Syntax

Overall, Mirad is an SVO language, that is, the normal word order is Subject + Verb Predicate + Object, much like English and all of the Romance languages.

The subject and object consist of nouns or pronouns with or without modifiers. The verb predicate consists of a conjugated verb form with or without adverbial modifiers, which may precede or follow based on considerations below.

The Subject

A subject is the entity that is responsible for the action or state in the verb predicate. That entity consists of modified or unmodified zero or more nouns or pronouns. The subject can be a noun phrase, which can include modifiers like deictic adjectives, quantifiers, or descriptive adjectives preceding a noun or nouns heading up a prepositional phrase.

Some rules:

Modifiers of a noun or noun phrase precede that noun or noun phrase:
Deictic adjectives and possessive pronouns come in first place among the modifiers:

Hia via toyb....this beautiful woman

Ha aa desiun....the first letter

Yata ifwa twed hu toja zojub....our beloved father who died last year

Quantifiers come after any deictic adjectives or possessive pronouns, but before the noun they modify:

Hua ewa pati....those two birds

Hya ha gla jubi....all the many days

Iyta gla yafoni....her many abilities

Prepositions precede their complement:

Za ata tam....in front of my house

Prepositional phrase modifiers follow the noun they modify:

ha domep zo yata tam....the street behind our house

saxam yub bi et....a factory near you

Relative clause modifiers follow the noun or noun phrase they modify:

Has hu at voy teste....the thing (that) I don't understand

Ha glo doymi hu zoybese....the few towns that remain

A subject noun can consist of a clause, infinitive, or gerund:

Van it upo se vala.....That he will come is certain.

Ser yiva se ser iva.....To be free is to be happy.

Hia uvteuden yefe poser.....This weeping must stop.

The subject can consist of pronoun or linked pronouns:

Et ay at....You and I

Away et....Only you

Glati....many people

Adverbs often precede what they modify, but this rule is somewhat loose.

Gey et....even you

Deuzen fiay....singing well

Voy aken....not winning

The Verb Predicate

The verb predicate consists of a subject (implied or explicit) followed by a conjugated verb form or a series of conjugated verb forms, modified or not by adverbs.

Rules:

The adverbs vay (indeed), vey (possibly, may), and voy (not) usually precede the verb:

Aata tam voy osexwa.....Our house was not destroyed.

Vey mamilo.....It may rain.

Et se vay fia deuzut.....You are really a fine singer.

Other adverbs and come either before or after the verb, depending on emphasis.

Dalu yug!....Speak softly!

Et dale gra ig.....You speak too fast.

It glaxag ake.....He often wins.

Glaxag it ake.....Often he wins.

It ake glaxag.....He wins often.

Yes-no questions are formed by preceding the verb predicate with Duven...?, which means Say whether..., Is it true that..., without any word order change in the verb predicate:

Duven it gaj tejeye?....Is (it true that) he still living?

Duven et te ha dud?....Do you know the answer?

Questions words requiring fill-in-the-blank words like When?, Where?, Who?, etc. start out with the question word, followed by the verb predicate in unchanged word order:

Hoj et taja?....When were you born?

Hoyen et se?....How are you?

Hos se eta dyun?....What is your name?

Hom et tambee?....Where do you live?

Hot kobia ata dyes?....Who stole my book?

Question words that are adverbs, as well as pronominal question words that are the subject of a stative predicate, can appear at the end of a sentence:

Et taja hoj?....When were you born?

Et se hoyen?....How are you?

Eta dyun se hos?....What is your name?

Et tambee hom?....Where do you live?

Verbs can be serial:

It deuze, daze, ay duzare.....He sings, dances, and plays an instrument.

Eku ey pilu!....Play or get lost!

Iyt eka oy oka.....She played but lost.

Verb predicates can have an implied, unexpressed subject:

Mamilo.....(It) is going to rain.

Upu!....(You) come!

Se ama him.....(It) is hot here.

Voy se yeva jayevder hes.....(It) is not fair to prejudge someone.

Von jwosu.....Don't (you) be late.

