4. Making Simple Sentences

What You’ll Learn

This lesson teaches three beginner patterns:

• many Early Hick words begin as noun-like ideas;
• the ending -'er turns a word into an action word;
• a simple sentence can say that one person or thing does an action.

Nouns and Action Words

In English, “walk” is already an action word. Early Hick often marks action words with the ending -'er.

barak
walk

The technical name for -'er is a verbalizer. In this book, call it the action ending.

A First Sentence

Early Hick uses the ending -es on the main person or thing in a simple sentence. You will learn more about this ending in the next lesson.

For now, read -es as “this is the main noun of the sentence.”

Leaving Out Known People

Early Hick often leaves out a personal word when everyone already knows who is being talked about. A bare action can work like English “I walk” or “they walk” when the story has already made the person clear.

The fuller form uses 'al, “person,” plus a “this” ending. It is stronger, like pointing to “this person” in the sentence.

Writers and poets use the fuller forms more often for rhythm, contrast, or a stronger voice.

Known They and General They

Early Hick can also show whether “they” means a known group or a more general, distant group.

More Action Words

Base word	Basic meaning	With -'er	Sentence meaning
barak	walk	barak'er	walks
ward	guide	ward'er	guides
his	see	his'er	sees
'irek	stand, firm	'irek'er	stands

Try It

Add the action ending -'er, then translate the sentence.

'ales ward'er

Pop quizAnswer

ward means “guide.” ward'er means “guides.”

Reference Note

For more in-depth information, see Core Grammar and Verbal Morphology.