshâ ash snaga kîbarz la ârshum fik
  10. ârshik mauhum maukuzâ bug Nazgûlum / ârshik maum maukuzâ bug Nazgûlum

Exercise 2

Translate from Nûrlâm into English:

  1. ash golug uglûrz gashnâ gus karn poi tug
  2. ash ûzûl tau kâtâ lata rodum mor
  3. burz skâtâ shi fugh
  4. dau lûg skoirû tala lugum
  5. kû tark maukuzâ bug hûr kârshum
  6. mak mau ghuruzû ârshik
  7. nar olog lalû shi ârsh
  8. Nazgûl skoirû tala bûrz kaupum
  9. sta golug duzuzû ânth shi ânshum
  10. tusk noi nâkhuzu za shra ik ândhum

show answers

show answers

  1. a frightening elf speaks only about red berries
  2. a green forest lies under the black mountain
  3. darkness comes at night
  4. large dragons are flying over the tower
  5. old human fought against the fierce sea
  6. many warriors died yesterday
  7. no trolls laugh at noon
  8. Nâzgûl are flying over the dark hill
  9. short elves were sitting early in the morning
  10. [one] hundred bees bit this person before the dawn

See also

1)
same form for adjectives and adverbs
2)
literally “day before”, but preposition “ik” acts as an adverb and then became a clitic because of the frequent usage
3)
somewhere higher than hills' pinnacles
4)
just use the stem of the verb “to hunt”

Contents

Lessons

Here is the list of lessons for studying the conlang called Nûrlâm, yet another fan dialect of Tolkien's Black Speech.

  • Overview of Nûrlâm dialect
  1. The very basics:
  2. Deeper knowledge:
  3. Advanced:
  4. Mastering the language:
    • Making new words: derivational suffixes
    • Verbs: phrasal verbs, prefixes
    • Affix order: nouns
    • Affix order: verbs