Editing Macedonian language (section)

==Grammar==
{{Main|Macedonian grammar}}

Macedonian grammar is markedly [[Analytic language|analytic]] in comparison with other Slavic languages, having lost the common Slavic [[case system]]. The Macedonian language shows some special and, in some cases, unique characteristics due to its central position in the Balkans. Literary Macedonian is the only South Slavic literary language that has three forms of the definite article, based on the degree of proximity to the speaker, and a perfect tense formed by means of an [[auxiliary verb]] "to have", followed by a [[past tense|past]] participle in the [[Neuter gender|neuter]], also known as the [[verbal adjective]]. Other features that are only found in Macedonian and not in other Slavic languages include the antepenultimate accent and the use of the same vocal ending for all verbs in first person, present simple (''глед-'''a'''-м'', ''јад-'''а'''-м'', ''скок-'''а'''-м'').{{sfn|Bojkovska|Minova-Gjurkova|Pandev|Cvetanovski|2008|page=43}} Macedonian distinguishes at least 12 major [[part of speech|word classes]], five of which are modifiable and include nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numbers and verbs and seven of which are invariant and include [[adverb]]s, prepositions, [[conjunction (grammar)|conjunction]]s, [[interjection]]s, [[Grammatical particle|particles]] and [[Linguistic modality|modal words]].{{sfn|Bojkovska|Minova-Gjurkova|Pandev|Cvetanovski|2008|p={{page needed|date=August 2021}}}}

===Nouns===
Macedonian [[noun]]s (''именки'') belong to one of three [[Grammatical gender|genders]] (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and are [[Inflection|inflected]] for [[Grammatical number|number]] (singular and plural), and marginally for [[grammatical case|case]]. The gender opposition is not distinctively marked in the plural.{{sfn|Friedman|2001|p=40}} Masculine nouns usually end in a consonant or a vowel (''-a'', ''-o''  or ''-e'') and neuter nouns end in a vowel (''-o'' or ''-e''). Virtually all feminine nouns end in the same vowel, ''-a''.{{sfn|Bogdanoska|2008}}

The vocative of nouns is the only remaining case in the Macedonian language and is used to address a person directly. The vocative case always ends with a vowel, which can be either an -у (''јунаку'': hero vocative) or an -e (''човече'': man vocative) to the root of masculine nouns. For feminine nouns, the most common final vowel ending in the vocative is -o (''душо'', sweetheart vocative; ''жено'', wife vocative). The final suffix -e can be used in the following cases: three or polysyllabic words with the ending ''-ица'' (''мајчице'', mother vocative), female given names that end with ''-ка'': ''Ратка'' becomes ''Ратке'' and ''-ја'': ''Марија'' becomes ''Марије'' or ''Маријо''. There is no vocative case in neuter nouns. The role of the vocative is only facultative and there is a general tendency of vocative loss in the language since its use is considered impolite and dialectal.{{sfn|Friedman|2001|page=23}} The vocative can also be expressed by changing the tone.{{sfn|Bogdanoska|2008}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Minova Gjurkova|first=Liljana |year=1994|title=Синтакса на македонскиот стандарден јазик|trans-title=Syntax of the standard Macedonian language|language=mk}}</ref>

There are three different types of plural: regular, counted and [[collective noun|collective]]. The first plural type is most common and used to indicate regular plurality of nouns: ''маж - мажи'' (a man - men), ''маса - маси'' (a table - table), ''село - села'' (a village - villages). There are various suffixes that are used and they differ per gender; a linguistic feature not found in other Slavic languages is the use of the suffix ''-иња'' to form plural of neuter nouns ending in ''-е'': ''пиле - пилиња'' (a chick - chicks).{{sfn|Bojkovska|Minova-Gjurkova|Pandev|Cvetanovski|2008|page=43}} Counted plural is used when a number or a [[quantifier (linguistics)|quantifier]] precedes the noun; suffixes to express this type of plurality do not correspond with the regular plurality suffixes: ''два молива'' (two pencils), ''три листа'' (three leaves), ''неколку часа'' (several hours). The collective plural is used for nouns that can be viewed as a single unit: ''лисје'' (a pile of leaves), ''ридје'' (a unit of hills). Irregular plural forms also exist in the language: ''дете - деца'' (child - children).{{sfn|Bogdanoska|2008}}

