Mfeuti (/ˈmfɛut/)

Natively known as: mfeut /ˈmfɛut/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
qhe fess sut qa mluy ndigh qhe sut njumser jendze ncwigip nyaff lwu
Pronunciation: /ǃʰɛ fɛss sut ǃɒ mluj ndigh ǃʰɛ sut ˈɲʤumsɛr ˈʤɛndzɛ ˈᵑǀwigip ɲɒff lwu/
Mfeuti word order: and he his hat holding stood and his wet face the wind to turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b b̤ d f g h j k kʰ l m n p pʰ r s t tʰ v w z ŋ ǀ ǀʰ ǂ ǂʰ ǃ ǃʰ ɦ ɬ ɮ ɲ ʃ ʤ ʦʼ ʧʼ ᵑǀ ᵑǀ̤ ᵑǂ̤ ᵑǃ ᵑǃ̤ ᶢǀ̤ ᶢǃ̤

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p pʰ b b̤			t tʰ d			k kʰ g
Affricate				ʦʼ	ʧʼ ʤ
Fricative		f v		s z	ʃ			h ɦ
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral fricative				ɬ ɮ
Lateral approximant				l
Click			ǀ ǀʰ ᵑǀ ᵑǀ̤ ᶢǀ̤	ǃ ǃʰ ᵑǃ ᵑǃ̤ ᶢǃ̤		ǂ ǂʰ ᵑǂ̤

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: i u ɒ ɔ ɛ

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low		ɒ

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
bʱ	bh
ᵑǀʱ	ngc
ᵑǃʱ	ngq
ᵑǂʱ	ngx
ɲʧʼ	ntsh
ʧʼ	tsh
ᶢǃʱ	gq
ᶢǂʱ	gx
ᶢǀʱ	gc
ᵑǂ	nx
ǂʰ	xh
ᵑǃ	nq
kʰ	kh
ǃʰ	qh
ǃ	q
ǂ	x
ŋk	nk
ᵑǀ	nc
ǀʰ	ch
ǀ	c
ɮ	dl
j	y
ɲʤ	nj
ʤ	j
ɲ	ny
ɦ	hh
ɬ	hl
pʰ	ph
ʃ	sh
tʰ	th
ʦʼ	ts
ɒ	a
ɛ	e
ɔ	o

---

Grammar

Main word order: Subject Object (Prepositional phrase) Verb. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door with a key opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Nouns have three cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: wɒt - wat shu /wɒt ʃu/ dogs

Nominative	No affix shu /ʃu/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -gh Else: Suffix -igh shugh /ʃugh/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Suffix -ɒ shua /ˈʃuɒ/ dogʼs

Animate	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ǀ Else: Suffix -ɔǀ mzuffoc /ˈmzuffɔǀ/
Inanimate	Suffix -ɛj sheyey /ˈʃɛjɛj/

Articles

Definite	hle /ɬɛ/ the
Indefinite	pha /pʰɒ/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st singular	nge /ngɛ/ I	mbo /mbɔ/ me	mpa /mpɒ/ mine
2nd singular	lwawn /lwɒwn/ you	ni /ni/ you	no /nɔ/ yours
3rd singular masc	fess /fɛss/ he, it	vo /vɔ/ him, it	sut /sut/ his, its
3rd singular fem	kon /kɔn/ she, it	yan /jɒn/ her, it	hha /ɦɒ/ hers, its
1st plural	nang /nɒng/ we	tso /ʦʼɔ/ us	be /bɛ/ ours
2nd plural	ko /kɔ/ you all	xhel /ǂʰɛl/ you all	bhu /b̤u/ yours (pl)
3rd plural	ya /jɒ/ they	hla /ɬɒ/ them	go /gɔ/ theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	wust /wust/ my
2nd singular	no /nɔ/ your
3rd singular masc	sut /sut/ his
3rd singular fem	hha /ɦɒ/ her
1st plural	be /bɛ/ our
2nd plural	bhu /b̤u/ your (pl)
3rd plural	go /gɔ/ their

