Syntax of gjâ-zym-byn

• Overview
• Types of root morphemes
• Verbs
  • Verb argument structures and the case postpositions
  • Polysemy of {mĭ-i}
  • Argument structure classes
  • Volitionality
  • Changes in argument structure with opposite suffixes
  • Changes in argument structure with causative suffixes
  • Argument structures of verbless sentences
  • Default arguments of verbs
  • Ditransitive verbs
  • Reflexive and reciprocal verbs
  • Sequential verbs
  • Subject Pronoun Incorporation
  • First-person plural subject attraction
  • Aspect
• Participles
• Postpostions
  • Uses of the before/after postpositions
  • Postpositions for "around/surrounding"
  • Serial postpositions
  • Indicating posture and position
  • More precise paths of motion
  • Abstract postpositions, such as case markers and genitives
  • Lexical dissimilation
  • Note on why I derive abstract postpositions from spacetime postpositions
• Modifiers (adjectives/adverbs)
  • Attribution
  • Predication
• Comparison
• Pronouns
• Conjunctions
• Correlatives, demonstratives, interrogative and relative pronouns
• Definiteness
• Questions
  • Yes-no questions
  • Information questions
• Subordinate clauses
• Relative clauses
• Conditional clauses
• Miscellaneous particles
  • Temporal particles
  • Epistemic particles
  • Expressing probability and fuzzy degree of truth
  • Irony and hyperbole
  • Deontic particles
  • Postposition-like adverbs
  • Qualifiers
  • Quantifiers
  • {jǒm} and {ðǒl} ("mostly")
  • Error correction and hesitation particles
  • Various other modifier particles
• Evidential, validational and attitudinal adverbs

Overview of gjâ-zym-byn grammar

gjâ-zym-byn is a fiendishly difficult language that I cannot wrap my mind around. — Jörg Rhiemeier

This document describes the syntax of gjâ-zym-byn, and its inflectional morphology, what there is of it (a handful of verb endings). Another document describes its derivational morphology.

Typologically, gjâ-zym-byn (gzb) primarily follows object-verb-subject (OVS) word order, and has a mix of head-final and head-initial aspects: adjectives/adverbs follow the words they modify, and main verbs follow auxiliary verbs, but postpositional phrases precede the words they modify. It is an agglutinative language, with the vast majority of morphemes consisting of one syllable (though some noun roots are two or even three syllables, and some bound morphemes in postpositions and conjunctions are only one phoneme); it has an index of synthesis of 1.729 and an index of agglutinativity of 1.0. gzb could be tentatively described as a fluid-S active language (as opposed to accusative or ergative), though this label doesn't fit perfectly: it marks agents, patients, experiencers, and so forth for fairly specific semantic roles rather than abstracting many semantic roles into generic subject and object syntactic roles.

As for conlang typology, gzb could be described as a whimsical, idiosyncratic engelang, or a highly schematic, non-naturalistic artlang. On Ray Brown's Gnoli Maxwell Triangle, gzb would probably be a greenish cyan, on or near the upper left edge of the triangle, a little nearer the artlang vertice than the engelang vertice. According to the Wikipedia typology of artlangs, gzb is a personal language; Rick Harrison's term "heartlang" might apply as well. The terms "hermetic language" or "langue close", used by Javant Biarujia, Robert Dessaix and Paul Burgess, seem less apt for gzb; at this point in its history, anyway, most of the corpus of gzb (consisting of entries in my journal) is private and secret, but the language itself isn't, and the public part of the corpus (original and translated literature) is getting fairly significant. Some people consider gzb to be a conlex, but I don't use that word for it myself, mainly because I don't know the conlexicist subculture well enough to understand how they use the word, and because some of the criteria the term's proponents list don't quite fit gzb or my use of it.

gzb's lexicon is primarily a priori, with a moderate fraction a posteriori (mostly names of animals and plants, taken from scientific Latin); the grammar is entirely a priori, not based on any specific language or language family (though there are scads of unintentional similarities to various natlangs).

Basic root words are by themselves nouns. You can add suffixes to make verbs, modifiers (adjectives/adverbs), conjunctions and postpositions from them. Grammatical particles include a core set of spacetime postpositions; several kinds of conjunctions; general modifiers (adverbs or adjectives, according to context); pronouns; and suffixes. A nominalizer clitic can turn the modifier particles and postpositions into nouns.

Case, number, gender, tense, and mood aren't shown by grammatical inflection or affix, but by postpositions and modifier particles. Most aspect distinctions are marked with adverbial particles or postpositions, but some with suffixes.

Syntactic roles (case) are shown by postpositions and word order. Common sentence types include topic-comment, topic-state, patient-verb-agent, and topic-verb-experiencer. There are no abstract subject/object markers, consequently no passive voice. However, I still find it useful to use the terms "subject" and "object" in describing gzb grammar, each being an umbrella term for several case roles with common morphosyntactic properties (though the sets overlap a bit); pronouns in the subject cases can be incorporated into the verb, and nouns in the subject cases can, if they come at the end of a clause, omit the case postposition. Nouns and pronouns in the object cases don't exhibit those behaviors.

The phrases of a sentence (verb, agent, patient, object-of-attention, experiencer, topic, state, comment, temporal and locative complements, etc.) can generally come in any order, but object-verb-subject is the default unmarked word-order, with temporal and local complements most commonly preceding the object.

gzb is a verb-drop language; in sentences where the action, process, state etc. is clear enough from the postpositional phrases used, the verb may be omitted (and in some types of sentences there is in fact no room for a verb).

Types of root morphemes

gjâ-zym-byn has its own suitable terms for the functionally distinct kinds of root morpheme; some of these correspond to "parts of speech" in traditional grammar.

{gun} are content root-words; names of kinds of people, animals, things, states, qualities, actions, processes, numbers, ideas, and so forth. {gun} contain the vowels |î|, |ě|, |â|, |u|, |y|, or |ĭ| or their nasal forms. Standing alone, or compounded with each other, {gun} fit into the traditional category of nouns. In theory, this is the language's only open class morpheme type (but in practice, I'm still adding to the other classes from time to time as well, though at a much slower rate; I even added more pronouns as late as April 2005).

{jum} are modifier particles; they're used like adjectives & adverbs (or articles) to change the meaning of a preceding word, or specify which of several possible referents is meant. They contain one of the vowels |ǒ| or |e|, and have allomorphic forms with the nasal vowels |ǒň| or |eň| which occur after root words with a nasal vowel (vowel harmony). (Because they obey vowel harmony with respect to the preceding word, like suffixes, I call these modifier particles clitics. Feel free to yell at me if I'm using that term incorrectly.)

{ŋwĭm} are pronouns. Most are clicks or ejectives ({Ќ, ť}...); a few look like {jum}, a consonant followed by |e|.

{ðujm} are conjunctions. They can have one of the oral vowels |ǒ| or |e|, or the nasals |iň| or |oň|. Generally you can tell the nature of a {ðujm} - whether it shows truth-values, causation or evidence, or some arithmetic operation — by its vowel.

{čur} are spacetime postpositions. They contain one of the oral vowels |i|, |o|, or |ř|. Case postpositions are formed by combining a {gun} with an appropriate {čur}, nearly always just {i, o, ř}. Complex spacetime postpositions can include an epenthetic schwa (ě).

{Φyr} are suffixes. They contain one of the vowels |a| or |ô|. They become nasal if the suffix attaches to a root that contains nasal vowels.

Verbs

There are four basic verb forms marked by suffixes applied to a noun root (usually a root signifying an action, process, state, or quality).

Examples of all verb forms with the same noun-root: {bly} "falling, orbit, throwing": (Glossing abbreviations)

bly-van.

fall-V.STATE

I'm falling.

bly-ca.

throw-V.REFL

I'm jumping.

lân-ʝa	on	twâ-cu-vuj	ĥy-i	bly-zô.
floor-ROT	to.contact	sentence-system-concrete	PAT-at	throw-V.ACT
I throw the book at the wall.

bly-môj	pe	bly-θaj-môj	bly-ķĭm-tla	tu-i.
throw-V.RECP	and	throw-OPP1-V.RECP	throw/jump-exercise-professional	AGT-at
The acrobats throw and catch each other.

{Ќ} "I, me" is the default agent, experiencer or topic, so it isn't expressed explicitly in the first three examples above.

Time, aspect, mood, etc. are optionally shown with modifier particles following the verb, such as

If a temporal complement specifies a particular time when the action of the sentence takes place, {mje} or {ler} is usually unnecessary.

dâ-ŋla	i	sâŋ	cǒ	ĥy-i	ķârm-zô.
three-ORD.D	on	blood	few	PAT-at	cough-V.ACT.
On Tuesday I coughed up a little blood.

Or if the time of a narrative has been specified by a postpositional phrase like the above in one clause, one can generally infer that each subsequent clause's action takes place a little after that of the last, and again {mje} is not needed except to show relative time, that this clause's action takes place before the time of the surrounding narrative; in this use (its most common use in modern gzb) it's more like a perfect aspect marker than a past tense marker. (Early on, I used {mje} and {ler} a lot more often.)

A day of the week mentioned generally refers to the past instance of that day, unless the next such instance is specified by {ler}:

fy-ŋla	ler	i	gâm-ʝĭl	kwǒ	kâ-i	ruŋ-zô	kâ-rĭm-zô.
seven-ORD.D	FUT	on	picture-motion	some	ATT-at	go-V.ACT	attention-see-V.ACT
This coming Saturday I'm going to see a movie.

Verb argument structures and the case postpositions

Verb arguments can be marked in five ways:

• a noun or pronoun phrase marked with a postposition
• a subordinate clause marked by a conjunction
• implicit, an omitted default subject
• subject pronoun incorporated into the verb
• subject in clause-final position with no postposition

Within the first two types, there are many specific postpositions and a handful of subordinating conjunctions which can mark verb arguments.

Case-like postpositions can be derived from almost any root word followed by one of the three basic spatial postpositions (most commonly {i}, "at, in"). These are some of the case-like postpositions used most frequently.

In active sentences, {-zô} marks the verb and {tu-i} and {ĥy-i} typically mark the agent and patient. These are not the same as subject and object in English and other Indo-European languages; there is no passive voice for verbs. {tu-i} always denotes an animate being who is intentionally doing something. {ĥy-i} always denotes something that is affected by the action of the verb.

Some of the uses of the passive (e.g., saying that something happens without saying who does it) can be rendered by use of {mĭ-i} and {jâ-o}.

bĭm	ĥy-i	šyj-zô	ƥ	tu-i.
tub	PAT-at	clean-V.ACT	3	AGT-at
He cleans the tub.

bĭm	mĭ-i	šyj-bô	jâ-o.
tub	TOP-at	clean-ADJ	state-to
The tub becomes clean.

If the object of the verb is not really acted upon in some way by the agent, another role marker is used for it: for instance, {mĭ-i} or {kâ-i} for object of thought or attention:

ť	kâ-i	rĭm-van.
2	ATT-at	see-V.STATE
I see you.

ljâw-gjâ	mĭ-i	zym-zô.
observational.science-language	TOP-at	think-V.ACT
I think about linguistics.

If the subject is not actively, intentionally doing something, then it is typically marked with {ʝâr-i} "experiencer" (if animate) or {mĭ-i} "topic" (if inanimate, or if the semantics of the verb are not consistent with experiencer marking).

šî'fy	mâ-dân	kâ-i	ku-van	de	kâ'θij-ram	ʝâr-i.
spirit	person-formerly	ATT-at	hear-V.STATE	HAB	Cathy-NAME	EXP-at
Cathy hears ghosts.

ij'mâks-gam	mĭ-i	sjum-van	terij-ram	ʝâr-i.
Emacs-NAME.G	TOP-at	thankful-V.STATE	Terry-NAME	EXP-at
Terry is grateful for Emacs.

{ŋâw-o} is used for the object (addressee or listener) of a communication-verb:

dejv-ram	ŋâw-o	twâ-zô	Φǒ	{ť	hǒ}.
Dave-NAME	call-to	say-V.ACT	QUOTE	2	VOC
I said "Hey!" to Dave.

If the object of the verb didn't already exist, but is created by the action, it's marked by {ķĭn-o} (being constructed, put together from physical materials), {krĭ-o} (being thought up, written, composed, etc.), or {bĭŋ-o} (coming into existence).

mě'hu	ķĭn-o	vâ-faj-fwa-ƥ-zô.
stew	construction-to	digest-able-CAUS-3-V.ACT
He's cooking a stew.

 

gjâ	o-m	gun	krĭ-o	zym-zô	krĭ-gjâ-pja	tu-i.
language	to-part.of	root.word	create-to	think-V.ACT	create-language-amateur	AGT-at
The conlanger thinks up words for [into] the language.

