Łéngua Vèneta (Venetian Grammar)

ISSUED IN 2007 in the web

General Grammar Book of the Venetan Language and its Varieties

english version of the fourth edition of “Manual Gramaticałe Xenerałe de ła Łéngua Vèneta e łe só Varianti”

MICHELE BRUNELLI BASAN / BASSANO DEL GRAPPA

01 de Marzso del 2007 01·01·2007 More Vèneto

Manuàl Gramaticałe Xenerałe de ła Łéngua Vèneta e łe só varianti

… al mé pòpoło…

«L’autogoverno del popolo veneto si attua in forme rispondenti alle caratteristiche e tradizioni della sua storia. La Regione concorre alla valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale e linguistico

delle singole comunità»

(Law n.340 passed by the Italian Parliament on 22/05/1971 – Fund. Law of Vèneto, art.2)


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INDEX

A short introduction page 2 Some notes about orthography page 3 Articles (definite, indefinite, personal) and Prepositions page 5 Possessives page 5 Demonstratives page 7 The relative particle page 8 Nouns and Adjectives page 9 Derived Names (fruits, flowers, trees…) page 11 Proper names page 12 The Vocative page 12 Verbs: Simple Tenses page 16 Phrasal Verbs page 20 Verbs: Compound Tenses page 21 Progressive Tenses page 25 The Passive page 28 The Impersonal Passive page 29 The Imperative

page 30

The Negative Imperative

page 31

Interrogatives Void esclamative Interrogative page 32 Adverbs, Conjunctions, The Complementizer “CHE”, Subordinate Clauses page 33 Compound Prepositions and Pronominal Prepositions page 33 Verbs and nouns without the preposition “a” Reflexive verbs and the auxiliary “aver” page 34 Numbers and Numerals page 35 Other constructions: “aver da”, “cogne”, “gh’è da”, The venetan dialect of Italian page 36


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A SHORT INTRODUCTION

Vèneto dialects are parts of one and the same linguistic system, the Veneto language or Venetan, because they share the same linguistic structures, namely those of Vèneto: therefore all of them are varieties of Venetan, the Vèneto-language.

For the sake of linguistic clarity and following M.Parry and M.Maiden, in this book the word Vèneto/Venetan (i.e. general venetian) will refer to the whole Vèneto language spoken under different varieties, whereas the word Venetian (i.e. venetian proper, “venician”) will be reserved only to one variety of this language, namely that which is spoken in the city of Venice.

This distinction is also reflected in the words that Vèneti themselves employ: parlar vèneto “speaking Venetan” in general, derived from the geographical name Vèneto, and parlar venesian “speaking venician”, from the local city name Venesia i.e. Venice.

Using the same word for both meanings, would be like confusing the German language with its Berlinian variety or confusing the English language with its Cockney variety or saying that Catalan language is just “Barcelonian”.

The aim of this grammar book is not to describe one variety (only veronese Venetan, only venetian Venetan, only feltrino-belunese Venetan, only trevisan Venetan, only central Venetan i.e. vicentin-paduan-polesan) but to describe the whole Vèneto language. In addition to this,there are also some special notes about the tipical features of each of the main varieties.

Of course, this work is not perfect even in the most particular details and other correctionscan be made, but what is most important is that the MGX de ła Łéngua Vèneta aims to provide a look at the whole language describing its main rules, existing under the different pronunciation varieties: those rules that make us claiming that venetian is Venetan much the same as belunese, even if these varieties are very different from one another; those rules that make us Veneti understand each other even if we come from different places and speak in different ways, while “foresti” (i.e. people who come from “outside”, without any contempt)hardly understand what we say.

In the last part of the book, a short chapter is reserved for a brief description of the Venetan dialect of Italian (language) which is spoken in cities and among young people, in order to make clear the main differences that it has from the Venetan language.


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SOME NOTES ABOUT ORTHOGRAPHY

As Vèneto varieties have different ways to pronunce the same word BALA-BAEA, FORSA-FORZHA,VOIA-VOGIA, MEXO-MEDHO-MEZO, TOCO-TOC, MONTE-MONT, CHEO LÀ-CUEO LÀ-CHELO LÀ-CUELO LÀ, we hadto dopt an orthography that allows people to read the same word with different pronunciations(according to the reader’s custom) although maintaining a unique orthography.

The main rules are:

Ł , £ (L-tajà) = two alternate pronunciations baea + bala = bała 'e ciàcoe + le ciàcole = łe ciàcołe el balón + el baeón = el bałon J = two alternate pronunc. voia + vogia = voja iutar + giutar = jutar NP , NB = according to the real pronunciation and according to most Venetan writers: el tenpo,el canpo, na ónbra... S = voiceless-s: the same for everybody X = voiced-s: the same for everybody «se, pasar, l'è masa baso, casa de vin , muso, tre mése…» «xe, baxar, te do un baxo , caxa de mati, muxo, el méxe…» ZS = two alternate pronunc. piazha + piassa = piazsa stazhion (stazion) + stassion = stazsion forzha + forsa = forzsa sinque + zhinque (zinque) = zsinque savata + zhavata (zavata) = zsavata People form Vicenza, Padua, Venice… will read only 's' as they are used to. People rom Belluno, northern-Treviso and others whose pronunciation has interdental sounds will read only 'z' , as they are used to. ZX = two alternate pronunc. zente + xente = zxente verxo + verzo = verzxo mexo + mezo = mezxo el pianze + el pianxe = el pianzxe The same as above, everybody reads according to the custom of their town: people whosevarieties have interdental sounds pronunce “z” as they are used; others pronunce the letter “x” as in “xe” (see above) Only words in –zx- have also a variety in –d- (written: verzxo / verdo ; mezxo/medo) but not the reverse (perdo does not allows *perzxo nor modo allows *mozxo)! Words in –x– on the other hand, are the same for everybody (thus caxa, faxése but never *cada, *fadése)


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QÛ = two alternate pronunc.: to be used only in very few words queo là (quelo là) + cheo là (chelo là) = qûeło là quea caxa là (quela caxa là) + chea caxa là (chela caxa là) = qûeła caxa là The letter “Û” can be read or be mute, according to the reader’s custom. On the contrary,when the letter “U” is always pronunced we write it normally without diacritics (ex.: quel che go dito… , i è vegnesti par queło… , l’è par questo che…) Even: qûi co “u” muta (=here; ex.: vien qûi! sìto qûi?) is different from chi (=who? ; ex.: sìtu chi? èlo chi?) -E , -O finałi = can be pronunced or mute (differently from italian) saco , toco = sac[o] , toc[o] mónte , el sente = mónt[e] , el sent[e]

Never double consonants!

Orthography is very important because on the paper there are neither voice tones, nor facialexpressions, nor hand movements to help explicate the meaning of the words.

So, for example: bota (=it. botta) is not bóta (=it. botte) sora (=sbollisce/-ono) is not sóra (=sopra)

Even the words below are very different, even many people say them with the same open-“E” sound: sera (=it. serra) is not séra (=it. sera) vero (= it. vero) is not véro (=viéro= it. vetro)

Thus, Védar na roba dal vero (=dal bon =truly =it. davvero) does not mean Védar na roba dal véro (=dal viéro =through the glass =it. dal vetro, da dietro un vetro, attraverso il vetro) !

Nor L’odor de £a séra (=it. l’odore/profumo della sera) is tha same as L’odor de £a sera (=it. l’odore che si sente in una serra) !

so’ Vèneto e europèo (=sono…) so Vèneto e spagno£o (=so/parlo…) só frade£o (=il suo/loro fratello…) Defati: so’ (=sono) só (=suo) frade£o de Marco e so (=so) che l’è partìo ieri

me pare che (=mi sembra che) mé pare (=mio padre) to el pan! (=eccoti…) to’ el pan dal saco (=prendi...) tó sore£a (=tua sorella)

For the same reasons: £a rasa (=it.[lei] gratta: verbo) is not £a razsa (=it. la razza: sostantivo) na sesion del Parlaménto (=it. sessione) is not na sezsion (=it. sezione)

…even if most Vèneti have no interdental sounds and say everything with “S” (the difference between interdentals and “S” are retained only in northern and some central zones of Vèneto)

…Enjoy reading...


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ARTICLES

The articles of Venetan or Vèneto language are definite, indefinite and personal: masculine articles (el, i, un) can merge with prepositions (de, a, da, co, su, in, par) into one word.

The personal article, used in Venetan and Catalan (but not in Italian), is the article that marks proper names. Venetan only has feminine personal articles: la Maria, la Làura, la Giovana... as will be clear later.

ARTICLES OF VÈNETO Merged with prepositions

base forms de a da co su in par

m. sg. el (l') del al dal col sul 'ntel par el / pa'l f. sg. la (l') de la a la da la co la su la 'nte la par la m. pl. i dei ai dai coi sui 'ntei par i / pa'i definite

f. pl. le de le a le da le co le su le 'nte le par le

m. sg. un (n') de un a un da un co un su 'n int'un par un

indefin. f. sg. na

(n') de na a na da na co na su na 'nte na par na

personal f. sg. la (l') de la a la da la co la su la 'nte la par la

Note-1: Apostophized articles l', n' can be used before nouns in consonant both masculine and feminine ones: l'amigo, n'amigo, l'amiga, n'amiga but they are not compulsory.

Note-2: The bellunese variety of Vèneto employs the masculine forms al, an instead of el, un.

Note-3: The preposition 'nte has also a longer form inte and a shorter form te

POSSESIVES

Venetan possessives, differently from Italian ones, have short invariable forms when they precede a noun and they have long inflected forms (m./f./sing./plur.) when they stand alone, without any noun. Also rememer that the 3rd sg. person is always the same as the 3rd plural: keep this in mind because it is a feature typic of Vèneto language which also holds for verbs, as will be seen later.

SHORT POSSESSIVES: invariable before nouns 1st sg. 2 nd sg. 3rd sg. 1st pl. 2nd pl. 3rd pl.

m.sg. El , un nostro vostro definite and indef. f.sg. La , na nostra vostra

m.pl. i nostri vostri definite

f.pl. le

mé tó só

nostre vostre

só

As already said, these possesives are used before nouns. Except for nostro/vostro all the others have always one invariable form for masculine, feminine, singular, plural.


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For example: el mé gato, el mé amigo ; un mé gato, un mé amigo la mé gata, la mé amiga ; na mé gata, na mé amiga i mé gati, i mé amighi (amisi) le mé gate, le mé amighe

On the contrary, when they stand alone things change: these possessives have different forms according to masculine, feminine, singular or plural.

