Sentences require both a subject and a verb. The subject is the noun or pronoun that is doing or being. The verb is the action or state of being. Ex: Aziz eats. In the sentence, Aziz is the subject who is ‘doing’ the verb (eating). In English, the subject comes first, then the verb, and lastly the object (SVO structure). In Memoni, sentences follow the SOV structure (subject, object, verb).
Ex:
Memoni: Latif bhaoo bimaar ae.
Literal Translation: Latif very ill is.
English: Latif is very ill.
The same SOV structure is seen in interrogative sentences
Ex:
Memoni: Oo kare ae?
Translation: He who is
English: Who is he?
Ex:
Memoni: Ee kuro ae?
Translation: This what is
English: What is this?
Ex:
Memoni: Chokro kida aee?
Translation: Boy where is
English: Where is the boy?
Try it yourself!
What is your name? --> Aeenjo naalo kuro aee?
Is this house not yours? --> Kuro hee ghar aeenjo naee?
Who is that man? --> Hoo maroo kair aae?
Where is my hourse? --> Minjho ghoro kida aee?
He is my brother. --> Hee minjho bhaa aee.
Ex: Boy = Chhokro (ms) or Chokra (mp)
Girl = Chhokree (fs) or Chokriyun (fp)
Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns. Some common pronouns used in Memoni are:
However, it is very common for the personal pronoun to be omitted in speaking. You can tell the subject of the sentence by the verb conjugation (Lesson 5). Ex:
Instead of saying AauN Piyato (I drink), you can just say Piyato and you will be understood
Verbs come in their infinitive tense, which can be used as the basis to form sentences. In this scenario we use a regular verb - ‘to sell.’ Please note irregular verbs follow different rules.
Infinitive Tense: To Sell - Vechnu
To create the root verb from the infinitive, remove the ‘nu’ ending.
Ex:
Root verb: Sell = Vech
To form the present tense, the root verb is taken and endings are added depending on the personal pronoun used. This process is known as conjugation.
Personal Pronoun + Root Verb + Male/Female Ending
AauN + vech + ato/ati = Aaun vechato/ati
Assan + vech + uta = Assan vechuta
Tu/Aaen + vech + ete = Tu/Aaen vechete
AaeN + vech + ota = AaeN vechota
Ee/Hee + vech + eto/eti = Ee/hee vecheto/eti
OuN + vech + enta/entyu = OuN vechenta/entyu
Note that some endings are the same for both male and female. Additionally, if a group is made up of both men and women, the masculine ending is used.
You Try:
Infinitive - Kiynu
Answer:
Root - Kiy
AauN + kiy + ato/eti
AauN + kiy + ato/ati
Assan + kiy + uta
Tu/Aaen + kiy + ete
AaeN + kiy + ota
Ee/Hee +kiy + eto/eti
OuN + kiy + enta/entyu
Other verbs following same formula for practice
Naarnu - To Watch/Look
Vannu - To Go
Vachnu - to read
To meet - Milnu
Kholnu - To Open
Bolnu - To Speak
To Sleep = Sumnu
The verb ‘To Do’ is an easy way to express action. There are many occasions where in Memon, you may not know the verb, but are able to express the action using the verb ‘To Do’ plus the noun. For example:
Memon: Ee saaf kareti
Translation: She clean does.
English: She cleans.
Memon: Mike phone kareto
Translation: Me phone he does
English: He phones me.
Memon: AauN kam karato.
Translation: I work do.
English: I work.
See conjugation of the regular verb ‘To Do – Karnu’
AauN + kar + ato/ati
Assan + kar + uta
Tu/Aaen + kar + ete
AaeN + kar + ota
Ee/Hee + kar + eto/eti
OuN + kar + enta/entyu
I suggest memorizing conjugations outside of present tense for this verb as it is very commonly used.