 

gî'bu	i	θě'ku	tu-i	krĭ-zô	fî'suň	pe	mu	ble	bĭŋ-o.
beginning	at	God	AGT-at	create-V.ACT	Earth	and	universe	rest.of	existence-to.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The topic of a topic-comment sentence and the "object" of some verbs of thinking and feeling are marked the same way, with the postposition {mĭ-i}, which was translated in some sentences above as "about".

râm	mĭ-i	pâ-źa-bô	ŋĭn-i.
cat	TOP-at	restless-AUG-ADJ	CMT-at
The cat is hyperactive.

râm	mĭ-i	zym-zô.
cat	TOP-at	think-V.ACT

I'm thinking about the cat.

râm	tu-i	zym-zô.
cat	AGT-at	think-V.ACT

The cat is thinking [about something unspecified].

râm	kâ-i	rĭm-van.
cat	ATT-at	see-V.STATE

I see the cat.

źum-la-zô	râm	ĥy-i.
touch-AFF-V.ACT	cat	PAT-at

I stroke the cat.

Some other theta-role postpositions:

{ĉul-i} is used for the direct objects of verbs like "sing", "read aloud", "perform", and "play": transitory processes that are over when the action of the verb is over, or which are the action of the verb re-conceptualized as nouns, or transitory process-instantiations of more permanent abstract informational entities.

kuln	reŋ	ĥun-i	{oklahomě-wam-ŋa}	ĉul-i	hwâwm-ŝrun-zô	ƥ	tu-i.
friend	many	meeting-at	Oklahoma-NAME.P-ATD.surprise	perform-at	acting-music-V.ACT	3	AGT-at
She performed/sang in "Oklahoma!" with several friends.

twâ-cu	pǒ	čĭ-ř	du	cĭ-pa	ĉul-i	lju-gju-zô.
sentence-system	that	copy-from	section	one-ORD	perform-at	read-speak-V.ACT
I read aloud the first part of that poem.

go-gam	ĉul-i	pĭw-môj	Ќ	ke	ĭnza-ram.
Go-NAME.G	perform-at	play-V.RECP	1	and	Ynza-NAME
Ynza and I played Go.

{rjâ-i}, object of quest, is used for the objects of verbs of searching, desiring, requesting, etc., that are not necessarily present or even existent, in contrast to {kâ-i}, object of attention, where the object is generally within range of the experiencer's senses.

{Codex Seraphinianus}	rjâ-i	sru-θô-van.
(title)	quest-at	desire-DIM-V.STATE
I would like a copy of the Codex Seraphinianus (but am not likely to get it).

sâln-grâm	mew	rjâ-i	kâj-tla	ŋâw-o	lâ-zô;
ticket-message	also	quest-at	exchange-professional	call-to	request-V.ACT

mǒj	te-ta-ƥ-van.
but	3.INAN-without-3-V.STATE
I asked the clerk for some postage stamps, too; but she had none.

{θĭ} "helping" derives two different benefactive postpositions:

tâ-ma-ĵĭn	θĭ-o	θuň	krĭ-o	lju-θaj-zô.
sibling-meta-young	help-to	story	create-to	read-OPP1-V.ACT
I wrote a story for my little cousin.

ĭnza-ram	θĭ-ř	gjâ-krĭ	pǒ	kujm-o	Φyr-tôn-cu	krĭ-o.
Ynza-NAME	help-from	language-create	that	purpose-to	suffix-GNR-system	create-to
With Ynza's help I created an inflection paradigm for that conlang.

{pě'ŝlĭ} signifies the body part or mental faculty one's attention is currently focused upon, or which is clamoring for attention. The postposition {pě'ŝlĭ-i} is used in place of {kâ-i} or {mĭ-i} for body parts in some contexts.

tâlm	pě'ŝlĭ-i	jyn-cô-van.
head	focal.part-at	pleasure-OPP2-V.STATE
My head hurts. / I have a headache. = lit., I suffer pain focused in my head.

vâ	pě'ŝlĭ-i	žâw-van	plyn-bô.
digestion	focal.part-at	feel-V.STATE	full-ADJ
I feel full / I don't feel hungry. / lit., I feel fullness focused in the digestive system.

{jĭrn-i} marks a measured quantity that normally applies to the action of the main verb; for instance,

gě'dĭm	kǒ	i	twâ-θy	gâr-tĭm-bô	jĭrn-i
day	DEM1	at	sentence-element	ten-hundred-ADJ	quantity-at

θuň	pǒ	krĭ-o	lju-θaj-zô.
story	DEM3	create-to	read-OPP1-V.ACT
I wrote a thousand words of that story today.

mě'tyr-źa	dâ-bô	jĭrn-i	ƴâ-cjaj-zô.
meter-AUG	three-ADJ	quantity-at	go-SPEC-V.ACT
I walked three kilometers.

Polysemy of {mĭ-i}

{mĭ-i} can mark different semantic roles depending on the particular verb or the other postpositions it's used with. This was not originally intended; it's one of the aspects of the language that developed from use rather than being deliberately designed. When I find that some part of the language is more complex or irregular than I intended, I don't necessarily change it; if I've already learned to use it fairly fluently, I leave it alone and just try to document the way I find that I actually use it.

The original design of gzb's case-postposition system was influenced indirectly by Japanese and similar topic-prominent languages — not directly by a serious study of the language, but by a few example sentences and a brief discussion in a linguistics textbook. It was also influenced by my then-misunderstanding of the linguistics term "topic", used in various senses by different schools of linguists and in different branches of linguistics. The result of these misunderstandings is that {mĭ-i}, though I've customarily glossed it as the "topic postposition", has four or five main senses, only one of which even roughly corresponds to the topic marker of a true topic-prominent language like Japanese.

• {mĭ-i} is used with the "comment" postposition {ŋĭn-i} in verbless sentences for simple predication, and similarly with the state and state-transition postpositions {jâ-i, jâ-o, jâ-ř}. Here, it corresponds with the subject of English copular sentences (with "to be" or "to become").
• With verbs of thinking, feeling, and communication, it marks the thing about which the agent or experiencer is thinking, feeling or talking, corresponding to English direct object or oblique object depending on the syntax of the particular English verb.
• It's also used to mark the inanimate subjects of many stative verbs, in contrast with the experiencer postposition {ʝâr-i} for animate subjects of stative verbs.
• And for some stative verbs, such as locatives, it can mark animate subjects as well.
• It can work as a kind of genitive postposition, e.g. marking what a story is about or what is portrayed in a picture, in which case it binds to the following noun rather than to the main verb or the sentence structure as a whole; here it corresponds to some senses of the English prepositions "of" or "about".
• Historically, it used to mark the object of attention for verbs of perception, and the animate subjects of all stative verbs; but few if any of the texts on this website use it in those archaic senses.

Predication with quality/state term:

huw	jâ-i	byn-pja	mĭ-i.
happiness	state-at	hack-amateur	TOP-at
The hacker is happy.

Predication with quantity:

gĭ	jĭrn-i	θĭl	mĭ-i.
eleven	amount-at	potato	TOP-at
There are eleven potatoes (here).

Predication with entity term:

ʝâr-ku-zym	ŋĭn-i	dejvĭd-ram	mĭ-i.
experiencer-hear-thought	CMT-at	David-NAME	TOP-at
David is a passive telepath.

Predication of companionship:

râm	ĥun-i	suŋ-kě'ĝu-tla	mĭ-i.
cat	meet-at	know.how-secret-professional	TOP-at
The wizard is accompanied by a cat.

With verb of thinking:

mluj	krĭ-gjâ-za	mĭ-i	zym-gâw-zô.
small.conference	create-language-ADJ2	TOP-at	think-plan-V.ACT
I'm planning for the [next] Language Creation Conference.

With emotion verb:

blě'tâ	mĭ-i	ħum-van	tîm'θĭ.
cockroach	TOP-at	fear-V.STATE	Timothy
Timothy is afraid of cockroaches.

With communication verb:

takahiro-ram	ŋâw-o	flyr-ĵwa	mĭ-i	gju-ť-zô	mwe.
Takahiro-NAME	call-to	flower-place	TOP-at	speak-2-V.ACT	IMP
Talk to Takahiro about the garden.

As topical genitive:

plutarĥǒs-ram	dâm-ř	lě'kjân	mĭ-i	twâ-cu	kâ-i	lju-zô.
Plutarch-NAME	authorship-from	Alexander	TOP-at	sentence-system	ATT-at	read-V.ACT
I'm reading Plutarch's life of Alexander.

hĭnrij-ram	ðy-dâ-pa	mĭ-i	gâm	krĭ-o	ķĭn-zô	hanz-ram	holbin-šam	ĵĭn-sra-bô	tu-i.
Henry-NAME	five-three-ORD	TOP-at	picture	create-to	construct-V.ACT	Hans-NAME	Holbein-NAME.F	young-CMP-ADJ	AGT-at
Hans Holbein the Younger painted a portrait of Henry VIII.

Inanimate subject of stative verb:

grĭ-cô-van	flu-fwa-ĉa	pě'lâ-bô	mĭ-i.
function-OPP2-V.STATE	flow-CAUS-tool	old-ADJ	TOP-at
The old pump is malfunctioning.

Animate subject of locative verb:

ħun-tôn-daj	kǒ	iŋ	tyn-van	lîn'kjĭ	pe	vîl'pun	mĭ-i.
pine-GNR-mass	DEM1	inside	place-V.STATE	bobcat	and	fox	TOP-at
There are bobcats and foxes in this forest.

Argument structure classes

In the lexicon, many verb entries (though far from all, unfortunately) contain an explanation of the verb's argument structure, like this:

In the table below, these verbs' structures are indicated as "kâ-i ~~~ ĥy-i ~~~ tu-i" or "ðĭ-i ~~~ mĭ-i". A few other notes: {o/ř} represents any motion postposition, and {i} represents any stationary locative postposition. The arguments are listed in the order they would typically appear in a sentence, with the subject at the end. Note that the argument structures of verbs aren't cast in stone; for instance, many argument structures with a {mĭ-i} place can substitute {ʝar-i} instead if the argument is animate, and often some or even all of the arguments can be omitted. Temporal and locative complements can usually be added to almost any verb; {i} or {o/ř} are listed as arguments below only if they often occur with a certain class of verbs.

This list is still incomplete, and I'm not sure there's not a simpler way to analyze verbs' arguments structures or a more concise way to present them.

Volitionality

{-van} verbs are not necessarily intransitive, and {-zô} verbs are not necessarily transitive. The distinction is partly between nonvolitional and volitional, and partly between static and dynamic. {-zô} verbs always imply an animate agent. An agentive, dynamic process will always be denoted with a {zô}-verb, unless it's reflexive or reciprocal, and an agentless state will be denoted by a {van} verb (if by a verb at all; or possibly by a postpositional phrase or an adjective). Agentless processes (such as involuntary acts like breathing and seeing, or "acts" of inanimate objects like water flowing) are also denoted by {-van} verbs. I haven't yet worked out the detailed rules for handling agentive states (if it even makes sense to speak of such).

Changes in argument structure with opposite-suffixes

The opposite-suffixes {-θaj} and {-cô} have a more or less predictable effect on the argument structures of verbs. With prototypical ditransitive verbs such as {bwĭl-zô}, "to give", {-θaj} makes the source or recipient of the basic verb the experiencer of a derived verb, leaving the patient the same, and allowing the agent to be omitted, while {-cô} reverses the action of the verb and leaves its argument structure the same.

With verbs of perception, {-θaj} makes the object-of-attention of the stem verb into the topic of the derived verb, and allows the experiencer to be omitted.

lyn	kâ-i	rĭm-van	krĭ-gâm-tla	ʝâr-i.
moon	ATT-at	see-V.STATE	create-picture-professional	experiencer-at
The artist sees the moon.

rĭm-θaj-van	lyn	mĭ-i.
see-OPP1-V.STATE	moon	TOP-at
The moon is visible.

Changes in argument structure with causative suffixes

The causative suffixes {-fwa} and {-hôw} are discussed at greater length in the derivational morphology document. They can be used to derive either modifiers or verbs. Here, I'll briefly describe how the syntax of a verb changes when it becomes causative.

If a verb normally has an experiencer argument and an object of attention argument, making it causative makes the experiencer into a patient, and adds an agent argument who is the one that is causing the patient to undergo the action of the verb. The object of attention argument remains the same. E.g.:

nĭŋ	kâ-i	ku-van	θě'mâ	ʝâr-i.
ringing.sound	ATT-at	hear-V.STATE	Thomas	EXP-at
Thomas heard a ringing sound.

nĭŋ	kâ-i	θě'mâ	ĥy-i	ku-fwa-zô	mî'rĭj	tu-i.
ringing.sound	ATT-at	Thomas	PAT-at	hear-CAUS-V.ACT	Mary	AGT-at
Mary made Thomas heard a ringing sound.

