Toaq, But Easy, at Least in the Beginning
Hıo ka! Hello and welcome to Toaq, But Easy, at Least in the Beginning. Mı Mıao jí. I am Mıao (Moon). We’ve got two lessons and it’s unlikely to get anything else done.
1 - Sá paı nıq! - A new friend!
Mıao: Jadı. Mı Mıao jí da. Chua hí súq móq*?
Nuaq: Jadı. Mı Nuaq jí da. Foa súq hí móq?
Mıao: Foa gı jí da. Ma foa gı súq móq?
Nuaq: Foa gı máo jí da.
Mıao: Chuq súq hí da?
Nuaq: Chuq jí shámu da.
* Note that q is pronounced as the “ng” /ŋ/ sound in “sing” /sɪŋ/.
English
Moon: Hi. I’m Moon. What’s your name?Night: Hi. I’m Night. What are you feeling? (i.e. “How are you?”)
Moon: I’m feeling good. Are you feeling good?
Night: I’m also feeling good.
Moon: What are you eating?
Night: I am eating an apple.
Vocabulary
| chua | ◌ is the name of ◌ |
| foa | ◌ feels ◌ |
| hí | which / what |
| jadı | hi |
| jí | I/me |
| máo | also |
| mı X | the one called X |
| shamu | ◌ is an apple |
| súq | you (singular) |
1.1 - Tones
The falling tone, which isn’t marked by any diacritic, is generally used for verbs. However, as you can see, it is also used for some other things, for example jadı. The rising tone 
is used for nouns, pronouns, and determiners.
1.2 - Word order
The most simplest word order in Toaq is VSO — verb - subject - object. Notice how “Chuq jí shámu” literally translates to “Eat I apple”.
1.3 - Speech acts
Speech acts (also known as “illocutions”) tell the recepient the purpose of the sentence. In this lesson, you are introduced to two:
- da - declarative: used for statements.
- móq - interrogative: used for asking questions
1.4 - Mı
Mı is prefixed before the names of things and people (and others), i.e. proper nouns.
- Foa* gı mí Mıao da. = “Moon feels good.”
* We will talk about why it’s not foa mí Mıao gí later in Lesson [TODO].
1.5 - Ma
Ma is used to ask yes-or-no questions.
- Ma mı Mıao súq? = “Are you Moon?”
2 - O jıbo! - Oh my!
Mıao: Tao súq hí tî ní foto?!
Nuaq: Haha! Pu kıaqtoe jí kíaq bụqbuaı po kúne jıbo!
Mıao: ...
…
Nuaq: Hóı mí Mıao ꝡa naı noaq jí kúe ꝡë kaı súq hóa.
Mıao: Á? O. Neaochıaqca ní…
English
Moon: What are you doing in this photo?!Night: Haha! I cut my dog’s long fur.
Moon: …
…
Night: Moon, I’m reading the book which you wrote.
Moon: Huh? Oh. That’s embarrassing…
Vocabulary
| buaı | ◌ is long |
| buq- | prefix: augmentative |
| hóa | (see grammar notes) |
| hóı | vocative |
| jıa | ◌ happens in the future |
| jıbo | ◌ is mine |
| kıaq | ◌ is hair/fur |
| kıaqtoe | ◌ cuts the hair/fur of ◌ |
| kue | ◌ is a book |
| naı | ◌ happens now |
| neaochıaqca | ◌ is embarrassing to ◌ |
| noaq | ◌ reads ◌ |
| po | of |
| pu | ◌ happened in the past |
| tao | ◌ does ◌ |
| tı | ◌ is at ◌ |
| ꝡa | (see grammar notes) |
| ꝡë | (see grammar notes) |
2.1 - Prepositions
Oh hey! New tone! The rising falling tone 
is used for prepositions and adverbs. Prepositions in Toaq use the second slot of a verb.
- tı = ◌ is at ◌
- Tı jí búajıo. = “I’m at the house.”
- Kuq jí tî búajıo. = “I talk at the house”
2.2 - Tense
Toaq has words for tense, but unlike in English, they’re not mandatory.
| pu | past |
| naı | now |
| jıa | future |
2.3 - Adjectives
Adjectives come after the nouns they modify, similar to Spanish. Only the first word of a noun phrase gets the tone though, so adjectives get a 
tone like verbs.
2.4 - Possession
Possessive words come after the nouns they modify. Compare “X of Y” (rather than “Y’s X”) for English.
To make possessive forms of pronouns, add the suffix -bo.
- kúne jıbo = “my dog” (“the dog of me”)
- kúne suqbo = “your dog” (“the dog of you”)
To make other things possessive, use po.
- kúne po mı Nuaq = “Night’s dog” (“the dog of Night”)
2.5 - Hóı over there!
The word hóı is used for getting someone’s attention when saying their name to avoid potential confusion.
- Jadı mı Mıao ❌
- Jadı hóı mı Mıao ✅
2.6 - Ꝡha?
Ꝡhat’s this funny letter? The letter Ꝡ ꝡ can be pronounced as “w” /w/ or “y” /j/ depending on the previous vowel. It is pronounced as /w/ if the previous vowel was ı or e and /j/ if the previous vowel was o or u. Since it is not easily typed, it may be substituted with v or vy. Poor Ꝡ.
2.7 - Ꝡa?
Ꝡa is a (sometimes) word for marking the start of a new sentence. The reason it is used in Hóı mí Mıao ꝡa naı noaq jí kúe ꝡë súq hóa is to keep things separated. Ꝡa, along with its friends whom we will met later, are not required if the previous sentence ended with an illocution. Alternatively, if you wish to elide da or móq, you can start your sentence with ꝡa.
2.8 - Prefixes
Toaq has a lot of prefixes which can change the meaning of words. In this lesson, you are introduced to the suffix buq-, the augmentative, expressing greater intensity. For example, a bụqkato can be a “large cat”.
The last prefix of a word is is always marked with an underdot and pronounced with a glottal stop (the middle sound in “uh-oh”). If you are unable to type the underdot, it is acceptable to use a hyphen after the last prefix instead.
2.7 - Relative clauses
If you don’t know what a relative clause is, an example from the dialogue is “the book which you wrote”. The “which you wrote” part is the relative clause.
Ꝡë marks the start of a relative clause and hóa is the resumptive pronoun. What’s that? Well, we need a way to know what the relative clause is referring to. There is a huge difference between “the book which I wrote” and “the book which wrote me”.
| kúe | ꝡë | kaı | jí | hóa |
| book | which | write | I | hóa |
| “the book which I wrote” | ||||
Compare that to:
| kúe | ꝡë | kaı | hóa | jí |
| book | which | write | hóa | I |
| “the book which wrote me” | ||||