Salentino

Introduction

Salentino is the language spoken in Salento, the south-east part of Italy, sometimes called "the heel of the boot". It belongs to the group of "Extreme Southern Italian" languages, a group inside the bigger family of Romance languages. It shares lot of features with other languages belonging to this grup, that are Sicilian and Calabrese. Salento region is made of the province of Lecce, much of the southern part of the province of Brindisi and the southern part of Taranto province.

Salentino descends from Latin, though it has been influenced by the languages spoken by the populations that went to Salento territories during its history: Messapians (C.f. Messapic), Greeks, Byzantins, Lombards, Normans, Albanians, French, Spanish and Arabs.

It is a language which has been spoken for centuries in a bilingual area, where there was a strong Greek-speaking community (now reduced to a bunch of towns in the small Grecía Salentina), so lots of its words and grammar features are similar to Greek.

The verb

Salentino verbs have the following features:

• Each verb has a fixed part (root) and a variable part (ending). The root contains the meaning of the verb, while the ending changes with the person, the number, the tense and the mood;
• There are six persons: jeu (I), tu (you, singular), idhu/idha (he,it/she,it), nui (we), vui (you, plural), idhi/idhe (they);
• There are seven moods; indicative, subjunctive (used rarely, and often replaced by indicative mood), conditional (just the verb "èssere", to be, has this mood), imperative, infinitive, gerund and participle;
• There are six tenses: present, imperfect, remote past, past perfect, past pluperfect, plusremote past;
• Past perfect, past pluperfect and remote past are expressed through the use of the auxiliar "aire" (to have) + participle of the verb.
• It shares, with most of Romance languages, the division of verbs into three conjugations: -are, -ere, and -ire; The second and third conjugations are glued together.

Auxiliary verb: AIRE (to have)

Indicativo		Congiuntivo		Imperativo
Presente	Passato prossimo	Presente	Passato	Presente
Jeu aggiu	Jeu aggiu autu/'utu	Jeu (cu) aggiu	Jeu (cu) issi	-
Tu ai/a'	Tu a' autu/'utu	Tu (cu) aggi	Tu (cu) issi	Aggi tu
Idhu/idha ae/a'	Idhu/idha a' autu/'utu	Idhu/idha (cu) aggia	Idhu/idha (cu) isse	-
Nui aimu/'imu	Nui 'imu autu/'utu	Nui (cu) imu	Nui (cu) íssemu	Imu nui
Vui aiti/'iti	Vui 'iti autu/'utu	Vui (cu) iti	Vui (cu) íssiu	Iti vui
Idhi/idhe annu	Idhi/idhe annu autu/'utu	Idhi/idhe (cu) àggianu	Idhi/idhe (cu) íssera	-
Imperfetto	Piuccheperfetto
Jeu aia/'ia	Jeu aia/'ia autu/'utu
Tu ii	Tu ii autu/'utu
Idhu/idha ia	Idhu/idha ia autu/'utu
Nui íamu	Nui íamu autu/'utu
Vui iu	Vui iu autu/'utu
Idhi/idhe íanu	Idhi/idhe íanu autu/'utu
Passato remoto	Trapassato remoto
Jeu ibbi	Jeu ibbi autu/'utu			Infinito
Tu isti	Tu isti autu/'utu			aire
Idhu/idha ibbe	Idhu/idha ibbe autu/'utu			Gerundio
Nui íbbemu	Nui íbbemu autu/'utu			-
Vui istu	Vui istu autu/'utu			Participio
Idhi/idhe íbbera	Idhi/idhe íbbera autu/'utu			autu/'utu

Auxiliary verb: ÈSSERE (to be)

Indicativo		Congiuntivo		Imperativo
Presente	Passato prossimo	Presente	Passato	Presente
Jeu suntu/su'	Jeu aggiu statu/su' statu	Jeu (cu) sia	Jeu (cu) àggiu statu	-
Tu sinti/si'	Tu a' statu/si' statu	Tu (cu) sii	Tu (cu) aggi statu	Sinti tu
Idhu/idha ete/e'	Idhu/idha a' statu/e' statu	Idhu/idha (cu) sia	Idhu/idha (cu) aggia statu	-
Nui simu	Nui 'imu stati/simu stati	Nui (cu) síamu	Nui (cu) imu stati	Simu nui
Vui siti	Vui 'iti stati/siti stati	Vui (cu) siu	Vui (cu) iti stati	Siti vui
Idhi/idhe suntu/su'	Idhi/idhe annu stati/su' stati	Idhi/idhe (cu) síanu	Idhi/idhe (cu) àggianu stati	-
Imperfetto	Piuccheperfetto
Jeu era	Jeu 'ia statu
Tu jeri	Tu ii statu
Idhu/idha era	Idhu/idha ia statu
Nui èramu	Nui íamu stati
Vui jeru	Vui iu stati
Idhi/idhe èranu	Idhi/idhe íanu stati
Passato remoto	Trapassato remoto		Condizionale
Jeu fuesi	Jeu ibbi statu		Jeu saria	Infinito
Tu fuesti	Tu isti statu		Tu sarii	èssere
Idhu/idha fose/foi	Idhu/idha ibbe statu		Idhu/idha saria	Gerundio
Nui fòsemu/fommu	Nui íbbemu stati		Nui saríamu	èssennu
Vui fŭestu	Vui istu stati		Vui sariu	Participio
Idhi/idhe fòsera/fôra	Idhi/idhe íbbera stati		'Idhi/idhe'' saríanu	statu

Verbs in -ARE (1st conjugation)

Example of a verb that doesn't change its root (mandare = to send)

Indicativo		Congiuntivo		Imperativo
Presente	Passato prossimo	Presente	Passato	Presente
Jeu mandu	Jeu aggiu mandatu	Jeu (cu) mmandu	Jeu (cu) aggiu mandatu	-
Tu mandi	Tu a' mandatu	Tu (cu) mmandi	Tu (cu) aggi mandatu	Manda tu
Idhu/idha manda	Idhu/idha e' mmandatu	Idhu/idha (cu) mmanda	Idhu/idha (cu) aggia mandatu	-
Nui mandamu	Nui 'imu mandatu	Nui (cu) mmandamu	Nui (cu) imu mandatu	Mandamu nui
Vui mandati	Vui 'iti mandatu	Vui (cu) mmandati	Vui (cu) iti mandatu	Mandati vui
Idhi/idhe màndanu	Idhi/idhe annu mandatu	Idhi/idhe (cu) mmàndanu	Idhi/idhe (cu) àggianu mandatu	-
Imperfetto	Piuccheperfetto
Jeu mandaa	Jeu aia/'ia mandatu
Tu mandai	Tu ii mandatu
Idhu/idha mandaa	Idhu/idha ia mandatu
Nui mandàumu	Nui íamu mandatu
Vui mandàuvu	Vui iu mandatu
Idhi/idhe mandàanu	Idhi/idhe íanu mandatu
Passato remoto	Trapassato remoto
Jeu mandai	Jeu ibbi mandatu			Infinito
Tu mandasti	Tu isti mandatu			mandare
Idhu/idha mandau	Idhu/idha ibbe mandatu			Gerundio
Nui mandammu	Nui íbbemu mandatu			mandandu
Vui mandastu	Vui istu mandatu			Participio
Idhi/idhe mandara	Idhi/idhe íbbera mandatu			mandatu

Verblists

• Salentino: Scorrano Dialect Verblist
• Salentino: Lecce Dialect Verblist