A verb of thinking, feeling or knowing, which typically has a topic argument (with {mĭ-i}) or sometimes an object of attention argument, along with an experiencer or agent argument depending on the activeness of the verb, acts in a similar way. The topic or object of attention argument remains unchanged while the experiencer or agent becomes a patient, and a new agent argument appears for the causer.

râ-zla	mĭ-i	kun-van	reŋ	lě'kjân	ʝâr-i.
event-COLL	TOP-at	know-V.STATE	much	Alexander	EXP-at
Alexander knows a lot about history.

râ-zla	mĭ-i	lě'kjân	ĥy-i	kun-hôw-zô	reŋ	zě'ĥâr	tu-i.
event-COLL	TOP-at	Alexander	PAT-at	know-CAUS2-V.ACT	much	Zachary	AGT-at
Zachary taught Alexander a lot about history.

Sometimes the object of attention or topic in a causative of feeling is omitted, in which case we can pragmatically assume that the causer is trying to make the causee feel in such a way about the causer themselves. E.g.:

tîm'θĭ	mĭ-i	fâ-van	lî'zě'bĭ	ʝâr-i.
Timothy	TOP-at	love-V.STATE	Ellizabeth	EXP-at
Elizabeth loves Timothy.

lî'zě'bĭ	ĥy-i	fâ-hôw-zô	tîm'θĭ	tu-i.
Ellizabeth	PAT-at	love-CAUS2-V.ACT	Timothy	AGT-at
Timothy is flirting with/courting Elizabeth.

However, if the verb normally takes as patient argument, the above process would result in two patient arguments, it being unclear (especially if both are of the same animacy) which is being caused to do something and which is having something done to them. Some languages allow this with their causatives, but in gzb, the original patient argument becomes a generic {ðĭ-i} argument, as follows:

gî'sĭr	ĥy-i	vâ-oŋ-zô	hě'lî'sjy	tu-i.
spaghetti	PAT-at	digestion-into-V.ACT	Alice	AGT-at
Alice ate spaghetti.

gî'sĭr	ðĭ-i	hě'lî'sjy	ĥy-i	vâ-oŋ-hôw-zô	sě'râ	tu-i.
spaghetti	relationship-at	Alice	PAT-at	digestion-into-CAUS2-V.ACT	Sarah	AGT-at
Sarah fed spaghetti to Alice.

Note that in all these causatives, as well as in lexical causatives like {žy-zô} "to show" (i.e. "cause to see"), the intermediate cause is always marked as the patient, and the causative verb always takes the {-zô} active verb ending.

Argument structures of verbless sentences

Not only topic-comment and experiencer-state structures allow verbless sentences; several of the specific object postpositions allow verbless agentive sentences, with the verb implicit in the semantics of the object and the postposition.

ŝrun-twâ	ĉul-i.
music-saying	performance-at
I sing a song.

ŝrun-twâ	krĭ-o	pî'tĭr.
music-saying	create-to	Peter
Peter composes a song.

{ķĭn-o} in particular is likely to occur in verbless clauses; in my electronic corpus, it occurs with a verb only four times, versus nine times in verbless clauses.

Ќ-ť	θĭ-o	rî'mâ-daj	pe	rî'mâ	hum-cô-bô	ķĭn-o	~~~
1-2	help-to	house-place	and	house	deep-OPP2-ADJ	make-to	...
Let's build ourselves a city and a tall house...

Default arguments of verbs

As noted before, {Ќ} (I, me) is the default topic/experiencer/agent of a sentence. This applies at the beginning of a text or conversation, when there is no previous context.

lju-zô.
read-V.ACT
I read, am reading.

kě'pâ-van.
happy.confusion-V.STATE
I'm happily confused.

When there is previous context, however, the default topic, experiencer or agent of each sentence is the same entity as was last explicitly marked as topic, experiencer, or agent. (This also goes for subordinate clauses, whose subject defaults to be the same as in the main clause.)

kâj-kô	o	ruŋ-zô	tam-ram	tu-i.
exchange-place	to	go-V.ACT	Tom-NAME	AGT-at

re	i	gâ-rjâ	ĥy-i	tru-zô	heŋ.
3.PLACE	at	thing-quest	PAT-at	find-V.ACT	not

Tom went to the store. [He] didn't find what he was looking for there.

A vocative phrase sets the default subject, as well:

?najĝěl-ram	hǒ,	râm	ðĭ-i	ħě'nâw-van	zǒn.
Nigel-NAME	VOC	cat	relationship-at	allergy-V.STATE	Q.YN
Nigel, are you allergic to cats?

kĭn-ram	hǒ,	!Ќ	ty-o	ruŋ-zô	vjurm-zô	mwe.
Ken-NAME	VOC	1	home-to	go-V.ACT	visit-V.ACT	IMP
Ken, come visit me at home.

This means that agentless processes and states have to be expressed otherwise than with subjectless verbs, as in Esperanto's "pluvas", "necesas ke...". If I translated those literally with just a bare verb, the result would mean "I rain, I am necessary that...", or depending on the context, it might attribute these actions to any random entity that was recently mentioned. Nor do I use a dummy subject as in English "It's raining".

bly-van	pwĭm	mĭ-i
fall-V.STATE	water	TOP-at

Water is falling = It's raining.

jâln-van	purj	mĭ-i.
hot-V.STATE	environment	TOP-at

It's hot.

If the subject of the sentence comes last (as it usually does) then the final postposition (agent, experiencer, or topic) may be omitted.

gju-zô	kun-hôw-tla.
speak-V.ACT	know-CAUS2-professional
The teacher speaks.

žuln-van	byn-pja.
satisfaction.with.work-V.STATE	hack-amateur

The hacker is pleased with his work.

This applies also if the subject of a clause is the last thing in that clause, even if it's not the end of the sentence; for instance,

twâ-zô	dě'dâ-lô	Φǒ	{bly-van	drě'mâj	reŋ.}
say-V.ACT	Dada-member	QUOT	fall-V.STATE	emu	many
The Dadaiste said "It's raining emus."

{dě'dâ-lô} immediately precedes the quote-conjunction {Φǒ}, so it needn't be explicitly marked as subject (in this case, agent) of {twâ-zô}. The same is true for subjects preceding other clause-scope conjunctions, such as {kiň} "and", {hǒŋ} "that", and {vĭj-šar} "then, next".

Ditransitive verbs

In Indo-European languages, the term "ditransitive" is used for verbs that are pretty much required to have both a direct and an indirect object. I use the same term for verbs in gzb that usually if not always occur with two different objects, though with gzb's theta-role marking system, it's not always easy to say which of the core arguments for a given gzb ditransitive would correspond to a direct vs. an indirect object in another language; and gzb, like English, is prone to dropping arguments that are obvious from context (e.g., "Give it here" where the theoretically required "to me" indirect object argument is omitted).

Probably the prototypical ditransitive verb in most languages is the equivalent of "give": gzb {bwĭl-zô},

vělĭriě-ram	ŝâj-o	wrym-θym	mâŋ-paj	ĥy-i	bwĭl-zô	ĝejsn-ram.
Valeria-NAME	having-to	ornament-torus	hand-for	PAT-at	give-V.ACT	Jason-NAME
Jason gave a bracelet to Valeria.

Here the gift is marked with {ĥy-i}, patient, and the recipient of the gift is marked with {ŝâj-o}, coming-into-the-possession-of. Straightforward enough. The verb {kâj-zô} "buy/sell/trade" has a similar argument structure, but can have additional arguments.

gâm	prym-fwa	kâ-i	Ќ	ĥy-i	žy-zô	krĭ-gâm-tla	pǒ.
picture	aesthetic.appreciation-CAUS	ATT-at	1	PAT-at	show-V.ACT	create-picture-professional	DEM3
That artist showed me a beautiful picture.

Here, the person being shown something is the patient {ĥy-i}, and the thing being shown gets the attentive case postposition, {kâ-i}. The simpler English equivalent is ambiguous (in how one would analyze the cases of "me" and "a beautiful picture", I mean, not in what it means), but the more formal version would be "...showed a beautiful picture to me", i.e. the picture is the direct object; and the same would be true in the other Indo-European languages I'm familiar with.

The thinking verb {kĭ-zô} "to deem / consider X to have quality Y" adds an agent to what would otherwise be a simple topic-comment sentence. E.g.,

ħâl-fwa	ŋĭn-i	₣â	pǒ	mĭ-i.
nervous.fear-CAUS	CMT-at	task	DEM3	TOP-at
This task induces the jitters.

ħâl-fwa	ŋĭn-i	₣â	pǒ	mĭ-i	kĭ-zô	pǒlin-ram	tu-i.
nervous.fear-CAUS	CMT-at	task	DEM3	TOP-at	deem-V.ACT	Pauline-NAME	AGT-at
Pauline considers this task a fearful one.

In other words, the "direct" and "indirect" objects of {kĭ-zô} and similar verbs are marked as topic and comment. ({kĭ-zô} also has an alternate argument structure, where it takes an object subordinate clause marked with {hǒŋ}.)

The verb {ðĭl-zô}, "to type or transcribe", is potentially ditransitive in the second sense:

twâ-cu-hân	kǒ	lju-i	pě'pâ-ga	om	ðĭl-Ќ-zô.
sentence-system-old	DEM1	read-at	page-METAPH	into	type-1-V.ACT
I'm transcribing this old book into an electronic document.

Here the objects are marked as {lju-i}, a kind of performative case more specific than {ĉul-i}, and {om}, becoming-part-of. However, I'm not sure {ðĭl-zô} actually qualifies as ditransitive since the {om} argument is optional.

The opposite-suffix {-θaj} as used with some stems that form ditransitive verbs makes the source/recipient of the basic verb the experiencer of a derived verb, leaving the patient the same, and allowing the agent to be omitted.

wrym-θym	ĥy-i	bwĭl-θaj-van	vělĭriě-ram	ʝâr-i.
ornament-torus	PAT-at	give-OPP1-V.STATE	Valeria-NAME	experiencer-at
Valeria received a bracelet as a gift.

Giving and receiving are one process; {bwĭl-zô} and {bwĭl-θaj-van} simply focus on different aspects of it from different participants' perspective. The other opposite-suffix {-cô} does not necessarily affect the theta-roles of the participants in the action of the verb, but it changes the meaning of the underlying action:

vělĭriě-ram	ŝâj-ř	wrym-θym	ĥy-i	bwĭl-cô-zô	tesě-ram	tu-i.
Valeria-NAME	possession-from	ornament-torus	PAT-at	give-OPP2-V.ACT	Tessa-NAME	AGT-at
Tessa stole a bracelet from Valeria.

Reflexive and reciprocal verbs

A reflexive verb can occur with an explicit patient, topic or attentive postpositional phrase; usually this signifies a body part or faculty of the agent or experiencer, e.g.:

!maŋ	ĥy-i	šyj-ca	mwe	ť.
hand	PAT-at	clean-V.REFL	IMP	2

Wash your hands.

Ќ	im	tâlm	vin	kâ-i	rĭm-ca-ĉa	syj-i	rĭm-ca.
1	part.of	head	front-surface	ATT-at	see-V.REFL-tool	use-at	see-V.REFL

I see my face in [using] the mirror.

gě'dĭm	pen	šin	žâj-ŋĭw	kâ-i	byn-ca	mwe	Ł.
sleep.wake.cycle	every	end-of	moral.law-faculty	ATT-at	poke.around-V.REFL	IMP	3.GEN

One should examine one's conscience every night.

Because gjâ-zym-byn does not have a sharp distinction between direct objects and oblique objects, the reflexive and reciprocal verbs formed with {-ca} and {-môj} sometimes have as their reflexive objects things which would be expressed with oblique objects or complements in other languages. A few verbs tend to almost always take {-môj} when the subject is plural.

hyr	srǒ	il	gju-môj	tam-ram	pe	ser'ě-ram.
hour	several	during	speak-V.REFL	Tom-NAME	and	Sarah-NAME

Tom and Sarah talked [with each other] for hours.

Logically, perhaps, {gju-môj} ought to mean "to talk about each other". But one of my design principles for gjâ-zym-byn is not to change something if I've already learned to use it fluently, just because I later decide it's not perfectly logical. I did not design any irregularity into the language deliberately, but since my goal is to learn to use it fluently myself, and not to devise a language that's easy for people in general to learn, I'm perfectly happy with keeping any irregularity that creeps into the language through my occasional carelessness, if I don't notice it's irregular until I've already learned it.

Sequential verbs

Where the typical Indo-European language would use an auxiliary verb followed by a particple or infinitive, gjâ-zym-byn just uses two verbs in sequence. The first verb roughly corresponds to an auxiliary in English or French and the second verb roughly corresponds to an infinitive, though it gets no special marking. Either verb can be marked with {-van} or {-zô} according to its meaning.

