Toba Qom language

Some nouns can function as adjectives or nouns. E.g.:

• Man — Talé
• Woman — Aló 
• Good or goodness — Noen  
• Bad or badness — Scauen  

Sometimes, the particle ta is added to the adjective in order to combine it with a pronoun:

• Good — Noen 
• Me good  — Ayen-noen-ta 
• Bad — Scauen
• You bad — Alian- scauen-ta 

Some other times, they are used indifferently, with or without the particle ta. Nouns usually do not have declinations and, therefore, both singular and plural nouns share the same endings. It is only through the verb and circumstancials in the sentence that case and number are known.

In addition, the particle quotarien means ‘why’ or ‘for what cause, reason or motive’: For God's sake — Dios quotarien

To make the comparative form, the Qom people add the particle mano before a noun functioning as an adjective:

• Good — Noentá; Better — Mano-noentá
• Bad — Scauenta; Worse — Mano-scauenta
• Sick — Saygot; Sicker — Mano-saygot

For the superlative form, the particle mano is added before the adjective and the letter u goes after it:

• Good — Noenta; Very good — Noentaú
• The best — Mano-noentá-ú
• The worst — Mano-scauentq-ú
• The sickest — Mano-saygoth-desaú

In the Toba language, the following pronouns can be found:

Singular

• Ayén — I
• Ahan — you
• Edá — that one

Plural

• Comi — we
• Camí — you
• Mnavaso — these
• Edava — those

Pronouns, just like nouns, lack declinations:

• The bread is mine — Nadená ayén
• The arrow is mine — Tigná ayén 

Place demonstrative pronouns are:

• Aña — here
• Dequeñá — from here
• Edá — there
• Dequedá — over there
• Meliuagé — where
• Massayge — where, through which way
• Mehuá — where to
• Meticage — from where

But to make questions, they say:

• Menagé — Where is it?
• Menagé Dios? — Where is God?
• Metaygé yiocti? — Which way did the dog take?
• Yritaygé enrayó? — Where did the horse go?

This language does not have the verb 'to be' or perfective and imperfective aspect. So, in order to make a perfective sentence, there is subject-adjective agreement:

• I am good — Ayen noentá, which means 'I good'.
• You are bad — Ahan scauentá, which means 'you bad'.
• The man is sick — Yalé saygoth, which means, 'the man sick'.

The particle sa preceding any verb denotes negation:

• Sahayaten — I know
• Sasahayaten — I do not know
• Sauan — I see
• Sasauan — I do not see
• Sahayá — I hear
• Sasahayá — I do not hear

The first and second person pronouns are usually omitted:

• Siquehé — I eat
• Saic — I leave

Number and person are marked by different particles preceding or postponing the verb. Each verb behaves differently. For example, the second person is sometimes realized with the particle ma, majtia, aise, maj, etc.

Tenses are reduced to the following:

• Simple present tense of the Indicative mood
• Past tense of the Indicative mood
• Future time
• Infinitive
• Present Progressive

This is because time is not restricted to verb tenses, but it depends on the adverb that is postponed to the verb. In order to make sentences in the Present Progressive tense, the particles tapec or tápeyá must be added after the verb (they mark the verb in the progressive form). E.g.: I eating — illic tapec or tapeyá.

Some prepositions proceed the phrase, like guasigén, which means 'up' or 'on top of.' E.g.: On top of the house — Guasigén nohie.

Some others are postponed, such as lori (outside) and laloro (inside). E.g.: Inside and outside the house — Nohíe laloro, nohie lorí

There are adverbs of manner, place and time. The Toba language lacks adverbs that derive from adjectives, such as ‘badly’ and ‘nicely’, but they explain this by using adjectives. Instead of saying ‘The boy did it nicely,’ they say ñocolca noenta (Nice boy), and instead of saying ‘The man has behaved badly,’ they say Yahole scauen (Bad man).

They have the following adverbs of place:

• Idivagé — Where?
• Nenná — Here
• Naquedá — There
• Iditaigé — Where is it or where has it gone?
• Igamaditaygem — Where has it gone to?
• Igatíacagé — Where does it come from?
• Igadeaygé — Where do you go?
• Edá — There
• Idealagí cadeanoví — When did you arrive?

Time adverbs are the following:

• Comennetatá — in the morning
• Mavit — in the afternoon
• Nahagát — at midday
• Ñapé — at night
• Ninogoni — at sunset
• Ninogón sigem — at sunrise
• Yecahá — so
• Nagí — now
• Nagua ahositá — I go this year

• /p t k q/ can have aspirated allophones [pʰ tʰ kʰ qʰ] in word-initial position, and unreleased [p̚ t̚ k̚ q̚] in word-final position.
• Voiced stops /ɡ ɢ/ may also be heard as fricative [ɣ ʁ] sounds.[7]
• Affricates /t͡ʃ d͡ʒ/ can also be heard as palatal stops [c ɟ].
• /n/ can be heard as [n̥] word-finally when preceded by a glottal stop /ʔ/.
• /ɾ/ is heard as a trill [r] when following a /t/.
• /w/ can be heard as a labiodental fricative [v], when preceding or following /i/.
• /s l n/ can also have tense allophones as [sː lː nː].[8]

• A nasalized [ã] occurs when preceded and followed by /h/.[8]