Sambahsa for English Speakers

This learning course is inspired by Margarita Madrigal and Language Transfer.

With very little grammatical explanation, you will begin to internalize the language. Don't try to memorize anything! Just take your time and really think through how to translate the phrases. And mistakes are ok! Each lesson will build upon what you learned before it. Think of this course like a puzzle. You are building neural pathways :)

Table of Contents

• Lesson 1 (present tense 1st/2nd person. accusative)
• Lesson 2 (present tense 3rd person. nominative / accusative)
• Lesson 3 (neuter and undetermined. noun article.)
• Lesson 4 (dative)
• Lesson 5 (genitive)

Lesson 1

The verb stem for want is eiskw-.

To say "I want", you just add an "o" on the end.

To say "you want", you just add an "s" on the end.

The verb stem for love is lieubh-.

Just like before, to say "I love", you add an "o" on the end.

To negate a verb, you place ne (pronounced like "neh") before it.

The word for him is iom (pronounced like "yom")

In this lesson, you have learned:

• eiskw-
• lieubh-
• -o
• -s
• ne
• iom

Lesson 2

When you want to say he, she, or it does something, you add a -t to the verb stem.

To specify if the doer is a man, woman, or it, you can use the pronoun before.

The word for he is is (pronounced like "ease" but with a true s, not a z sound.)

The word for me is me (pronounced like "meh")

In this lesson, you have learned:

• -t
• is
• me

Lesson 3

The word for you is te (pronounced like "teh")

The word for it is id (pronounced like "eat" with a d instead of t)

The word for dog is kwaun (pronounced like "wow" with a k on the front and n on the end.)

In Sambahsa, you don't use the word "the". Instead, depending on what the gender is (he, she, it), you use those pronouns instead.

So instead of "the (male) cat wants it", you say "he cat wants it".

What if you don't know the gender of the animal or person?

The word for he/she/it/him/her/it (unknown gender) is el.

In most cases, animals will take the unknown / undetermined gender.

In this lesson, you have learned:

• te
• id
• kwaun
• el

Lesson 4

The verb stem for give is dah-.

When the verb stem ends on a vowel (in this case "ahhh"), you say "I give" by adding an -m.

The word for to him is ei (pronounced like "day" without the d).

The word for to me is just mi (pronounced like "me").

The word for to you is tib (pronounced like "teeb").

Remember there is no "the". Similarly, there is no "to the".

The word for but is bet.

A lot of times, an extra pronoun like "it" isn't needed if the context makes it clear.

In this lesson, you have learned:

• dah-
• ei
• mi
• tib
• bet

Lesson 5

The word for his is ios (pronounced like "yos").

In this lesson, you have learned:

• ios