âθ'ĭnz-wam	o	sru-van	ruŋ-zô.
Athens-NAME.P	to	want-V.STATE	go-V.ACT

I want to go to Athens. [= Athens, Georgia; the Greek one is {a'θen'aj'ǒs-wam}, the one in Kentucky is {ej'θĭnz-wam}.]

dlu-van	heŋ	huw-Ł-van.
right-V.STATE	NEG	happy-3.GEN-V.STATE
One doesn't have a right to be happy.

mǒj	dlu-van	vǒm	rjâ-zô	huw-van.
but	right-V.STATE	yes	seek-V.ACT	happy-V.STATE

But one does have a right to seek to be happy.

Note that modifiers to the main verb can come between it and the second verb, as with {heŋ} above.

Sometimes the first of a sequence of verbs is not a typical auxiliary verb.

gâm-ʝĭl	pǒ	kâ-i	ruŋ-zô	rĭm-van	ler.
picture-motion.in.place	that	ATT-at	go-V.ACT	see-V.STATE	FUT
I'm going to see that movie.

mî'ħâ-van	krĭ-šĭm-zô	byn-pja.
obsession-V.STATE	create-algorithm-V.ACT	hack-amateur
The hacker is obsessively coding.

Sometimes arguments of the second verb in a sequence come between the two verbs:

gâw-zô	gjâ-krĭ	bâm-bô	krĭ-o	byn-zô.
plan-V.ACT	language-create	new-ADJ	create-at	hack-V.ACT
I plan to tinker with my new conlang.

suŋ-ƥ-van	fîn'cĭ	ĥun-i	gju-môj.
know.how-3-V.STATE	penguin	meeting-at	talk-V.RECP
She knows how to talk with penguins.

But if there are multiple arguments to the verb, or one argument with a lot of words, it's probably better style/less confusing to put the second verb and its arguments in a subordinate clause (with the appropriate conjunction for the main verb's meaning) or relative clause, e.g.,

gâw-zô	hǒŋ	fy-ŋla	il	gjâ-krĭ	bâm-bô	krĭ-o	byn-zô.
plan-V.ACT	that	seven-ORD.D	through	language-create	new-ADJ	create-at	hack-V.ACT
I plan to tinker with my new conlang all day Saturday.

suŋ-ƥ-van	ru	lǒ	i	fîn'cĭ-ĵĭn	sru-źě'fy-bô	ĥun-i	gju-môj.
know.how-3-V.STATE	manner	REL	at	penguin-young	desire-success-ADJ	meeting-at	talk-V.RECP
She knows how to talk with ambitious young penguins.

Subject Pronoun Incorporation

gjâ-zym-byn can optionally incorporate a subject pronoun into the verb; it affixes between the verb stem and the verb suffix. For serial verbs, the pronoun will generally only be incorporated into the first of the series.

prym-fwa-ť-van.

appreciation.of.beauty-CAUS-2-V.STATE

You're beautiful.

twâ-cu	pǒ	kâ-i	vy-ƥ-van	lju-zô.
sentence-system	DEM3	ATT-at	intend-3-V.STATE	read-V.ACT
She intends to read that book.

Such pronoun incorporation is usually done only when

• there is no explicit subject noun phrase, and
• the correct subject cannot be inferred by the default subject rule

kelij-ram	ĥun-i	gju-môj.	Ќ	ŋâw-o	twâ-ƥ-zô,
Kelly-NAME	meet-at	talk-V.RECP	1	call-to	say-3-V.ACT

hǒŋ	fĭm-cô-ť-van.
that	healthy-OPP2-2-V.STATE
I talked with Kelly. She told me you were sick.

First-person plural subject attraction

In gzb, sometimes a comitative phrase expressed with {ĥun-i}, "with", will influence the verb form and/or the subject, making the verb reciprocal or the subject plural, thus:

vâl-ram	ĥun-i	ŝě'ĥâ-môj.
Val-NAME	meeting-at	chess-V.RECP
lit., We played chess with Val.

tam-ram	ĥun-i	re	o	ruŋ-zô	Ќ-ƥ.
Tom-NAME	meeting-at	3.PLACE	to	go-V.ACT	1-3
lit., We went there with Tom.

English would express these as "I played chess with Val" or "I went there with Tom."

Aspect

gjâ-zym-byn does not have grammatical category of aspect as such, but several aspectual distinctions are commonly marked by affixes or by root words compounded into verbs.

Cessative/Perfect:

ť	dâm-ř	grâm	kâ-i	lju-sun-zô	mje	θǒ.
2	authorship-from	message	ATT-at	read-finish-V.ACT	past	immediate
I've just finished reading your letter.

Progressive:

vâ-oŋ-vĭj-zô	ƥ.
digestion-into-time.period-V.ACT	3
He goes on eating.

Inceptive:

pĭw-gĭn-zô	θǒ	Ќ-ƥ,	nu-šar	vě'ty-θaj	ĥy-i	trâw-zô	mâ	kwǒ.
play-begin-V.ACT	immediate	1-3	moment-CONJ	doorway-OPP	PAT-at	strike-V.ACT	person	some
We had just started playing when someone knocked at the door.

Iterative:

kyl-pwĭm-daj	rol-lol	čâ-ra-zô	lu'ĭs-ram.
box-water-mass	across.through-hither.through	swim-repeat-V.ACT	Louis-NAME
Louis swam [laps] across the pool several times.

Punctual/Semelfactive:

ķarm-nu-zô	ku-faj-źa	râm.
cough-moment-V.ACT	hear-able-AUG	cat
The cat coughed once loudly.

The adverb {de} already mentioned marks a habitual aspect.

tâŋ	pǒ	i,	nĭvĭn-šam	dâm-ř	θuň	reŋ	kâ-i	lju-zô	de.
life.period	DEM3	at	Niven-NAME.F	authorship-from	story	many	ATT-at	read-V.ACT	HAB

I was reading a lot of stories by Niven in those days.

{de} can also mark e.g. the day of the week when something is regularly done or regularly happens.

kru-ŋla	de	i	ĥrî'cu-ķam-vuj	kâ-i	tî'šâ-zô.
cross-ORD.D	HAB	at	Christ-NAME.T-physical	ATT-at	worship-V.ACT
On Fridays, I go to Eucharistic adoration.

See also the section on the qualifier {jǒm} "most of, mostly" for examples of its aspectual use with verbs.

Gerunds and Participles

There is no need for special morphology to mark gerunds, since the root words for actions, events and processes are already nominal.

ty	oŋ	ruŋ	š-i-j,	vâ-oŋ-zô.
home	into	going	after-at-near	digestion-into-V.ACT.
Soon after coming home, I ate.

 

hwâwm	mĭ-i	suŋ-hôw-zô	rěbekě-ram	tu-i.
acting	TOP-at	know.how-CAUS2-V.ACT	Rebecca-NAME	AGT-at
Rebecca teaches acting.

When a verb is derived indirectly (e.g. from a postpositional phrase), there is no root noun that means the same thing as the verb, so one can use the nominalizer clitic {tǒj} to obtain such a gerund:

ĥun-pĭw	ðij	vâ-oŋ-tǒj	mĭ-i	gâw-zô,	mǒj	ce	heŋ.
meeting-play	before	digestion-into-NMZ	TOP-at	consider-V.ACT	but	this	not.
I considered eating before the party, but decided not to.

Any direct object must immediately precede the gerund; the verb or comment on the gerund clause usually comes after the gerund.

₣ĭŋ	kyl-plâŋ-za	ĥy-i	lĭn	žu-bô	mĭ-i	hum-ga-van.
string	box-foot-ADJ2	PAT-at	linking	careful-ADJ	TOP-at	deep-MET-V.STATE
It's important to tie [one's] shoestrings carefully.

Use {tu} "agent" and {ĥy} "patient" to form nominal participles.

Note that this use of {ĥy} is not entirely consistent with the way the verb {lju-zô} is used. Reading may affect the physical book {twâ-cu-vuj} (in terms of slight wear and tear) but it does not affect the text of the book {twâ-cu} (abstracted from its instantiation in particular printed copies). So normally one would use the attentive case postposition instead of the patient case:

twâ-cu	ĵyn-fwa	kâ-i	lju-zô.
sentence-system	interest-CAUS	ATT-at	read-V.ACT
I'm reading an interesting book.

twâ-cu-vuj	hân-bô	nâ-cô-bô	ĥy-i	lju-zô	žu-bô	mwe	Ł.
sentence-system-physical	old-ADJ	common-OPP2-ADJ	PAT-at	read-V.ACT	careful-ADJ	IMP	3.GEN
One must read rare old books carefully.

The first form (with {kâ-i}) emphasizes the content of the book (and doesn't specify its format, whether it is printed, an etext, or even an audiobook). The second, with {ĥy-i}, emphasizes the physical act of handling the book, turning the pages. The first is by far the more common way of marking the "direct object" of {lju-zô}. So does {ĥy-lju} refer mainly to a physical book, magazine, etc.? Not necessarily. {kâ-lju} would mean something very different: "reading attention", or "act of attention characterized in some way by reading". So it could not refer to the "thing read" in the sense of the content of a book as distinct from its embodiment in a particular copy of a particular edition. Therefore {ĥy-lju} has to do double duty for both senses, and in short {ĥy} is not so specific when acting as a participle base as when it is acting as a postposition base. (If necessary, one can be more specific by referring to {ĥy-lju-vuj}, physical thing read, or {ĥy-lju-vuj-cô}, abstract thing read.)

One can add {-bô} to these nominal participles to form modifer participles:

ƴâw-bâm	tu-pĭw-bô	kâ-i	pym-van.
dog-new	AGT-play-ADJ	ATT-at	amusement-V.STATE

I'm amused at the puppy playing.

rjuŋ	kâ-i	ħun-tôn-daj	kiŋ	tru-zô	tu-pĭw-bô	mâ-ĵĭn.
dragon	ATT-at	pine.tree-GNR-mass	among	find-V.ACT	AGT-play-ADJ	person-young

The children found a dragon [while] playing in the forest.

ĥy-tru	v-ř	ruŋ-zô	ĵwy-bô.
PAT-find	front-from	go-V.ACT	fast-ADJ

They ran away from what they found.

Experiencer participles

The root word {ʝâr}, "experiencer", also forms a kind of participles.

ĝyl-fyn	mĭ-i	ʝâr-rĭm	dâ-bô	ĥy-i	tru-zô	Ќ-ɱ	gwe.
interruption-drive	TOP-at	experiencer-see	three-ADJ	PAT-at	find-V.ACT	1-3	already
We've found three witnesses to the accident so far.

Ќ	o	ruŋ-zô	mwe	ʝâr-ĵyj-fja	pen	pe	tu-šâ-wâj	pen,
1	to	come-V.ACT	IMP	experiencer-vigor-minimum	all	and	AGT-carry-heavy	all

kiň	ť	ĥy-i	ĵyj-rjâ	jâ-o	Ќ.
and	2	PAT-at	vigor-seeking	state-to	1
Come to me, all who are tired and carrying heavy things, and I will give you rest.

Postpostions

The core postpositions are:

One can make them more specific with various other single-phoneme morphemes prefixed (for orientation) or suffixed (for proximity). These prefixes and suffixes occur only with these core spacetime postpositions, and never affix to any other morpheme.

Suffixes: being near, far or inside:

So, for instance,

These morphemes show orientation about a center:

Relative:

Absolute:

Example spacetime postpositions:

Complex directions can be specified by using two of the prefixes and inserting an epenthetic schwa between them, thus:

Uses of "before" and "after" postpositions {ði} and {ši}

These "before" and "after" postpositions (and their derivatives) are used not only with nouns and noun phrases denoting time periods, but with words for other things that are conceived of as having their extension primarily in time rather than space.

frâ	š-i-m	gjâ-θy	{zǒn}	rej	{srem}
question	after-at-part.of	language-element	"zǒn"	or	"srem"

tyn-van	ʝel,	pwiň	frâ	i-m	bu-kyr	š-i-m	tyn-te-van.
place-V.STATE	generally	or	question	at-part.of	phase-verb	after-at-part.of	place-3.INAN-V.STATE
The particle "zǒn" or "srem" is placed at the end of a yes/no question, or at the end of a verb phrase within the question.

θuň-ba	pǒ	ð-i-m	tyn-van	mâ-fĭw	ĵyn-fwa	mĭ-i,
story-ATD3	that	before-at-part.of	place-V.STATE	person-fictional	interest-CAUS	TOP-at

mǒj	te	ĝy-i-m	tâň-van	ƥ.
but	3.INAN	middle-at-part.of	removal-V.STATE	3
Several interesting characters appear in the early part of that story, but they disappear in the middle of it.

A few of the 357 postpositions one can form in this system don't make any sense. But most of them are potentially usable in some situation or other. For instance, {šom}, "becoming part of the ending of" could be used if one is talking about reforming a calendar system and reassigning some days from the beginning of one month to the end of the previous month, or, less farfetchedly,

mluj	š-o-m	ĥun-frâ	ĥy-i	tâň-θaj-Ł-zô.
convention	end-to-part.of	meeting-question	PAT-at	take-OPP1-3GEN-V.ACT
They added a question and answer session at the end of the convention.

