Guide

Current version: 2.6 (9/12/18)

The Vowel Shift

The main rule in Viesa is that the vowels are shifted one step back. This means:

"a" becomes "u".
"e" becomes "a".
"i" becomes "e".
"o" becomes "i".
"u" becomes "o".

The vowels are pronounced as in Spanish or the IPA. The rest is pronounced the same as in the original English word, apart from "r", which is tapped. Examples:

height -> haeght (the silent "gh" remains silent)
motion -> mitein (the "t" is still pronounced as a "sh")

Other Rules

"ce" and "co" become "sa" and "ki" respectively, instead of "ca" and "ci". (come -> kima, not "cima")

"ay", "ey", "oy", and "uy" become "ug", "ag", "ig", and "og" respectively, instead of "uy", "ay", "iy", and "oy". (boy -> big, not "biy")

"w" becomes "v". (water -> vutar, not "wutar")

Verbs

All verbs become their infinitive form without "to". (I am a boy. = ma ba u big. (literally: I be a boy.))

"Be able to" simply becomes "can". (I am able to sleep. = Ma cun slaap.)

Continuous verbs are made by placing "ba" before the verb. (ma ba aut. = I am eating.) Perfect verbs are made by placing "huva" before the verb. (ma huva aut. = I have eaten.)

Questions

Yes/no questions are formed by placing "di" at the beginning of a sentence. (di ya ba aut? = Are you eating?).

Other questions are formed as if they were "indirect questions". (vhut ya ba aut? = What are you eating? (literally: What you are eating?))

The "Weird Sounds"

Viesa has a few "weird sounds" that are written with capital letters. Note that capitalization is not used except for "weird sounds". These sounds and their usage are listed below:

P: bilabial click, past tense suffix
T: dental click, replaces "th"
S: alveolar click, plural suffix
C: palatal click, future tense suffix
K or 👏: clap, genetive suffix (goes on the noun itself rather than the end of the noun phrase)
G or 🤦: facepalm, negative suffix

Note that sounds made with the hands always come after sounds made with the mouth. (I will not sleep = ma slaapCG, not "ma slaapGC")

Alternative Version

There is an alternative version of Viesa that does not use "weird sounds". The differences are listed below:

"th" stays the same.

The past tense suffix is -p/ep, depending on whether the word ends in a vowel or a consonant.

The future tense suffix is -sh/esh.

The plural suffix is -s/es.

The genetive suffix is -k/ek.

The negative suffix is -g/eg.

Capitalization is allowed.

Pronouns

Viesa has a different pronoun system. The pronouns are listed in the table below:

Pronouns	Singular	Plural
First	ma (I/me)	va (we/us)
Second	ya (you)	ga (you all)
Third	na (he/him/she/her/it)	da (they/them)

Possessive pronouns are made with the genetive suffix. Reflexive pronouns are simply made by placing "salf" after the pronoun.

Examples

The boy's dogs played. = Ta bigK digS plugP. / Tha bigek diges plugep.
The dog in the mud's bone = Ta digK en Ta mod bina / Tha digek en tha mod bina (not "Ta dig en Ta modK bina / Tha dig en tha modek bina")
We will go. = va giC. / Va gish.
They did not see the dog. = da saaPG Ta dig. / Da saapeg tha dig.
You won't be able to leave. = ya cunCG lauva. / Ya cunesheg lauva.