How Sundanese packages meaning

The verb "maca" (active form of baca) is identical across all persons and numbers. The pronoun alone identifies who acts.

Pronoun choice changes across speech registers. First person: kuring (loma, informal) vs. abdi (lemes, humble about self). Second person: manéh (loma) vs. anjeun (lemes). Third person: manéhna (loma) vs. anjeunna (lemes).

Sundanese has an inclusive/exclusive "we" distinction: urang (inclusive, you and I together) vs. kami (exclusive, we but not you). Both have lemes equivalents.

Pronouns are frequently dropped when clear from context: "Rék ka mana?" (Going where?) is a complete question.

Sundanese has no case markers on nouns — position alone determines the grammatical role. The object follows the verb in active voice.

The suffix -keun promotes a beneficiary, theme, goal, or result to direct object position. It also creates causatives: "diageungkeun" (to enlarge / make big) from "gedé" (big).

The circumfix pang-...-keun creates an explicitly benefactive construction: "pangmeulikeun" (buy for someone). This emphasizes that the action is done on behalf of another person.

Sundanese has no indirect object construction like English "give someone something." Applicative morphology rearranges which argument is the direct object.

The verb "dahar" (eat, loma) / "tuang" (eat, lemes) is identical whether the action is past, present, or future. Nothing on the verb signals time.

Common time words: kamari (yesterday), ayeuna (now), isukan (tomorrow), tadi (earlier today), engké (later), baréto (long ago). Each has loma and lemes variants.

The future marker has register variants: rék (loma, informal) vs. badé (lemes, polite). Both appear before the verb.

Context alone is often sufficient — "Kuring dahar" can mean "I eat," "I ate," or "I am eating" depending on the conversation.

Aspect markers are placed directly before the verb as separate words. They never fuse with the verb — always cleanly separable.

Register variants of aspect particles: geus → tos/parantos (completed), keur → nuju (progressive), can → acan/teu acan (not yet), kénéh → kénéh (still — unchanged across registers).

"Geus" (already) is the opposite of "can" (not yet): "Geus dahar?" (Already eaten?) → "Can" (Not yet). This is an extremely common conversational exchange.

Markers can combine: "can kénéh" (still not yet), "geus keur" (was already in the process of).

Sundanese has no subjunctive mood — there is no verb-form change for desire, doubt, or hypotheticals.

Key modal verbs: bisa (can — ability), kudu (must — obligation), meunang (may — permission), hayang (want to — desire).

The imperative is formed by dropping the N- nasal prefix: "maca" (to read) → "Baca!" (Read!). This parallels the Indonesian imperative pattern exactly.

The optative particle "sing" expresses wishes: "Sing salamet!" (May you be safe!). The prohibitive "ulah" forbids: "Ulah indit!" (Don't go!).

Conditional constructions use "lamun" (if): "Lamun hujan, kuring moal indit" (If it rains, I won't go). The irrealis marker "moal" signals non-realization.

Sundanese has a four-way negation split: "teu/henteu" for verbs and adjectives, "lain/sanés" for nouns and identity, "can/acan" for "not yet" (implying future completion), and "ulah" for prohibitive commands.

Speech levels change the negation words: teu → henteu (lemes), lain → sanés (lemes). "Ulah" stays the same across registers.

"Can" is the negative counterpart of "geus" (already): "Geus dahar?" (Already eaten?) → "Can" (Not yet). This parallels Javanese durung/wis and Indonesian belum/sudah.

The irrealis negator "moal" means "won't / will not": "Moal datang" (Won't come). This specifically negates future or potential actions, unlike "teu" which negates present/general.

The active voice N- prefix undergoes nasal assimilation depending on the root's first consonant. Voiceless stops are replaced by their homorganic nasal: N- + baca → maca (b→m), N- + tulis → nulis (t→n), N- + kirim → ngirim (k→ng), N- + surat → nyurat (s→ny). This nasal substitution is the most distinctive phonological process in Sundanese.

The di- passive is used when the agent is 3rd person or a full noun phrase. The agent is demoted with "ku" (by): "Buku dibaca ku guru" (The book was read by the teacher).

The ti- prefix signals involuntary or accidental action — something happened without the subject's control: "tigebrus" (fell accidentally), "tibuka" (got opened by accident). This parallels Indonesian "ter-."

The ka- prefix creates resultative states, often appearing in the ka-...-an circumfix: "kaédanan" (drenched/soaked, resulting state) from "édaan" (rain). It can also signal ability: "kabaca" (readable).

In colloquial speech, the N- prefix is frequently dropped: "Kuring baca buku" instead of "Kuring maca buku." This makes active and imperative forms identical in casual register.

Sundanese has no grammatical evidentiality system — speakers are never required to mark how they know something.

Optional expressions for source of information: cenah (they say / reportedly — literally "said"), sigana (it seems / probably), kawasna (it appears), sugan (perhaps / maybe).

The particle "kitu" can function as a tag seeking confirmation: "Gering kitu?" (Sick, isn't it?). This is loosely related to evidentiality but is not grammaticalized.

Sundanese has no definite or indefinite articles. The bare noun "buku" can mean a book, the book, or books depending on context.

The suffix -na serves double duty: 3rd-person possessive ("bukuna" = his/her/their book) and quasi-definite marker ("bukuna" = the book). Context disambiguates.

Two degrees of demonstrative distance: ieu (this — near speaker) and éta (that — far from speaker). These follow the noun: "buku ieu" (this book), "buku éta" (that book).

Indefinite reference can be explicitly marked with "hiji" (one/a): "hiji buku" (a book, a certain book).

The relativizer "nu/anu" introduces relative clauses and can function as a topic marker: "Nu maca buku éta kuring" (The one who read that book is me).

The plural infix -ar- (or -al- through dissimilation when the root already contains r) can appear on verbs and adjectives to indicate a plural subject: "barudak" (children, from budak "child"), "baralik" (they return, from balik "return"). This infix is optional — it provides information about plurality but is not required.

Numeral classifiers are used with the prefix sa- (one): "saurang" (one person), "sahiji" (one thing), "saleunjeur" (one bamboo stalk). Classifiers are less systematic than in Mandarin or Japanese, but common ones exist: urang (people), siki (small objects), leunjeur (long thin things).

Reduplication can express plurality or variety for nouns: "buku-buku" (books, various books). When a numeral is present, reduplication is not used.

Numerals 1–10: hiji, dua, tilu, opat, lima, genep, tujuh, dalapan, salapan, sapuluh.

Possession by juxtaposition — the possessor follows the noun with no linking word: "imah kuring" (my house), "imah Pa Guru" (the teacher's house). No genitive marker is needed.

The enclitic -na is the only possessive suffix, used for 3rd person: "bukuna" (his/her/their book). First and second person use full pronouns after the noun.

The suffix -na is multifunctional: possessive (bukuna = his/her/their book), definite marker (bukuna = the book), and nominalizer. Its meaning depends on context — this parallels Indonesian -nya and Javanese -(n)é exactly.

In lemes register, the possessive pronoun changes but the structure stays the same: "imah abdi" (my house, polite) vs. "imah kuring" (my house, informal).

The three-way di/ka/ti system is clean and symmetrical: di = where something IS, ka = where something is GOING, ti = where something CAME FROM. Note: Sundanese uses "ka" (not Indonesian "ke") and "ti" (not Indonesian "dari").

Compound spatial expressions use preposition + relational noun: di luhur (on top of), di handap (under), di hareupeun (in front of), di tukangeun (behind), di jeroeun (inside), di luareun (outside).

Where-questions split the same way: di mana (where is it?), ka mana (where to?), ti mana (where from?). "Ka mana?" (Where are you going?) is a common casual greeting.

Sundanese has no copula for locative sentences: "Buku éta di méja" (The book is on the table) — no equivalent of "is."

Sundanese has explicit discourse particles that other Austronesian languages lack. "Téh" marks a known/established topic: "Buku éta téh alus" (That book [topic] is good). "Mah" marks contrastive topic: "Kuring mah teu daék" (As for ME, I don't want to — implying others do).

Voice alternation is the other primary tool: switching from active "Kuring maca buku éta" (I read that book) to passive "Buku éta dibaca ku kuring" (That book was read by me) topicalizes the book.

The relativizer "nu/anu" introduces focused elements: "Nu maca buku éta téh kuring" (The one who read that book is me) — a cleft construction that focuses the agent.

The "téh" and "mah" particles are unique to Sundanese among major Indonesian-area languages. They fill a role similar to Japanese は (wa) for topic and も (mo) for contrast, but with different distribution.

The register system replaces hundreds of common words. It is NOT just different pronouns — verbs, nouns, adjectives, prepositions, and even time words change: dahar→neda→tuang (eat: loma → humble → respectful), imah→rorompok→bumi (house: loma → humble → respectful), indit→mios→angkat (go: loma → humble → respectful).

The three-way split within lemes is crucial: "neda" (I eat, humble about myself) vs. "tuang" (you/he/she eats, respectful about others). Using "tuang" about yourself would be arrogant; using "neda" about an elder would be disrespectful.

Historically, Sundanese had 6 speech levels (undak usuk basa). Since 1988, these have been standardized to 2 main levels (loma and lemes) for simplicity, though the humble/respectful split within lemes preserves a three-way functional distinction.

The choice of register depends on: age (speak lemes to elders), social status, familiarity (loma among close friends and peers), and context (lemes in formal situations). Getting this wrong is a significant social error.

Many younger Sundanese speakers are more comfortable in loma and use a simplified lemes. Full mastery of the humble/respectful distinction is declining, similar to the attrition of Javanese krama inggil.