Postpositions in {ĉ-}

Most of the spacetime postpositions are fairly straightforward, but those in {ĉ-} require some more explanation. "ĉi" refers to a position surrounding the object on all sides, "ĉo" to motion of something that begins to surround the object. Neither refers to going around something, circumnavigating it. The adverbs "ŝwe" (widdershins) and "ŝwe-θaj" (clockwise) can be used together with "ĉi" or "ĉo" to indicate such motion.

rîmâ-źa	ĉ-i	tyn-van	pwĭm-daj.
house-AUG	around-at	place-V.STATE	water-mass
There is a moat around the castle.

rîmâ-źa	ĉ-o	ruŋ-zô	sî'ðyr-tla-cu.
house-AUG	around-to	go-V.ACT	fight-professional-system
The army surrounded the castle.

rîmâ-ĵwa	jeriĥo-wam	ĉ-i	ŝwe	ƴâ-zô	fy-bô	jisrael-tam-cu.
house-place	Jericho-NAME.P	around-at	widdershins	walk-V.ACT	seven-ADJ	Israel-NAME.E-system
The Israelites marched around Jericho seven times.

Serial postpositions

Sometimes two postpositions in a row are used, the second postposition modifying the first.

swyŋ	s-i-n	ĥy-i	ĉârn-zô	šyj-zô.
table	top-at-contact	PAT-at	abrade-V.ACT	clean-V.ACT
I scrub the surface of the table.

mruň	ħ-i-m	Φâ	kâ-i	kujm-o	re	o	ruŋ-zô.
mountain	south-at-part.of	form	ATT-at	motive-to	there	to	go.V.ACT
I went there to see the carvings in the south side of the mountain.

žĭr	gân-ř	luw-tâlm	i-ŋ	kâ-i	rĭm-van
humming	cause-from	bone-head	at-inside	ATT-at	see-V.STATE

kiň	te	i-ŋ	pî'dâ-daj	kâ-i	tru-zô.
and	3.INAN	at-inside	bee-COLL	ATT-at	find-V.ACT
Because of the humming noise I looked inside the skull, and found a swarm of bees in it.

Sometimes a serial postposition can be analyzed as involving an omission of an obvious default noun between the first and second postposition; for instance, the common sequence {dâm-ř kâ-i} following an author's name:

taměs-ram	pejn-šam	dâm-ř	kâ-i	lju-zô	jǒj.
Thomas-NAME	Payne-NAME.F	authorship-from	ATT-at	read-V.ACT	again
I'm reading Thomas Payne [= some salient book he wrote] again.

This could probably be interpreted as an abbreviated form of

taměs-ram	pejn-šam	dâm-ř	{Describing Morphosyntax}	kâ-i	lju-zô	jǒj.
Thomas-NAME	Payne-NAME.F	authorship-from	[book_title]	ATT-at	read-V.ACT	again

or of

taměs-ram	pejn-šam	dâm-ř	twâ-cu	kâ-i	lju-zô	jǒj.
Thomas-NAME	Payne-NAME.F	authorship-from	sentence-system	ATT-at	read-V.ACT	again
I'm reading a book by Thomas Payne again.

A time-postposition following another postposition is a common pattern, especially with the state-transition postpositions {jâ-ř} and {jâ-o}, but also with some others; e.g.,

mwĭl	jâ-ř	šin	šyj-ca	θǒ.
sleep	state-from	immediately.after	clean-V.REFL	next
After waking up I immediately bathed/showered.

blâl	hǒl	jâ-o	ðij,	tyn	kǒ	ř	ruŋ-zô	mwe.
frustration	total	state-to	shortly.before	place	DEM1	from	go-V.ACT	IMP
I should get out of here before I get totally frustrated.

These before/after time postpositions can follow various object-case postpositions, in which case a default verb appropriate to that case is usually implied; for instance,

{Hamlet}	kâ-i	ši,	{Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead}	kâ-i	lju-zô	de.
[title]	ATT-at	after	[title]	ATT-at	read-V.ACT	HAB
Typically after [I read] "Hamlet", I read "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead".

Purposive postpositions such as {rjâ-i} "in quest of" and {kujm-o} "for the purpose of" can also commonly follow other postpositions, including the state transition postpositions:

prym	jâ-o	rjâ-i	ŝrun	kâ-i	kâ-ku-zô.
appreciation.of.beauty	state-to	quest-at	music	ATT-at	attention-hear-V.ACT
I listen to music seeking to enter a state of appreciation-of-beauty.

gâm-ʝĭl	kâ-i	kujm-o	vě'ty-rĭm	ĥy-i	kě'ĝu-ť-zô	mwe.
picture-motion	ATT-at	purpose-to	door-seeing	PAT-at	hide-2-V.ACT	IMP
Close the window-blinds so we can focus on the movie.

Indicating posture and position

A sequence of two spacetime postpositions — usually a part-whole postposition followed by a contact postposition, both built on {i} "at" — can be used to indicate posture and position. Usually a locative verb of some kind is used with this sequence. For instance:

Ќ	him	sin	su-ʝa-van
1	back.part.of	on	standing-ROT-V.STATE
I'm lying on my back. / lying supine.

Ќ	vim	sin	su-ʝa-van
1	front.part.of	on	standing-ROT-V.STATE
I'm lying on my front. / lying prone.

Or if the second postposition in the sequence is a motion postposition (built on {o} "to" or {ř} "from"), it can indicate getting into or out of a given position.

ɱ	ĵim	son	mlĭr-ʝa-ca	zě'ĥâr.
3	left.part.of	onto	rotate-ROT-V.REFL	Zachary
Zachary rolled over onto his right side.

ɱ	him	sřn	su	jâ-o	tîm'θĭ.
3	back.part.of	off.of	standing	state-to	Timothy
Timothy stands up from a supine position.

More precise paths of motion

Two sequential motion postpositions, one built on {ř} "from" followed by one built on {o} "to", can describe the path of motion relative to the head of the postpositional phrase more precisely than a single spacetime postposition can do. For instance,

rî'mâ	θoŋ	ruŋ-zô.
house	bottom.into	go-V.ACT
I go into the lower part of the house / into the basement.

The {θoŋ} alone doesn't specify whether I'm starting out upstairs, and going downstairs, or whether I'm starting out outdoors, and entering the house on the basement level. Sometimes context distinguishes, but one can also use two sequential postpositions:

rî'mâ	sřŋ	θoŋ	ruŋ-zô.
house	top.out.of	bottom.into	go-V.ACT
I go downstairs.

rî'mâ	źřj	θoŋ	ruŋ-zô.
house	west.from.near	bottom.into	go-V.ACT
I enter the basement from the west side of the house.

The {ź-} prefix isn't necessary here; replacing {źřj} with simple {řj} would yield a less precise but still accurate meaning.

This is also how gjâ-zym-byn describes directions of motion more generally, in situations where English, for instance, would use a -ward adverb such as "north(ward)", "forward", etc.

purj	břŋ	ħoŋ	ruŋ-źa-zô	num.
environment	north.out.of	south.into	go-AUG-V.ACT	wren
The wren voyages south.

ɱ	ĵř	co	ƴâ-zô	dě'pyw.
3	right.from	left.to	walk-V.ACT	crab
The crab walks to its left.

In the first example, the southward motion is described relative to the environment as a whole; in the second, it's relative to the crab's own body, with the cataphoric pronoun {ɱ} pointing forward to the crab, which hasn't been mentioned yet.

Similarly a combination of two before/after postpositions is used to indicate direction of time-travel, e.g.,

sî'ðyr-źa-cu	ðoj	šř	ruŋ-ƴu-zô.
fight-AUG-system	before.to.near	after.from	go-time-V.ACT
I time-traveled back to shortly before the war.

If the speaker just used {ðoj} by itself, the sentence would be ambiguous as to whether they were going to that point in time from some point even earlier before the war, or from a future point.

Abstract postpositions

The abstract case markers all derive from a root word followed by a basic {i, o, ř} postposition.

The relationships shown by the English possessive or the Greek genitive are shown in various ways in gjâ-zym-byn:

The partitive genitive would sometimes be translated with the suffix {-na} ("made of" the substance described by the root). A few other concepts denoted by prepositions in other languages are denoted by suffixes here as well: {-ta} "without", {-ja} "according to, fitting".

Some other useful non-spacetime postpositions:

{ðĭ-i} roughly corresponds to Esperanto's generic preposition "je". Its most common use is to mark the object of a stative verb when the subject must be marked with {mĭ-i} rather than {ʝâr-i}, and no other postposition seems more precisely fitting for the object. The possession and ownership verbs {ŝâj-van} and {wuŋ-van} are the most common such verbs.

hajnlajn-šam	dâm-ř	twâ-cu
Heinlein-NAME.F	authorship-from	sentence-system

ðy-ðy-lwa-bô	ðĭ-i	wuŋ-van.
five-five-approximate-ADJ	relationship-at	own-V.STATE

I own about twenty-five books by Heinlein.

{muw-i} is used to indicate that the entity or group of entities denoted by one noun phrase is a member or subset of another set. It translates among other things some uses of the English phrases "one of", "some of", "among" and "out of":

lju-θaj-tla	muw-i	mâ	sǒ	tu-i	twâ-zô	Φǒ:
read-OPP1-professional	subset-at	person	certain	AGT-at	say-V.ACT	QUOTE

{hyw-hôw-tla	hǒ,	frâ-θaj-zô	žuln-fwa	ť	tu-i.}
know-CAUS-professional	VOC	ask-OPP1-V.ACT	satisfaction-CAUS	2	AGT-at
Then one of the scribes said, "Teacher, you have answered well."

mâ-ŝy	muw-i	ť	mĭ-i	₣urŋ-bô	ŋĭn-i	~~~
person-female	subset-at	2	TOP-at	blessed-ADJ	CMT-at	...
Blessed art thou among women...

When used to describe the proportion of a given set with a certain property or engaging in a certain action, the noun used before {muw-i} doesn't need to be repeated after it, just the numerator.

fĭm-hôw-tla	ðy-bô	muw-i	ĉu-ĉu-bô	ʝâr-i
health-CAUS-professional	five-ADJ	subset-at	two-two-ADJ	experiencer-at

blâl-van	ŋî'bĭ	fĭw-bô	mĭ-i.
annoyance-V.STATE	number	fiction-ADJ	TOP-at
Four out of five doctors get annoyed at made-up statistics.

There is an implied {fĭm-hôw-tla} between {muw-i} and {ĉu-cŭ-bô} here, as in English "Four [doctors] out of five doctors..."

Lexical dissimilation

When an abstract postposition would occur after the same noun that it's built upon, it is generally replaced with a plain spacetime postposition for the sake of euphony, or sometimes replaced with a less specific/accurate abstractpostposition. E.g., substituting a simplified postposition:

?mĭ	nǒ	i	gju-ŋĭn-zô	θě'mâ.
topic	Q.WH	at	speak-explain-V.ACT	Thomas
What topic did Thomas lecture about?

— as opposed to {?mĭ nǒ mĭ-i}.

Substituting a less specific postposition:

ŝĭw	kǒ	syj-i	bĭm	ĥy-i	šyj-ť-zô	mwe.
substance	this	use-at	sink	PAT-at	clean-2-V.ACT	IMP
Clean the sink using this substance.

— as opposed to {ŝĭw kǒ ŝĭw-i}. {ŝĭw-i} is normally used for the materials one uses up to do the action of the verb, while {syj-i} is used for tools that are relatively unaffected by a single use. But when the substanceused is so vaguely described as above, {syj-i} is used to avoid repeating {ŝĭw}so close together.

I call this phenomenon "lexical dissimilation." A similar kind of dissimilation occurs withthe suffix {-ma} where it replaces a repeated instance of the same morpheme in a derived word. Some of the other postpositions this occurs most commonly with include {kujm-o} "for the purpose of," and {gân-ř} "because of."

kujm	pǒ	o	bâň-van	heŋ	ðǒŋ	tě'bâ	ĥy-i	kyw-oŋ-Ł-zô.
purpose	this	to	allow-V.STATE	not	that	tobacco	PAT-at	lung-into-3.GEN-V.ACT
That's why it is not allowed to smoke tobacco.

gân	kwǒ	ř	grĭ-van	heŋ	flu-fwa-ĉa.
cause	some	from	function-V.STATE	not	flow-CAUS-tool
For some reason the pump's not working.

Note on why I derive abstract postpositions from spacetime postpositions

A lot of natlangs and naturalistic conlangs cover a lot of their needs for abstract relationship adpositions by metaphorically stretching the basic meaning of a locational or temporal adposition. gzb does a lot less of that (I won't say none at all); instead of, for instance, using {si} to mean both "physically on top of" and "about the topic of", or "hi" to mean both "physically behind" and "being the cause of", it forms abstract relationship postpositions by compounding an abstract noun root with one of the basic spatial relationship postpositon. The spatio-temporal meaning of {i} remains intact when it stands alone or combines with spacetime prefixes and suffixes; it generally only gets stretched into abstract territory when it's combined with an abstract noun, and then the noun it's combined with generally indicates pretty clearly what that stretched meaning is.