LONG POSSESSIVES which stand alone 1st sg. 2nd sg. 3rd sg. 1st pl. 2nd pl. 3rd pl.

m. sg. el mio tuo suo nostro vostro suo definite

f. sg. la mia tua sua nostra vostra sua

m. pl. i mii tui sui nostri vostri sui definite

f. pl. le mie tue sue nostre vostre sue

Examples: caxa mìa, caxa tua, caxa sua no xe mìa rivà el tó gato, l'è riva el mio i tó gati i xe pi grandi dei mii i mé gati i è pi grandi dei sui le mé amighe, le tue e le sue le se ga catà al bar insieme Voaltre done gavì i vostri problemi, lore le ga i sui

Spéso i pronomi suo/sua/só i vien rinforzsài co na ripetizsion: el suo de £u, el suo de e£a, el suo de £uri, el suo de £ore... £a sua de £u, só moroxa de Marco, só fió£e de Giovani e £a Laura, só frade£o de £a Marìa

SHORT POSSESSIVES WITHOUT ARTICLES

As in Italian and Catalan, short possessives have no article when they precede some nouns: for example you must say mé pare/papà , mé mare/mama , mé frade£o , mé sore£a , tó pare/papà , tó mare/mama , tó frade£o, só pare/papà , só sore£a etc…

In Vèneto, however, the possessive without article is compulsory even when these nouns are specified by other words. For example:

só frade£o de £a Làura (=it. IL fratello di Laura) só mama de Mario e Joani (=it. LA mamma di Mario e Giovanni)…

Differently from italian, venetian possessives without article also appear with other nouns (mé moróxa, mé nono, mé sia, mé nevódo…) and even with plural nouns. Indeed, you say:

So’ nà da mé frade£i ; Go visto tó sore£e (I) mé amisi i ga dito che ; Ieri xe vegnù(i) mé nevudi Go catà tó nevóde. ; Só noni i è stài in Sardégna l’an pasà


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DEMONSTRATIVES

Venetian demonstratives are quite different from italian ones. Indeed in Vèneto, demonstratives and possessives, can vary slightly depending on whether they precede a noun or stand alone: if there is a noun, in fact, it is "inserted" between the two parts of the demonstrative.

Moreover, the masculine singular qûelo là has a short form when it comes before a noun and it can have a long form ending in a vowel when it stands alone.

Lastly, note that besides masculine and feminine form, there are also special forms acting as abstract neuters, which translate the idea of «this thing/this fact» or «that thing/that reason».

Indeed masculine and feminine demonstratives contain the particles là/qua/qûi whereas the neuter forms consist of one word questo/quelo/quela. Moreover masculine and feminine can be read in two ways, pronuncing the "u" or letting it mute: in the neuter, on the contrary, the "u" must be always pronunced.

Nowadays, for example, some people pronunce the "u" in the masculine singular saying par que£o £à (=par quel tóxo £à) while others drop it and say par che£o £à (=par chel tóxo £à). They are basically two varieties of the same word which for convenience are represented in the scheme with circumflex-û which can be pronunced or be mute, according to the Venetan variety spoken and the speaker’s habits. Likewise, the plural (quii £à or even chii £à) and the feminine (que£e £à or even che£e £à) always have the optionl "u", and consequently are written with the circumflex (û).

On the contrary, in the neuter, when implying phrases as par quel motivo £à (it. perciò/per questo) , £a roba che i me ga dito (it. ciò che mi hanno detto) , te parlo de 'sto fato qua (ti parlo di ciò/di questo fatto) then everybody pronunces "u" and drops "là" thus saying par que£o (so’ partío), quel che i me ga dito, te parlo de que£o. Indeed it is written without cirumflex, with a normal-u. Also neuters par que£a, l'è que£a are different from feminines.

The same happens with the mascuile parla de 'sto qua (=de 'sto tóxo/libro/posto qua) whichis different from the neuter parla de questo (=de 'sto motivo/de 'sto fato qua): here too the "u" is always pronunced and "qua" is dropped.

WITH A NOUN AUTONOMOUS: they stand alone

m.sg. 'sto ... qua qûel ... là 'sto qua qûelo là qûel là (= quel toxo là)

f. sg. 'sta ... qua qûela ... là 'sta qua qûela là m. pl. 'sti ... qua qûii ... là 'sti qua qûii là f. pl. 'ste ... qua qûele ... là 'ste qua qûele là

neuter questo quela, -o (=quel motivo / fato)

Note that the autonomous masculine forms are always compound with "là/qua" where neuter ones are not. Moreover in the neuter the "u" is always pronunced whereas in the masculine it is optional (and therefore written as circumfles-û). Also forms with "qûi": 'sto qua = 'sto qûi.

Note: the demonstrative can be compound with the relative (here below) creating forms as quel che / quela che / quii che / quele che. For example: Vìdito i do tuxi? Quel (que£o) che xe a destra l'è mé fradelo.


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THE RELATIVE PARTICLE

Differently from I talian, the real relative particle in Vèneto is just one (the complementizer che) always invariable, though sometimes italian forms are used. It is always invariable, but in some cases it can be compound with pronouns (ghe, só) or adverbs (insieme, indove/indo') to make the discourse clearer.

VENETAN RELATIVE “PRONOUN”

base form: alone (it.transl.) combined with pronouns or adverbs (it.transl)

el tóxo che go visto/vedest che el tóxo che i ghe dà na caxa a cui el tóxo che me ga parlà che el tóxo che go parlà insieme con cui

el tóxo che i me ga parlà di cui el tóxo che só mama la me ga parlà la cui

l'óra che so' tornà in cui el motivo che so' tornà per cui el posto che vo in cui el posto indove che vo in cui el posto che vegno da cui el posto da indove che vegno da cui la céxa che te vidi 'sto quadro qua

in cui nella quale

la céxa indo' che te vidi 'sto quadro qua

in cui nella quale

che

el libro che te vol copiar 'sta fraxe qua

da cui dal quale

el libro da indo' che te vol copiar 'sta fraxe qua

da cui dal quale

Note: in Venetan the complementizer (che) can be used also in another way as a conjunction combined with adverbs and interrogative words (come che, quando che, co chi che) but in this case it acts as a marker of subordinate clauses: temporal, interrogative, causal clauses and it must not be confused with the relative use (see last chapters).


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NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES

Vèneto language like other romance languages groups nouns into masculine, feminine, singular and plural. The neuter gender survives only in some pronouns (see the paragraph about "demonstratives"). It must be born in mind that there are also common gender nouns, i.e. nouns which have one form both for masculine and feminine, e.g. el cantante , £a cantante

Nouns and adjective can end in a vowel (-o -e -a) , stressed vowel (-à -ù) or in a consonant (-n -r -l, -ion): usually those ending in -O, -N, -R are masculine whereas those ending in –A -ION or accented vowel are feminine and those ending in -E -L can be masculine, feminine or common gender nouns.

NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES IN THE SINGULAR gato , ségno , nóvo , lóngo canton , parol , motor, mar , pien masculine

pare , monte

gata , caxa , nóva , lónga version , opinion , man feminine mare , ciave , nave, tribù , atività

common gender cantante, insegnante

in –L (m./f.) el giornal , la vocal , la nazsional

Note-1: In northern Venetan, nouns can end also in other consonants (gat, mont, toc)

Note-2: In central Venetan, nouns end in -re/-£e/-£o mantaining the final vowel

NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES IN THE PLURAL singular plural

Feminine in -a -e la gata vecia -> le gate vecie la caxa nóva -> le caxe nóve

other fem. (-e, -n) --

man lónga-> man lónghe la ciave nóva -> le ciave nóve nave grosa -> nave grose el/la cantante -> i/le cantanti la vocal finale -> le vocali finali

common gend. and in -L -i

el giornal nazsionale -> i giornali ...ali canton -> cantu(n)i , mónte -> munti pie lóngo e groso-> pie lunghi e grosi ségno nóvo -> signi nuvi moróxo -> muruxi , motor -> muturi moménto -> muminti el can -> i cani , el mar -> i mari

all masculine

-i (and vowel change when possible)

last / penult. ó /closed-o –> -u- penultimate closed-é –> -i-

sequence -o-ó –> -u-u- sequence -o-é –> -u-i-

pare -> pari , cavalier -> cavalieri


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And so on, all the plurals are regularly built even those which in italian are irregular: ovo->uvi, brazso-> brazsi, déo-> dii/déi, récia->récie, lavro-> lavri, zxenocio-> zxenoci (denocio-> denoci) and recently also èuro-> èuri

Note-1: remember that the last -o of "paron/parol/motor" is alwasy closed like the penultimate -ó in "mónte/nóvo", although in the former case the stress is not written.

Note-2: in northern Vèneto masculine plural nouns do not end in -i and therefore they do not undergo vowel change but are invariable instead: el mónt-> i mónt , el ségn -> i ségn, el fior -> i fior, el sac-> i sac.

Nota-3: in the east (VE) , and west (VR) and in the italianized Vèneto, masculine nouns end in -i but without vowel change.

Nota-4: in some areas of southern Venetan (rovigoto), masculine plurals has lost the -i but have maintained the vowel change: el fior -> i fiur

Except for this, it must be remembered the few irregular nouns that have special forms for the plural or the feminine (omo-> òmeni, can-> cagna, el pai-> £a pai-> i pai-> £e pai) and foregin nouns that follow the northern Venetan (belumat) pattern since they have and invariable plural identical to the singular: el film-> i film, el mòdem-> i mòdem...

ADJECTIVES

Adjectives, as seen above, follow the same pattern as noun. Still, it must be remembered that there are adjectives with four-forms (masc./fem./sg./pl.) , adjectives with two-forms (sg./pl.) and some irregular adjectives which change their form and their menaning according to whether the follow or precede their noun.

ADJECTIVES nóvo , nóva , nuvi ,nóve néto , néta , niti ,néte groso , grosa , grosi , grose

four forms

pien , piena , pieni , piene...

two forms interesante , interesanti ...

bel can -> can belo gran toco -> toco grando gran caxa -> caxa granda irregular poro omo -> omo pòvaro (c. meaning) pora tóxa -> tóxa pòvara (c. meaning)

Remember that these adjetives, change their meaning, by changing their place and their form even though in italian they are translated with one and the same word: for example poro can (lit. poor dog) is not an insult but it expresses compassion, instead, for someone who is suffering or finds himself in trouble; un can pòvaro on the contrary is "a dog without money" and is totally different!!


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COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES

The comparative degree is built with: pi ... de (majority) , manco ... de (minority) , come/cofà (equality)

Example: Toni el xe pi bravo de mi (maj.); Toni el xe manco bon de £a Marìa (min.); Caxa mia £a xe granda cofà £a tua … come £a tua (c.eq.)

Absolute superlatives are built in different ways. 1) with -ìsimo (rearely used) 2) with tanto/vero/veramente/asè + adjective 3) with adjective + forte or even adjective + ben 4) with metaphore/similitude (which in Venetan have grammatical function) 5) with reduplication of the adjetive

Examples of (3) are: te sì bravo forte , £a xe inte£ixente forte , l’è alto ben!...