====Definiteness====
{|class="wikitable floatright"
|-
|+The definite articles
|-
!rowspan="2" |
!colspan="3" | Singular
!colspan="3" | Plural
|-
!Masculine
!Feminine
!Neuter
!Masculine
!Feminine
!Neuter
|-
!Unspecified
| ''маж'''от'''''
| ''жена'''та'''''
| ''дете'''то'''''
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| ''мажи'''те'''''/''жени'''те'''''
| ''деца'''та'''''
|-
!Proximate
| ''маж'''ов'''''
| ''жена'''ва'''''
| ''дете'''вo'''''
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| ''мажи'''ве'''''/''жени'''ве'''''
|  ''деца'''ва'''''
|-
!Distal
| ''маж'''он'''''
| ''жена'''на'''''
| ''дете'''нo'''''
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| ''мажи'''не'''''/''жени'''не'''''
| ''деца'''на'''''
|}

A characteristic feature of the nominal system is the indication of [[definiteness]]. As with other Slavic languages, there is no [[indefinite article]] in Macedonian. The [[definite article]] in Macedonian is postpositive, i.e. it is added as a suffix to nouns. An individual feature of the Macedonian language is the use of three definite articles, inflected for gender and related to the position of the object, which can be unspecified, proximate or distal.
* Definite articles ''-ов, -ва, -во, -ве'' are used for objects located close to the speaker (''човек'''ов''''': - this person here)
* Definite articles ''-он, -на, -но, -не'' are used for objects located further away from the speaker that can still be perceived (''жена'''на''''': - that woman there)
* Definite articles ''-от, -та, -то, -те'' are most commonly used as general indicators of definiteness regardless of the referred object's position (''дете'''то''''': the child). Additionally, these suffixes can be used to indicate objects referred to by the speaker that are in the proximity of the listener, e.g. ''дај ми ја книгата што е до тебе'' - give me the book next to you.{{sfn|Bojkovska|Minova-Gjurkova|Pandev|Cvetanovski|2008|p={{page needed|date=August 2021}}}}

[[Proper nouns]] are per definition definite and are not usually used together with an article, although exceptions exist in the spoken and literary language such as ''Совче'''то''''', ''Маре'''то''''', ''Наде'''то''''' to demonstrate feelings of [[endearment]] to a person.

===Adjectives===
Adjectives accompany nouns and serve to provide additional information about their referents. Macedonian adjectives [[Agreement (linguistics)|agree]] in form with the noun they modify and are thus inflected for gender, number and definiteness and  ''убав'' changes to ''убава'' (''убава жена'', a beautiful woman) when used to describe a feminine noun, ''убаво'' when used to describe a neuter noun (''убаво дете'', a beautiful child) and ''убави'' when used to form the plural (''убави мажи, убави жени, убави деца'').{{sfn|Bogdanoska|2008}}

Adjectives can be analytically inflected for degree of [[Comparison (grammar)|comparison]] with the prefix ''по-'' marking the [[comparative]] and the prefix ''нај-'' marking the [[superlative]]. Both prefixes cannot be written separately from the adjective: ''Марија е паметна девојка'' (Marija is a smart girl), ''Марија е попаметна од Сара'' (Marija is smarter than Sara), ''Марија е најпаметната девојка во нејзиниот клас'' (Marija is the smartest girl in her class). The only adjective with an irregular comparative and superlative form is ''многу'' which becomes ''повеќе'' in the comparative and ''најмногу'' in the superlative form.{{sfn|Friedman|2001|p=27}} Another modification of adjectives is the use of the prefixes ''при-'' and ''пре-'' which can also be used as a form of comparison: ''престар човек'' (a very old man) or ''пристар човек'' (a somewhat old man).{{sfn|Bojkovska|Minova-Gjurkova|Pandev|Cvetanovski|2008|p={{page needed|date=August 2021}}}}