Kar = To do
I was doing it: Karnivis
I was going to do it: Karanjeevis
I will do it: Karniseh
I was doing it: Karniviseh
I did it: Kariviseh
I did (m): Karyoseeh
He did it: Karyoh
She did it: Kareeh
We should do it: Kareeganooh
We were doing it: Karnavaseeh
Get it done: Karaygan
She’s doing it: Karetheeh
Do it: Kareegan
I’m doing it: Karatheeh
He’s doing it: Karethoh
Another helpful verb is the one used to express existence. This is an irregular verb that you will need to memorize. It has many purposes, including age, job/profession, and other uses similar to English. The personal pronoun must be used with this verb.
Conjugations: I am - AauN ya
You are - Tu/Aaen ye
He/She is - Hee aiy
We are - Assan yoon
Y’all are - AaeN yo
They are - OuN aiyn
Though we have not covered future or past tenses, here are their conjugations. I suggest you memorize these conjugations as this is the verb you will most use.
I was - AauN vo
You were - Tu/Aaen wa
He/She was - Hee wo
We were - Assan waa
Y’all were - AaeN wei
They were - OuN wa
I will be - AauN theeno
You will be - Tu/Aaen theena
He/She will be - Hee theeno
We will be - Assan theena
Y’all will be - AaeN theenei
They will be - OuN theenaa
Practice using this verb:
I am Pakistani - AauN Pakistani ya
I was Pakistani - AauN Pakistani vo
I will be Pakistani - AauN Pakistani theeno
While a few verbs such as the verb ‘to be’ are irregular without a pattern, most irregular verbs in Memoni follow a pattern. Irregular verbs usually have a vowel before the ‘nu’ in the infinitive tense. For example, Parnu, Banaynu, Kholnu all have a consonant before the ‘nu’ sound at the end, and are thus all regular verbs. For these irregular verbs below (‘enu’ or ‘eenu’ sounding, aka having an ‘e’ before the ‘nu’), the root is no longer formed by deleting the ‘+nu’ from the infinitive tense, but by taking the first sound of the word and adding an ‘i’ sound:
The examples will follow this format:
Infinitive (English) - Infinitive - Root - AauN form
To Sit - Venu - Vi - Viyato
To Eat - Kenu - Ki - Kiyato
To Stay - Renu - Ri - Riyato
Try it yourself:
To Take - Lenu
Answer 1.
Li - Liyato
To Drink - Peenu
Answer 2:
Pi - Piyato
To Live - Jeenu
Answer 3:
Ji - Jiyato
To Give - Dheenu
Answer 4:
Dhi - Dhiyato
Ex 5:
To Become - Theenu
Answer 5:
Thi - Thiyato
This is rule is applicable to all personal pronouns, excluding one: for the ‘OuN’ (they) personal pronoun, the verb is conjugated using the regular rule of deleting the ‘nu’ from the end of the infinitive tense to create the root, and then adding either +nta (m) or +ntyu (f). The endings are very similar to the regular conjugation endings but without the initial ‘e’.
Ex:
To Sit - Venu - Ve
They/OuN form: Venta/ventyu
Try it yourself:
To Give - Deenu - Di
Answer: They/OuN form: Deenta/Deentyu
The other types of irregular verbs have ‘oo’ before the ‘nu’ in the infinitive form (’oonu’ sounding). The root verb is similarly created by taking the first sound of the word. As with the previous group of irregular verbs, this group also uses a different conjugation for the ‘OuN’ (they) form by removing the ‘nu’ and adding either + nta (m) or + ntyu (f).
Note that the AauN (I) form adds a ‘w’ sound when conjugating, so Dhoonu becames Dhwato instead of Dhato.
Examples in the following form:
Infinitive (english) - infinitive - root - AauN form
To Clean - Dhoonu - Dh - Dhwato
To Say - Choonu - Ch - Chwato
Try it Yourself
R - Rwato
P - Pwato
Endings for other forms:
AauN - Root + wato/wati
Tu/Aaen - Root + oite
Hee/Oo - Root + oito/oiti
Assan - Root + uta
AaeN - ota
OuN - root + nta/ntyu
Let’s take a break from verbs.
