Introduction to Lang Belta at Worldcon 75

Greetings & Introductions In Your Head

Oye! Hello! pensa to think; believe
Wa koming gut! Welcome! keng to know; be acquainted
Keting nem to? What is your name? (with a person/place/thing)
Nem mi ___. My name is ___. sasa to know (a fact)
Kewe to? How are you?
Mi gut / mal. I am good / bad.
Mi xush / teristi. I am happy / sad.
Tenses, Aspects, & Moods
ta forms the simple past tense
Fo keng to im gut. It’s good to meet (know)
gonya forms the future tense
you.
ando continuous aspect marker
Fo vedi to im gut. It’s good to see you.
finyish perfective (completed)
Oyedeng! Goodbye!
aspect marker
tili habitual aspect marker
Pronouns & Possession kang can
mi I, me mogut fo should, ought to
milowda we, us deng fo would
to you mowsh must
tolowda you (pl.) mebi indicates uncertainty
im he, she, it, they (sing.) them fosho indicates belief
imalowda they (pl.), them fosho fosho indicates strongly held belief
imim they (indefinite), them Ketim to gonya showxa? When are you going to speak?
Imalowda kopeng mi. They are my friends. Mi ando du adewu. I am singing.
To setara mali mi. You are my darling. (lit: my Xetamang tili du xeta. Haters gonna hate.
little star) Mi tenye kapawu. I have a ship.
Mi tili tenye kapawu. I own a ship.
Mogut fo milowda dansa! We should dance!
Forming Questions Keting da Mila deng fo du? What would Miller do?
ya / na yes / no
Mi fosho pensa mebi im ta go, I’m sure it’s possible he went.
ke interrogative particle - add
Ando du livit da livit da Belta. Living the Belter life.
to the end of Y/N questions
mang, ting, pelésh, tim, we, radzhang
person, thing, place, time, way, reason Words About People
kemang? keting? kepelésh? ketim? kewe? keradzhang? mang human, person (any gender)
who? what? where? when? how? why? beratna brother (also informal)
To beratna im ke? Are you her brother? sésata sister (also informal)
kopeng friend
-wala indicates specialization or
Prepositions profession
xiya here
maliwala child
deya there
rowmwala bartender
fo for, toward, into
govawala psychologist
fong from, out of, away from
ere in, at, on
kuku outside, in vacuum Going Out With Friends
wit with koyo dude / chick etc. (lit. any
nawit without canine / feline animal)
lik like, similar to diye day
nax night
da diye xiya today
Everything & Nothing da diye de tomorrow / yesterday
kowl all
imbobo hole (apartment, room)
kowlting, kowmang, kowlpelésh, kowltim
xom home
everything, everyone, everywhere, always
imbobo rowm bar (lit. “room of rum”)
na (negative particle)
Kewe kowlting ando go, koyo? How’s it all going, dawg?
nating, namang, napelésh, natim, nawe
Kepelésh milowda gonya Where are we going to go
nothing, no one, nowhere, never, no way
go da nax xiya? tonight?
rowm rum, any liquor
Conjunctions biya beer
unte and suku fruit juice
o or owkwa water
fo for (like “because”) owkwa kaka coffee
amash but burito burrito
bera only, just Kepelésh wa imbobo rowm? Where is a bar?
sili if, whether Ketim ora xush du sherú? When does happy hour start?
Keting to wanya? What do you want? keyá? right?
Mi wanya biya unte I want beer and a burrito. Soyá. Yes, obviously. “Well, duh.”
wa burito. Bap unte kuwang, depelésh Doors and corners, that’s
Mi wanya rowm wit suku. I want alcohol with juice. imim ge to. where they get you.
Yam seng! Cheers; let’s drink! .
Da koyo deya im gufovedi! That dame/bloke there is
good-looking! Belter Slogans & Sayings
To kom fo xiya Do you come here often? Du ferí da Belte! Free the Belt!
walowda walowda ke? Owkwa Beltalowda, Our (all Belters’) water,
To wanya go bek fo pelésh Want to go back to my Erelúf Beltalowda! our (all Belters’) air!
mi ke? place? Xalte ere gova da Cant! Remember the Cant!
