How to speak lissit

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Today, in honor of the Day of Love, we are going to learn how to speak the most romantic language of all time: Lissit! (Or “lizardtongue,” as it is sometimes called by the humans of Cera Bella.)

Let’s get started with some basic pronouns:

si	see	I / me
su	soo	You
sus	soose	We / us
sulesh	soo – lesh’	All of us
sek	sehk	He / him / it
sekat	seh – kat’	She / her
sekesh	seh’ – kesh	Them / they

Next, we move on to the conjugations of “to be”:

zetura	zeh’ – tyoo – rah	To be
si zet	see zeht	I am
su zet	soo zeht	You are
sus zetesh	zeh’ – tehsh	We are
sek azet	ah – zeht’	He is / it is
sekat azet	ah – zeht’	She is
sekesh azetesh	ah’ – zeh – tehsh	They are

Here is how you say hello and goodbye:

ferat duur	feh – raht’ dure	Goodbye (lit. “remain ferocious”)
su si-ari	soo see ah’ – ree’	Hello (lit. “you please me”)

The conjugations of “to have”:

ahsura	ah’ – soo – rah	To have
si ahs	ahs	I have
su ahs	ahs	You have
sus ahsesh	ah – sesh’	We have
sek ahsas	ahs – ahs’	He has
sekat ahsas	ahs – ahs’	She has
sekesh ahsasesh	ahs’ – ah – sesh	They have

And a few basic articles, conjunctions, prepositions, and other connectors that we’ll use when constructing sentences:

ze	zee	The
so	soh	A
iss	ihs	And
rosk	rahsk	But, however
sor	sore	Or
asit	ah – ssit’	For
fes	fess	Of, about, concerning
isik	iss’ – ihk	If
risik	riss’ – ihk	Then

The lissit have their own names for the various species of Cera Bella:

lissit	lih’-siht	A lizardman of any gender
lissat	lih – saht’	A female lizardman
ge’filesh	geh’ – fill – ehsh’	A shadowling or shadowlings
thirim duuriss	thih’ – rim doo’ – riss	A spriggat
hesh	hehsh	A human or humans
silith duuriss	sih’ – lith doo’ – riss	A golem

And now, a list of common words!