Examples of (4) are: l'è come el fógo (=caldìsimo/de bojo) , el xe un teremoto (=tóxo tanto agità)

Examples of (5) are: na caxa alta alta (=altìsima) , un boto forte forte (=fortìsimo)

Relative superlatives are built with: el/£a/i/£e pi ... de (el pi bravo de tuti, £a tóxa pi be£a del móndo...) , el/£a/i/£e manco ... de (i manco furbi de tuti...)

DERIVED NOUNS (NAMES OF FRUITS, FLOWERS, TREES AND JOBS)

In Vèneto these names are derived from other nouns by adding special endings and are employed very often. For example in Venetan the names of flowers and fruits are the base to derive the names of trees, through the desinence –aro o –èr.

For example: pómo (=it. apple) à pomaro/pomèr , péro (=it. pear) à peraro/perèr roxa (=it. rose) à roxaro/roxèr , o£iva (=it. olive) à o£ivaro/o£ivèr s(i)aréxa (=it. cherry) à s(i)arexara , nóxa (=it. nut) à nogara/noghera caco (=it. kaki) à cacaro , figo (=it. fig) à figaro/fighèr

This pattern is quite regular (note however that some names of fruits are masculine in Vèneto differently from italian) and only sometimes there are irregular consonant changes as x->g.

Also some names of job are derived: lataro (ß late) ; benxinaro/benxinèr (ß benxina) vacaro/vachèr (ß vaca) ; mo£inaro/mo£inèr (ß molin)

Note that the ending -aro/-èr refers to both the person who works, and the place where the work is done:thus benxinaro/benxinèr is the sevice-station attendant, and the service-station itself.

Likewise, the caxara/caxera is the place in the mountains where people produce(d) cheese, from latin caseus=cheese. And the caxaro is he who produces cheese.


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PROPER NAMES

Some words must be spended about proper names: indeed there are some differences in compare to italian language.

As can be seen in the first chapter, in Vèneto there is also a personal article which compulsorily introduces feminine proper names: you say go visto Mario but in the feminine go visto £a Marìa; you say Gigi el vien but in the feminine £a Sandra £a vien. Likewise £a Làura, l’Alesandra, l’Ana and even foreign names £a Roby, £a Susy...

Feminine proper names, indeed, always have the personal article so that by exclusion the names withouth the personal article are always masculine.

This is specially visible in shortened names (£a Federica, Federico ; L’ Alesandra, Alesandro): Go visto £a Fede = I have seen Federica (f.) =it. Ho visto Federica Go visto Fede = I have seen Federico/Frederick (m.) =it. Ho visto Federico I ga parlà co l’ Ale = They have spoken to Alexandra (f.) =it. Hanno parlato con Alessandra I ga parlà co Ale = They have spoken to Alexander (m.) =it. Hanno parlato con Alessandro

The same holds for feminine surnames. Surnames with personal article are always feminine: for example i ga nominà £a Tatcher primo ministro makes clear that a woman is spoken about. By exclusion, surnames withouth article are compulsorily masculine: i ga nominà Blair primo ministro means that a man is being spoken about.

THE VOCATIVE

The use of the personal article has a little strange effect: in Vèneto the vocative case is still visible. It is a special form of the name, employed to call someone (Marìa!, Alesandra!, Gigi!). Indeed feminine proper names always have the personal article, except in the vocative.

subj./compl. (vien/riva...) (go visto...) (parlo de/co)

la Marìa l’ Alesandra l’ Ana la Làura la Roby

vocative Marìa Alesandra Ana Làura Roby

For example, subject: £a Marìa vienla? = does Mary come? but in the vocative: Marìa viento? = Mary (voc.), do you come?

Or a complement: speta l’Alesandra = Wait for Alessandra! (you wait for her!) in comp. to the vocative: speta, Alesandra! = Wait for (me), Alessandra!

Actually, also common nouns have a vocative without article as in italian (maestra! ; dotor! ; tuxi!), but the article of these nouns can be dropped also in other cases, e.g. so’ maestra de scó£a media; el xe dotor da diéxe ani; go visto tuxi de tute £e età; sìtu maestra o prèside?

With feminine proper names, on the contrary, the article is nearly always employed and therefore it is easier to distiguish the vocative case, which lacks it.

Other cases with art.: so mi £a Làura! = It’s me (her whose name is) Laura ; I am Laura! vocative without art.: so’ mi, Làura! = It’s me, Laura (voc.), don’t you know me?

Other cases with art.: (phoning) Ciao, sìtu l’Ana? = Hi, are you Anna? Is your name Anna? vocative without art.: (phoning) Ciao sìtu ti, Ana? = Hi is it you, Anna? Anna, you are speaking aren’t you?


13

PRONOUNS

Vèneto too, like other romance languages, has two categories of pronouns: there are tonic pronouns (e.g.: ti, lu/elo, luri) which act as subjects and as complements preceded by prepositions and there are “short” clitic pronouns acting only as complements (p.ex.: te digo, ghe digo, lo védo, li vardo).

Still, Vèneto language has compulsory subject clitic pronouns to inflect verbs (e.g.: te vien, el va, i varda) and interrogative clitics added to the verb to ask questions (e.g.: viento?/tu?, valo?, vàrdeli?)

There are also reflexive pronouns of 3rd pers. like in other languages, but pay attention to the fact that Vèneto also has a special reflexive for the 1st pl.pers. (noaltri se vardémo, noaltre se dixémo, se parlòn).

Last bu not least, in Venetan (as in Spanish) there are reduplicated reinforced forms.

As you can understand, Venetan pronominal system is very rich and also a bit complicated, it is better to look at it step-by-step: later, a recapitulatory table will be shown.

TONIC PRONOUNS AS SUBJECTS AND WITH PREPOSITIONS

Let us start with tonic pronouns: Venetan tonic pronouns have one and the same form for the subject (vegno mi! ... parlè voaltri! ... noaltre partimo par prime! ...) and with prepositions (i vien da mi... £o faso par voaltri... magnémo co voaltre...)

Subject tonic pronouns are not compulsory: vegno –> vegno mi! ; te parli –> ti te parli! ; £a vien–> ela £a vien!

However veneto language has regularized the masculine and feminine forms even in the plural: except for the first two singular persons (mi, ti) all Venetan tonic pronouns distinguish masculine from feminine, as do their Spanish, portoguese and catalan counterparts: noaltri/noaltre , voaltri/voaltre , co £uri/co £ore and so on... Hebrew too is quite similar to it, from this point of view.

PRONOUNS OF VÈNETO

tonic subj. or w.prep.

tonic reflexive

1sg. mi

2sg. ti masc. elo (or lu)

3sg. fem. ela

si

masc. noaltri (or nu)

1pl. fem. noaltre

(or nu)

masc. voaltri (or vu)

2pl. fem. voaltre

(or vu) masc. luri (or eli)

3pl. fem. lore (or ele)

si


14

As previously said, there are also tonic reflexive pronouns: mi parlo par mi , l'è fora de si , £a xe tornà in si and so on...

THERE ARE ALSO REDUPLICATED PRONOUNS: mi mi so£o, ti ti so£o: «£o go fato da mi mi so£o»

CLITIC PRONOUNS AS COMPLEMENTS AND REFLEXIVES

Clitic pronouns are never preceded by prepositions and have two functions: direct complement (£o digo, £e vardo) or indirect complement (ghe digo, ghe parlo).

PRONOUNS OF VÈNETO

clitic direct

complem.

clitic indirect

conplem. clitic

reflexive

1sg. me 2sg. te

masc. lo 3sg.

fem. la ghe se

masc. 1pl.

fem. ne se

mash. 2pl.

fem. ve

masc. li 3pl.

fem. le ghe se

impers. se

Clitics too have a reflexive form: often it is the same as the complement (me vardo=me vardè , ve parlo=ve parlè) but the 3rd singular/plural persona has a special form: el se varda , £e se parla... This form also serves for the impersonal reflexive: se se varda tuti ; se se parla...

Note that in Vèneto even the 1st plur. person (noaltri/noaltre) employs the reflexive form se differently from the other romance languages: voaltri ne vardè but noaltri se vardémo ; voaltre ne parlè but noaltre se parlémo.

Note: italian-like veneto, spreading among young poeple, follows the rule of Italian (ve da ital. vi ; ce da ital. ci: i ce ga mostrà) instead of employing Venetan clitics (ve da "voaltri" ; ne da "noaltri") i.e. it is not an autonomous language but a variety derived from Italian: not Venetan language anymore, but it is a Venetan dialect of Italian language instead.

CLITIC PRONOUNS AS SUBJECTS AND INTERROGATIVES

It had been seen that that in Vèneto there are subject clitic pronouns, too, obligatory to inflect verbs and interrogative clitic pronouns employed to ask a direct question. Differently from other languages (e.g. French) they are compulsory even when the subject is already expressed: Marco el vien ; I veci i canta ; la Làura £a ga dito ; Ti te canti ; I veci cànte£i? ; 'Sa ga£a dito la Làura? ; Ti come càntito/càntitu/càntistu? ; Parché cantèo pian?...


15

PRONOUNS OF VÈNETO

clitic subject

clitic interrogative

1sg. -‹nt›i (-e) 2sg. te -to (-‹s›tu)

masc. el -(e)lo 3sg.

fem. la -(e)la masc.

1pl. fem. -‹nt›i (-e)

masc. 2pl.

fem. -o (-u)

masc. i -(e)li 3pl.

fem. le -(e)le impers. se

Note-1: Between angle brackets "‹›" there are the optional forms which can be added to the base ending (soi? but also sonti? ; fémoi? but also fénti?), while the alternating forms which replace the base form in some varieties (soe? ; fòne?) are written in italic.

Note-2: On the contrary, between round brackets the "-e" of the 3rd sg./pl. pers. is put since it usually replaces the last vowel of the verb (el canta–> cànte£o?) but it is not employed when this vowel is stressed (el cantarà–> cantarà£o? ; el va–> va£o?)

Note-3: In venetian Vèneto the subject clitic "te" becomes "ti" the same as the tonic pronoun (ti ti vien , ti ti canti) and in northern Vèneto it can turn into "tu" (ti tu vien, ti tu canta).

GENERAL RECAPITULATORY TABLE

Having explained all the Venetan personal pronouns step-by-step, here is a recapitulatory table where all the forms are shown together.

VENETAN PRONOUNS

tonic subj. or w.prep.

tonic reflexive

clitic direct

conplem.

clitic indirect

conplem. clitic

reflexive clitic subj.

clitic interrog.

1sg. mi me -‹nt›i (-e) 2sg. ti te te -to (-‹s›tu)

masc. elo (or lu) lo el -(e)lo 3sg.

fem. ela si

la ghe se

la -(e)la masc. noaltri

1pl. fem. noaltre ne se

-‹nt›i (-e)

masc. voaltri 2pl.

fem. voaltre ve

-o (-u)

masc. luri (or eli) li i -(e)li 3pl.

fem. lore (or ele) si

le ghe se

le -(e)le impers. si se se


16

VERBS

In less tecnical but easier words, one can say that the verbal system of Vèneto or Venetan is a mix of the Italian/Spanish system (using verbal endings: parlo, parlè, parlémo) and theFrench/English system (employing pronouns: el parla, i parla, te parli/te parla). A more suitable term for the Venetan verbal system might be semi-analitic.

