Pacitalian

Pacitalian, semi-conlang and true dialect of Italian native to the republic of Pacitalia. It is identified by the use of apostrophes to connect or mold words, and in some cases its addition of Spanish/Mayan words. However, Pacitalian is different in that although it sounds similar to Italian, its structure and verb tensing is different. Approximately 2 billion people worldwide speak Pacitalian.

Pronunciation Key

The pronunciation of Pacitalian letters is similar to Italian with slight augmentations.

Vowels

a = ah as in flaw or bra
e = ay as in pay or gray
i = ih as in bit or stick
o = oh as in grow or ode
u = oo as in boot or stew

• For forward accented vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú) simply add volume to your voice (emphasis).
• For back-accented vowels (à, è, ì, ò, ù) draw the syllable out.

Consonants

b = buh
c = ss or cuh
cc = ch
d = duh
f = ef or fuh
g = gh or jih
h = ahn
j = yuh
k = cuh or che
l = luh or il
m = imm
n = inn
p = puh
r = rruh
s = ss
t = tuh
v = vuh
x = shi
y = ee
z = zhi

era = ehda
ra = da
gli = hlee
ci = chee
che = kay
ce = chay
cen = chen

• Note there is no w in the Pacitalian alphabet.

Apostrophisation

Another alternative to molding syllables when you have the two cases above is to bring in an apostrophe to bridge two words. This also makes pronunciation simpler and lowers the risk of a serious tongue-twister accident.

Example: anche io lo sai can be changed to anch'io lo sai

If you pronounce it you will notice it's easier to say the apostrophed version. However, both the unapostrophied and apostrophied versions are acceptable.

Verb Stems To Know

Unlike Spanish and Italian, there are no full verbs. Instead, there are verb stems and they are conjugated by adding a certain letter combination for usage (as seen below). Here are a few of the important ones you will find useful.

to be - se
to have - tem
to do - ac
to see - ver
to read - la
to write - escrib
to love - cuer
to hate - anacuer
to buy - compr
to stay - anze
to go - ze
to return - revol
to arrive - lega
to leave - salp
to drink - bib
to eat - cumer
to watch - miar
to be able to - pod
to know (knowledge) - sap
to know (a person) - conco
to find - encont
to lose (something) - pird
to lose (a game) - pird
to win/earn - gan
to travel - vi
to drive - condu
to bicycle - bici
to ski - eci
to walk - camm
to run - corr
to fall/descend - dest
to climb/ascend - ast
to build - constr
to destroy - deconstr
to hurt - mal
to burn - pez
to be sick - vom
to grow - apr
to pick - attram
to learn - apren
to ask a question - preggi
to answer - rapun
to call (telephone) - veam
to speak - ablat
to use - us

Verb Tenses

There are six verb tenses: Present (Basic), Past-Repetitive, Past-Singular, Past-Progressive, Present-Progressive and Future. Here's a quick look at each.

Remember that there is no conjugation for each personal thought (ie. I eat, you eat), just one conjugation for each tense. This goes for every verb tense.

Verb Tense: Present/Basic

This is the simplest of the verb tenses. When speaking in present tense, all you have to do is add the letter "a" to each verb stem to conjugate it.

Therefore, 'to call' would become veama and 'to grow' would become apra. 'To have' would be tema and 'to eat' would be cumera.

eg. I walk to school. Io camma a la escolara.

Verb Tense: Past-Repetitive

This tense is used for events in the past that happened more than once, like "I used to go to school" or "I used to walk my dog".

In this tense, simply add -ela to every verb stem ending in a consonant. In that case, 'to buy' would become comprela. On verb stems ending in vowels, use -ala. On a verb stem like 'to ask a question', the verb now reads preggiala. On verb stems that already end in an 'a', just add -la, so 'to arrive' becomes legala instead of a weird-looking legaala.

eg. I used to walk to school. Io cammela a la escolara.

