How do you manage to find Mini speakers in the wild? By asking them of course:
tu i pale a mini? - Do you speak Mini?
mi i pale a mini - I speak Mini.
Ja - Yes.
No.
With this construct we can ask about any language:
tu i pale a Engli? - Do you speak English?
si i pale a Espaniol? - Does she speak Spanish?
si-ale i pale a Italia-linga? - Do they speak Italian?
tu-ale i pale a Fanse - Do you all speak French?
si-viro i pale a Eire-linga - Does he speak Irish?
You can even be fancy about it:
tu i savi a Portukale? - Do you know Portuguese?
Notice that some words have “-linga” attached. This is because some of them are also used for the nationality. If you want to specify you can always add “-linga”:
tu i savi a Fanse - Do you know French? - Do you know France?
tu i savi a Fanse-linga - Do you know the French language?
With the verb “pale” it is clearly understood that you are talking about languages. In the same vein, we can change one word to ask something different about this and that language:
tu i favo a mini? - Do you like Mini?
ja, mi i favo! - Yes, I like it!
Or talk about the languages people speak:
tu i pale a ke linga? - Which languages do you speak?
mi i pale a mini, Engli an Fanse - I speak Mini, English, and French.
Here is a list of languages if you wanna go around asking people about them:
Alarbia - Arabic.
Angugo - Korean.
Ausa - Hausa.
Barbari - Berber.
Eire-linga - Irish.
Engli - English.
Espaniol - Spanish.
Euskara - Basque, Euskara.
Fanse - French.
Germania-linga - German.
Indi - Hindi.
Italia-linga - Italian.
Josunmau - Korean.
Jouo - Javanese.
Kabeile - Kabylia.
Katalan - Catalan.
Kongo - Congo.
Maja - Mayan.
Nipon-linga - Japanese.
Polski - Polish.
Portukale - Portuguese.
Rusia-linga - Russian.
Tai - Thai.
Turse - Turkish.
Uu-linga - Wu Chinese.
Viet-linga - Vietnamese.
Let’s see a conversation:
Mia: Leo, tu i pale a Turse? - Leo, do you speak Turkish?
Leo: no, mi i no pale a Turse. mi i pale a mini - No, I don’t speak Turkish. I speak Mini.
Mia: tu i pale a ke linga? - Which languages do you speak?
Leo: mi i pale a mini, Portukale an Italia-linga - I speak Mini, Portuguese, and Italian.
Mia: mui bon! tu favo linga a ke? - Very nice! What is you favourite language?
Leo: mebi mini, mebi - Maybe Mini, maybe.
Mia: tu i vole savi a mi favo linga? - Do you wanna know my favourite language?
Leo: No.
Grammar
Pronouns
There are only three:
mi - I, me.
tu - You.
si - He, she, it.
To get the rest one adds words to these:
mi-duo - we two.
mi-ale - we (includes addressee).
mi-mui - we (excludes addressee).
mi-ego - myself.
tu-ale - you all.
tu-ego - yourself.
si-viro - he.
si-feme - she.
si-kosa - it.
si-ale - they.
si-uno - one (indefinite pronoun).
si-ota - the other one.
si-ego - himself, herself, itself.
Questions
Simple yes or no questions are formed by adding a “?” or some form of confirmation with either “no?”, “ja?”, “u ke?” at the end: