# Prefixes
Hannestiks's got many prefixal (in one case, infixal) inflections which could make it difficult to look up words in the lexicon.
So let's handle that right away.

## Nouns
First come the role prefixes:
* _h(i)_-: focus, here used for the **theme** in a copular construction
* _v_-: genitive, almost always **infixed** after a consonant, except after /b/ which is substituted.
The genitive is furthermore prefixed with a gender agreement vowel (more info below)
* _pe_-: allative, goal/direction of a movement
Then we have gender:
* monosyllabic noun stems have an overt gender vowel (_e_-, _a_-, _i_-)
* E gender nouns mark plural with an _o_- prefix

## Qualifiers & determiners
Qualifiers and determiners (including numerals) agree in gender and number with the head noun, thanks to vocalic prefixes (_e_-, _a_-, _i_- and _o_- for plural E gender).
Genitives (with the infix -_v_-, see above) are considered qualifiers, as they must agree with the possessor.
Participles have the same set of vowels, but long (_ē_-, _ā_-, _ī_-, _ō_-).

## Pronouns
Non-personal pronouns have the same set of prefixes as nouns.

## Verbs
First come the proclitics for 1st and 2nd persons arguments (recognisable as single consonants followed by an apostrophe).

Then we can have a dative applicative _hek_-, raising a prepositional phrase with _māi_ "to" to objecthood.

3rd person arguments are obligatorily marked immediately before the verb stem, with a gender agreement vowel (_e_-, _a_-, _i_- and _o_- for plural E gender) agreeing only with the first noun in the gender hierarchy (E/O > A > I), regardless of their semantic role (agent or patient).

Intransitive verbs with a 1st or 2nd person argument also have that vowel, agreeing with the gender of the speaker or addressee.

# Nouns
There are three genders, named for the form of the agreement vowel: E for humans and dangerous animals, A for edible/drinkable plants, animals, and animal parts, I for everything else.
They control agreement with verbs and qualifiers (see above).
Only E gender nouns can pluralise.

# Verbs
There are two orders (in this text): independent, for main clauses, and conjunct, for clauses introduced by an independent verb (no subordinator needed).

## Independent order
Independent verbs conjugate for person with the prefixes seen above.

They conjugate for aspect too, with an unmarked imperfective (durative and ongoing processes) and a suffixed perfective (punctual actions) whose endings are signalled in the lexicon.

The negation suffix is is -_ev_; then a flexion vowel -_a_ (which simply lengthens the last vowel in vocalic stems), and finally we can have a suffix -_n_ for "direct knowledge" evidentiality, without it the information is considered simple hearsay.

## Conjunct order
Except for the applicative _hek_-, conjunct verbs conjugate with suffixes only.

The suffix -_a_ signals that the subject of the conjunct verb is the same as that of the main clause; -_i_ that the subject is different.

After that come the endings for the object, which are for 3rd persons -_ge_, -_ga_, -_gi_, -_go_, depending on gender and number.


## Participles
The participles are built thus: prefixal long vowel for gender agreement, stem, and voice suffix (-_is_ for active participle and -_a_ for passive participle).

# Syntax
Sentence order is VSO, phrase order determined-determiner, it's pretty much head-initial all the way.

Note again that the 3rd person prefixes show the highest participant in the gender hierarchy (E/O > A > I), regardless of grammatical role; when conjunct clauses are arguments, it's the gender of their subject noun that counts for the purpose of hierarchy.

The dative applicative _hek_- promotes a _māi_ prepositional phrase to object; with transitive verbs, the former direct object can be reintroduced in a _dē_ prepositional phrase.

Copular constructions are headed by a noun in the focus form _h(i)_-, followed by the predicate (a noun, adjective or prepositional phrase).

Relative clauses are introduced by relative pronouns and are followed by an independent verb or a predicate (in copular constructions)