Clitici subject pronouns are used only in specific cases, and in these cases they are compulsory (see paragraph "pronouns").

The reason for this is that, due to the drop of the latin endings, some verbal forms had become identical and it was impossible to understand "who did what": there was a confusion. Indeed the 3rd plural person always ends like the 3rd singular (i parla=el parla) whereas the 2nd singular person ends either like the 2nd plural (te parlavi=parlavi) or like the 3rd sg./plural (te parla=el/i parla) depending on the Venetan variety beeing spoken. However, without clitics they would be indistinguishable. On the contrary, when the endings are unambigous no clitics are used.

Subject clitics must be employed only in the 2nd sg. person , the 3rd sg. person and the 3rd plural person.

When the subject follows the verb, subject clitics are not used (Marco el vien becomes Vien Marco; £e carte le riva becomes Riva le carte) because the verb is not really singular/plural nor masculine/feminine and also the past participle may be invariable, i.e. a semi-impersonal form appears (£e carte le xe rivàe becomes Xe/Gh'è rivà le carte ; Tanta zxente la xe morta becomes Xe/Gh'è morto(-a) tanta zxente). The japanese counterparts of these sentences would involve the particle “ga” instead of “wa”

In direct questions, interrogative forms must be used built with final interrogative clitics (whenever possible): pàrlito? pàrli(s)tu? , pàrle£o? , parlèo? (-u?). Some tenses and moods do not show such interrogative clitics: parlarìsimo? / parlarisi? /parlàvimo? / parlavi?

With true impersonal verbs, like pióve/névega/fa frédo/fa sol which do not have a real subject, clitics are optional depending on the variety spoken: (el) pióve ; pióve(£o)?

Veneto language too has simple tenses (present, imperfect, future) and compound tenses (past, double past nearly disappeared, compound future). Compound tenses are built bymeans of the auxiliary aver, except for verbs of movement and intransitive verbs that employ the auxiliary èser: go/ò parlà , i ga/à dito , gavéa credùo/credesto , gavémo/avon sentìo... but also so' tornà , i xe/è partìi , sémo/sòn tornài...

Verbs are grouped into 1ST class (-ar: netar, parlar, vardar) , 2ND class (-er: saver, tegner ; '-ar[e] but stressed on the root: bévar[e], móvar[e]) and 3RD class (-ir: finir, sentir, capir).

Vèneto language too has a continuous or progressive inflection, like English or italian (see paragraph "progressive inflection")

Remember that except for “èser, aver” only very few verbs are really irregular. It is a handful of 10 verbs: dar, far, star , ndar/nar , tor/cior , tegner, vegner, voler, poder, saver. On the contrary, most verbs are irregular only in their past participles and of course in derived tenses (bevùo/credùo-> go bevùo/go credùo but visto/méso-> go visto/go méso).

Still, Venetan has a regularizing ending -esto employed to make regular even irregular past participles: visto -> vedesto , méso -> metesto , stréto -> strenzxesto... derived from védar/métar/strénzxar and so on.


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CONJUGATION OF SIMPLE TENSES

Verbs, like nouns and adjectives, undergo vowel change when they end in -i: penultimate closed-ó –> -u penultimate closed-é –> -i sequence o-ó- –> -u-u sequence o-é- –> -u-i

Nearly all the verbs of the 3RD class have a present tense augmented in -is- (e.g. fin-is-o, te fin-is-i) except for few verbs like sentir, morir, dormir che i va drio a la 2a (dormo, te dormi...)

Note-1: in the east (VE) and the west (VR) verbs end in -i but do not undergo vowel change (te néti, ti bevi, te bevévi). The same holds for Vèneto of the cities, which parallelizes italian.

Note-2: In venetian Venetan some verbs have the 2ND sg.person identical to the 3RD sg/pl. (ti va, ti ga, ti sa, ti farà) ; the 2ND plural person ends in –é (bevé, temé)

Note-3: in trevixan and feltrin-belumat Venetan the 2ND p.sg. always ends like the 3RD p. (te néta, te netava, te netarà, tu farà). The 1ST p.sg. ends in –e (mi beve) and the 2ND p.pl. ends in –é (bevé, temé).

Note-4: also, in feltrin-belumat final "e, i" are dropped so the 2ND p.sg. present indicative does not show vowel change ending like the 3RD sg/pl. (te finis, el finis , te sent, el sent , tu mét, el mét...). The 1ST p.pl. ending is –(i)òn, used also in old Paduan, while in some areas of trevixan have developed a mixed ending -én. In the interrogative, vowels reappear: finìsitu? , sènte£o?

Note-5: the final voiced consonant of belumat Venetan can change (te véd / te perd of Baso Cismon Belun. –> te vét / tu vét / tu perth going northward ).

PRESENT INDICATIVE

net-ar bév-ar(e) ; móv-ar(e) tem-er fin-ir

1sg. mi néto bévo , móvo... finiso 2sg. ti te niti te bivi , muvi ... te finisi

m. elo (o lu) el el el 3sg.

f. ela la néta

la béve ...

la finise

m. noaltri 1pl.

f. noaltre netémo (-òn) bevémo ... finimo

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre netè bevì ... (-é) finì

m. luri (o eli) i i i 3pl.

f. lore (o ele) le néta

le béve ...

le finise

imprs. se néta se béve ... se finise

INTERROGATIVE PRESENT INDICATIVE: interrogative clitics are added to the verb (see paragraph "pronouns"). The impersonal form never has a clitic! nétoi? , nìtito? (-tu?) , néte£o? / néte£a? , netémoi? , netèo? (-u?) , néte£i? / néte£e? bévoi? , bìvito? (-tu?) , béve£o? ... finìsoi? , finìsito? (-tu?) , finìse£o? ...

Note: interr.clitics are widely used in all Vèneto, except in the modern variety of Venice which is losing them. Old venetian, on the contrary, used them: they ended in –stu and are still commonly employed in Cioxa (Chioggia). For example: màgnistu? , càntistu? , gastu capìo?


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IMPERFECT INDICATIVE

net-ar bév-ar(e)

móv-ar(e) tem-er

fin-ir

1sg. mi netava bevéa finìa 2sg. ti te netavi te bevivi te finivi


f. ela la netava

la bevéa

la finìa

m. noaltri 1pl.

f. noaltre netàvimo bevévimo finìvimo

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre netavi bevivi finivi


f. lore (o ele) le netava

le bevéa

le finìa

imprs. se netava i bevéa finìa

INTERROGATIVE IMPERFECT: interrog. clitics (not all) are added to the imperf. indicative: -- , netàvito? (-tu?) , netàve£o? /netàve£a? , -- , -- , netàve£i? /netàve£e? -- , bevìvito? (-tu?) , bevève£o? ... -- , finìvito? (-tu?) , finìve£o? ...

Note: some people also use italian-like forms (mi netavo, mi credevo...)

FUTURE INDICATIVE


1sg. mi netarò bevarò finirò 2sg. ti te netarè te bevarè te finirè


f. ela la netarà

la bevarà

la finirà

m. noaltri 1pl.

f. noaltre netarémo bevarémo finìvimo

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre netarè bevarè finirè


f. lore (o ele) le

netarà le

bevarà le

finirà

imprs. se netarà se bevarà se finirà

INTERROGATIVE FUTURE: interrogative clitics are added to the future indicative: netaròi? (-e?) , netarèto? (-tu?) , -arà£o? /-£a? , -arémoi? , -arèo? (-u?) , -arà£i? /-£e? bevaròi? (-e?) , bevarèto? (-tu?)... finiròi? (-e?) , finirèto? (-tu?)...

Note: belunéxe variety of Vèneto retains the future in -er- in the 2ND class (beverò, te beverà / tu beverà). In some areas of central Vèneto, future plurals are: voaltri netarì / finirì...

Remember that the impersonal “se” has no interrogative clitics!

POLITE FORM: the 3RD masc./fem./sg./plural person is used: el vegna sior! ; łe vegna sióre!. In past times, the 2ND p. plural form (“vu”) was employed.


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CONDITIONAL

net-ar bév-ar(e) ; móv-ar(e)

tem-er fin-ir

1sg. mi netarìa bevarìa finirìa 2sg. ti te netarisi te bevarisi te finirisi


f. ela la netarìa

la bevarìa

la finirìa

m. noaltri 1pl.

f. noaltre netarìsimo bevarìsimo finirìsimo

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre netarisi bevarisi finirisi


f. lore (o ele) le netarìa

le bevarìa

le finirìa

imprs. se netarìa se bevarìa se finirìa

INTERROGATIVE CONDITIONAL: interrog. clitics (not all) are suffixed to the conditional: -- , netarìsito? (-tu?) , netarìse£o? /-ìse£a? , -- , -- , netarìse£i? /-ìse£e? -- , bevarìsito? (-tu?) , bevarìse£o?... -- , finirìsito? (-tu?) , finirìse£o?...

Note: The 3RD p. sg/pl. interrogative takes the affix -ìse-

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE

net-ar bév-ar(e) ; móv-ar(e)

tem-er fin-ir

1sg. che mi néte (-a) béva , móva... finisa 2sg. che ti te niti te bivi , muvi ... te finisi

m. che elo (o lu) el el el 3sg.

f. che ela la néte (-a)

la béva

la finisa

m. che noaltri 1pl.

f. che noaltre netémo (-òne) bevémo finimo

m. che voaltri 2pl.

f. che voaltre netè bevì (-é) finì

m. che luri (o eli) i i i 3pl.

f. che lore (o ele) le néte (-a)

le béva

le finisa

imprs. che se néte (-a) se béva se finisa

Note 1: the present subjunctive is the same as the indicative, except for the 1ST singular and the 3RD sg/pl. persons which share the same ending: -e/-a for the 1ST class ; -a for the 2ND and the 3RD class.

Note 2: the present subjunctive and indicative of venetian,trevixan and belumat Venetan have the 2ND person plural ending in –é (bevé, temé, gavé)


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IMPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE


1sg. che mi netase bevése finise 2sg. che ti te netasi te bevisi te finisi

m. che elo (o lu) el el el 3sg.

f. che ela la netase

la bevése

la finise

m. che noaltri 1pl.

f. che noaltre netàsimo bevésimo finìsimo

m. che voaltri 2pl.

f. che voaltre netasi bevisi finisi

m. che luri (o eli) i i i 3pl.

f. che lore (o ele) le netase

le bevése

le finise

imprs. Che se netase se bevése se finise

The impersonal “se” has no interrogative clitics (nor in the conditional mood).

Henceforth, it will not be written anymore, although it is used also in the compound tenses which will be described later.

Keep in mind that tonic pronouns, written in italic, are never obligatory whereas short (clitic) ones, in bold, are always obligatory (see the introduction to verbs).

