Lesson01

Articles English has the words "the", "a" and "an". These words are called "articles" and are used to refer to concepts which are specific (the, which is definite) or general (a and an, which are indefinite).
 * A man. The man. A group of men. The men.

Some languages will have one but not the other. Some languages have neither. Northumbrian has both, and the rules are slightly simpler than in English.

The
The Northumbrian word for "the" is also the (pronounced more like "theh" instead of how we pronounce it "thuh") and it almost exactly like in English. The only difference is that it is also used before the names of seasons, days of the week, many nouns, diseases, trades, occupations, sciences and academic subjects. It is also often used in place of the indefinite article and instead of a possessive pronoun: the hairst (autumn), the Wadensday (Wednesday), awa tae the kirk (off to church), the nou (at the moment), the day (today), the haingles (influenza), the Laitin (Latin), The deuk ett the bit breid (The duck ate a piece of bread), the wife (my wife) etc.
 * Northumbrian : The hoond. The tree. The waal.
 * English: The dog. The tree. The wall.

A
The Northumbrian word for "a" and "an" is simply "a".
 * Northumbrian: The hoos. A ackrun. The loanin an a tree.
 * English: The house. An acorn. The lane and a tree.

Pronouns
Words like "he" and "she" are pronouns. The Scottish system has a few differences over English, as you will see below:
 * Aw, Aa1 I
 * me, uz2 me
 * ma, mee3 my
 * thoo, ye4 singular "you"
 * he he
 * hees his
 * she she
 * hor her
 * him him
 * hit, it5 it
 * wu6 we
 * huz, wu7 us
 * thae they
 * thame them
 * thor their
 * yees8 plural "you"
 * yer9 your

The most recognizable difference is the distinction between singular and plural "you". English used to have the same distinction; it used "thou" for singular "you" and "ye" for plural "you". However, "thou" fell into disuse, and "ye" took its place and became modern "you". "Yees" would be used in a sentence such as, "a lou10 yees", which translates to, "I love you all". "Ye" would be used in all other cases, like "Whee'r ye?", meaning "Who are you?" Northumbrian: English:
 * Hoo ir ye?
 * Hoo ir yees?
 * How are you? (Friendly)
 * How are you? (More than one person) or How are you all? or How are all of you?

Prepositions
Prepositions, like the name suggests, describe positions and the relationships between things. Some language courses choose to describe these in more advanced lessons, but it's difficult to form sentences without them. Here we will introduce a few basic prepositions, but we will discuss them in greater depth in a future lesson. The number of sentences which you can now build with a minimal vocabulary has increased dramatically.
 * amaang among
 * i, iv in
 * on1 on (as in I put my books on my desk)
 * unner under (very similar to the English word)
 * ahint2 behind
 * atween between
 * wi with
 * neest te3 next to
 * forby besides
 * Northumbrian: Wu'r i the hoos.
 * English: We are in the house.


 * 1: Also "ontae".
 * 2: Also "aback" or "hinder".

Vocabulary list
This is a vocabulary list. Some of these words have appeared previously in this lesson and some are new.


 * apple apple
 * tree tree
 * duwr door
 * eat eat, to eat
 * hair hair, a small portion
 * durg, joogle, hoond1 dog
 * cote2 cat
 * meat3 food
 * lassie4 girl
 * knaa, ken know
 * moos mouse
 * hoos house
 * kirk church
 * waal wall
 * fwoak people
 * reed red
 * tung language
 * laddie5 boy
 * son son
 * bairn child
 * teuth tooth
 * oppen open
 * sit sit, to sit
 * sleep sleep, to sleep
 * the toon town
 * chyre chair
 * bleck black
 * tyeble6 table
 * hackit7 ugly
 * loanin8 field, paddock, lane
 * bide to reside, live at, lodge, stay
 * staan stand
 * ben inside, in

Practice
Translate these sentences into English. Translate these sentences into Northumbrian.
 * Ye'r John.
 * The hoos is reed.
 * She bides i the toon.
 * The lassie wi bleck hair.
 * The durg sleeps unner a tree.
 * Whan duwrs staan oppen, joogles cum ben
 * Aa sit on the chyre neest te the tyeble.
 * Yees ir ahint the duwr i the waal.
 * I am Jack.
 * It is under the table.
 * The door is in the red wall.
 * The mouse lives under the house.
 * A dog is sleeping behind the chair.
 * The tree is in the field.
 * The boy with food.
 * You eat an apple.

Answers
Answers to the above exercises.
 * You are John.
 * The house is red.
 * She lives in the city.
 * The girl with black hair.
 * The dog sleeps/is sleeping under a tree.
 * The cat eats/is eating the food.
 * I sit/am sitting on the chair next to the table.
 * You are behind the door in the wall.
 * Aa's Jack.
 * Hit is unner the tyeble.
 * The duwr is i the reed waal.
 * The moos bides unner the hoos.
 * A durg sleeps ahint the chyre.
 * The tree is i the loanin.
 * The laddie wi the meat.
 * Ye eat a apple.

End of lesson one
That concludes the very first Northumbrian lesson, and by now you should already be able to form simple sentences. Use the vocabulary you have learned to form your own sentences!

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On to Lesson Two!&gt;&gt;