The Relay Museum

Geimo sa a megteni, sa a sweranelni, sa a gensil,
Sa tathi marki kanva.
Suon sa eifko sol seru veileil reib vot nai rel galag hegrei.
Suon sa edhonog nasaheu dhairag
Us sa faipali pemnag morsinakanvail (morsina-kanvail).
Pasin ir tun:
"Kwe isut tun len wenser plediones?"
Garevut tiros a gerva;
Kalkaidhut a delwi kieln vernel
sol tedanag suon vilis paina. 

Winter like the old, like the sickened, like infants,
Like great cats hunting.
He [is] like a stone on which moss cannot grow,
Or like sharp claws of hunters.
Therefore we ask you:
"Are you generous in the springtime?"
You wander through the land;
You greet the loving god of spring
Who leaves behind a green trail. 

a | det "the"
delwi | noun "god"
dhairag | noun "shame"
edhonot | noun tooth
eifko | noun "stone, rock"
faipa | noun "claw"; stem faipal-
galei | verb to be able to (with infinitive)
garevei | verb "to wander"; "to stroll"; "to scout"
Geimo | proper noun "Winter" (being from Rochester, I thought it fitting)
gensel | noun "child, infant"; plural gensil
gerva | noun "kingdom, country" (must always be associated with an autocracy or
oligarchy)
hegrei | verb "to grow"
ir | inter "therefore, thus"
isut | 2nd person singular copula: "thou art"
kalkaidhei | verb "to greet"
kanva | 1) verb, irregular; "to sing [a capella]". 2) adj "hunting"; idiomatic
expression morsei kanva "to carry hunting/to hunt"
kei | verb "to love"; participle form kieln rather than *keln
kwe | interrogative particle
len | prep "in, during"
marke | adj "great" (plural marki rather than markei)
megten | adj "old"
morsei | verb "bear, carry, withstand", with implications of stoic acceptance or
grim eagerness
nai | adv "no, not"
nasaheu | prep poetic; "without"
paina | "trail, track"
pasei | verb "to ask"
pemnat | adj "sharp"; fig. "angry, foolishly angry"
plediones | adj "generous" (literally "giftful")
reib | prep "on, over"
rel | reflexive particle
sa | prep "like"
seru | noun "hair; head of hair"
seru veileil | noun "moss"
sol | particle; introduces relative clauses, which are always complete
sentences
suon | pron "he"
sweranei | verb "to be sick"
tath | noun "cat"
tedanei | verb "to destroy, to drop intentionally, to leave behind"
tiros | prep "through"
tun | pron "you (sing)"
us | conj "or"
veila | noun "life" (gen.pl. veileil rather than veilail)
vern | noun "spring" (as viewed from outside or as a single unit)
vilis | adj "green"
vot | pron "it"
wenser | noun "springtime, the only pretty ring-time, birds sing, hey-ding,
a-ding a-ding sweet lovers love the springtime" 

Sturnan has a basic word order of VSO, switching occasionally to SVO. It's
common to omit the subject, allowed to omit the object or the verb (though
neither of the latter are popular, with the exception of the copula). Noun
phrases consist of determiners (usually only articles but also quantifiers such
as "a few" or "several") followed by the noun followed by the adjectives
followed by secondary determiners (mostly genitive phrases). Finally come the
prepositional phrases, which naturally have the preposition followed by a noun
phrase. Beyond this, word order is somewhat fluid, as you can see in the text
(or perhaps I only see it in comparison with my previous knowledge in the
language).

Verbs inflect for person, number, and tense. There is only one tense used here,
along with all three persons and only one number each. These are expressed
through suffixes that take place of the infinitive affix (which is used
lexically). There is also a participle form and an active gerund (such as do ->
doer).

    1st person plural: -in
    2nd person singular: -ut
    3rd person singular: -ag
    Present participle: -eln
    Active gerund: -ina
    Infinitive: -ei 

Nouns inflect for two cases: the unmarked nominative and the genitive. Both have
singular and plural, though it would be fair to say that the genitive affix
comes after the plural inflection. Nouns ending in -a or consonants form plurals
by adding -i, except for those ending in -t, which for some reason replace that
with -g /s`/ in the plural. All others form plurals by adding -dh /D/. When the
plural has a consonant ending, the genitive forms in -el (plural -il);
otherwise, just append -l to the stem (or the stem with plural marker).

Adjectives, as well as participles, inflect like nouns but lack the genitive
case. They also feature zero-derivation nominal forms (so an adjective can
function like a noun).