PHRASAL VERBS

Like in English or German, Venetan phrasal verbs are made of a base verb and an adverb or preposition (“verbi prepoxizsionali”) and often have a very different meaning from that of the original verb. For example (only some of them):

vegner rento = to come in (=it. entrare verso chi parla) ndar/nar rento = to go in (=it. entrare allontanandosi da chi parla) vegner fora = to come out (=it. uscire verso chi parla) ndar/nar fora = to go ount(=it. uscire allontanandosi da chi parla) vegner sù1 , vegner zxo, ndar sù, ndar zxo = to go up-/downstairs (=it. salire, scendere) vegner sù2 = to grow up (=it. crescere) ndar/nar torno = to turn around (=it. girare,ruotare,gironzolare) ndar/nar in volta = to walk around, to wander (=it. girovagare, andare qua e là) dar fora un giornal, un prodóto = to publish, to send out (=it. pubblicare, mettere in vendita distribuire)

dar via = to undersell, to sell off (=it. dare gratis, per poco denaro, svendere) magnar fora = to waste (=it. sperperare) opposite of sparagnar= to save (germ. sparen)

parar vanti/indrio/sù/zxo/torno = to push forward/back/up/down... to make turn (=it. spingere avanti/indietro/su/giù…far girare)

tirar zxo = to download (=it. scaricare) ; métar sù = to upload, to put on (=it. caricare)

Mind the accent sù/su that changes the meaning: métar sù “X” is not métar “X” su ”Y” ! Méteme sù na caséta = put on (play) a videocassette for me, upload a computer cartridge... Mèteme su na caséta = put me on a (small) case

Last but no least, vegner + different adjective: vegner mato, vegner grando, vegner bravo… (similarly to engl. to get off/on/crazy/ready…)


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VERBS CONJUGATION OF COMPOUND TENSES

Venetan too, has compound tenses built by combining the auxiliaries (èser or aver) with the past participle.

In such cases, it ‘s the auxiliary which changes according to the person, the tense and the mood of the verb and which merges with the interrogative clitics in direct questions: el ga parlà , i ga parlà , gavì parlà , ga£o parlà? , ga£i parlà? ... sémo/son tornài ...

Note that with the auxiliary aver the past participle is invariable, whereas after the auxiliary èser the past participle too changes in the masculine, feminine, singular or plural: el ga parlà, i ga parlà, i à parlà but el xe tornà, i xe tornài, i è tornài...

When the subject follows the verb subject clitics do not appear (Marco el vien deventa Vien Marco) and past participles remain unchanged even with the auxiliary èser (Xe/Gh'è rivà £e carte or Xe morto(-a) tanta zxente) i.e. a semi-impersonal form is employed.

Most verbs are irregular only in their past participle and therefore in derived tenses (bevùo/credùo-> go bevùo/go credùo but visto/méso-> go visto/go méso).

Still, Vèneto language has a regularizing ending -esto used to force into regularity even irregular participles: visto -> vedesto , méso -> metesto , stréto -> strenzxesto... derived from védar/métar/strénzxar and so on.

APPARENT DIFFERENCES

It must be born in mind that auxiliaries èser and aver are the verbs with most variations, so it may seem that a unique verbal system is not shared by all the Venetan varieties: indeed there are many combinations derived from few base rules.

For example, moving from east westwards, passing for northern Vèneto, the same interrogative form of 2ND p.sg. has six varieties: gastu parlà? -> gatu parlà? / àtu parlà?-> ->ghètu parlà? -> ghèto parlà? -> èto parlà?

Actually, it must be remembered that all Venetan verbs follow a general rule: THE 2ND SINGULAR PERSON ALWAYS ENDS LIKE THE 3RD SG/PL. OR LIKE THE 2ND PLURAL (and taking special forms in –i in the present tense).

In addition to this, there two more rules: 1) AUXILIARIES CAN HAVE TWO FORMS (LONG AND SHORT) for example go (ò) , te ghè (t'è) , gavémo (ghémo) , avon (òn) , el xe (l'è) , xe£o? (èlo?) and so on...; 2) INTEROGATIVE CLITICS CAN HAVE TWO FORMS (more often it is ajust a difference between open and closed vowels) for example: -i (-e) ; -to (-‹s›tu) ;-o (-u).

The combinaitons seems to be many but result from mixing these two rules with the general tule. For example: è+to? = short+ -to ghè+to? = long+ -to ghè+tu? = long + -tu à+tu? = 3a sg. short + -tu ga+(s)tu? = 3a sg. long + -(s)tu


22

CONJUGATION OF COMPOUND TENSES

PAST (compound past)

net-ar ; bév-ar(e) , móv-ar(e) ; fin-ir torn-ar , part-ir

1sg. mi go (ò) so' (son) 2sg. ti te ghè (è,ga) te sì (xe)

m. elo (o lu) el ga (l'à) el xe (l'è) 3sg.

f. ela la ga (l'à) la xe (l'è)

partìo /-ìa tornà /-à

m. noaltri 1pl.

f. noaltre gavémo (avòn) sémo (sòn)

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre Gavì (gavé) sì (sé)

m. luri (o eli) i ga (i à) i xe (i è) 3pl.

f. lore (o ele) le ga (le à)

netà , bevù(o) moso (movesto)

finì(o)

le xe (le è)

partìi /-ìe tornài /-àe

INTERROGATIVE PAST: interrogative clitics added to the auxiliary (see paragr. "pronouns"): goi (òe) netà? , ghèto (gatu...) netà? , ga£o/ga£a netà? , --, gavìo (gavéu) netà? , ga£i/ga£e netà? soi (sòe) partìo/-ìa? , sìto (sìtu) partìo/-ìa? , xe£o partìo/ xe£a partìa? and so on...

PAST PERFECT (compound imperfect) net-ar , bév-ar(e) , fin-ir torn-ar , part-ir

1sg. mi gavéa (avéa)

xera (jera)

2sg. ti te gavivi te xeri (te eri)

m. elo (o lu) el gavéa (l' avéa)

el xera (l'era)

3sg. f. ela la gavéa

(l' avéa) la xera (l'era)


m. noaltri 1pl.

f. noaltre gavévimo xèrimo

(èrimo)

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre gavivi xeri

(eri)

m. luri (o eli) i gavéa (i avéa)

i xera (i era)

3pl. f. lore (o ele) le gavéa

(le avéa)

netà , bevù(o), finì(o)

le xera (le era)


INTERROGATIVE PAST PERFECT: interrogative (not all) attached to the auxiliary: -- , gavìvito netà? , gavève£o/gavève£a netà? , -- , -- , gavève£i/gavève£e netà? -- , xèrito partìo/-ìa? , xère£o partìo? / xère£a partìa? , -- , -- , xère£i partìi? / xère£e partìe?

Note: some people use italian-like forms (mi gavevo netà)


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FUTURE PERFECT (compound future) net-ar , bév-ar(e) , fin-ir torn-ar , part-ir

1sg. mi gavarò sarò

2sg. ti te gavarè (te gavarà)

te sarè (te sarà)

m. elo (o lu) el gavarà (l'avarà) el sarà

3sg. f. ela la gavarà

(l'avarà) la sarà


m. noaltri 1pl.

f. noaltre gavarémo (avaròn)

sarémo (saròn)

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre gavarè (gavarì)

sarè (sarì)

m. luri (o eli) i gavarà (i avarà) i sarà

3pl. f. lore (o ele) le gavarà

(le avarà)


le sarà


INTERROGATIVE FUTURE PERFECT: interrogative clitics are attached to the auxiliary: gavaròi (-e) netà? , gavarèto netà? and so on... saroi (-e) partìo/-ìa? , sarèto partìo/-ìa? and so on....

PAST CONDITIONAL (compound conditional) net-ar , bév-ar(e) , fin-ir torn-ar , part-ir

1sg. mi gavarìa (averave)

sarìa (sarave)

2sg. ti te gavarisi (te gavarìa)

te sarisi (te sarìa)

m. elo (o lu) el gavarìa

(l'avarìa l'averave)

el sarìa (el sarave)

3sg. f. ela

la gavarìa (l'avarìa

l'averave) la sarìa

(la sarave)


m. noaltri 1pl.

f. noaltre gavarìsimo sarìsimo

(sarésimo)

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre gavarisi sarisi

(sarì)

m. luri (o eli) i gavarìa (i avarìa

i averave) i sarìa

(i sarave) 3pl.

f. lore (o ele) le gavarìa (le avarìa

le averave)


le sarìa (le sarave)


INTERROGATIVE PAST CONDITIONAL: interrogative clitics (not all) follow the auxiliary: -- , gavarìsito? (-tu?) netà , gavarìse£o/gavarìse£a netà? , -- , -- , gavarìse£i/-e£e netà? -- , sarìsito? (-tu?) partìo/-ìa? , sarìse£o partìo / sarìse£a partìa? and so on


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Note-1: forms in -ave were peculiar of old venetian Venetan; in modern venetian they are not used anymore, however they are still usually employed in “cioxoto” (Chioggia Venetan variety)

Note-2: The 3RD sg/pl. interrogative person takes –ìse- instead of –ìa-

PAST SUBJUNCTIVE (compound subj.) net-ar , bév-ar(e) , fin-ir

1sg. mi gabia si(pi)a

2sg. ti te gabi (te gai, gabia)

te sì (te sipi)

m. elo (o lu) el gabia (l'abia) el si(pi)a

3sg. f. ela la gabia

(l'abia) la si(pi)a


m. noaltri 1pl.

f. noaltre gavémo sémo

(sòne)

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre gavì sì

m. luri (o eli) i gabia i si(pi)a 3pl.

f. lore (o ele) le gabia


le si(pi)a


PAST PERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE (comp. imperfect subj.) Net-ar , bév-ar(e) , fin-ir

1sg. mi gavése fuse 2sg. ti te gavisi te fusi

m. elo (o lu) el gavése el fuse 3sg.

f. ela la gavése la fuse


m. noaltri 1pl.

f. noaltre gavésimo fùsimo

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre gavisi fusi

m. luri (o eli) i gavése i fuse 3pl.

f. lore (o ele) le gavése


le fuse


DOUBLE PAST (overcompound past)

It is seldom used, noawadays (it was employed more widely in past times), but it is still found in some Venetan varieties. Like the french passé surcomposé it is built with a double past participle: first, the compound past is built with the participle of the auxiliary (ò + bùo = go avùo), then this compound past of the auxiliary is merged in turn with the past participle of the full verb: ò + bùo + netà/catà = lit. I have had cleaned/found...

Nowadays it is usually replaced by the normal (compound) past: go netà , go catà...


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PROGRESSIVE FORMS OF VERBS

Venetan too has a progressive conjugation with continuous verbal tenses parallele to the base forms, as there are in English (I am working , I am cleaning), in italian (sto tornando, sto pulendo) and in many other languages of the world.

Progressive forms are built with the auxiliary èser drio: it is this which changes according to the verbal mood, tense and person and which takes the interrogative clitics in direct questions.