===Pronouns===
Three types of pronouns can be distinguished in Macedonian: [[personal pronouns|personal]] (''лични''), [[relative pronouns|relative]] (''лично-предметни'') and [[demonstrative pronouns|demonstrative]] (''показни''). Case relations are marked in pronouns. Personal pronouns in Macedonian appear in three genders and both in singular and plural. They can also appear either as [[accusative|direct]] or [[dative|indirect object]] in long or short forms. Depending on whether a definite direct or indirect object is used, a [[clitic pronoun]] will refer to the object with the verb: ''Јас не му ја дадов книгата на момчето'' ("I did not give the book to the boy").{{sfn|Friedman|Garry|Rubino|2001|page=437}} The direct object is a remnant of the accusative case and the indirect of the dative. Reflexive pronouns also have forms for both direct and indirect objects: ''себе се'', ''себе си''. Examples of personal pronouns are shown below:
* Personal pronoun: '''''Јас''' читам книга''. ("I am reading a book")
* Direct object pronoun: ''Таа '''мене ме''' виде во киното''. ("She saw me at the cinema")
* Indirect object pronoun: ''Тој '''мене ми''' рече да дојдам''. ("He told me to come")

Relative pronouns can refer to a person (''кој, која, кое'' - who), objects (''што'' - which) or serve as indicators of possession (''чиј, чија, чие'' - whose) in the function of a question or a relative word. These pronouns are inflected for gender and number and other word forms can be derived from them (''никој'' - nobody, ''нешто'' - something, ''сечиј'' - everybody's). There are three groups of demonstrative pronouns that can indicate proximate (''овој'' - this one (mas.)), distal (''онаа'' - the one there (fem.)) and unspecific (''тоа'' - that one (neut.)) objects. These pronouns have served as a basis for the definite article.{{sfn|Bojkovska|Minova-Gjurkova|Pandev|Cvetanovski|2008|p={{page needed|date=August 2021}}}}{{sfn|Bogdanoska|2008}}

{|class="wikitable"
|+Macedonian personal pronouns
|-
!Person
!Singular
!Direct object
!Indirect object
!Plural
!Direct object
!Indirect object
|-
!1.
| ''јас''
| ''мене ме''
| ''мене ми''
| ''ние''
| ''нас нѐ''
| ''нам ни''
|-
!2.
| ''ти''<br />''вие'' (formal)
| ''тебе те''<br />''вас ве'' (formal)
| ''тебе ти''<br />''вас ви'' (formal)
| ''вие''
| ''вас ве''
| ''вас ви''
|-
!3.
| ''тој'' (masculine)<br />''таа'' (feminine)<br />''тоа'' (neuter)
| ''него го'' (masc./neut.)<br />''неа ја'' (fem.)
| ''нему му'' (masc./neut.)<br />''нејзе ѝ'' (fem.)
| ''тие''
| ''нив ги''
| ''ним им''
|}

===Verbs===
{{Main|Macedonian conjugation}}
Macedonian verbs agree with the subject in [[grammatical person|person]] (first, second or third) and number (singular or plural). Some dependent verb constructions (''нелични глаголски форми'') such as verbal adjectives (''глаголска придавка'': ''плетен/плетена''), verbal l-form (''глаголска л-форма'': ''играл/играла'') and [[verbal noun]] (''глаголска именка'': ''плетење'') also demonstrate gender. There are several other grammatical categories typical of Macedonian verbs, namely type, transitiveness, mood, superordinate aspect (imperfective/perfective [[grammatical aspect|aspect]]).{{sfn|Friedman|2001|page=33}} Verb forms can also be classified as simple, with eight possible verb constructions or complex with ten possible constructions.{{sfn|Bogdanoska|2008}}

Macedonian has developed a grammatical category which specifies the opposition of witnessed and reported actions (also known as renarration). Per this grammatical category, one can distinguish between ''минато определено'' i.e. definite past, denoting events that the speaker witnessed at a given definite time point, and ''минато неопределено'' i.e. indefinite past denoting events that did not occur at a definite time point or events reported to the speaker, excluding the time component in the latter case. Examples: ''Но, потоа се случија работи за кои не знаев'' ("But then things happened that I did not know about") vs. ''Ми кажаа дека потоа се случиле работи за кои не знаев'' ("They told me that after, things happened that I did not know about").{{sfn|Friedman|2001|page=43}}

