Rules of Tavo (regulas de Tavo)

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Each letter is shown with American English word(s) that demonstrate how that letter is pronounced in Tavo:

a	mAmA
b	BiB
c	ComiC
d	DaD
e	bEd
f	FluFF
g	Good wiG

i	machIne
j	pleaSure, JuDGe
l	LuLL
m	MoM
n	NooN
o	Oh nO
p	PoP

r	RoaR
s	StreSS
t	TooT
u	flUte
v	ValVe
x	SHuSH, CHurCH
z	Zoo ooZ

Word Order

Rule	Tavo example	English equivalent
Subject -- Verb -- Object	la fem gustar la casa	the woman likes the house
Particle(s) -- Noun -- Adjective(s)	alga om bela	any handsome man
Verb(s) -- Adverb(s)	voler pasear rapida	want to walk quickly

Grammar

Topic	Rule	Tavo example	English equivalent
Plurals	-s or -es for nouns	persones e casas	people and houses
	no change for articles or adjectives	la persones vea	the old people
Verbs	-r or -ar forms a verb	belar	be beautiful
	pa for past tense	pa comer	ate
	fu for future tense	fu rapidar	will hurry
	la atar forms an action from a noun	la atar ama	(the act of) loving

Very Basic Words

Tavo	English
me	I, me, my
tu	you, your (singular)
le	he, she, it, him, her, his, its
nos	we, us, our
vos	you, your (plural)
los	they, them, their
om	man
fem	woman

alo	hello
ce stater tu?	how are you?
bon	good
mal	bad
media	so-so
per favori	please
grasia	thanks
adio	goodbye

un	a, an
la	the, that
esta	this
tota	all
cada	each, every
multe	many
alga	some
poca	few
zero	none

Tavo	English
zero	zero
un	one
du	two
tre	three
cuatro	four
sinco	five
ses	six
sete	seven
oto	eight
nove	nine
des	ten
sento	hundred
mil	thousand

e	and
o	or
ma	however, but
caso ce	if
vera	yes
no	no

ce	what, that, which
ce person	who, whom
ce ora	when
cuanto	how much
ce loca	where
ce metodo	how
per ce	why

Tavo	English
aver	have, posess
donar	give
vider	see
parlar	talk, speak, say
var	to go
voler	want to
poter	can, be able to
deber	should

a	toward, at
ante	before, in front of
con	with
con zero	without
contra	opposite, against, in spite of
da	from, out of, since
de	of, concerning
en	in, into
entra	between, among, during
justa	beside, up to, until
no con	except for, but
par	by someone
per	for, in order to, on behalf of
pos	behind, after
sirca	around, approximately
supra	above, over, on
su	below, under
tra	across, through, past, beyond
plu (ce)	more (than)
min (ce)	less (than)

Tavo and Lingua Franca Nova

Tavo is a dialect of Lingua Franca Nova (also known as Europijon). It has all the same rules and vocabulary, except:

Capital letters are not used to start sentences. They are only used to mark words that are being used to mean something other than their normal dictionary definition. Foreign and made-up words are also marked by capitalizing the first letter:
- 'me amar Sarianna' == 'I love Sarianna'
- 'la Casa Come locar a esta vila' == 'The Casa Come [a restaurant] is in this town'

Pronouns are simplified. The only pronouns are:
- 'me' == 'I', 'me', 'my'
- 'tu' == 'you', 'your' (singular)
- 'le' == 'he', 'she', 'it', 'him', 'her', 'his', 'its'
- 'nos' == 'we', 'us', 'ours'
- 'vos' == 'you', 'your' (plural)
- 'los' == 'they', 'them', 'their'

Verbs always use end with 'r'. Actually, always with 'ar', 'er', or 'ir'. The word 'pa' before a verb indicates past actions, and 'fu' before a verb indicates future actions. 'la ata' before a noun refers to the act of doing the noun.
- 'me comer' == 'I eat', 'I am eating', 'I do eat'
- 'me pa comer' == 'I ate'
- 'me fu comer' == 'I will eat'
- 'me gustar la ata come' == 'I like to eat', 'I like eating'

Adjectives always follow nouns, including 'bon' and 'mal'. LFN allows a few words such as these to appear before the word they modify.

The verb 'eser' (to be) is rarely used. Most of the cases that would use it instead take 'aver'. Most other cases simply convert the property into a verb. Sometimes, 'eser' is necessary. This change was inspired by E-Prime. Note that there must always be an article or quantifier between the verb and the object.
- 'me aver du metre de alta' == 'I am two meters tall'
- 'me aver la nome Kevin' == 'My name is Kevin'
- 'le parer azul' == 'It is blue', 'It looks blue'
- 'me om' == 'I am a man'
- 'tu belar' == 'You are beautiful'
- 'me parenter la Xelsi' == 'I am Chelsea's parent'
- 'la ata ama eser bon' == 'Loving is good', 'To love is good'

Many LFN words are not used in Tavo:
- Names of specific plant and animal species
- Redundant synonyms
- Obscure or rarely-used words
- Active and passive participle forms ('-da' and '-nte')
- Seasons, sports, and other words tied to specific locales or cultures

A few 'missing' words have been added, such as:
- 'edifisi' == 'building', 'edifice'
- 'efica' == 'efficient', 'effective'
- 'sabora' == 'flavor', 'taste'
- 'sibi' == 'sibling'
- 'tecno' == 'technical', 'techology'

A few words have been modified slightly:
- 'fem' (instead of 'fema')

Modified 2002-12-15