In English, a/an and the are used as articles. In Memoni, there are no articles. The only exception is the article ‘a’ or ‘an’ used to emphasize singularity.
For example:
Memoni: Akro darzee
Translation: One tailor
English: A tailor
Another Ex: Memoni: Oo sipahi ae
Translation: He soldier is
English: He is a soldier
OR
Memoni: Oo akro sipahi ae
Translation: He one soldier is
English: He is a soldier
Again, the article “the” is not used in Memoni
In English, the words ‘on, ‘in’, ‘from’ etc are called propositions. They are written before the noun they govern. In Memoni, it is just the reverse and the propositions are put after the noun governed. See the following examples:
Memoni: Mijho ghar pahaari tey ae Translation: My house hill on is. English: My house is on a hill.
Memoni: Ghar meiN kair ae?
Translation: House inside who is?
English: Who is in the house?
Try these on your own:
– My office is in Karachi – Minjhee office Karachi meiN aae.
– The book is on the table – Hee chopri table tey aae.
Me: Mike
You: Thoke
Him/her: Inke
Us: Paanke/Asaanke
Y’all: Ayenke
Them: OuNke
Object pronouns are those pronouns that receive the action in a sentence. This could be an apple (if you’re eating an apple) or could be another person (if you’re hitting someone). In any case, the object pronoun is an important part of sentence formation as it will save you referring to the object by its name. So, instead of saying “I call John”, the sentence becomes “I call him”.
Next we will go over the placement of object pronouns in a sentence.
In English, to express that you like something, the subject of the sentence is the person who is doing the liking (I, we, she etc.). In other words, the subject is doing the verb while the object is receiving the verb. However, in Memoni, the roles of subject and object are flipped; the object does the verb and the subject is the object.
Memoni: Mike apples gamanta
Translation: To me, apples are attractive.
English: I like apples.
Directly translated, the apples are the ones who are preforming the act of being attractive to the person, which is why the conjugation of the verb agrees with the gender and plurality of apples, the object.
While there is no eay translation, if you were to tell someone ‘I like you’ in Memoni, it would literally translate as ‘you are attractive to me’ - or, in other words, mike gamete.
These pronouns function as both possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives. To form them, add a preposition to the corresponding form of personal pronoun.
Possessive:
AauN - Mijjo
Tu/Aaen - Tojo/Aaenjo
Hee/Ooo - Eenjo/Oonjo
Assan - Assanjo
AaeN - AaeNjo
OuN - Ounjo
Objective (to me):
AauN - Mekkei
Tu/Aaen - Tokkei
Hee/Ooo - Eenkei/Oonkei
Assan - Assankei
AaeN - AaeNkei
OuN - OuNkei
Objective (from me):
AauN - Mijjsei
Tu/Aaen - Tosei/Aaensei
Hee/Ooo - Eensei/Oonsei
Assan - Assansei
AaeN - AaeNsei
OuN - Ounsei
The word Vari is the equivalent of Wala/Wali in Urdu and is used as a possessor. In case you are unfamiliar, here is an example:
Memoni: Payso Vari Urdu: Paise Wala
Translation: Possessor of money English: The rich one
The future tense, to indicate ‘will’ (e.g. I will read), is formed using the same conjugation rules of removing the ‘nu’ from both regular and irregular infinitive verbs, and adding the endings in the table below. Therefore, the verb Vechnu (to sell), will become Vechnos (I will sell).
Conjugations: AauN - root + nos/nis
Tu/Aaen - root + ne
Hee/Ooo - root + no/ni
Assan - root + nas
AaeN - root + na
OuN - root + na/nyu
Example:
AauN - vech + nos/nis = AauN vechnos/nis
Tu/Aaen - vech+ ne = Tu/Aaen vechne
Hee/Ooo - vech+ no/ni = Hee/Oo vechno/ni
Assan - vech + nas = Assan vechnas
AaeN - vech + na = AaeN vechna
OuN - vech + na/nyu = OuN vechna/nyu