The Object

The object in a sentence can be noun or noun phrase, a pronoun, an infinitive, a gerund, a prepositional phrase, or a clause. Sometimes, an object consists of both a direct object and an indirect object.

Rules:

Transitive verbs can take a direct object:

Ha yepet teupixa at.....The dog bit me.

Yovobu hati hu fyuxe et.....Forgive those who hurt you.

Biu hia yibdren.....Take this telegram.

Some transitive verbs can take both a direct and indirect object. Many common transitive verbs imply a directional proposition, and so that preposition need not be expressed in the indirect object, but in such cases the indirect object comes before the direct object:

Buu at hua nyem.....Give (to) me that box.

Du it doler.....Tell (to) him to be quiet.

Xu at ha avun bi pier.....Do (to) me the favor of leaving.

Stative verbs like ser (to be) can be followed by a complement consisting of a noun, pronoun, adjective, infinitive, gerund, or clause object.

His se fis.....This is a good thing.

His se gla fia.....This is very good.

Ha akut sa et.....The winner was you.

Se fia aker.....It is good to win.

Se uva van iyt pia.....It is sad that she left.

Intransitive verbs cannot take an object:

At yexa hum je ewa jabi.....I worked there for two years.

Yat tambee yukomay.....We live comfortably.

Hia voli agse ug.....These plants grow slowly.

Verbs of communication can take an entire clause as a direct object:

At ta van et upo.....I knew (that) you would come.

Duven et te ha tam hu se itas?....Do you know which house is his?

At da it ham hu et tambee.....I told him where you live.

Tuu at haj hu et puo.....Inform me when you arrive.

It voy da ven et upo.....He did not say whether he would be coming.

At javefyunda von it jwosu.....I warned him not to be late (= lest he be late).

Prepositional Constructions

Use of Simple Prepositions

Mirad has the following simple prepositions, which are monosyllabic, and stand directly before their substantive complement:

Simple Prepositions
ab....on	eb....between	ob....off	ib....away from	ub....toward
ayb....above	eyb....among	oyb....under
	be....at		bi....of, from	bu....to
bay....with	bey....by, via	boy....without
za....in front of	ze....in the middle of	zo....behind	zi....at the right of	zu....at the left of
zya....throughout	zye....through
ja....before	je....during	jo....after	ji....since	ju....until
gab....plus		gob....minus
gal....times	gel....like	gol....divided by
	ogel....unlike
gar....to the power of		gor....to the root (negative power) of
ay....and	ey....or	oy....but
av....for		ov....against
	vyel....about, than, as

Examples:

boy uvteuden....without moaning
av hyea tesdud....for whatever reason
ewa gal ewa....two times two
poper zya Europam.....to travel all over Europe.
iwa gar se yuwa....three squared is nine
yekea dyes vyel Mirad....looking for a book about Mirad

The preposition be (at) is used as an all-purpose locator:

be ha mimkum....at the beach
be ha domep....in the street
be ha meb....on the mountain
be Fransam....in France

The preposition be is used in many idioms, where ha (the) is omitted:

be dropek bay....at war with
be obem bi....at the bottom of ( = at bottom of)
be nem bi....in place of, instead of, in lieur of
be tam bi....chez, at the house of
be zam bi....in front of
be sinibar....on television
be dud bu....in response to
be tam....at home

The preposition bi can be used for from, indicating origin, or of, denoting possession or origin.

Examples:

Ata twed zoypa bi yex gwa.....My father returned from work early.
Ha yabtom bi London se humep.....The tower of London is that way.
His se ha dyes bi hua twob.....This is that man's book ( = the book of that man).

The proposition to (to) can often be omitted after a verb where the to-ness is embedded in the verb. This omission is possible only when the verb is followed immediately by the object of destination:

Examples:

Buu at hua drar....Give me that pencil (or: Buu hua drar bu at.)
Pu tam!....Go home! (but: Pu izay bu tam!)
At peye zedom.....I am going downtown. (or: At peye bu zedom.)

