We are now ready to look at some syntax!

We'll start with a basic noun phrase. This has partially been covered above, but we'll go over it again for the sake of clarity.

The basic noun phrase is, as you would expect, a noun:

qáwa-Ø
man-ABS
'the/a man'

This may be pluralized:

qá-qawa-Ø
PL-man-ABS
'(the) men'

Or declined into another case. (As an aside, note that the accent must be on one of the last three syllables, with an exception to be noted below):

qa-qáwa-ja
PL-man-ERG
'(the) men (ergative), of the men'

Finally, the demonstrative clitics =θä/=θa (this), =kü/=ku (that) and =xe/=xõ (yon) may be attached after any case marking. These agree in vowel harmony with the noun, but do not count for the purposes of accent placement:

qa-qáwa-ja=θa
PL-man-ERG=this
'these men (ergative), of these men'

Nouns may additionally be modified by adjectives. These are placed before the noun and agree with it in gender, case and (in animates only) number by means of suffixes:

kʷ'ómo-kõ qáwa-Ø
poor-ABS.AN man-ABS
'the poor man'

hamá-Ø θú-θuku-Ø=ku
warm-ABS.IN PL-bread-ABS=that
'those warm loaves'

Nouns may take possessors, whose formula is possessor-ERG possessum:

qáwa-ja córũ-Ø
man-ERG house-ABS
'the man's house'

If the possessor is a first or second person pronoun, this becomes pron-GEN possessum:

súja córũ-Ø
1p.GEN house-ABS
'our house'

Adpositional phrases without fail take the postpositional case:

ɸími-ni t'a
river-PP across
'across the river'

The postposition governs an NP which, other than postpositional case where needed, is unremarkable:

k'ára-ja réwä-ni po
king-ERG bridge-PP under
'under the king's bridge'

xä́ñä-Ø makʷá-ja=θa tõkṍ-nũ ra
rich-ERG.AN woman-ERG=that coin-PP with
'using that rich woman's money'

Conjunction of adjectives, NPs or PPs is accomplished with the postposed particles NP₁ ke NP₂ ke:

k'ára-Ø ke ñä́xi-Ø ke
king-ABS and queen-ABS and
'the king and queen'

jéŋe-ni sa ke ñaxṹ-nũ sa ke
east-PP from and west-PP from and
'from the east and from the west'

One need not repeat the same postposition twice; the above could also be rendered

jéŋe-ni ke ñaxṹ-nũ ke sa
east-PP and west-PP and from
'from the east and the west'

Similarly to ke is the conjunction qu...qu, which carries more contrast:

kʷ'ómo-kõ qu qö́me-ke qu qáwa-Ø
poor-ABS.AN but happy-ABS.AN but man-ABS
'a poor but happy man'

Relative clauses also precede their head nouns. We'll get to those later, since they require a participle.

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Basic sentence order is:

Subject-(Object)-(Obliques)-(Adverbs)-Verb

"Subject" is defined as either the experiencer or the agent, that is, the nominative. This is also what the verb agrees with.

A basic intransitive sentence would look like this:

tucá-Ø jáma-Ø
chicken-ABS run.PRS-3S.AN.INTR
'The chicken is running.'

You can include a pronoun:

ŋä́qä jáma-na
1sg.NOM run.PRS-1S.INTR
'I am running.'

Or drop it if the verb makes it superfluous:

xóla-ca
walk.PRS-2S.INTR
'You are walking.'

Adverbials of all sorts can be added with no additional agreement:

wáña xóla-ŋo
fast walk.PRS-1P.INTR
'We are walking quickly.'

tucá-Ø=ku jéŋe-ni le xóla-Ø
chicken-ABS=that east-PP to walk-3S.AN.INTR
'That chicken is walking eastward/to the east.'

Transitive sentences add an object, and the verb must take transitive endings.

tu-túca-ja=θa ré-rere-Ø hõnṍ-θũ
PL-chicken-ABS=this PL-insect-ABS eat-3AN.PL.TR
'These chickens are eating bugs.'

Again, pro-drop is possible if the subject is understood:

kʷekʷé-Ø hõnṍ-nũ
potato-ABS eat-1SG.TR
'I am eating a potato.'

You can even drop the object if it, too, has already been mentioned:

kʷekʷé-Ø mä́ri-ni ɸe p'õñũ-nṹ. hoqó hõna-nṹ.
potato-ABS table-PP on see.PST-1SG.TR. therefore eat.PST.1SG.TR
'I saw a potato on the table. So I ate it.'

In ditransitive sentences, the recipient is considered the direct object, while what we'd think of as the object is generally considered an instrument, marked with the postposition ra:

k'ára-ja qáwa-Ø tõkṍ-nũ ra siɸä́-Ø
king-ERG man-ABS money-PP with give.PST-3SG.AN.TR
'The king gave money to the man.'

More tomorrow-bedtime now.