Skip to content

Nouns

A noun is a word that functions as the name of some specific thing or set of things, such as living creatures, objects, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.

Nouns are unchanging in Panglobish. The same form of the word is used regardless of number and definiteness. Number, definiteness and other categories are expressed by separate words.

Number

In Panglobish, nouns are the same in all numbers. Nouns don't change to indicate is there one (i.e. singular) or many (i.e. plural) instances of the thing that the noun refers to. So it's not like English where the singular and the plural of nouns are usually different: one man but many men, one ox but many oxen, one cat but many cats. Rather, all Panglobish words are like the word "sheep" is in English, which you count one sheep, two sheep, three sheep, etc.

In Panglobish, the number of things is indicated with number words and other quantity words.

un haus – one house
due haus – two houses
tri haus – three houses
for haus – four houses

All number words can be found in the chapter about numerals.

Common words for indicating plurality include som (some) and meni (many).

som haus – some houses
meni haus – many houses

Definite and indefinite articles

Definite articles, like "the" in English, are used when we are referring to a specific thing or something that has been mentioned before. Indefinite articles, like "a" and "an" in English, refer to a non-specific thing or something that has not been mentioned before.

If you know what you want, you just use a definite article, and if you don’t know what you want, you use an indefinite article.

Indefinite articles

There are two indefinite articles in Panglobish, un is used when we refer to one non-specific thing, and som is used when we refer to many things.

un apel – an apple or one apple
som apel – some apples

un haus – a house or one house
som haus – some houses

Definite articles

There are two definite articles in Panglobish, da is used when we refer to one specific thing, and di is used when we refer to many things.

da man – the man
di man – the men

da haus – the house
di haus – the houses

Proper names

Adaptation to Panglobish

Proper names are typically adapted to the writing system of Panglobish. For example, it is obviously better to use Moskva (Moscow) instead of "Москва", and Beijing (Peking) instead of "北京" in the international language. Likewise it is probably better to use Tuson instead of "Tucson", Marsei instead of "Marseille", and Kishineu instead of "Chișinău" in order to ensure correct pronunciation.

Titles of respect

Names of people can be tagged with titles of respect sa, ma, pa. They are meant to show respect and politeness.

sa is the universal title of respect. It can be used in formal and informal situations and for all age groups, social groups and genders. The closest translation for it in English is Mr or Ms or Mx.

ma can be used when addressing any woman regardless of age, social status, and marital status. It translates to several titles in English including Mrs, Miss, Ms, Madam and Ma'am.

pa can be used when addressing any man regardless of age, social status, and marital status. It translates to several titles in English including Mister and Sir.

There are different customs concerning honorific titles in different cultures. In some cultures it is not polite to use someone's name without using a title of respect before it. Therefore it is advisable to use them always when you meet new people from different cultures.

A title of respect can be used with a given name, a family name, or both.

sa Bili King – Mx Billy King
sa Bili – Mx Billy
sa King – Mx King

It is always polite to use the gender-neutral title. However, some people have are more accustomed to using the male and female titles.

pa Felipe Gonzales – Mr Felipe Gonzales
pa Felipe – Mr Felipe
pa Gonzales – Mr Gonzales

The order of the given name and the family name may be different in different cultures. For example in Chinese it is common to put the family name first.

ma Wang Lili – Ms Lili Wang
ma Lili – Ms Lili
ma Wang – Ms Wang