Ere Sirish na desh zakong, On Ceres there are no laws,
bera zákomang. only cops.
Aboard Your Rockhopper Setara imalowda mogut The stars are better off
kapawu ship nawit milowda. without us.
kuxaxu space, vacuum Milowda gonya leva xox! We’re going to rise up!
bosmang boss / chief Mi tenye da Belte ere kori. I have the Belt in (my) heart.
bosmang kapawu captain
bap kuxaku airlock
sut fo kuxaku spacesuit Grammar Notes
but fo kapawu magnetic boots • Word Order: Lang Belta is an SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) lan-
terásh thrust, thrust-gravity guage. However, adjectives and nouns for forming possessives
sepíng spin-gravity go after nouns. Mi ando vedi kapawu fash to is “I am looking
yáterash under thrust at your fast ship”
náterash without thrust, “on the • Zero Copula: Lang Belta doesn’t use a verb like English “to be.”
float” The verb bi only refers to being in a location.
Mi du mowteng fo da dzhush. I need the Juice. • Gender: Lang Belta uses only im for the singular third person,
tensha attention where in English we have he, she, they, etc. In general, Lang
xash danger Belta doesn’t have many gendered words.
séfetiye safety • Articles: wa (a) and da (the) aren’t strictly required, but can
provide clarity. The same goes for im after a noun phrase.
Kapawu fash to gut sounds a little funny, but Kapawu fash
Useful Words & Phrases to im gut makes things clearer.
Mi tumang / pomang I’m an Earther / Martian • The only time da is absolutely required is before a person’s
Mi Inya / Belta. I’m an Inner (resident of the name when they are the subject of the sentence. Da Mila
inner planets) / Belter. gonya go fo imbobo Dzhuli.
Mi showxa wamali Lang Belta. I speak a little Lang Belta. • No Grammatical Number: Singular and plural nouns are the
Mi ando xunyam Lang Belta. I’m studying Lang Belta. same. If you say koyo mi nafut, you could be talking about
To showxa English ke? Do you speak English? one cat... or fifty! Clarify with context, for example Koyo mi im
To kang showxa im Can you say it again, nafut - the im marks it as just the one cat.
wámotim ke, fodagut? please? • Beltalowda is the most frequently misused word in Lang Belta.
Mo lenta, fodagut. Slower, please. It is a pronoun and means us (all Belters). You can’t call
Mi (na) pochuye. I (don’t) understand / hear. someone “Beltalowda.”
To pochuye mi ke? Do you understand me?
fodagut please
taki thanks
More Lang Belta Resources
itreachesout.com - for class materials and links to
taki taki thank you (more formal)
all these resources and more!
she she taki taki thank you (most formal)
Lang Belta Phrasebook on Memrise - search for it!
Im ta nating. you’re welcome (it was
expanse.wikia.com - which has a Lang Belta section
nothing)
#LangBelta - our Twitter hashtag
Im ta du mi xush. you’re welcome (it made
#lang-belta - the Lang Belta learning channel on the Expanse
me happy)
Discord]
Ke ora xitim? What time is it?
Mo Lang Belta, Mogut! - the weekly Lang Belta text and voice
Kepelésh da imbobo kaka? Where is the bathroom?
chat on Discord
Mi (na) du mowteng fo ___. I (don’t) need ___.
reddit.com/r/LangBelta
Mi (na) wanya ___. I (don’t) want ___.
reddit.com/r/TheExpanse
Tenye ___ ke? Do you have ___?
Mi nadzhuzh. I’m tired.
Mi nafut. I’m hungry. Contact me!
wamali a little Hanne Paine / Xanye Iro / It Reaches Out / Iro
walowda some Email: reachesout@gmail.com
walowda walowda a lot Twitter: @ItReachesOut
go to go Reddit (I’m a /r/LangBelta and /r/TheExpanse mod)
kom to come /u/it-reaches-out
Xélixup! Excellent! (often sarcastic) Meatspace I live in NYC! Come visit sometime.
So wa peng! What a pity! I am always more than happy to answer your questions, help you
Sasa ke? You know? practice your Lang Belta, or generally geek out!