Karelian
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Fact corner
- Language: Karelian
- Alternate names: Karely, Karelian Proper, Sobstvenno-Karel'skij-Jazyk, Severno-Karel'skij, Karel'skiy Jazyk
- SIL-code: Ethnologue:krl
- Language family: Uralic, Finnic
- Number of speakers: 128,000
- Script: Latin script
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Introduction
Birch bark letter
Karelian is a language closely related to Finnish, with which it is not necessarily mutually intelligible. Karelian is spoken mainly in Republic of Karelia, Russia.
The Birch bark letter, dated to the beginning of the 13th century, is the oldest known document in any Baltic-Finnic language. The language used in the document is thought to be an archaic form of the language spoken in Olonets Karelia, a dialect of the Karelian language.
The Verb
Verb conjugation of Karelian follows to a great extent that of Finnish.
The Karelian verb is conjugated in:
- 4 moods
- 2 simple tenses: present and past
- 2 numbers: singular and plural
- 3 persons
Sample verb: andua 'to give'
| INDICATIVE | POTENTIAL | CONDITIONAL | IMPERATIVE | |||
| Present | Past | |||||
| Sg.1 | minä | annan | annoin | andanen | andazin | - |
| Sg.2 | sinä | annat | annoit | andanet | andazit | anna |
| Sg.3 | häi | andau | andoi | andanou | andas | andakkah |
| Dual 2 | - | - | - | - | - | andakka |
| Pl.1 | myö | annamma | annoimma | andanemma | andazimma | - |
| Pl.2 | työ | annatta | annoitta | andanetta | andazitta | annakua |
| Pl.3 | hyö | annetah | annetih | annettaneh | annettas | andakkah |
See also
- List of Karelian verbs
- Language map of Karelian PDF