This construction, is thus èser drio + infinte verb. For example: so' drio netar , el xe drio finir, el sarà drio tornar...

Of course, not all progressive forms exist as in English, still there are more forms than in italian. Indeed, in Vèneto there are progressive futures and conditionals employed with rhetorical or dubitative meaning which must be translated ino italian with special constructions (è probabile che... probabilmente... , sarebbe stato sul punto di...)

PROGRESSIVE CONJUGATION

PRESENT PROGRESSIVE Net-ar , bév-ar(e) , móv-ar(e) , fin-ir ; torn-ar , part-ir

1sg. mi so' (son) 2sg. ti te sì (xe)

m. elo (o lu) el xe (l'è) 3sg.

f. ela la xe (l'è) m. noaltri

1pl. f. noaltre

sémo (sòn)

m. voaltri 2.pl.

f. voaltre sì (sé)

m. luri (o eli) i xe (i è) 3.pl.

f. lore (o ele) le xe (le è)

drio netar / bévar(e) / móvar(e) drio tornar / partir

INTERROGATIVE PRESENT PROGRESSIVE: clitics join the auxiliary (paragr. "pronouns"): soi (soe) drio netar? , sìto (-tu) drio netar? , xe£o (èlo) drio netar? e vanti cusì...

IMPERFECT PROGRESSIVE net-ar , bév-ar(e) , móv-ar(e) , fin-ir ; torn-ar , part-ir

1sg. mi xera (jera) 2sg. ti te xeri (te eri)

m. elo (o lu) el xera (l'era) 3sg.

f. ela la xera (l'era) m. noaltri

1pl. f. noaltre

xèrimo (èrimo)

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre xeri (eri)

m. luri (o eli) i xera (i era) 3pl.

f. lore (o ele) le xera (le era)



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INTERROGATIVE IMPERFECT PROGRESSIVE: interrogative clitics merge with the auxiliary (see paragraph "pronouns"): xèrito (xèritu,èrito) drio netar? , xère£o (èrelo) drio netar? and so on...

FUTURE PROGRESSIVE net-ar , bév-ar(e) , móv-ar(e) , fin-ir ; torn-ar , part-ir

1sg. mi sarò 2sg. ti te sarè (te sarà)

m. elo (o lu) el sarà 3sg.

f. ela la sarà m. noaltri

1pl. f. noaltre

sarémo (saròn)

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre sarè (sarì)

m. luri (o eli) i sarà 3pl.

f. lore (o ele) le sarà


FUTURO PROGRESIVO: rarely used, it is especially employed with present dubitative value, attaching interrogative clitics to the auxiliary as always (see paragr. "pronouns"). For example: «Saràlo drio lavorar, secondo ti?»

FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

The future perfect progressive, too, is used in Vèneto/Venetan with past dubitative or inferential meaning, whereas it does not exist in italian.

For example in Vèneto you say: «Marco ieri sera no'l xe mìa vegnùo: el sarà stà drio dormir» (=probably he must have been sleeping yesterday night). On the contrary, in italian no se pol mìa dir «Marco ieri sera non è venuto, *sarà stato dormendo»: it is a mistake, in italian, since every language has its own grammatical rules.

FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

net-ar , bév-ar(e) , móv-ar(e) , fin-ir ; torn-ar , part-ir

1sg. mi so' stà 2sg. ti te sì stà

m. elo (o lu) el xe stà 3sg.

f. ela la xe stà m. noaltri

1pl. f. noaltre

sémo stà(i/e)

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre sì stà(i/e)

m. luri (o eli) i xe stà(i) 3pl.

f. lore (o ele) le xe stà(e)


INTERROG. FUT. PERFECT PROGR.: interrogative clitics affixed to the auxiliary. For example in dubitative past questions: «Mah...Saràlo stà drio dormir a qûel' ora??» (=mah...pènsito che 'l fuse drio dormir...??) corresponds to English May he have been sleeping at that time?? Do you think he was sleeping?


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CONDITIONAL PROGRESSIVE net-ar , bév-ar(e) , móv-ar(e) , fin-ir ; torn-ar , part-ir

1sg. mi sarìa 2sg. ti te sarisi

m. elo (o lu) el sarìa 3sg.

f. ela la sarìa m. noaltri

1pl. f. noaltre

sarìsimo

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre sarisi

m. luri (o eli) i sarìa 3pl.

f. lore (o ele) le sarìa


INTERROGATIVE CONDIT. PROGRES.: employed for ask rethorical quesitons. For example: «Sarìselo drio lavorar?!?» (=Is he working in your opinion? Does it seems to you that he...)

PAST CONDITIONAL PROGRESSIVE

Like the italian future perfect progressive, also the past conditional progressive though not exsiting in italian can be used in Venetan under certain conditions, with rethorical meaning.

For exemplein sentences such as: «Xe ciaro che 'l gavéa xa respirà aqua, quando che i £o ga tirà fora dal lago! Se no 'l gavése respirà aqua no 'l sarìa (mìa) stà drio negarse in qûel moménto łà!» (=...he wouldn't possibly have been drowning!).

Keep in mind that in italian one cannot say «Se non avesse respirato acqua *non si sarebbe stato annegando» and diferent constructions must be used (...non sarebbe stato sul punto di annegarsi).

Different languages, different rules...

PAST CONDITIONAL PROGRESSIVE net-ar , bév-ar(e) , móv-ar(e) , fin-ir ; torn-ar , part-ir

1sg. mi sarìa stà 2sg. ti te sarisi stà

m. elo (o lu) el sarìa stà 3sg.

f. ela la sarìa stà m. noaltri

1pl. f. noaltre

sarìsimo stà(i/e)

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre sarisi stà(i/e)

m. luri (o eli) i sarìa stà(i) 3pl.

f. lore (o ele) le sarìa stà(e)


INTERROGATIVE PAST COND. PROGRESSIVE: employed sometimes for rhetorical quesitons. For example: «Sarìselo stà drio negarse, secondo ti, se no 'l gavése respirà aqua?!?» (=Would he have run the risk to drown in your opinion?). In italian it is translated with "Sarebbe stato sul punto di annegarsi, secondo te...?"


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THE PASSIVE OF VERBS

Passive verbs, in Vèneto/Venetan, are built with two auxiliaries and the past participle. The auxiliary vegner builds simple tenses (el vien netà) and èser builds compound tenses (el xe stà netà).

In such cases, it is the auxiliary which changes according to the verbal person, tense and mood and which takes the interrogative clitics in direct questions: vienlo netà? , xe£o stà netà?

Participles can inflect for masculine, feminine, singular or plural: el vien netà, i vien netài , i xe stài netài... Yet very often "stà" remains unchanged (i xe stà netài , £e xe stà netàe).

Most verbs are irregular only in their past participle and therefore in derived tenses (bevùo/credùo-> el vien bevùo/credùo parò visto/méso-> el vien visto/méso).

Still, Vèneto language has a regularizing ending -esto used to force into regularity even irregular participles: visto -> vedesto , méso -> metesto , stréto -> strenzxesto... derivài da védar/métar/strénzxar e vanti cusì.

When the subject follows the verb subject clitics do not appear (Xe stà ciapà un ladro) and past participles often remain unchanged (Xe stà ciapà i ladri, Xe stà méso(-e) via £e carte) i.e. a semi-impersonal form is employed.

PASSIVE CONJUGATION

PRESENT PASSIVE PAST PASSIVE net-ar , bév-ar(e) , fin-ir net-ar, fin-ir

1sg. mi vegno so' stà 2sg. ti te vien te sì stà

m. elo (o lu) el vien el xe stà 3sg.

f. ela la vien

netà / -à bevù(o) / -ù(a)

finì(o) / -ìa la xe stà

finìo /-ìa netà /-à

m. noaltri 1pl.

f. noaltre vegnémo sémo stà(i/e)

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre vegnì sì stà(i/e)

m. luri (o eli) i vien i xe stà(i) 3pl.

f. lore (o ele) le vien

netài / -àe bevùi / -ùe finìi / -ìe

le xe stà(e)

finìi /-ìe netài /-àe

INTERROGATIVE PASSIVE: interrog. clitics attached to the auxiliary (see paragr. "pronouns"): -- , viento (-tu) netà? , vienlo netà? and so on... -- , sìto (sìtu) stà netà? , xe£o stà netà? ...


29

IMPERFECT PASSIVE PAST PERFECT PASSIVE (comp.impf.passive)

net-ar , bév-ar(e) , fin-ir net-ar, fin-ir 1sg. mi vegnéa xera stà 2sg. ti te vegnivi te xeri stà

m. elo (o lu) el vegnéa el xera stà (l'era stà)

3sg. f. ela la vegnéa

netà / -à bevù(o) / -ù(a)

finì(o) / -ìa la xera stà (l'era stà)

finìo /-ìa netà /-à

m. noaltri 1pl.

f. noaltre vegnévimo xèrimo

stà(i/e)

m. voaltri 2pl.

f. voaltre vegnivi xeri stà(i/e)

m. luri (o eli) i vegnéa i xera stà(i) 3pl.

f. lore (o ele) le vegnéa

netài / -àe bevùi / -ùe finìi / -ìe

le xera stà(e)

finìi /-ìe netài /-àe

INTERROGATIVE IMPERFECT PASSIVE: interrog. clitics (not all) merge auxiliaries: ...vegnève£o/vegnève£a netà? ... ...xère£o stà netà / xère£a stà netà ? ... ...xèrito stà visto/vista ?...

FUTURE, SUBJUNCTIVE AND CONDITIONAL PASSIVE

Likewiase, following these two patterns, all the passive tenses can be built. For example the future (simple el vegnarà netà and compound el sarà stà netà) , the subjunctive (present che 'l vegna netà and past, compound che 'l sipia stà netà) , the imperfect subjunctive (simple se 'l vegnése netà and compound se 'l fuse stà netà) , the conditional (present simple el vegnarìa netà and past compound el sarìa stà netà).

As always, interrogative clitics are attached to auxiliaries (vegnarà£o netà? , sarà£o stà netà? , vegnarìse£o neta? , sarìse£o stà netà?) while the full verb remamins in the participle.

THE IMPERSONAL PASSIVE

Intransitive verbs, too, can appear in the passive voice: since intransitive verbs have no direct object to turn into subject, they have an impersonal passive form without subject (cfr. German es wurde getanzt = lit. there was danced / it was danced).

The impersonal passive is built in the past tense with Xe/Gh’è stà + past participle (literally “there has been...”). The indirect objects retain the same preposition they have in the active voice.

For examples verbs parlar co (to speak with/to) , tełefonar a (lit. to telephone to) have the following impersonal passive forms:

Xe stà parlà co tuti = Everybody was spoken to. lit.”(there) has been spoken with everybody” Gh’è stà tełefonà al dotor? = Did someone (of you) phone the doctor? lit. “Has (there) been phoned to the doctor?”