The preposition vyel is used for two purposes:

about, concerning, relative to as in Hia dyes vyel moltun se yika.....This book about physics is difficult.
than, as after comparative adjectives as in ga aga vyel huas....bigger than that one.

Do not confuse bay and boy, both of which can sometimes be translated by with in English.

bay denotes accompaniment as in Duven et po bay at?....Will you be going with me?
bey denotes means as in It pyexa at bey muf.....He hit me with ( = by means of) a stick.

Use of Complex Prepositions

The above simple prepositions can be used with adverbs to form more complex prepositions. The following chart shows adverbs which ban be joined with simple prepositions to create complex prepositions:

Complex Prepositions
ADVERB	+ bi	+ be	+ bu	OTHER
yab....up	yab bi ha sem....up from the table	yab be ha abmas....up on the roof	yab bu ha abtem....up to the attic	yab ayb ha mays....up over the fence
yob....down	yob bi ha abmas....down from the roof	yob be ha mimkum....down at the beach	yob bu he obtim....down to the cellar	yob oyb ha sem....down under the table
yeb....in	yeb bi ha mamil....in from the rain	yeb be ha tam....inside the house	yeb bu ata tim....into my room	yeb av vafil....in for wine
oyeb....out	oyeb bi ha miltim....out of/from the bathroom	oyeb be ha abzamas...out on the balcony	oyeb bu ha mesabab....out to the porch	oyeb av etyal....out for lunch
yub....near	yub bi yata tam....near(by) our house	yub be eta kun....near at your side	yub bu ha ujnod....near to the endpoint..	yub bay tod....near with family
yib....far	yib bi him....far from here	yib be mom....far out in space	yib bu ha byum....far to the goal	yib yob bu ha obem....far down to the bottom
yuz....around	yuz bi ha mir....around the world	yuz be ha zom....around in the back	yuz bu ha zam....around to the front	yuz boy tof....around without clothes
yiz....beyond	yiz bi Meir....beyond earth		yiz bu hyua kum....beyond to the other side
yez....along	yez bi ha mas....flush with the wall			yez kum bi at....alongside me
yan....together				yan bay yat....together with us
yon....apart	yon bi hus....apart from that
zay....forward, ahead	zay bi at be ha pesnad....ahead of me in line		zay bu eta byun....ahead to your goal
zoy....back, backward	zoy bi yex....back from work	zoy be tam....back at home	zoy bu tistam....back to school	zoy av gas....back for more
zey....across	zey bi ha aybmep....across the bridge	zey be ha ogela kum....across on the other side	zey bu ha ogela kum....across to the other side	zey ov yat....opposite us
iz....directly, straight	iz bi yex....straight from work	iz be ha zenod....right at the midpoint	iz bu sum....right to bed	iz yub bi him....right near here

Using Prepositions as Clausal Conjunctions

Some simple and complex prepositions can introduce a dependent clause, but must be followed by the positive particle van. This rule does not apply to ay (and), ey (or) and oy (but), because they are already properly conjunctions. This chart shows some examples:

Prepositions as Clausal Conjunctions
PREPOSITION	CLAUSAL CONJUNCTION	EXAMPLE
ja....before	ja van	It tojo ja van et puo.....He will die before you arrive.
je....during	je van....while	Je van et tuxeya, at tujeya.....While you were studying, I was sleeping.
jo....after	jo van	Yit xo ifonpop ja van yit tadso.....They will go on a honeymoon after they get married.
av....for	av van....so that av von....lest...not, so that...not	Egxu av van et su jwabwa.....Rehearse so that you will be prepared. Yexu jestay av von et ujoku.....Study hard so you won't fail.
ov....against	(gey) ov van....(even) though, despite the fact that	It igpa gey ov van it ta van it so gwaa.....He (or she) ran even though he knew (that) he would be late.
oy....but	oy (no van)...but	At fa per oy yofa.....I wanted to go but couldn't.

Note that av van and av von are followed by a clause where the predicate verb is in the hypothetical mood (-u), reminiscent of the subjunctive in the Romance languages.

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