Dothraki 201

INTRODUCTION:

In weeks past, we've introduced some of the very basic information about how Dothraki works. Now we'd like to introduce two more advanced bits that will help you be able to figure out what's being said on the show.

VERB CONJUGATION:

In Standard English, one conjugates verbs for tense, and in certain cases, the verb also agrees with the number of the subject. This is why, for example, one says "He writes" as opposed to "He write" in the present tense—and also why one says "He wrote" in the past tense as opposed to "He writes".

Dothraki likewise conjugates verbs for tense and the number of the subject, but it does so a little differently. To help illustrate, I'll introduce you to the infinitive (or unconjugated) forms of two verbs: izikhat "to poison", and nesolat "to learn". Here are those verbs conjugated in the present tense, accompanied by the appropriate pronoun.

Verb Stem: izikh-

anha izikhak "I poison"
yer izikhi "you poison"
me izikha "s/he/it poisons"
kisha izikhaki "we poison"
yeri izikhi "you all poison"
mori izikhi "they poison"

Here's an example using a conjugated form of the verb:

Gezri izikha jan.
"The snake poisons the wild dog"

Verbs whose stems end in a vowel are conjugated differently. Here's how the verb "nesolat" is conjugated:

Verb Stem: neso-

anha nesok "I learn"
yer nesoe "you learn"
me nesoe "s/he/it learns"
kisha nesoki "we learn"
yeri nesoe "you all learn"
mori nesoe "they learn"

And here's an example:

Nayat nesoe hakees khali.
"The girl learns the name of the Khal."

The past tense is a little simpler than the present. In the past tense, one only need worry about whether the subject is singular or plural. Here are the past tense forms using our verbs accompanied by the third person pronouns me "s/he/it" and mori "they":

me izikh "he poisoned"
mori izikhish "they poisoned"

me neso "he learned"
mori nesosh "they learned"

Finally, for the future tense, simply add an a- to the front of the present tense form if the verb begins with a consonant, and a v- if it begins with a vowel. A couple examples are given below:

Anha vizikhak yera!
"I will poison you!"

Yer anesoe hakees mae.
"You will learn his name."

NOUN CASE:

Unlike verb conjugation (which will probably sound a bit familiar), noun case is less prevalent in many European languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian…). It's by no means non-existant, however, and a Standard English example will help to illustrate how it works. Consider the following:

I saw him. (Correct.)
Me saw he. (Incorrect.)

In English, there are different forms of the pronoun depending on whether it occurs as the subject of the sentence or as the object of either a verb or a preposition (e.g. "Give it to me", not "Give it to I"). The difference between the two versions of the pronoun is a difference in case.

Dothraki, like English, makes case distinctions in its pronouns, but it goes further and makes case distinctions in its nouns as well. Furthermore, Dothraki makes more than two case distinctions: it makes five. Here are the five cases and their functions in Dothraki:

Nominative: Used with the subject of a sentence.
Accusative: Used with the object of a sentence.
Genitive: Used with the possessor of another noun.
Allative: Used with destinations.
Ablative: Used with points of origin.

Below is an example of each case using the word olta "hill".

Nominative: olta - Olta zhokwae. "The hill is large."
Accusative: olt - Anha laz tihak olt. "I can see the hill."
Genitive: olti - Reki hatif olti. "That's the front of the hill."
Allative: oltaan - Dothralates oltaan! "Let's ride to the hill!"
Ablative: oltoon - Kisha ray jadish oltoon." We've come from the hill."

Inanimate nouns like olta don't have separate plural forms, so in each sentence above, the interpretation could be "hills" rather than "hill".

CONCLUSION:

This is just hoska hrazefoon (the muzzle of the horse), so to speak, but it will help you to decode (or at least transcribe) a fair amount of the dialogue you'll hear on the show.

VOCABULARY:

Function Words

and - ma
because of - haji
but - vosma
either/or - che
if - hash

Common Verbs

to arrive - jadat
to do - tat
to go - elat
to know - nesat
to make - movezar

Inanimate Nouns

almond - draf
forest - qevir
stirrup - rhiko
tooth - vorto
wheat - veddera