30

Likewise, the impersonal passive of parlar de (to speak about) and discùter de (to discuss about) is the following:

Gh’è stà parlà de un saco de robe = A lot of issues have been spoken about. lit.“There has been spoken about a lot of things” Ieri xe stà discuso del tràfico = Yesterday there was a discussion about the traffic. lit.“ Yesterday (there) has been discussed about the traffic”

Note: The passive is less often used in Venetan, since usually a 3RD pl. active form is employed (i ga discuso/parlà de = they have discussed/spoken about...) when it the subject is unknown by the speaker and the hearer. On the contrary, the passive is preferred when the subject might be the speaker or the hearer.

THE IMPERATIVE

In Vèneto language, the imperative mood has simple forms whereas the negative imperative is built with a speciali auxiliary (the verb star). It is never used in the passive voice.

The imperative mood as its own forms only for the 2ND p. singular of the firs class (magna! parla!): otherwise it follows the present (vien! vidi! curi! e anca magnè! parlémo) or the subjunctive (che 'l magna! che i parla!).

Differently from italian, Venetan has special forms for the polite imperative: they are the same as the normal 3RD person (masc/fem/sg/pl) but without the particle “che”. However, for the sake of clarity the whole table is reported below:

IMPERATIVE net-ar bév-ar(e) ; tem-er fin-ir

1sg. -- -- -- 2sg. néta ! bivi ! finisi !

m. che el el el 3sg.

f. che la néta! (-e)

la béva!

la finisa!

m. 1pl.

f. netémo! (-òne) bevémo! finimo!

m. 2pl.

f. netè! bevì! finì!

m. che i i i 3pl.

f. che le néta! (-e)

le béva!

le finisa!

POLITE IMPERATIVE m. el néta! (-e) el béva! el finisa!

risp. sg. f. la la la m. i néta! (-e) i béva! i finisa!

risp. pl. f. le le le

Note-1: Note the vowel change triggered by final -i (bivi!, curi!) since these forms are the same as the present ones. In the est (VR) and the west (VE) verbs do not show it: bévi! cori!. Forms without vowel change are also used in italian-like Venetan.

Note-2: In the past, the polite form was built with the “vu” of 2ND p. plural.


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THE NEGATIVE IMPERATIVE

The negativ imperative, as already said, is made of the auxiliary star and the infinte mood of the verb which is always invariable.

NEGATIVE IMPERATIVE net-ar ; bév-ar(e) ; tem-er ; fin-ir

1sg. -- 2sg. no stà

m. che no 'l 3sing.

f. che no la staga (-ae)

m. 1pl.

f. no stémo (-òne)

m. 2pl.

f. no stè

m. che no i 3pl.

f. che no le staga (-ae)

netar! ; bévar(e)! ; temer! ; finir!

Note: Also in this case, the polite forms consist of the normal 3RD p. (masc/fem/sg/pl) without the particle “che”:

no’l staga netar/temer/finir ; no la staga netar/temer... no i staga netar/temer/finir ; no le staga netar/temer...

Both the imperative and the negative imperative are usually employed only in the active voice, although some passive subjunctives might be rarely used: che te sipi małedéto = Be you damned!


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INTERROGATIVES

Venetan interrogatives can vary very much and can have very different forms, according to whether they are sentence-initial or sentence-final they are preceded by prepositions or stand alone. In some varieties, there are special combined or reduplicated reinforced forms.

VENETAN INTERROGATIVES initial final examples reinf. or redupl. examples

chi? ci?

chi/ci sìto? chi sìtu? sìtu chi? èlo ci? de chi/ci parlèo?

ci ... ci? ci èlo ci?

'sa... ? cos'...?

co £e prepoxizs. cósa?

...ché? 'sa fèto? cos' ti fa? 'sa fàlo? fàlo ché? de cósa parlèo?

('sa) ... cósa?!? fèto cósa?!? 'sa fèto cósa?!? parlèo de cósa?!?

quando? quando vienla? vienla quando? quando?!? viento quando?

te vien quando?!?

come? come vienle? vienle come? come?!? sìto vegnùo come?!?

te si vegnù come?!?

indo'...? indove...? ...onde? indo' valo? indo' sìo?

valo onde? ('sa) ... indove?!? vèto indove?!? 'sa vèto indove, ti?!?

parché? parché vètu via? parcósa...?! ma parcósa lo ghèto fato!?!

quanto/a/i/e ? quanti xeli?

quante xele?

qualo/a/i/e ? qualo xelo? quala xela?

Note-1: to build reinforced forms the initial interrogative (if any), must be moved at the end of the sentence.

Note-2: in some varieties, the reinforced forms can be reduplicated by adding the invariable particle 'sa at the beginning of the sentence or reduplicating the interrogative ci.

Note-3: in the varieties with final interrogatives (northern vènetan, i.e. belumat) these interrogatives can show one and the same form both in base questions, so that reinforced questions are distinguished only by voice intonation: “sìtu chi?” vs. “sìtu chi?!?”

VOID ESCLAMATIVE INTERROGATIVES

Vèneto language also has a void or mute rhetorical interrogative (used to ask questions with esclamative intonation), i.e. it is not pronunced: « ’ Vùto ndar co qûe£e braghe là!? Cónpreghene un paro pi be£o!» (=Indove vùto ndar…= Where would you go...) or « ’ Sìtu ndà ieri sera! Te go ciamà un saco de volte e no te go catà!» (=Indove sìtu ndà… =Where did you go...) and even « ’ Vùto farghe…! Purtropo £a xe cusì…» (=’Sa/Cósa vùto… =What can/would you...). Voice intonation, too, confirms that there is “hidden” interrogative: indeed such sentences do not have raising intonation (as do yes/no questions) but rather have a falling intonational pattern like where normal visible interrogative are employed.

In italian, on the contrary, such rhetorical questions are not possible: «*Vuoi farci?!» , «*Sei andato ieri?!» , «*Vuoi andare con quelle scarpe?!...»


33

ADVERBS, CONJUNCTIONS , THE COMPLEMENTIZER "CHE" AND SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

Before speaking about Venetan subordinate clauses some words must be said about the complementizer, a special particle well-known in linguistiics which is necessary to build the subordinate clauses in many languages.

Vèneto language, indeed, like old English, some German varieties and many languages in the world, has an obligatory sentence particle (the complementizer che) which marks all subordinate clauses, besides relative ones. Every subordinate clause begins with this “basic” complementizer: then, adverbs, interogatives or conjunctions (chi, cósa, quando, come, parché...) are added to specify the type of the subordinate clause.

Thus, a lot of subordinates are built. Objective clause: savémo che te stè là ; go visto che i vien Interrogat. cl.: savémo co chi che te stè ; i sa cósa che magnòn noaltri Temporal cl.: magnémo có/quando che te rivi Modal clause: mi fo/faso/fae come che i fa luri And many others: go visto da indo' che i vien ; vien solo che ela In some varieties, even: dìme parché (che) el se conporta mal

COMPOUND PREPOSITIONS

At the beginning of this book, articles (definite, indefinite and personal) have been shown to merge with some base preposition: del, al, col, dal, ’ntel, int’un, pa’l, sul…

Still, these are not the only prepositions; there are also complex prepositions (da)drio=behind, vizsin=near, (da)vanti=before/in front, insieme=together, senzsa=without which combine with base preposition, usually de. Of course articles, too, can appear.

Thus one forms: (da)drio del tren, (da)drio de Marco, vizsin de mi, vizsin de £a Marìa, vanti de mi, insieme co mi, senzsa de voaltre…

These prepositions are not always compound, but can also stand alone e.g.: drio caxa, drio na carega, vizsin caxa, vizsin £a Céxa, senzsa £a to£a, senzsa un scheo, sóto el pòrtego.

PRONOMINAL PREPOSITIONS

There are varieties of the Venetan language, in which some prepositions besides merging with articles, also combine with personal pronouns as usually happens in gaelic languages (irlish, scottish) or in hebrew. For example one may hear and sometimes read such forms:

drio de mi drìome behind me drio de ti drìote behind you (sg.) drio de elo (o lu) drìoghe behind him/her/them

drio de si drìose behind himself/hers...

And so on…


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NO PREPOSITION “A” BEFORE INFINITE VERBS, CITY NAMES AND THE NOUNS “CAXA, MÉSA, TOŁA, SCÓŁA”

In Vèneto prepoxizsion “A” is never employed before city names, infinite verbs and the nouns “caxa=house / Mésa=Mass / tola=table / scóla=school” when there is a verb of movement towards such places (ndar/nar, vegner, tornar, rivar) or indicating state (èser, star).

Some examples can be:

vo caxa = I go home (=it. vado A casa) , vali Belun? = do they go to Belluno (=it. vanno A Belluno?) , vo studiar = I go to/and study (= vado A studiare) , vèto scóla = I go to school (=it. vai A scuola?) , némo/ndòn zxugar balon = we go to play football

l’è caxa = he is at home , sìtu Pàdova? = are you in P.? , sémo Vicensa = we are in V... stèo NewYork? =do you live in NewYork?) , i è stài Veróna = they have been in Verona

viento(-tu) Mésa? = do you come to the Mass? , se i vegnése Venesia =if they come to Venice , vien magnar! = come to eat , vegnì tola! = come (pl.) to/and sit down to table

se te rivi Rovigo = if you arrive in R. , rivàe caxa le ga magnà = after arriving home, they tornè catarme Trevixo =come back to visit us in Treviso , tórnelo scóla? = does he come back to school?) , taco studiar =I start studying , tachèo cantar? = do you start singing?

The other prepositions works normally: vegno caxa (I come back home) is different from vegno da caxa (I come back from home) rivar Madrid is different from rivar da Madrid no i vol tornar scóla (...return to school) is different from no i vol tornar da scóla (...from) paso caxa tua is slightly different paso par caxa tua

This rule does not hold for other nouns and normal forms are used: vo al mar (I go to the sea) , i riva al pónto che... (they arrive at the point that...) , i tórna a £e vecie abitùdini...

REFLEXIVE VERBS AND THE AUXILIARY “aver”

As already seen in Venetan there are reflexive pronouns employed with reflexive verbs. They behave as in Italian, French or Spanish: (mi) me vardo , (ti) te te vardi , (elo/lu) el se varda , (noaltri/noaltre) se vardémo...

They merge with reflexives forms: (ti) te vàrditu? , (elo/lu) se vàrdelo?... , se vardòne?

Moreover, in Vèneto language the auxiliary “aver” must be used for compound tenses as in Spanish, English, Portuguese, German or Catalan. Obligatory clitics must be kept in mind:

me go vardà (or even m’ò vardà) = I have looked at / watched myself (ti) te te ghè vardà (or even te t’è/te à/te ga vardà... ) = you have looked at / yourself (lu) el se gà vardà (or even el s’à vardà) = He heas looked at / watched himself (noaltri) se gavémo vardà (or even se avòn/òn vardà) = We have looked at ourselves (lore) le se gà vardà (or even le s’à vardà) = They (f.) have looked at themselves ... se i se gavése vardà (or se i s’avése vardà) = If they (m.) had looked at themselves i se gavarìa vardà (or i s’avarìa/s’averave vardà) = They ’d have looked at themselves Thus, with interrogative forms one obtains: (ti) te ghèto/te gatù vardà? , (lu) se galo/s’alo vardà? , (noaltri) se gavémoi vardà? , (lore) se gale/s’ale vardà?...