Verb Tense: Past-Singular

As it suggests, and based on the information in the last-mentioned tense, you'll probably guess that this tense is used for events in the past that happened only once, for example - "I went to school" or "I walked my dog".

In this tense, add -ai to consonant-ended verb stems. That way, verbs like 'to destroy' will become deconstrai. On vowel-ended stems, add -rai, so that 'to drive' becomes condurai.

eg. I walked to school. Io cammai a la escolara.

Verb Tense: Past-Progressive

This tense is meant for actions, as in "I was walking to school". This tense is always used for English "-ing" verbs.

In this tense, add -ando to verb stems ending in a consonant. 'To construct' becomes constrando. For stems ending in a vowel, add -rado. When you do, a verb stem like 'to travel' becomes virado.

eg. I was walking to school. Io cammando a la escolara.

Verb Tense: Present-Progressive

This tense is meant for actions as they occur in the present, such as "I am walking to school". Again, it's used only for English verb-actions (those words ending in 'ing').

In this tense, add -ema to the consonant-ending verb stems, so that a verb like 'to climb' becomes astema. Add -rema to the vowel-ending ones to create a word out of the stem 'to stay' - anzerema.

eg. I am walking to school. Io cammema a la escolara.

Verb Tense: Future

In this tense, which is things like "I will be walking my dog tomorrow", you simply have to add an 'a' with a 'gravacenta' or what is known as a 'grave' in English. Therefore, your conjugation will look like this: -à.

eg. I will walk to school tomorrow. Io cammà a la escolara mandatto.

Pluralisation

Add -mu to the end of a noun. Angels becomes angelicamu instead of angelica and apples become pomamu. When a consonant ends a noun (which is very rare), add -amu instead.

Pronoun Conjugation

This is where conjugation differs within something, instead of on verbs where conjugation is universal in a tense. There are three pronoun types - masculina (masculine), feminena (feminine), and neutralità (neutral/unisex). Obviously, you should use masculine when talking about something of the male sex, feminine when talking about the female sex, and neutral/unisex when the noun/subject has no sexuality.

eg. I(f.) walk to school. Ie camma a la escolara. (yay cahm-mah a lah esh-coh-lah-ra)

• pronounced shay and shaow

Basic Useful Info

State of Being

I am = sono
You are = sero
He/she is = satto
We are = sarea
They are = sononà

eg. I am your(m.) friend. Sono te amicatto., I am your(f.) friend. Sono ti amicatto.

Declarations

It is = C'esta
This is = C'estate
That is = C'estura
These are = C'estammo
Those are = C'estara

eg. This is a delicious dinner. C'estate una cenata delicesa.

Articles

the (m., singular) = il
the (m., plural) = ira
the (f., singular) = la
the (f., plural) = lema
a = uno/una

eg. The apples - Lema pomamu, The bicycles - Ira bizziclomu, The flower - La flora, The dog - Il porzo, A fire - Uno inferno / una inferna.

Questions

what = cuei
where = curta
when = quando
who = cuama
why = poracuai, cuai
because = porsecuera
how = cuave

what is / what are = cueia / cuetta where is / where are = curtata / curtera when is / does = quandara / quanderai when are / do = quandatta / quandettai who is / are = cuamia / cuatta how is / does = cuavia / cuavera how are / do = cuavetà / cuavelurà

eg. When does the next train come? I'm in a hurry. Quanderai il proggimo treni venda? Sono en la fuzzare.

Quantity

All/total = tutto / tutta
None = nunto / nunta
Some = semia / algatta

Cardinal Numbers

1 - un
2 - due
3 - tre
4 - quattro
5 - cinque
6 - sei
7 - siepto
8 - octo
9 - novatta
10 - dice
20 - vinte
50 - semicento
100 - cento
250 - quatteromila
500 - semimila
1,000 - mila
10,000 - dicemila
100,000 - centomila
1,000,000 - fanto
1,425,745 - fanto due cento vinte cinque mila siepto cento e quattrando cinque