aduur	ah’ – dure	Someplace (n.)
aduura	ah’ – dure – ah	To go (v.); to leave (v.)
adyl	ah’ – dill	Still, unmoving, passive (adj.)
ahbas	ah’ – bahss	Bored (adj.)
ahzerik	ah’ – zehr – ihk	Angry (adj.)
alesh	ah’ – lehsh	All (adj.)
ambuur	ahm – boohr’	Golden (adj.), gold coin (n.)
ambuura	ahm’ – byoo – rah	To gild (v.); to beautify, as with gold (v.); to press coins (v.)
ames	ah’ – mayss	Likewise (adj.); in return, in exchange (adj.)
arima	ah’ – ri – mah	To please; to make happy (v.)
arisit	ah’ – ri – sit	Lover (n., male)
arisat	ah’ – ri – sat	Lover (n., female)
barud	bah – roohd’	Large, two-handed mace favored by lizardman warriors (n.)
barudura	bah – roohd’ – yoo – rah	To beat or bludgeon (v.)
blud	bloohd’	Blood (n.)
bludura	bloohd’ – yoo – rah	To bleed (v.)
damat	dah’ – maht	Promise (n.)
damura	dah’ – myoo – rah	To be obligated (v.)
duur	doohr	Long-lived, enduring (adj.)
duura	dooh’ – rah	To live (v.)
duuriss	dooh’ – riss	Alive (adj.)
fangiss	fan’ – giss	Tooth, fang (n.)
ferat	feh – raht’	Fierce, ferocious, aggressive (adj.); hot (adj.)
fil	fihl	A bite or morsel of food (n.)
filara	fih – lah – rah’	To prepare food; to cook (v.)
filesh	fih – lehsh’	Meat (n.)
firin	fih – reen’	Zealous, passionate (adj.)
geduur	geh – dure’	Corpse (n.)
geduura	geh’ – dooh – rah	To kill (v.)
geduuriss	geh’ – dooh – riss	Dead (adj.)
gehsura	geh’ – soo – rah	To lack; to miss (v.)
gelaan	geh – lahn’	Small (adj.)
getor	geh – tore’	Weak (adj.)
ho	hoh	Day (n.)
hss	hiss	In line for succession (also used as an honorific in place of “resh”) (adj.)
hesh	hehsh	Hair or fur (n.)
heshiss	hehsh’ – ihs	Hairy; covered in fur (adj.)
hsun	soon	Protector (n.)
idgas	id – gahss’	An expression of indifference; it translates roughly to “maybe it matters to the skeletons”
ka	kah	Of the lizardmen, in the sense of all lizardmen as a united people (adj.)
kalaw	kahl – ow’	Claw, hand (n.)
karok	kah – rahk’	Hunger (n.)
karokiss	kah – rahk’ – iss	Hungry (adj.)
ko	koh	Afraid (adj.); cold (adj.)
kri	kree	Night (n.); darkness (n.)
kta	ktah	Fast (adj.); quickly (adv.)
laan	lahn	Big (adj.)
omisigah	oh – mih – sih – gah’	a curse word that translates more or less literally to “my ancestors have cursed me”
predat	preh – daht’	Hunter (n.)
predura	preh – dyoo’ – rah	To hunt, to stalk (v.)
ra	rah	War, battle, conflict (n.)
ra’kalaw	rah’ – kahl – ow	Lit. “war hand”; an act of war. (n.)
ra’pet	rah’ – peht	Warrior, fighter (n.)
ra’pis	rah’ – peese	Shield (n.)
rasura	rah’ – syoo – rah	To fight (v.)
resh	rehsh	“He who is named” — used to indicate that a proper name is to follow, like “mister” (n.)
reshat	reh – shaht’	“She who is named” — used to indicate that a proper name is to follow, like “miss” (n.)
sal	sahl	Cunning, clever (adj.)
scarl	scahrl	Red, scarlet (n., adj.), bloody (adj.)
scarlura	scahrl’ – yoo – rah	To wound; to cause to bleed (v.)
sera	seh – rah’	Blade (n.)
serat	seh – raht’	Sharp (adj.)
seratura	seh – raht’ – yoo – rah	To sharpen (v.)
silesh	sih’ – lehsh	Many (n., adj.)
silit	sih’ – liht	A crevice (n.); hidden (adj.)
silith	sih’ – lihth	A boulder (n.); a stone edifice (n.)
silithis	sih – lihth’ – iss	Patient (adj.)
so	soh	One (n., adj.)
tal	tahl	High, towering (adj.)
t’ayil	tai – yeel’	Tail (n.)
thirim	thih’ – rihm	Temperature (n.)
thuur	thure	Danger (n.)
tor	tore	Strong (adj.)
zaris	zah’ – rihs	Clan (n.)
zerik	zeh’ – rihk	Anger (n.)
zeruka	zeh’ – ryoo – kah	To provoke (v.)
zisura	zih’ – syoo – rah	To come (v.); to approach (v.)

You might have started to notice certain patterns with these–there are prefixes and suffixes that the lissit use to denote meaning in their words:

-at	aht	(Feminizing suffix)
-esh / -lesh	ehsh / lehsh	(Pluralizing suffix; -lesh if word ends in a vowel)
ge’-	geh	(Negating prefix, like the English “un-“)

Lissit grammar is mostly a lot like English, though there are a couple of big exceptions.

1) If a verb takes a pronoun as a direct object, the direct object should be attached to the front of the verb with a hyphen. (For example: “to fight me” would be spoken as “si-rasura”; “to approach him” would be “sek-zisura.”)

2) Connect pronouns and nouns with hyphens and the word “dama” in between to denote possession. (For example: “si-dama-zaris” would mean “my clan”; “sek-dama-t’ayil” would mean “his tail”; and so on.)

There! Got all that? Now, for the part we’ve all been waiting for: Valentines in lissit!