Vocabulary

	imedim	suitcase
	thi	have
	boó	three
	be	he, she, it

	–th	a morpheme that means “This is the direct object in this sentence.”

Sentences

1. Bíi ril thi Athid imedimeth wa.

“Athid has a suitcase.”

2. Bíi ril thi Sha imedimeth wa.

“Sha has a suitcase.”

3. Bíi ril thi óowamid imedimeth boó wa.

“The dragon has three suitcases.”

4. Bíi ril thi be imedimeth wa.

“She [or he, or it] has a suitcase.”

5. Bíi ril thi be imedimeth boó wa.

“It [or she, or he] has three suitcases.”

Direct objects are the items in a sentence that things happen to; they answer “what” and “who” and “which” questions. In “Thad bought a book in the dealer’s room,” for example, buying is what happened and it was a book that the buying happened to. And “a book” is the answer to the question “What did Thad buy in the dealer’s room?”

In Láadan, you have to put the morpheme “-th” at the end of direct objects.

And — because “-th” is a consonant — if the last sound in the word or phrase for the direct object is a consonant, you have to put an “e” between the word and the “-th.” So, when you mark “imedim” as a direct object by adding “-th,” the result will be “imedimeth.”
If you need to specify exactly how many there are of something, you can do that in Láadan by putting a number right after the word for that something.

So “imedim boó” means “three suitcases.” “óowamid boó” would mean “three dragons.”

Complete the following sentences by adding the appropriate ending to the Láadan word that follows the sentence.

Example:

Bíi ril thi Athid imedimeth wa.

“Athid has a suitcase.”

1. Bíi ril thi Athid __________ wa. [a book; book — áabe]

2. Bíi ril thi Athid __________ wa. [a cup; cup — ni]

3. Bíi ril thi Athid __________ wa. [a bed; bed — dahan]

4. Bíi ril thi Athid __________ wa. [a beer; beer — webe]