====Tense====
{|class="wikitable floatleft"
|+Conjugation of ''сум'' in present, aorist, present perfect and future tense
|-
!Person
!Singular
!Plural
|-
!1.
| ''сум'', ''бев'', ''сум бил'', ''ќе бидам''
| ''сме'', ''бевме'', ''сме биле'', ''ќе бидеме''
|-
!2.
| ''си'', ''беше'', ''си бил'', ''ќе бидеш''
| ''сте'', ''бевте'', ''сте биле'', ''ќе бидете''
|-
!3.
| ''е'', ''беше'', ''бил'', ''ќе биде''
| ''се'', ''беа'', ''биле'', ''ќе бидат''
|}

The present tense in Macedonian is formed by adding a suffix to the verb stem which is inflected per person, form and number of the subject. Macedonian verbs are conventionally divided into three main conjugations according to the [[thematic vowel]] used in the [[citation form]] (i.e. {{Smallcaps|{{lc:[[Grammatical person|3p]]-[[Present tense|pres]]-[[Grammatical number|sg]]}}}}).{{sfn|Bojkovska|Minova-Gjurkova|Pandev|Cvetanovski|2008|p={{page needed|date=August 2021}}}} These groups are: ''a''-group, ''e''-group and ''и''-group. Furthermore, the ''и''-subgroup is divided into three more subgroups: ''а-'', ''е-'' and ''и-''subgroups. The verb ''сум'' (to be) is the only exception to the rule as it ends with a consonant and is conjugated as an irregular verb.

The perfect tense can be formed using both to be (''сум'') and to have (''има'') as [[auxiliary verbs]]. The first form inflects the verb for person and uses a past active participle: ''сум видел многу работи'' ("I have seen a lot of things"). The latter form makes use of a clitic that agrees in number and gender with the object of the sentence and the passive participle of the verb in its uninflected form (''го имам гледано филмот'', "I have seen that movie").{{sfn|Usikova|2005|page=106}}{{sfn|Friedman|2001|page=33}} Another past form, the aorist is used to describe actions that have finished at a given moment in the past: ''одев'' ("I walked"), ''скокаа'' ("they jumped").{{sfn|Bogdanoska|2008}}

Future forms of verbs are conjugated using the particle ''ќе'' followed by the verb conjugated in present tense, ''ќе одам'' (I will go). The construction used to express negation in the future can be formed by either adding the negation particle at the beginning ''не ќе одам'' (I will not go) or using the construction ''нема да'' (''нема да одам''). There is no difference in meaning, although the latter form is more commonly used in spoken language. Another future tense is future in the past which is formed using the clitic ''ќе'' and the past tense of the verb inflected for person, ''таа ќе заминеше'' ("she would have left").{{sfn|Bogdanoska|2008}}

====Aspect, voice and mood====
Similar to other Slavic languages, Macedonian verbs have a grammatical aspect (''глаголски вид'') that is a [[Grammatical aspect in Slavic languages|typical feature of Slavic languages]]. Verbs can be divided into [[imperfective aspect|imperfective]] (''несвршени'') and [[perfective aspect|perfective]] (''свршени'') indicating actions whose time duration is unknown or occur repetitively or those that show an action that is finished in one moment. The former group of verbs can be subdivided into verbs which take place without interruption (e.g. ''Тој спие цел ден'', "He sleeps all day long) or those that signify repeated actions (e.g. ''Ја бараше книгата но не можеше да ја најде'', "He was looking for the book but he could not find it"). Perfective verbs are usually formed by adding prefixes to the stem of the verb, depending on which, they can express actions that took place in one moment (''чукна'', "knocked"), actions that have just begun (''запеа'', "start to sing"), actions that have ended (''прочита'', "read") or partial actions that last for short periods of time (''поработи'', "worked").{{sfn|Bogdanoska|2008}}