Hypothetically, I could have simply extended the meanings of those abstract nouns into postpositions by zero-derivation, the way English does a lot of its derivation between the categories of noun, verb and adjective. But the way gzb syntax works, that would have made a lot of sentences hard to parse, I think. Or I could have lexicalized the most common thematic-relationship concepts simply as postpositions, and then used a nominalizer when I needed to use the corresponding abstract noun; but then I would have either needed a more complex morphophonology, to give room for more allowed wordforms in the postposition class, or I still would have needed some way to derive less-common thematic-relationship postpositions from abstract nouns.

Or I could have formed abstract postpositions from abstract nouns with one or more normal suffixes, the way I produce conjunctions from noun stems with {-šar}, adjectives with {-bô} and others, etc. But it seemed more intuitive to use the core spacetime postpositions, which were already there, instead of adding more morphemes and making words that were already longer than most natlang equivalents even longer (the shortest possible suffix of normal form is two phonemes, CV). Also, I would have needed three postposition-making suffixes to produce a system as flexible and expressive as the one gzb has now — notice the way the variation between the spacetime postpositions {i, o, ř} marks aspect in {jâ-i}, {jâ-o}, and {jâ-ř}; there are other triplets of related case postpositions as well.

I intended that the postposition system should have its inevitable complexity all on the surface, manifesting as a large number of postpositions with fairly specific meanings and uses, instead of it being hidden, as in most natlangs, which have a smaller number of adpositions and cases but each has a bewildering arrray of meanings and rules for when to use it. However, I'm not sure I succeeded; in the process of pulling most (not all) of the unavoidable complexity to the surface, I may have created some otherwise avoidable complexity.

Modifiers (adjectives/adverbs)

Modifiers are formed from root substantives by addition of appropriate suffixes. gjâ-zym-byn does not make a morphological distinction between adjectives and adverbs, though in practice some modifiers always modify verbs or modifiers. Modifiers, whether non-derived particles or derived words, always follow their heads, with a handful of exceptions: interjections like {hwǒ}, evidentiality adverbs derived with {-pôm}, and ordinal adverbs derived with {-saw}, which can optionally come at the beginning of a clause instead of after the main verb (or the most verb-like postpositional phrase, in a sentence with no verb).

If the root noun denotes a quality or state, use {-bô} to form the adjective meaning "having this quality, being in this state". Other suffixes can also be used with this kind of root.

If the root noun denotes a concrete entity or type of entity, {-bô} and {-cô} wouldn't be appropriate, but other modifier derivations are possible:

but:

{-rô} specifies an idiomatically selected quality of the root substantive. It's similar to "-um" in Esperanto — not all concrete roots have a defined {rô}-adjective.

If the root denotes an action or relation, certain other suffixes are appropriate.

If the root denotes a mindstate, an adjective formed with {-fwa} describes the circumstances or qualities that conduce to it, and an adjective formed with {-bô} describes the person who experiences it. In gjâ-zym-byn most or all subjective qualities are named by a root mindstate-word plus {-fwa}.

For more details on derivation of modifiers, see the corresponding sections of the derivational morphology document.

Attribution

Modifiers as attributes normally follow the nouns they modify.

However, with the conjunction {če}, a modifier can be bound to its head in reverse order:

The same rule goes for modifiers of verbs:

With the reversal conjunction,

Usually {če} is used as an error correction mechanism.

Here is a sentence with a modified noun as patient and a modified verb:

gâm	ny-bô	ĥy-i	tâň-zô	ƴum-bô	mâ-ħa	kwǒ.
picture	small	PAT-at	take-V.ACT	fraud-ADJ	person-ATD4	some
Some scoundrel has taken the small picture in a fraudulent way.

Predication

Modifiers as predicates normally occur with the postpositions {ŋĭn-i} (comment) or {jâ-i} (state), with the noun phrase whose referent they're predicated of marked by {mĭ-i} or (more typically) left unmarked in final subject position.

gâm	mĭ-i	pân-kwa	ŋĭn-i.
picture	TOP-at	all-color	CMT-at
The picture is multicolored.

pân-kwa	ŋĭn-i	gâm.
all-color	CMT-at	picture
The picture is multicolored.

Note, however, that in predicate position a root or stem signifying a state or quality doesn't have to take the {-bô} suffix, as it does in attributive position.

ny	ŋĭn-i	gâm	pǒ.
smallness	CMT-at	picture	DEM3
That picture is small.

(There are archaic sentence in many texts, and in these grammar documents, where a {-bô} adjective is used in predicate position. Updating the grammar document and all its sample sentences to reflect the current state of the language is an ongoing task.)

prym-fwa	ŋĭn-i	gâm	ny-bô.
aesthetic.pleasure-CAUS	CMT-at	picture	small-ADJ
The small picture is beautiful.

The state transition postpositions {jâ-o} (becoming) and {jâ-ř} (ceasing to be) are used similarly.

hwǒ,	pî'râ	jâ-o	gâm.
INTJ	flame	state-to	picture
Oh no, the picture's caught on fire!

prym-fwa	jâ-ř	gâm	ĥy-pî'râ-bô.
aesthetic.pleasure-CAUS	state-from	picture	PAT-flame-ADJ
The burned picture ceases to be beautiful.

{ŋĭn-i} and {jâ-i} are interchangeable in many contexts; one rule of thumb is that {ŋĭn-i} is used with more subjective qualities, while {jâ-i} with more objective ones.

ĥĭn-fwa	ŋĭn-i	tě'bâ.
disgust-CAUS	CMT-at	tobacco
Tobacco is disgusting.

ĥě'fâŋ-fwa	jâ-i	tě'bâ.
cancer-CAUS	state-at	tobacco
Tobacco is carcinogenic.

{jâ-i} also tends to be used for more transitory qualities, and {ŋĭn-i} with more durable ones. Also, if the subject is an animate entity marked by {ʝâr-i} "experiencer", then the predicate modifier is marked by {jâ-i} or the state transition variants thereof, not {ŋĭn-i}.

mwĭl	jâ-i	gî'lu	ʝâr-i.
sleep	state-at	wolverine	experiencer-at
The wolverine is asleep.

mwĭl	jâ-ř	gî'lu	ʝâr-i.
sleep	state-from	wolverine	experiencer-at
The wolverine is waking up.

ĥul	jâ-o	gî'lu	ʝâr-i.
anger	state-to	wolverine	experiencer-at
The wolverine is getting angry.

Comparison

Comparative forms of modifiers and (especially stative) verbs are formed with the suffixes {-sra} "more" and {-ĵar} "less". Applied to modifiers formed from quality-stems, they come before the {-bô} adjectivizing suffix:

Applied to other modifiers, formed with suffixes other than {-bô}, the {-sra} and {-ĵar} normally come at the end of the word. For instance, with the causative suffix {-fwa}:

but this is also possible, though rarer:

With most other modifier suffixes this inversion wouldn't make sense, though:

When turning one of these comparative modifiers into a stative verb, replace {-bô} with {-van} or add {-van} after the comparative suffix:

gjâ-zym-byn doesn't have a morphologically distinct comparative and superlative. If a comparative modifier or verb form occurs with an explicit standard of comparison, it would generally be translated into English as "more/less X" or "X-er"; if it occurs with no standard of comparison, the implicit comparison may be, depending on context, to the same entity in the past, or to some other recently mentioned entity, or to all other things of the kind, or all things of that kind that are in context at the moment. In the latter cases it would be translated as "most/least X" or "X-est". Inexplicit comparison can be in attribute form (a modifier applying to a head noun or verb within a single noun phrase or verb phrase) or predicate form (the modifier being in a separate comment or state postpositional phrase, applying to a head noun that's in a topic or experiencer postpositional phrase):

mwĭl-ŝra-van	tâ	ĵĭn-sra	ʝâr-i.
sleep-tending-V.STATE	sibling	young-COMP	experiencer-at
The youngest of the siblings is sleepy.

sâr-ĵar	ŋĭn-i	pě'pâ-daj	pǒ.
order-COMP.NEG	CMT-at	paper-mass	that
That mass of papers is less orderly [than other such] / is the least orderly.

huw-sra	jâ-i	mâ-bâm	kǒ.
happy-COMP	state-at	person-new	this
This baby is happier [than other [recently mentioned?] babies] / is the happiest.

Or a comparative modifier can be an attribute of a verb, i.e. an adverb:

!ƴâ-ť-zô	ĵwy-sra-bô	mwe.
go.adjustable-2-V.ACT	fast-COMP-ADJ	IMP
Walk/run faster!

gzb has two ways of relating the head noun of the comparative modifier or the subject of the comparative verb to the standard it's being compared with. One is with the comparative conjunction {θe} (as, than); this is archaic, the comparative conjunction usually being used now only for equality-comparison. In this form the subject of the comparison is linked within its topic postpositional phrase with the standard of comparison:

*hwǒ,	lâŋ-sra-van	twâ-cu-θuň	kǒ	θe	{gormenħast-wam}	mĭ-i.
INT	long-COMP-V.STATE	sentence-system-story	this	than	Gormenghast-NAME.P	TOP-at
Whoa, this novel is longer than Gormenghast!

Nowadays (since 2008), the standard of comparison is put in a separate postpositional phrase marked with {dî'fu-i}, "compared with". ({dî'fu} derives from the name of the Unix command "diff".)

šun	kǒ	i	mîr'su	dî'fu-i	nâ-sra	ŋĭn-i	hěm'lu	mĭ-i.
region	this	at	mulberry	compare-at	common-COMP	CMT-at	magnolia	TOP-at
Around here magnolias are more common than mulberry trees.

The comparative suffixes can also occur with such quantifier clitics as {reŋ} (many) and modifier clitics as {mje} (in the past):

ƥ	dâm-ř	twâ-cu	reŋ-sra	ðĭ-i	wuŋ-Ќ-van.
3	authorship-from	sentence-system	many-COMP	relation-at	own-1-V.STATE
I own more books by her [than someone else does / than by some other author / than I used to].

ƥ	ĥun-i	gju-môj	mje-ĵar.
3	meet-at	speak-V.RECP	past-COMP.NEG
I have spoken with him more recently [than someone else has / than with other people recently mentioned].

There are a couple of kinds of qualified comparatives; they occur only as predicates, not as attributes. Subset comparison corresponds to English "one of the most/least...", and uses the subset postposition {muw-i}:

rî'mâ	hum-cô-sra-bô	muw-i	rî'mâ-źa	sĭrz-gam	mĭ-i.
building	deep-OPP2-COMP-ADJ	subset-at	building-AUG	Sears-NAME.G	TOP-at
The Sears Tower is among the tallest buildings.

Ranked comparison corresponds to English "the second-most X", "the third-least Y", etc. It is unique in not actually using the suffixes {-sra} and {-ĵar} at all, but an ordinal number in a comment phrase with the compared quality in a generic relational phrase:

Φu	ðĭ-i	ĉu-pa	ŋĭn-i	tam-ram	mĭ-i.
mass	relationship-at	two-ORD	CMT-at	Tom-NAME	TOP-at
Tom is the second most massive. (= With respect to mass, Tom is second.)

ŋy	ðĭ-i	se-ĉu-pa	ŋĭn-i	kentâwrus-wam	mĭ-i.
distance	relationship-at	minus-two-ORD	CMT-at	Centaurus-NAME.P	TOP-at
Centaurus is second least distant / second nearest. [In a discussion of stars; Sol of course is the nearest.]

Subset and ranked comparison can be combined to give an explicit standard of comparison, e.g.:

terě-ram	lĭw-i	fru	muw-i	ĵu	ðĭ-i	dâ-pa	ŋĭn-i	lǒrě-ram	mĭ-i.
Tara-NAME	relation-at	child	subset-at	maturity	relation-at	three-ORD	CMT-at	Laura-NAME	TOP-at
Laura is the third-oldest of Tara's children.

Explicit comparisons can be made with {dî'fu-i} in relation to a quantified standard, e.g.:

mâ	jǒm	dî'fu-i	ĵlân-sra-van	hektor-ram.
person	most.of	compare-at	wise-COMP-V.STATE	Hector-NAME
Hector is wiser than most people / than the majority of people.

Explicit superlatives generally use {dî'fu-i}, with a standard quantified with {ble}, "the rest of":

mruň	ble	dî'fu-i	hum-cô-sra-van	evřest-wam.
mountain	rest.of	compare-at	deep-OPP2-COMP-V.STATE	Everest-NAME.P
Everest is taller than the rest of the mountains / is the tallest mountain.