Verbs

Present

	Animate	Inanimate
1st singular	Suffix -ɔj nyangoy /ˈɲɒngɔj/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -ɔr nyangor /ˈɲɒngɔr/
2nd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt Else: Suffix -int nyangint /ˈɲɒngint/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ss Else: Suffix -ɒss nyangass /ˈɲɒngɒss/
3rd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ll Else: Suffix -ɒll nyangall /ˈɲɒngɒll/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -ɒl nyangal /ˈɲɒngɒl/
1st plural	Suffix -ung nyangung /ˈɲɒngung/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɔn nyangon /ˈɲɒngɔn/
2nd plural	Suffix -i nyangi /ˈɲɒngi/	Suffix -ɔ nyango /ˈɲɒngɔ/
3rd plural	Suffix -ɒgh nyangagh /ˈɲɒngɒgh/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ss Else: Suffix -uss nyanguss /ˈɲɒnguss/

Past

	Animate	Inanimate
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɒn nyangan /ˈɲɒngɒn/	Suffix -ir nyangir /ˈɲɒngir/
2nd singular	Suffix -ɔǀk nyangock /ˈɲɒngɔǀk/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ǀk Else: Suffix -uǀk nyanguck /ˈɲɒnguǀk/
3rd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ll Else: Suffix -ɛll nyangell /ˈɲɒngɛll/	Suffix -ɛll nyangell /ˈɲɒngɛll/
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -ur nyangur /ˈɲɒngur/	Suffix -u nyangu /ˈɲɒngu/
2nd plural	Suffix -uj nyanguy /ˈɲɒnguj/	Suffix -ull nyangull /ˈɲɒngull/
3rd plural	Suffix -ɛt nyanget /ˈɲɒngɛt/	Suffix -if nyangif /ˈɲɒngif/

Remote past

	Animate	Inanimate
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɛn nyangen /ˈɲɒngɛn/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -ɛr nyanger /ˈɲɒngɛr/
2nd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -j Else: Suffix -ɒj nyangay /ˈɲɒngɒj/	Suffix -ɔf nyangof /ˈɲɒngɔf/
3rd singular	Suffix -ɒl nyangal /ˈɲɒngɒl/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ss Else: Suffix -ɔss nyangoss /ˈɲɒngɔss/
1st plural	Suffix -ɒ nyanga /ˈɲɒngɒ/	Suffix -uff nyanguff /ˈɲɒnguff/
2nd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -ɒp nyangap /ˈɲɒngɒp/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -ɔf nyangof /ˈɲɒngɔf/
3rd plural	Suffix -igh nyangigh /ˈɲɒngigh/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ff Else: Suffix -ɔff nyangoff /ˈɲɒngɔff/

Future

	Animate	Inanimate
1st singular	Suffix -ɛ nyange /ˈɲɒngɛ/	Suffix -ɒf nyangaf /ˈɲɒngɒf/
2nd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -ut nyangut /ˈɲɒngut/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -ɒf nyangaf /ˈɲɒngɒf/
3rd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -gh Else: Suffix -ɔgh nyangogh /ˈɲɒngɔgh/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ll Else: Suffix -ɔll nyangoll /ˈɲɒngɔll/
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -in nyangin /ˈɲɒngin/	Suffix -ɒǀ nyangac /ˈɲɒngɒǀ/
2nd plural	Suffix -ɔl nyangol /ˈɲɒngɔl/	Suffix -ɛnt nyangent /ˈɲɒngɛnt/
3rd plural	Suffix -in nyangin /ˈɲɒngin/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -ɔl nyangol /ˈɲɒngɔl/

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Mfeuti uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt Else: Suffix -int nyangint /ˈɲɒngint/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Mfeuti has a base-10 number system:
1 - dast
2 - bist
3 - je
4 - mnyest
5 - khi
6 - zar
7 - ne
8 - qho
9 - sha
10 - nze
11 - dast qhe nze “one and ten”
100 - msuss “hundred”
101 - msuss dast “hundred one”
200 - bist msuss
1000 - qhamngent “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
Else: Suffix -ɒf
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ɒgh
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ip
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -ɛt
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -st
Else: Suffix -ɒst
Noun to verb = Suffix -ɛǀk
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ǀk
Else: Suffix -uǀk
Tending to = Suffix -ɔ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ist
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -u
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ɒr
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɔn
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p
Else: Suffix -ɛp
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -ɒt
Maker = Suffix -ɔng

Dictionary

3283 Words.

Spoken by

• Mfeuti