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Thergerim Taal is a very old language, spoken in nearly all known dwarven communities. Like a dwarf's life Thergerim in general isn't a very complicated tongue. Once the principles are known it is in fact very easy to learn. Characteristic for Thergerim is the deep tone the spoken words produce, mainly because the language uses many hollow sounds and concentrates on vocals like "o" und "u", representing the echoing and deep sound voices generate in tunnels mined by the dwarves. Also very typical of this language is the fact that there are hundreds of different words for only slightly different kind of gems, stones and minerals.

GRAMMATICAL PRINCIPLES

Suffixes/Prefixes are added with capitals to distinguish meaning, thus: VoholCaor (VoholCaor, "far wood"). Plurals are formed by adding -erons ("-erons") to the main word, e.g. rotrum/ rotrumerons (rotrum/rotrumerons) meaning "mountain/mountains".

Morphemes, or units of meaning, are capitalized, then run together to form a complete concept, as in German, where adjectival forms are added wholesale onto the noun. E.g. UnSthommErons, UnSthommErons, the Dwarven Fathers) or YehLithInn (YehLithInn) = do + passion + ing = lovely, loved one (often used as an endearment among dwarven couples). Note that when forming a new word from various morphemes, double letters are often eliminated: thus Enn (Enn) = love, Eninn (Eninn) = loving. Where they remain it often indicates an archaic usage (UnSthommErons, UnSthommErons, those like stone = the Dwarven Fathers).

Spaces separate the different parts of speech as necessary to distinguish, e.g. Ylaoth KhirrilDrumm (Ylaoth KhirrilDrumm) = the Isle of the Glimmering Stones (mistranslated, literally, "Island - Jewel - Story", or the mythical Island of Jewels.)
 

TENSES

Tenses are formed by adding any of the AveFerEt (AveFerEt), so-called "time-markers" at the front of the sentence, thus immediately clarifying what the dwarf is speaking about. Past sentences start with Fer (Fer), future sentences start with Ave (Ave). Non-marked sentences are assumed to be present tense; an action that is actually taking place at the time has "inn" added to the verb to emphasize its immediacy.

	Time Markers (AveFerEt) Time-Maker Position Time [None] In front of sentence Expresses present actions Inn (Inn) Added to verb Expresses immediate actions (Present Participle), e.g. Mumpherlinn (Mumpherlinn) meaning "standing". Inn (Inn) by the way derives from enninn (enninn) meaning "loving". Fer (Fer) In front of sentence Expresses past actions Ave (Ave) In front of sentence Expresses future actions

QUESTIONS

Questions (Khoaleron, Khoaleron) always start with the prefix Kho (Kho, marking questions) which are transfered into question words. These are called CoPorEteron (CoPorEteron) or "doubt-markers", which are usually put directly before the subject and verb. These markers also always are positioned after the time-marker. See the list of Question Words, based on the doubt prefix and the appropriate root; e.g. When = Khoafer (Khoafer), literally "unsure-time".

	Question Words (CoPorEteron) Question Word Translation Question Word Translation Khor What? (Khor) Khouhn Who? (Khouhn) Kholou Where? (Kholou) Khotaph Why? (Khotaph) Khoafer When? (Khoafer) Khohuun How? (Khohuun)

PUNCTUATION

Dwarves have their own script, and thus their own punctuation. As in tenses, punctuation is put at the very beginning of a sentence to indicate emotion. For convenience, scribes use human punctuation marks, but set them at the beginning and end of sentences so as to be more closely sensitive to the dwarven style. We have used that convention below in transliterating.

Punctuation Type Mark Meaning Statement . Used to frame ordinary sentences Excitement ! For strong emotion Question ? Unsure, doubt, request Joke * Meant lightly, amusingly Emphatic / Indicates absolute certainty Sarcasm < Inverts meaning of sentence

EXAMPLES

Some example sentences in Thergerim Taal can be found in the table below:

	Example Sentences Thergerim Taal Literal translation Tharian text ! Disthergyter HuThegerim Unaril ! (excitement) not-clan female dwarf like-jewel   That strange dwarven maid is beautiful! (! Disthergyter HuThegerim Unaril !) . Ave Oe Drummet HuUnolun Mithmez Ke . (future) I draw female face-like gold-metal upon I will draw her portrait in gold. (. Ave Oe Drummet HuUnolun Mithmez Ke .) ? Ave Khor Uhn CoTaal HuUrten Wi ? (questioning) (future) (what) you think female enjoy thing Do you think she will like it? (? Ave Khor Uhn CoTaal HuUrten Wi ?) * Paa, Uhnu Patz Drummetinn * (joke) negative your bad drawing No, you're a terrible artist. (* Paa, Uhnu Patz Drummetinn *) Following a little story... .Ver Hunden  Bok Vo KhirrilMor Kul HuunGer DenArilerons PriAvwaarLok. (Past) Day-name Bok go Jewel Mine and dig 7 gem (plural) in Av-Waar tunnel. Yesterday Bok went to the Jewel-Mine and dug up seven gems in the Right-Down tunnel. .Ver Ba Wirrel Wierons PriPra HomEenIko PraKagoz LithHu. (Past) male make thing (plural) in towards neck string to give love female. He made them into a necklace for his love. .Ver HuPil Kul Unaril - Prigoz TheleronsMor Pe KaertheronsMez. (Past) female short and like-jewel -  have hair (plural)- black with (together) eye (plural)- gold She was short and beautiful, with dark hair and golden eyes. .Ver HuPil CoPragoz BokKagozwi Kul Votten - KaepaiPe. ?Khotaph? .Theh DisHthuuCotaal. (Past) But female (opposite)-take Bok-give-thing and run - cry (with).  Unsure-reason?  We negative understand-think. But she rejected his gift and fled, weeping. Why? We do not know. /VerYrant / (Emphatic) (Past) Finish The End

ADDITIONAL NOTES

Shapes. Note that two-dimensional shapes end in 'oon' (Wheroon, Wheroon = square; Berbaroon, Berbaroon = triangle), while their adjectival form ends with 'un' or 'on'. Three-dimensional constructs are usually distinguished by 'een' or 'ene' suffixes. For example: Taareen, Taareen = Pillar, Sohaareen, Sohaareen = Arch,
Bernarene, Bernarene = Pyramid.

Numbers. Since dwarves do not believe in the concept of 0 as a number/placeholder (how can you count nothing?) their large numbers get nasty, e.g. 2673 = BarEgri'EtinnOltgyr'DenGol'Berbar....

But it's a very exact system, and for a race that is as long-lived as the Thergerim, I suppose they don't mind the extra time taken to say their age!