Eastern Lombard grammar reflects the main features of Romance languages: the word order of Eastern Lombard is usually SVO, nouns are inflected in number, adjectives agree in number and gender with the nouns, verbs are conjugated in tenses, aspects and moods and agree with the subject in number and person. The case system is present only for the weak form of the pronoun.
Eastern Lombard has always been a spoken language and, in spite of sporadic attempts to fix the main features in a written grammar, a unique canonical variety has never prevailed over the others. The present day situation sees a large number of varieties, roughly identifiable by the area where a particular variety is spoken (so, you may encounter a Bergamasque, Brescian, a Camunic variety, etc.). Varieties differ mainly in phonology, syntax and word choice.
This grammar is based on the Brescian variety and, although local differences (even remarkable) can be found, the basic principles are generally valid for the other varieties.
Nouns Nouns in Eastern Lombard have two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine.
Singular Masculine Masculine singular nouns generally end with a consonant: • gat, cat • òm, man but can often end with a stressed vowel: this usually happens where a historical -n has been dropped. • cà, dog(cfr. west. Lombard can) • pà, bread(cfr. west. Lombard pan) • carbù, coal(cfr. west. Lombard carbón)
Feminine Feminine singular nouns generally end with -a: • gàta, female cat • fónna, woman but can occasionally end with a consonant: • néf, snow Note that, in some varieties, the final -a represents an /ɔ/ sound, that can make feminine words sound like they end in *-o.
Plural Masculine Masculine plural nouns follow particular rules depending on the ending of the singular form of the noun. If the singular ends with a stressed vowel, the word does not change in the plural: • el cà → i cà If the singular ends with -c, -j, -m, -p, -r or -s, the plural remains identical to the singular: • el sac → i sac • el ventàj → i ventàj • el póm → i póm • el cóp → i cóp • el pér → i pér • el ciós → i ciós If the singular ends with -t, the plural will end with -cc (pronounced [tʃ]):Hull, Geoffrey Stephen "The linguistic unity of northern Italy and Rhaetia" – University of Sydney – 1982 – page 434 • el gat → i gacc If the singular ends with -n, the plural will end with -gn (pronounced [ɲ]): • el àzen → i àzegn If the singular ends with -l, the plural will end with -j: • el caàl → i caàj
Feminine Feminine plural nouns generally end with -e:Hull, Geoffrey Stephen "The linguistic unity of northern Italy and Rhaetia" – University of Sydney – 1982 – page 440 • la gàta → le gàte • la fónna → le fónne When the singular ends with a consonant, the plural follows the rules applied to masculine nouns.
Article
All the articles in Eastern Lombard agree in number and gender with the corresponding noun. Articles can be definite (like the in English) and indefinite (like a/an). Indefinite articles are used only with singular nouns. However, to indicate an indefinite number of objects, Lombard exploits something similar to the partitive in French, but because the partitive system is much less developed in Lombard, this class of articles is included in the indefinite system.
Definite Article Definite Masculine FeminineSingular el, ol, al laPlural i le, i
Note: El is the form used for the singular definite article in the Brescian variety but in other dialects the forms ol (Bergamasque) or al (Cremasque) are preferred. The most widespread form for the feminine plural article in Eastern Lombard is le but in the area of Bergamo le is replaced by the form i that is the plural masculine form. Brescian: 'le fónne' Bergamasque 'i fómne' (eng. the women) Note that speakers that use one form may not find correct the other.
When el is followed by a vowel, it becomes l, like in: El ga majàt l'armì del póm ("He ate the seed of the apple").
When el is preceded by a vowel, it becomes l, like in: A la fì vé 'l bel ("The good part comes at the end").
Indefinite Article Bresciano: Masculine FeminineSingular en ¹ ² ena ¹ ³Plural dèi ⁴ dèle ⁴ Bergamasque: Masculine FeminineSingular ü önaPlural di di
References ¹ – In some varieties of Eastern Lombard, en can be realized as and written as ön or even written as ö. ² – The masculine article en becomes n when it follows a vowel, as in: • L'éra 'n gran rebelòt, "It was a big mess." ³ – The feminine article ena becomes 'na when it follows a vowel, and en' when it precedes one. ⁴ – From a historical point of view, dèi and dèle should not be considered the plural forms of en and na. However, practically, they behave as they are plural form of the indefinitive articles: • Gó ést en cà, "I saw a dog." • Gó ést dèi cà, "I saw some dogs."
