2. Common Phrases

What You’ll Learn

This lesson gives you a small phrasebook for early reading:

• mokrassim, a welcome or peace greeting;
• krasitar, a farewell;
• gnar and nar, two ways to say “yes”;
• mope, the ordinary word for “no”;
• naterlas, a polite request word like “please.”

Learn Phrases First

You do not need to understand every word ending before you use a greeting. Many languages have set phrases that people learn as whole expressions first.

Early Hick has those too. Some common phrases are compact, older, or ritualized. In this lesson, learn them as useful expressions. Later lessons will explain the pieces.

Welcome with mokrassim

Use mokrassim when receiving someone across a social boundary: into a home, camp, boat, or conversation after tension.

mokrassim
NEG-bitter-CHANGE
"Welcome." / "Come in peace." / "No hard feelings."

The phrase literally points toward “not becoming bitter.” In ordinary use, it is a greeting of welcome or reconciliation.

Farewell with krasitar

Use krasitar as a leave-taking phrase.

krasitar
bitter-ABOVE
"Farewell." / "Part without bitterness."

The image is that bitterness stays below the people who are parting.

Yes and No

Use gnar for ordinary “yes.”

gnar
yes
"Yes."

Use nar for a quicker or more familiar “yes,” like English “yup.”

nar
yup
"Yup."

Use mope for the ordinary standalone “no.”

mope
no
"No."

There is also pe!, a sharper or more childish refusal, but mope is the normal adult answer.

Please with naterlas

Use naterlas in polite requests. It is closer to “would you be willing to” than to a magic politeness word that can go anywhere.

vinud'er-es naterlas
build-ACTION-MAIN please
"Please build."

Later, the requests lesson will show the fuller pattern with the person being asked.

Quick Phrase List

Early Hick	Use it for	Plain meaning
mokrassim	greeting or welcome	welcome; come in peace
krasitar	farewell	farewell; part without bitterness
gnar	ordinary yes	yes; correct
nar	informal yes	yup
mope	ordinary no	no
naterlas	polite request	please; would you be willing to

Try It

Choose the best phrase.

1. Someone enters your camp after an argument. What could you say?
2. You are leaving on good terms. What could you say?
3. Which word is the ordinary “yes”: gnar or nar?
4. Which word is the ordinary “no”: pe or mope?
5. What does naterlas do in a sentence?

Pop quizAnswers

1. mokrassim

   welcome / come in peace / no hard feelings

2. krasitar

   farewell / part without bitterness

3. gnar

   ordinary yes

4. mope

   ordinary no

5. It makes a polite request.

   naterlas
   please / would you be willing to

Reference Note

For more in-depth information, see Common Phrases and Maxims, Interrogatives, and Command Syntax.