And a locative or temporal phrase or {muw-i} subset phrase can give a more explicit context within which the superlative is valid:

mâw-źa-cu	kǒ	i	mruň	ble	dî'fu-i	hum-cô-sra-van	olîmpǒs-mons-wam.
ball-AUG-system	DEM1	at	mountain	rest.of	compare-at	deep-OPP2-COMP-V.STATE	Olympus.Mons-NAME.P
Olympus Mons is the tallest mountain in our solar system.

tâŋ	kǒ	i	kĭlm	ble	dî'fu-i	pwĭ-fwa-sra	ŋĭn-i	ĥun-pĭw	kǒ.
personal.era	DEM1	at	party	rest.of	compare-at	delight-CAUS-COMP	CMT-at	meet-game	DEM1
This gaming party is the most enjoyable party [I've been to] this whole tâŋ.

The comparative suffixes generally don't apply to entity stems. However, they are occasionally used with number or unit-of-measure stems, meaning "more than" or "less than" the amount specified by the stem:

With verbs (whether active or stative) derived from process stems, the comparative suffixes mean "to do said action/undergo said process more/less intensely":

grĭ-ĵar-van	šĭm-ĉa	kǒ.
function-COMP.NEG-V.STATE	algorithm-tool	this
This computer functions less well [than other computers / than it used to].

te	ĥy-i	câ-sra-ť-zô	mwe	šyj-fwa-zô.
3.INAN	PAT-at	try-COMP-2-V.ACT	IMP	clean-CAUS-V.ACT
Try harder to get it clean.

These comparative action/process verbs can have explicit standards of comparison with {dî'fu-i} or {muw-i} as well.

Some ambiguous comparisons can be disambiguated by using serial postpositions, putting a case postposition before {dî'fu-i} to indicate the role the standard of comparison plays in the sentence (besides being the standard of comparison):

sě'râ	dî'fu-i	mî'rĭj	mĭ-i	fâ-sra-van	jě'nu	ʝâr-i.
Sarah	compare-at	Mary	TOP-at	love-CMP-V.STATE	Joan	EXP-at
Joan loves Mary more than Sarah.

Does she love Mary more than she loves Sarah, or does she love Mary more than Sarah does? Adding {ʝâr-i} or {mĭ-i} between {sě'râ} and {dî'fu-i} disambiguates whether we're comparing two experiencers or two topics:

sě'râ	mĭ-i	dî'fu-i	mî'rĭj	mĭ-i	fâ-sra-van	jě'nu	ʝâr-i.
Sarah	TOP-at	compare-at	Mary	TOP-at	love-CMP-V.STATE	Joan	EXP-at
Joan loves Mary more than she loves Sarah.

sě'râ	ʝâr-i	dî'fu-i	mî'rĭj	mĭ-i	fâ-sra-van	jě'nu	ʝâr-i.
Sarah	EXP-at	compare-at	Mary	TOP-at	love-CMP-V.STATE	Joan	EXP-at
Joan loves Mary more than Sarah does.

An example with an active verb:

gwî'jum	tu-i	dî'fu-i	ƥ	ŋâw-o	gju-ŋy-zô	reŋ-sra	lě'kjân.
William	AGT-at	compare-at	3	call-to	talk-distant-V.ACT	much-CMP	Alexander
Alexander calls her on the phone more often than William does.

gwî'jum	ŋâw-o	dî'fu-i	ƥ	ŋâw-o	gju-ŋy-zô	reŋ-sra	lě'kjân.
William	call-to	compare-at	3	call-to	talk-distant-V.ACT	much-CMP	Alexander
Alexander calls her on the phone more often than he calls William.

Equality comparison uses the comparative conjunction {θe} and some sameness or similarity adverb on the stative verb, adjective, or state-postposition:

twâ-cu	kǒ	θe	twâ-cu	tǒ	mĭ-i	lâŋ-van	sâm-bô.
sentence-system	DEM1	as	sentence-system	DEM2	TOP-at	long-V.STATE	same-ADJ
This book is just as long as that book.

blĭn	jâ-i	₣um-bô	vlym-srĭw	kǒ	θe	vlym-srĭw	pǒ.
tightness	state-at	similar-ADJ	clothes-leg	DEM1	as	clothes-leg	DEM3
These pants are about as tight as those.

For more examples of equality comparison, see the section of the derivational morphology document on mathematical equation sentences.

One can also make an explicit comparison with an entity as it was in the past:

pym-fwa-van	sâm-bô	tam-ram	θe	ƥ	mje.
amusement-CAUS-V.STATE	same-ADJ	Tom-NAME	as	3	past
Tom is as funny as his past self / is as funny as ever.

ɱ	mje	dî'fu-i	žu-sô-sra	jâ-i	vĭrě-ram.
3	past	compare-at	care-tending-COMP	state-at	Vera-NAME
Vera is more careful than her past self / than she used to be.

Or one could use {ler} "future" or a postpositional phrase specifying a particular time period to be more specific about what other point on an entity's world-line you're comparing its present self to.

Pronouns

The simple personal pronouns are:

{ƥ} points backward to a previously mentioned person or group, {ɱ} forward to somone(s) not already mentioned by name. Similarly {te} and {ŋe} point backward and forward to their referents. Technically, {ƥ} and {te} are anaphoric pronouns, while {ɱ} and {ŋe} are cataphoric pronouns.

Note there is no plural first person pronoun. "We" could be expressed by:

The other pronouns can be marked plural by appending a quantifier clitic, or a number adjective, but in some contexts this is not necessary; ť, ƥ, ɱ can refer to plural antecedents even without such explicit pluralization. Ќ would not be pluralized with a number or quantifier, only in one of the ways mentioned above (unless the speaker were a group mind or hive, perhaps). ("Royal We" would be translated by appending a respectful affix to the first-person pronoun.)

I have not been perfectly consistent about using {ƥ, ɱ} vs. {te, ŋe} for body parts. I am leaning toward consistently using the animate pronouns, but for now the animate and inanimate pronouns are interchangeable for reference to body parts.

{Ł} is glossed above as "one," but it has a broader meaning than "one" in formal English or "on" in French. It can refer to a generic, nonspecific person, in a statement that applies to people in general or a broad class of people, but it can also refer to a specific person whose identity is unknown or irrelevant to the current discussion, similar to the way the passive voice in many Indo-European languages deemphasizes or leaves out the agent. In this sense it could be glossed as "someone."

ƴâw	ŝâj-o	čĭm	ĥy-i	vâ-oŋ-fwa-Ł-zô	źǒ.
dog	posses-to	chocolate	PAT-at	digestion-into-CAUS-3.GEN-V.ACT	IMP.NEG
One mustn't give chocolate to dogs.

Ќ	sim	ʝym-daj	ĥy-i	ĥâ-Ł-zô.
1	top.part.of	hair/leaf-mass	PAT-at	cut-3.GEN-V.ACT
I got my hair cut / Someone cut my hair.

gzb has no interrogative or relative pronouns per se, but uses the interrogative particle {nǒ}, or the relativizer {lǒ}, with various nouns or noun phrases to serve those purposes.

Almost any noun phrase can be interrogated or relativized, but in practice a few generic nouns tend to get used frequently with these particles. See under Information questionse and Relative clauses for details.

The non-personal pronouns are:

{že} typically points forward to the content of a {hǒŋ} subordinate clause.

že	mĭ-i	gju-zô	ƥ	tu-i,	hǒŋ	gjâ	kǒ	mĭ-i
this	TOP-at	speak-V.ACT	3	AGT-at	that	language	DEM1	TOP-at

syj-faj	heŋ	źe	ŋĭn-i.
use-able	not	very	CMT-at.

She talked about how useless my language was.

ce	mĭ-i	sjum-van,	wǒj	Ќ	ĥy-i	hyw-fwa-zô	ce	gân-ř
this	TOP-at	thankful-V.STATE	because	1	PAT-at	know-CAUS-V.ACT	this	cause-from

luŋ	mĭ-i.
detachment	TOP-at

I was thankful for that, because it taught me something about detachment.

{re} is a place pronoun, similar to "y" in French. It is normally followed by a spacetime postposition to express its role in the sentence, just like a noun phrase referring to a place.

âthĭnz-wam	o	ruŋ-źa-zô	pî'tĭr	pe	zě'ĥâr.
Athens-NAME.P	to	go-AUG-V.ACT	Peter	and	Zachary

re	i	tyn-van	bĭr-ĵwa	reŋ.
there	at	place-V.STATE	beer-place	many
Peter and Zachary traveled to Athens, Georgia. There are a lot of bars there.

However, {re} can be the object of an abstract case postposition as well.

tâŋ	reŋ	ði	sânfrânsĭsko-wam-la	o	ruŋ-źa-zô.
personal.era	many	ago	San.Francisco-NAME.P-ATD1	to	go-AUG-V.ACT

re	kâ-i	prym-źa-van,	mǒn	pwĭm-by-da	ŋĭn-i	re.
there	ATT-at	aesthetic.appreciation-AUG-V.STATE	although	water-air-full	CMT-at	there
Many years ago I traveled to San Francisco. I found it very beautiful, although it was foggy.

In the second clause, {re} is the object of attention, and in the third, {re} is the topic (the topic postposition being left out in sentence-final position).

One can add modifiers to pronouns, indicating number, gender, age, etc., if necessary to clarify which of several previously-mentioned entities is intended.

!ť	pen	tu-i	ruŋ-zô	mwe	mruň	on.
you	all	AGT-at	go-V.ACT	IMP	mountain	to

Y'all go to the mountain.

vlym	bâm-bô	ĥy-i	kâj-zô	ƥ-ŝy	srǒ	tu-o	ƥ-mym	ŝâj-o.
clothing	new-ADJ	PAT-at	exchange-V.ACT	3-female	several	AGT-to	3-self	possession-to.

They buy new clothes.

Conjunctions

{gjâ-zym-byn} has several kinds of conjunctions.

One shows the relative truth or falsity of two independent clauses. Words of this type are derived by compounding phonemes from a truth table:

So for instance:

(In practice, these are rarely used, except for {kiň}, and I don't think I've ever used any of the 11 other conjunctions one could theoretically form from this table.)

Another kind links two clauses and shows their causal relation (or surprising lack thereof); like "because, therefore, however, but" in English. They're also formed with a matrix.

Prefix elements:

ŝ-	logical cause	(therefore, because)
w-	effective cause	(therefore, because)
ʝ-	evidence, inference	(therefore, because)
m-	not hindered	(however, even though, in spite of, but)

Suffix elements:

-ǒn	1st clause, therefore (however) 2nd clause
-ǒj	1st clause, because (even though) 2nd clause

ĉu	pe	ðy	θe	fy	mĭ-i	sâm-van,	ŝǒn
2	plus	5	=	7	TOP-at	same-V.STATE	therefore.logically

fy	se	ðy	θe	ĉu	mĭ-i	sâm-van.
7	minus	5	=	2	TOP-at	same-V.STATE.

2 + 5 = 7, therefore 7 minus 5 = 2.

lju-sô	ŋĭn-i,	wǒn	kâj-zô	twâ-cu-vuj	reŋ	ĥy-i.
read-tending.to	CMT-at,	therefore.in.fact	transact-V.ACT	sentence-system-concrete	many	PAT-at

I am readful, so I buy many books.

{ʝǒj} and {ʝǒn} show a relationship between two clauses where the truth of one clause is inferred or deduced from the more obviously evident truth of the other.

tyn	kǒ	ř	ruŋ-ƥ-zô	gwe,	ʝǒj
place	this	from	go-3-V.ACT	already	because.inference

ƥ	wuŋ-i	ƴâ-ĉa	kâ-i	rĭm-Ќ-van	heŋ.
3	owning-at	go-tool	ATT-at	see-1-V.STATE	not
He must have already gone, because I don't see his car.

zym-zô,	ʝǒn	bĭŋ-van.
think-V.ACT	therefore.inference	exist-V.STATE

I think, therefore (I deduce that) I am.

The {-ǒj} forms reverse the causal order:

râm	mĭ-i	pwĭ-cô-van,	wǒj	ƥ	mĭ-i	pwĭm-da	ŋĭn-i.
cat	TOP-at	delight-OPP2-V.STATE,	because.fact	3	TOP-at	water-full	CMT-at

The cat is miserable because it's wet.

{mǒn, mǒj} correspond to "although" and "but"; there is a mirative element in one of the two clauses joined by these, the truth of one clause being unexpected or surprising in light of the truth of the other clause:

helenike-lam	mĭ-i	suŋ-van	heŋ,	mǒn	kun-hôw-ca	mje	te	kâ-i.
Greek-NAME.L	TOP-at	know.how-V.STATE	not,	although	know-CAUS2-V.REFL	PAST	3	ATT-at

I'm not fluent in Greek though I studied it awhile ago.

vlym-srĭw	ĥy-i	šyj-zô	žu-bô,	mǒj	te	im	ver	ħĭwm	gǒ.
clothing-legs	PAT-at	clean-V.ACT	care-ADJ	but	3.INAN	part.of	still	stain	behold
I washed the pants carefully, but look, the stain is still there.

mǒn	sru-van	ť	ty-o	ruŋ-zô,
although	desire-V.STATE	2	home-to	go-V.ACT

mǒj	Ќ	ŝâj-i	ƴâ-ĉa	mĭ-i	grĭ-cô-van.
but	1	possession-at	move-tool	TOP-at	function-OPP2-V.STATE
Although I would like to come to your house, my car is broken.