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NUMBERS

Numbers, in Venetan, are:

masculine feminine ordinal

1 un(o) una primo , prima 2 dó(i) (du) dó(i) secóndo , secónda

3 tre (tri) tre terzso , terzsa

4 quatro quarto , quarta

5 zsinque quinto , quinta

6 sie (pron. síe / sié) sesto , sesta

7 sete sètimo , sètima

8 oto otavo , otava

9 nóve nono , nona

10 diéxe 11 óndexe 12 dódexe 13 trédexe 14 quatòrdexe 15 quìndexe 16 sédexe 17 di(xi)sete 18 disdoto 19 disnóve 20 vinti

In other cases, italian ordinal numerals are used or the invariable forms shown on the left act as ordinal numerals.

For example one says : l’è rivà quìndexe (=he arrived fifth) , £a xe rivà vinti-oto

(=she arrived twentyeigth), ...

21 vinti-un 30 trenta 40 quaranta 50 zsinquanta 60 sesanta 70 setanta 80 otanta 90 novanta 100 zsento 200 doxento 300 trexento 400 quatroxento 500 zsinquezsento 600 siezsento 700 setezsento 800 otozsento 900 novezsento 1’000 mile 10’000 diéxe mila 100’000 zsento mila 1000’000 un milion 10’000’000 diéxe miliuni

collective numerals

Vèneto too, has collective numerals to refer to groups of people, objects, or animals by means of number-nouns, instead of normal numerals... Such number-nouns are masculine or feminine and there is not any sure rule. For example one says: na diexina (from diéxe), na zsinquantina (from zsinquanta) un zsentenaro/zsentenèr (from zsento) or un milaro/milèr (from mile)... They are also used with approximative value, i.e. to say “zsirca diéxe, zsirca mi£e...” (about ten, about one thousand) Collective numerals also have a plural form, since they are nouns. Still they have regular plural, differently from Italian. Indeed one says mileri/milari de persóne =thousands (=it. migliaia) or zsenteneri/zsentenari de màchine... =hundreds... (=it. centinaia)


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OTHER CONSTRUCTIONS: “aver da” , “dover” , “ghe xe/gh’è da” , “cogne” , “bexon’/bexogna ”

In Vèneto language there is a lot of verbal constructions, sometimes identical to their italian counterparts sometimes with a slightly different meaning, which cannot be easily translated but whose meaning is clear to people who know this language.

As German or English, for example, Vèneto language distinguishes different nuances of obligation. In Italian the verb «dovere» is always used while in Vèneto the periphrasis aver da + infinite is employed which corresponds to “must/have to”: go da partir (=I have to go =it. devo partire) , te ga/ghè da conprar el pan (= you must/have to buy some bread =it. devi comprare il pane) , i ga/à da vìnzsar(e) (=they have to win =they must win). It corresponds to Spanish tenir que , Catalan haver de or German müssen...

The impersonal form (used to indicate an obligation without saying whose duty is this) is: ghe xe/gh’è da + infinite: gh’è da tor el pan (=one/someone must buy some bread = lit. there is to buy some bread) , ghe xe da far un saco de robe (=many things must be done, there is a lot of things to do)... This corresponds to Spanish hay que or to Catalan cal + infinite.

Other verbs or impersonal forms employed are: cogne dir che (=one must say that =it need be said that) , cognéa senpre portar via tuto (=one had to take away everything...) or also bexon’ (<-bexogna) tornar caxa (=one has to/must go back home) , bexon’ far pulito (= behave politely is required= lit. one must behave politely). They often correspond to the English passive imperative.

To give advice, on the contrary, the verb dover (ted.sollen, ingl.should) is employed, especially in the conditional mood: te/ti dovarìsi parlarghe (=you should speak to him/her/them) , i dovarìa provar da nóvo (=they should try again), te dovarìa ciorla ti (=you should take it, by yourself...)

THE VÈNETiAN DIALECT OF ITALIAN spoken by the young and in cities

Differently from the varieties of the Venetan language, it has grammatical and synthactical rules borrowed from italian and it is Venetan only "externally".

It is especially spoken in medium or big cities and by the young, or by people who know quite well the Italian language. It is less easily heard by old people and in little towns, where Italian is less spoken. This relations suggests why this pseudo-Venetan does not share many structures with the varieties of the Venetan language: because it is born by the influence of an official language (Italian) on a language which on the contrary has no official support (Venetan/Vèneto). It is a dialect born in the mouth of people who do know Italian well and know Vèneto language less well. Where Italian is less-known (or less used), this Venetian or Venetan dialect of Italian is less employed and people tend to speak one of the varieties of the Venetan or venetian language.

In the following table, it will appear clear that the venetian dialect of Italian shows many structure of the italian language, differently from the varieties of the venetian language (Venetan dialects of the Venetan language) which, on the contrary, share another linguistic structure.


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varieties of the venet(i)an language venet(i)an dialect of the italian language

i è / i xe drio rivar te xeri / te eri drio vardar

("èser drio" + infinite)

i sta rivando te stavi vardando

(from ital. "stare...-ndo")

i ne ga dito, i vol parlarne, el n' à contà che...

(base of long Venetan pronoun + "e": mi-> me, voaltri/voaltre-> ve,

noaltri/noaltre-> ne...)

i ce ga dito, i vol parlarce, el ce ga contà che...

(short italian pronoun + "e": dirvi->dirve, dimmi-> dìme, parlarci-> parlarce ,

ci hanno detto -> i ce ga dito)

i s' à parlà , i se gà visto se ghémo divertìo , se (av)òn catà

(aver + invariable p.p. as engl., germ., sp.)

i se xe parlài , i se xe visti se sémo divertìi , se sémo catài

(from it. essersi + plural p.p. in "-ati/-iti...")

par mi xe istéso (from lat. neuter “ist(ud) ipsum”)

go vedesto/visto el stéso libro de prima

ò vedest(o) el stés(o) libro de prima

(from masc. art. “el” + pronome “stés[o]”)

par mi xe £o stéso

go visto £o stéso libro de prima

(from it. "lo stesso" unique form)

se sente un s·cioco, i fa un studio su...

(in veneto the article "uno" does not exist, only the number "uno" is found)

se sente 'no s·cioco, i fa 'no studio su...

(from ital. "uno davanti a s-impura")

mi savéa, el savéa mi sperava, mi vardava

mi savevo , el saveva mi speravo , mi vardavo

(ital. "sapevo, sapeva, speravo, guardavo...")

so' vegnù(o)/vegnest(o)

(from the Venetan infin. "vegner, -ir")

so' venùo

(from italian "venire/venuto")

l’è cascà

(from the Venetan infinite "cascar", 1ST class)

l’è cadùo

(from italian "cadere/caduto", 2ND class)

It appears clear, that the Venetan dialect of Italian borrows many structures from Italian only adjusting some vowel or dropping some consonants (even though those who speak this italian dialect do not realize it and are persuaded to speak Venetan/Veneto language). Moreover, a lot of italian words are used instead of the Venetan ones: àpreme la porta , chiùdeme la finestra , go visto cinque gati , xe le dó e mezzo... as if someone claimed to speak English, just saying «apr me the door , chiud the window» or claimed to speak Spanish just saying «he visto cinque gatos» !

Autór: Michele Brunelli

Manual Gramaticałe Xenerałe de ła Łéngua Vèneta e łe só varianti

MICHELE BRUNELLI (Bassano del Grappa, 1976): laureato in Lingue e Scienze del Linguaggio all’ Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia. Collaboratore del sito internazionale www.orbilat.com per la parte veneta e catalana, da anni cura anche www.sitoveneto.com un sito di lingua e cultura veneta, diventato www.sitoveneto.org. La prima pubblicazione “Parlè Vèneto” risale all’anno 1996; dopo molti anni di attività su internet è tornato a scrivere su carta con il libro a dialogo “Ciacolada su la Łéngua Vèneta” nel 2004.

Questo Manuàl Gramaticałe Xenerałe de ła Łéngua Vèneta e łe só varianti è la sua ultima produzione in ordine di tempo: non è solo una grammatica del Vèneto ma una grammatica in Vèneto scritta per i Vèneti pensando ad un eventuale uso come supporto per le scuole. Le descrizioni grammaticali generali della lingua veneta sono accompagnate da note sulle caratteristiche più peculiari delle diverse varianti con cui la gente parla questa lingua. Un capitolo finale è riservato anche ad un breve excursus sul veneto italianizzato che viene parlato fra i giovani e nelle città. L’ampio uso di tabelle accosta la “tecnicità” dell’argomento trattato alla rapidità di consultazione, permettendo ad ognuno di confrontare la propria varietà veneta con quelle circostanti e promuovendo così una vera conoscenza generale di tutta la nostra lingua.

MICHELE BRUNELLI (Basàn, 1976): el se ga łaureà in «Lingue e Scienze del Linguaggio» a l’Università Ca’ Fóscari de Venesia. Cołaborador del sito internazsionałe www.orbilat.com par ła parte vèneta e catałana, da ani el tien in pie anca www.sitoveneto.com un sito de łéngua e cultura vèneta, da póco trasformà in www.sitoveneto.org . Ła prima publicazsion “Parlè Vèneto” ła xe del 1996; dopo un saco de łavuri su internet l’è tornà scrìvar da nóvo su carta ’ntel 2004 col łibro a diàłogo “Ciacolada su la Łéngua Vèneta”.

El Manuàl Gramaticale Xenerale de la Łéngua Vèneta e le só varianti el xe ła só última fadiga: no l’è mìa soło na gramàtica de Vèneto ma anca na gramàtica in Vèneto scrita aposta par i Vèneti e, in caxo, par vegner doparà scóła come material didàtico de suporto. Rente łe descrizsion gramaticałi xenerałi de ła łéngua vèneta xe stà zxontà de łe note aposta sui detaji pi speciałi de łe diverse varianti che ła zxente ła parla ’sta łéngua qua. In ùltima l’è stà riservà anca na ociadina al Vèneto itałianixà che i parla fra toxati, putełi e ’nte łe zsità. El gran uxo de tabełe el parméte de ndar ben rento l’aspeto tècnico de ła question e pasarghe anca rente int’un cólpo d’ocio, dàndoghe a tuti ła posibiłità de confrontar ła só variante vèneta co łe altre che gh’è intorno e promovendo cusì na vera conosenzsa xenerałe de tuta ła nostra łéngua.

Dà fora par ła prima volta: 2005 (su internet) – Original first issued in 2005 (on the web)

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Łéngua Vèneta (Venetian Grammar)

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