— They’re staying here? They don’t want to come with us?
— No.
— Ok, we’ll go without them, then.
— I mean ‘no it’s not true, they want to come with you’

Sounds familiar? Ever been in a situation where you don’t know whether to reply yes or no because either reply will be unclear?

**********

Yes and no

In linal, there’s no such thing as yes or no like used in English and other languages.
Instead there are words that mean "what you just said is correct" or "incorrect".

— You didn’t want me to tell them?
— Incorrect.
— Oh cool, I thought I’d made a blunder.

**********

Negative form

"This is not green" is understood as "it is not true to say that this is green".
It is understood as [the absence of "this is green"], not as "this is the opposite of green" (what would that be?).

However, with "you must not do this", not works the other way around.
This time, the sentence is understood as [the opposite of "you must do this"], not as [the absence of "you must do this"] (aka "it is not true to say that you must do this").

Strange, isn’t it? Some "not"s mean [the absence of], other "not"s mean [the opposite of].

This is why linal has two negations: na (absence of) and ha (opposite of).
Mathematically speaking, na means ×0 and ha means ×−1.

These may also be affixed to adjectives, verbs, etc.

Example: beli (beautiful) / nabeli (something else than beautiful) / habeli (ugly)

Note that the existence of a thus constructed antonym doesn’t preclude the existence of another antonym in its own right (for example "ugli").

Examples

Na I like this = it’s not true to say that I like this (nor that I dislike it).

Ha I like this / I halike this = I dislike this.

This is navery good = I wouldn’t say very good. Quite good or some good I can agree with.

Na this is very good = It is not true that this is very good (the truth here may vary from very bad to quite good).

This is very hagood = this is very bad.

This is havery good = this is little good (the closest to what is understood with "this is not very good" in English).

Na I want you to do this = it’s not true to say that I want you to do this.

I hawant you to do this or
I want you to na do this = I refuse that you do this.

I haallow you do to this = I forbid that you do this.

They hahelped us = they made it harder for us / hindered/impeded us.

Hayou would love classical music = a person that would be the exact opposite of you would love classical music.

Singular

me – me, I
te – you (single animate)
le – he or she (animate)
lje – she (animate)
lwe – he (animate)
ge – it (inanimate)
ze – one (empathetic – as opposed to "someone else")
se – reflexive (used with any person, 1st/2nd/3rd)

Plural

mes – we
teme – you (singular) and I
te(s)me(s) – you (sing or plur) and I (or us)
tes – you (several beings)
les, ljes, lwes, ges, zes, ses – plural forms of the above 3rd persons

Lje(s) and lwe(s) are only used when specifying the person’s gender is relevant. In other cases, the neutral form is recommended.
Teme and te(s)me(s) are just used when you need to be specific. You can still use mes to keep it simple.

Examples
Mark, I’m with a client on the phone. Le would like to know… (the client’s gender is irrelevant and therefore needs/must not be specified)
Look at this dog. Le looks so cute.

The table is black. Ge looks great.

In order to obtain food, ze must pay for it.
When ze wants to enter the building, ze needs to push the door with ze’s hand.

Me likes se’s / me’s new haircut.
Danny’s father liked se’s new haircut (his own haircut).
Danny’s father liked lwe’s new haircut (Danny’s haircut).

Teme will go buy wood while tes (pointing at the group) will have a nap.

Next steps

This might evolve with more accurate 3rd persons, like lojban does. Le can be unclear when a lot of different people have been referred to previously.

The past is identified by "fa".

The present is identified by "fi".

The future is identified by "fo".

The conditional is identified by "fu", plus fa/fi/fo where needed.

These tense markers may be placed at any sensible place in the sentence, depending on what you want to express.

Example:(And that day,) my friend fa goes shopping ≠ fa my friend goes shopping
the second sentence could mean they’re not your friend anymore.

They can also be used to indicate what something will be or used to be like.

Example

I fi visit the house i fa white.
Here, we understand the house used to be white.

<Fa you> loves this film = the former you loves this film.

Only nouns and personal pronouns vary in gender and number. Verbs and adjectives are invariable, just like all other families of words.

In order to know if an adjective or complement relates to one or more nouns, linal uses the following symbols, eci and ice, that resolve all ambiguity in many cases:

< >

Read more...

The most important/“biggest” concept is placed first.

Determiners

Determiners come after the noun or noun group they accompany.

Dog the is in house the.

I have o forks twelve.

Pronouncing numbers (full version)*

7584
1000-seven and 100-five and 10-eight and four

250 504
1000 (100-two and 10-five) and 100-five and four

21 janvier 1905
1905 January 21

* the simple version is just an enumeration of the digits in the whole number, from left to right (i.e. in the first example: seven five eight four).

The middle ground would be “1000-seven five eight four”, so your audience knows the order of magnitude from the very start.

Sentence structure

Unless the speaker wants to emphasize one thing or another, linal structure is subject-verb-complement and adjectives come after nouns.

A black dog is looking at the blue house.
Dog i black a looks o house i blue the.

It is the blue house that a black dog is looking at.
(Mut) o <house i blue the> <dog i black a> looks. (emphasis on the object)
Dog i black a looks o house the mut i blue. (emphasis on the target’s colour)