A third type of conjunction primarily works with numbers to show arithmetic operations. Some of them are used by analogy with other words and phrases.

Examples of the math/phrasal conjunctions:

ɱ-ŝy	pe	Ќ	tu-i	vâ-oŋ-zô.
3-female	and	1	AGT-at	digestion-into-V.ACT
She and I ate together.

{pe} can be used to link verbs within a single clause which have the same subject and object.

mě'hu	kwǒ	ĥy-i	jâln-fwa-zô	pe	vâ-oŋ-zô.
stew	some	PAT-at	heat-CAUS-V.ACT	and	digestion-into-V.ACT
I heated up and ate some stew.

Ќ	lĭw-i	tâ-ma-bâm	mĭ-i	fâ-van	pe	pym-van.
1	relationship-at	sibling-meta-new	TOP-at	love-V.STATE	and	amusement-V.STATE
I love my baby cousin and find [her] amusing.

In these cases the two verbs not only have the same subject but have the same kind of relationship to their objects: patient in the first case, focus or topic in the second. But between verbs with different subjects, or with the same subject but different relationships to their object, the clausal conjunction {kiň} must be used to translate "and".

θuň-bâm	krĭ-o	lju-θaj-zô	kiň	te	ĥy-i	byn-zô.
story-new	create-at	read-OPP2-V.ACT	and	3.INAN	ATT-at	tinker-V.ACT
I am writing a new story and revising it.

In English one might say "I am writing and revising a new story", "a new story" being the direct object of both verbs; but gzb has no "direct objects" as such, just patients, objects-of-result, objects-of-attention, and so forth. Here each verb has a different relationship to its object and requires a different postposition to mark it, so the pronoun {te} is used resumptively and {ĥy-i} shows that {byn-zô} is modifying a now existing story, not creating a new one like {lju-θaj-zô}.

Besides its core meaning of "multiplied by", {ke} is used between non-mathematical nouns to mean "and", but implying a closer, synergistic connection between the nouns or noun phrases linked by it than {pe}.

ɱ-ĉu	mĭ-i	rě'ĵy	ke	rě'ĵy-θaj	jâ-i.
3-two	TOP-at	wife	and	wife-OPP1	state-at

They are wife and husband.

{ke} can also be used to link proper names of husband and wife, co-authors, or collaborators; in this case the names are compounded into one word with -ke- as a kind of hyphen, and the name suffix {-ram} or {-šam} is usually only used once, not after each name.

Φě'ĥu-cu	mĭ-i	krĭ-gâm-zô	tam-ke-ser'ě-ram.
elephant-system	TOP-at	create-picture-V.ACT	Tom-and-Sarah-NAME
Tom and Sarah painted a picture of a herd of elephants.

{se} "minus" is incorporated into number-words to form negative numbers, and used phrasally to express subtraction. With non-numbers, it means "except", "with the exception of":

dejvĭd-ram	mĭĉěl-šam	dâm-ř	θuň-lâŋ	pen	se
David-NAME	Mitchell-NAME.F	author-from	story-long	all	except

bâm-sra	kâ-i	lju-zô	gwe.
new-COMP	ATT-at	read-V.ACT	already
I've read all of David Mitchell's novels except his newest.

{ðe} "divided by" is used with number-words to derive words/phrases for fractions. With other kinds of words, it means "contrasted with":

bě'lâm	ðe	mwĭň	mĭ-i	dlâw-Ł-van	dî'fu-zô.
embarrassment.privacy.violation	CONTRAST	embarrassment.subject	TOP-at	duty-3.GEN-V.STATE	distinguish-V.ACT
One must distinguish embarrassment at violated privacy from embarrassment at talking about emotionally sensitive subjects.

{me} "raised to the power of" is incorporated into kinship terms to indicate more distant relationships. It's also used with units of measure and dimensional terms to indicate higher dimensions, e.g. to derive volume from a basic word for distance.

{se} and {ðe} are most commonly used in the corpus with numbers ({se} is most commonly used in the phrase {gě'dĭm se-cĭ-pa}, day minus-one'th = yesterday), while {pe} and {ke} are far more commonly used with ordinary stems. This is probably because simply concatenating numbers in compounds multiplies or adds them, according to their increasing or decreasing magnitude.

The range conjunction {zej} has primarily been used with number words, signifying a range of numbers from one to another inclusive:

E.g.,

tĭm-ĉu-fy	zej	tĭm-ĉu-ĝu	im
hundred-two-seven	RANGE	hundred-two-thirteen	part.of

tyn-van	heŋ	ŋî'bĭ	gĭ-rô.
be.located-V.STATE	not	number	eleven-QUAL
There are no prime numbers from 114 to 126.

θuň-lâŋ-kwĭ	pǒ	im	ĉu-pa	zej	ðy-pa	kâ-i	lju-zô.
story-long-series	DEM3	part.of	two-ORD	RANGE	five-ORD	ATT-at	read-V.ACT
I've read the second through fifth novels in that series.

hâ-gla	zej	ħy-gla	i	gjâ	kǒ	ĥy-i	byn-zô.
seventeen-ORD.T	RANGE	nineteen-ORD.T	at	language	DEM1	PAT-at	tinker-V.ACT
I tinkered with this language from 5pm to 7pm.

It can also signify an approximate, uncertain number that's somewhere in a certain range, depending on context.

twâ-cu	gâr-tĭm-bô	zej	ĉu-gâr-tĭm-bô	ðĭ-i	wuŋ-van.
sentence-system	ten-hundred-ADJ	RANGE	two-ten-hundred-ADJ	relationship-at	own-V.STATE
I own around a thousand to two thousand books.

I've recently (May 2010) discovered that {zej} can be used with any pair of modifiers in the same semantic domain, not just with numbers. It can express a transition from one state or quality to another within a common continuum, or that various members of the set denoted by the head noun have values for the meta-quality in a given range; for instance:

gě'dĭm-zla	il	kâj-ha-fja	zej	kâj-ha-da	jâ-i	lî'zě'bĭ.
day-whole.set	throughout	exchange-stuff-MIN	RANGE	exchange-stuff-full	STATE-at	Elizabeth
During her life Elizabeth ranged from poor to rich.

pjylm-pwĭm-daj	pǒ	i	vlym-fja	zej	vlym-ta	jâ-i	mâ.
border-water-mass	DEM3	at	clothing-MIN	RANGE	clothing-without	STATE-at	person
On that beach, the people range from scantily dressed to naked.

A fourth kind of conjunction are individual words to fill miscellaneous needs.

Examples of some of the subordinate clause conjunctions:

twâ-zô	hǒŋ	ruŋ-zô	ƥ.
say-V.ACT	that	come-V.ACT	3

I said that he's coming.

twâ-zô	Φǒ	{ruŋ-zô	ƥ.}
say-V.ACT	QUOTE	come-V.ACT	3

I said "He's coming."

The conjunction {šej} can sometimes be glossed as "also known as"; it links two different names or descriptions of the same entity, or a main title and a subtitle.

?lju-ť-zô	gwe	zǒn	arue-šam	šej	volteŕ-ram
read-2-V.ACT	already	Q.YN	Arouet-NAME.F	AKA	Voltaire-NAME

dâm-ř	θuň	kâ-i.
authorship-from	story	ATT-at
Have you read any stories by Arouet, also known as Voltaire?

ɱ	lĭw-i	lĭm	šuŋ-cô-sra	šej	sij'sĭl-ram	ty-o
3	relation-at	friend	new-OPP2-COMP	AKA	Cecil-NAME	home-to

ruŋ-zô	vjurm-zô	sĭr'ĭl-ram.
go-V.ACT	visit-V.ACT	Cyril-NAME
Cyril went to visit his oldest friend Cecil.

It can also link two clauses that describe the same event or situation in different ways.

vlym	oŋ	tyn-ca	šej	Ќ	ĉon	vlym	ĥy-i	tyn-zô.
clothing	into	place-V.REFL	AKA	1	around	clothing	PAT-at	place-V.ACT
I put myself into clothes, or surround myself with clothes. [= I get dressed.]

{ĉǒ}, {bǒ} and {dlen} are discussed under Conditional clauses.

{ĉe} is the concatenation conjunction, used between number words to build up identifier strings (e.g., phone numbers or other arbitrary identifiers with little or no intended mathematical signififance).

ðy-dâ	ĉe	fy	ĉe	dâ	ĉe	ĉu-ĉu	ŋĭn-i	mĭlm-kě'ĝu.
five-three	CAT	seven	CAT	three	CAT	two-two	CMT-at	identifier-hidden
The PIN number is 8734.

Various additional conjunctions can be derived from various stems with the suffix {-šar}:

huw-fwa-ƥ-ca	ru-šar	ŝrun	kâ-i	ku-van.
happy-CAUS-3-V.REFL	way-CONJ	music	ATT-at	hear-V.STATE
She cheers herself up by listening to music.

suŋ-van	pǒl-ram	ru-šar	pjân-zô	prym-fwa.
know.how-V.STATE	Paul-NAME	way-CONJ	piano-V.ACT	aesthetic.appreciation-CAUS
Paul is skilled at playing the piano beautifully.

gju-ƥ-zô	mĭ-šar	mâl-cô-van	ķe	ħĭ	mĭ-i.
talk-3-V.ACT	topic-CONJ	precise-OPP2-V.STATE	too.much	experiment	TOP-at
He talked about how the experiment was too imprecise.

gâm-ĵwa	o	ruŋ-zô	kujm-šar	aňsor-šam	dâm-ř
picture-place	to	go-V.ACT	purpose-CONJ	Ensor-NAME.F	authorship-from

gâm-daj	kâ-i	rĭm-van.
picture-collection	ATT-at	see-V.STATE
I went to the art museum to see the Ensor exhibit.

Note that when a {kujm-šar} clause is negated, it is with the {źǒ} imperative negative (see under "Epistemic particles"):

mâ-bâm	ĉin	vlym-θĭm	vâlm-cô-bô	ĥy-i
person-new	around	clothing-thigh	permanent-OPP2-ADJ	PAT-at

ŋwĭm-ť-zô	mwe	kujm-šar	ħâň-ƥ-zô	ver	źǒ.
replace-2-V.ACT	IMP	purpose-CONJ	yell-3-V.ACT	still	IMP.NEG
Change the baby's diaper so they will stop yelling.

Note the distinction in syntax between postpositions and conjunctions formed from the same root:

mluŋ	ŋwĭm-i	rî'zĭ	ĥy-i	vâ-oŋ-zô.
bread	substitute-at	rice	PAT-at	digestion-into-V.ACT
I eat rice instead of bread.

ty	iŋ	tyn-vĭj-van	kiň	lju-zô,	ŋwĭm-šar
home	inside	place-while-V.STATE	and	read-V.ACT	substitute-CONJ

ĥun-pĭw	o	ruŋ-zô.
meeting-game	to	go-V.ACT
I stayed home and read instead of going to the gaming party.

See also the discussion of {-šar} in the derivational morphology document.

Correlatives, demonstratives, interrogative and relative pronouns

Question-words and relative pronouns are formed by attaching a clitic to any root word. For instance,

{nǒ} can be embedded into a verb.

?gâ-nǒ-ta-van.
thing-Q.WH-without-V.STATE

What am I missing?

?ryň-nǒ-zô	ť	tu-i.
action-Q.WH-V.ACT	2	AGT-at

What are you doing?

Relative pronouns are formed in a similar way with the clitic {lǒ}. (Note that gjâ-zym-byn uses distinct relative and interrogative pronouns. English, French, and Esperanto all make do with a single series of pronouns for both relatives and interrogatives in wh-, qu-, and ki- respectively.)

The demonstrative clitics (this, that...) are similar in form.

Terms like "here", "there", "now", "then", and so forth are formed by applying these clitics to various root words; usually a postposition is required as well.

The distinction between {kǒ} and {tǒ} can be interesting with respect to time:

vĭj	tǒ	i	grâm	kǒ	ĥy-i	pî'râ-zô	mwe.
time	DEM2	during	message	DEM1	PAT-at	fire-V.ACT	IMP

Burn this message now [when you read it].

Terms like "anyone, everyone, no one", etc., are formed by following ordinary root words with various quantifier particles or compounding with number root words.

Definiteness

gzb does not mark definiteness pervasively with articles or inflections as do English, French, Basque, and some other languages. Nouns are by default unmarked for definiteness, though context will usually clarify whether any instance of a class or a particular member is meant. When context is insufficient, gzb has several particles that can be used to mark definiteness or indefiniteness, including the demonstrative particles and some of the quantifiers.