Modifiers
Adjectives
In Eastern Lombard, adjectives with qualificative function usually go after the noun they modify, and agree with it in number (singular/plural) and gender (masculine/feminine). Plural of adjectives is formed observing the same rules of nouns. So we have: 'n òm pesèn / du òm pesègn (a short man / two short men) 'na fómna pesèna / dò fómne pesène (a short woman / two short women)
Although, in general, if compared with the Italian tongue, Eastern Lombard is less permissive under this aspect, some common adjectives like bèl (beautiful), bröt (ugly), gran (big), bù (good, good-natured), brào (good, clever) can also be placed before the noun. In this case the meaning can take on a different nuance, e.g.:en bröt òm (a bad-natured man)en òm bröt (an ugly man)
Superlative
Eastern Lombard expresses an extreme degree or absolute state of something by means of the absolute superlative, that corresponds to the English form very + adjective. Differently from Italian, Spanish and other Romance languages, Eastern Lombard lacks a counterpart of the form adjective+issimo and also lacks a cognate for the Italian molto. In the Brescian variety, the most widespread form is adjective + fés,Melchiori, G.B. "Vocabolario bresciano-italiano" Brescia, Tip. Franzoni – 1817 – pag. 254 e.g.:l'è bèl fés (it is very beautiful) 'na maöla dólsa fés (a very sweet strawberry)
Although, the adverb fés cannot be used if the adjective is placed before the noun. In that case the superlative form is obtained by the adverb gran placed before the adjective, e.g.:du gran bèj caàj (two very beautiful horses)l'è 'n gran brào barbér (he is a very good barber)
Another way to express a high degree of something is to reinforce it by means of a second adjective+ét/èntJaberg, Karl "Innovations élatives dans l'Italie du Nord: nuovo novente – nuovo noviccio" in Vox Romanica, 11 – 1950 – page 73-74 (formerly a present participle), for example:só ché mis gosét (I am very wet; literally: dripping wet)la padèla l'è calda sbrojéta (the pan is very hot; literally: burning hot)
the second element is very frequently a repetition of the first adjective, i.e.:
na máchina nöa nöènta (a very new car) ghè za ciar ciarènt (it is already very clear)del dutùr ghéra zó pjé pjenènt (it was very full of people down there to the doctor room)
Demonstrative adjectives
Eastern Lombard makes a two-way distinction of demonstrative: the proximal form for the singular masculine is chèsto, while the distal form is chèl. This is the declension for the two forms:
Proximal Distal Singular Plural Singular Plural Masculine chèsto chèsti 1 chèl chèi Feminine chèsta chèste chèla chèle
An alternative form is chès·cc, pronounced , but the schwa is very reduced and hardly pronounced.
Both the proximal and the distal form are frequently emphasized with chè and là after the noun. So for example:chèsto pà or chèsto pà chè or chèl pà chè(this bread);chèl pà or chèl pà là (that bread).
Pronouns
Pronouns are classified in personal pronouns (referring to entities), demonstrative pronouns (deictic function), interrogative pronouns (to formulate questions) and relative pronouns (linking sentence together).
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns decline in number (singular and plural) and person (first, second and third). For the third person, gender (masculine and feminine) represents a further distinction.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:85%; text-align:center;" ! Number !! Person (Gender) !! Tonic form !! Proclitic subject !!colspan=3 | Object Proclitic/Enclitic !! colspan=2 | Dative Proclitic/Enclitic !! Possessive |- |Singular || 1. || mé || – ||colspan=2 | ma || -m || ma || -m || me|- |Singular || 2. || té || ta ||colspan=2 | ta || -t || ta || -t || tò|- |Singular || 3. (M.) || lü3 || el || l || el/la4 || -l || ga || -ga || sò|- |Singular || 3. (F.) || lé ||la || l || la || -la || ga || -ga || sò|- |Plural || 1. || nóter || (en, ma)2 ||colspan=2 | ga or ma || -ga or -m || ga or ma || -ga or -m || nòst1 |- |Plural || 2. || vóter || – ||colspan=2 | va || -f || va || -f || vòst 1 |- |Plural || 3. (M.) || lur || i || i || i/ia || -i || ga || -ga || sò|- |Plural || 3. (F.) || lùre || le || i || le/ia || -le || ga || -ga || sò|}Notes: 1. Unlike the other possessive pronouns, nòst and vòst decline as adjective in number and gender:
nòst vòst Singular Plural Singular Plural Masculine nòst nòscc vòst vòscc Feminine nòsta nòste vòsta vòste
2. Not used in urban Brescian but quite common in other varieties: en va a Bèrghem (we go to Bergamo) dài che mal ciàpa (hurry up, we can catch it) 3. The tonic form of the 3rd persons (either singular or plural) have two additional forms to add a proximal or distal value to the pronoun, when this refers to an animate subject: lüche 'l màja compàgn de 'n luf (This man eats like a wolf) i è stàde lùrela (It was those (girls/women) ) The following table shows the eight possible forms:
proximal distal Singular Masculine lüche lüla Plural Masculine lùrche lùrla Singular Feminine léche léla Plural Feminine lùreche lùrela
4. The situation for the object proclitic pronoun for the third persons (both singular and plural) is further complicated by the fact that there is a different behavior whether the following verb is a simple or a compound form. For example: mé le càte sö (I pick them up) mé ió catàde sö (I have picked them up) lur i la càta sö (they pick it up) lur i l'à catàt sö (they have picked it up)Examples of use of the pronouns: Tonic form can be used as subject at the beginning of the sentence or as indirect object after a preposition. mé nó a Milà (I go to Milan) ègne con té (I come with you)
A peculiar feature of Eastern Lombard is the proclitic form for the subject. This form precedes the main verb and is obligatory for the second singular person and the third person (singular and plural).
Té ta sét dré a majà 'l ris (you are eating rice)
The proclitic form for the direct object precedes the verb, as in:
mé ta ède (I see you) mé.tonic.subject ta.clitic.object ède.1st.sing
The dative proclitic form precedes the verb, as in:
chèsta tùrta, la ma pjas pròpe (this cake, I really like it). Literally: chèsta.fem.sing tùrta, la.subject.clitic ma.dative.clitic pjas.present.3rd.sing pròpe
The object enclitic is used mainly for pronominal forms of infinitive and imperative:
i völ copàm (they want to kill me.) scrìel zó! (write it down!)
When both an enclitic dative and an enclitic object are present, the enclitic dative comes before and an -e- is introduced between the two enclitic pronouns:
el pöl dàfel adès (he can give it to you now) scrìemej zó! (write them down [to me, for me]!)
Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are identical in form with the demonstrative adjectives (see corresponding table). Of course, they occur without a noun and they agree in number and gender with the referent.