The contrast between transitive and intransitive verbs can be expressed analytically or syntactically and virtually all verbs denoting actions performed by living beings can become transitive if a short personal pronoun is added: ''Тоj легна'' ("He laid down") vs. ''Тоj го легна детето'' ("He laid the child down"). Additionally, verbs which are expressed with the reflexive pronoun ''се'' can become transitive by using any of the contracted pronoun forms for the direct object: ''Тој '''се''' смее'' - He is laughing, vs. ''Тој '''ме''' смее'' - "He is making me laugh"). Some verbs such as sleep or die do not traditionally have the property of being transitive.{{sfn|Usikova|2005|page=117}}

Macedonian verbs have three [[grammatical moods]] (''глаголски начин''): [[indicative]], [[imperative mood|imperative]] and [[conditional mood|conditional]]. The imperative mood can express both a wish or an order to finish a certain action. The imperative only has forms for the second person and is formed using the suffixes ''-ј'' (''пеј''; sing) or ''-и'' (''оди'', walk) for singular and ''-јте'' (''пејте'', sing) or ''-ете'' for plural (''одете'', walk). The first and third subject forms in singular and plural express indirect orders and are conjugated using ''да'' or ''нека'' and the verb in present tense (''да живееме долго'', may we live long). In addition to its primary functions, the imperative is used to indicate actions in the past, eternal truths as is the case in sayings and a condition. The Macedonian conditional is conjugated in the same way for all three persons using the particle ''би'' and the verbal l-form,  ''би читал'' (I/you/he would read).{{sfn|Bogdanoska|2008}}

===Syntax===
Macedonian syntax has a [[subject-verb-object]] (SVO) [[word order]] which is nevertheless flexible and can be [[topicalization|topicalized]].{{sfn|Friedman|2001}} For instance, the sentence ''Марија го сака Иван'' (Marija loves Ivan) can become of the [[object–verb–subject]] (OVS) form as well, ''Иван го сака Марија''.{{sfn|Usikova|2005|page=116}} Topicalization can also be achieved using a combination of word order and intonation; as an example all of the following sentences give a different point of emphasis:
* ''Мачката ја каса кучето.'' – The dog bites the cat (the focus is on the object)
* ''Кучето мачката ја каса.'' – The dog bites the cat (the focus is on the object)
* ''Мачката кучето ја каса.'' – The dog bites the cat (the focus is on the subject)
* ''Ја каса кучето мачката.'' – The dog bites the cat (the focus is on both the subject and the verb)
* ''Ја каса мачката кучето.'' – The dog bites the cat (the focus is on the verb and the object){{sfn|Friedman|2001|p=50}}

Macedonian is a [[null-subject language]] which means that the subject pronoun can be omitted, for instance ''Што сакаш (ти)?'' (what do you want?), ''(јас) читам книга'' (I am reading a book), ''(ние) го видовме'' (we saw him).{{sfn|Usikova|2005|page=116}} Macedonian [[passive voice|passive]] construction is formed using the short reflexive pronoun ''се'' (''девојчето се уплаши'', the girl got scared) or a combination of the verb "to be" with verbal adjectives (''Тој е миен'', he is washed). In the former case, the active-passive distinction is not very clear.{{sfn|Usikova|2005|page=117}} Subordinate clauses in Macedonian are introduced using [[relativizer]]s, which can be wh-question words or relative pronouns.{{sfn|Friedman|2001|p=58}} A [[Interlinear gloss|glossed]] example of this is:

{{interlinear|abbreviations=ITR:intransitive; IM:imperfect|indent=3
|човек-от со кого(што) се шета-ше вчера
|person-DEF with whom(that) ITR stroll-3SG.IM yesterday
|the person with whom he walked yesterday{{sfn|Friedman|2001|p=58}}}}

Due to the absence of a case system, Macedonian makes wide use of [[prepositions]] (''предлози'') to express relationships between words in a sentence. The most important Macedonian preposition is ''на'' which can have local ('on') or motional meanings ('to').{{sfn|Friedman|2001|p=49}} As a replacement for the [[dative case]], the preposition ''на'' is used in combination with a short indirect object form to denote an action that is related to the indirect object of a sentence, ''Му давам книга на Иван'' (I am giving a book to Ivan), ''Им велам нешто на децата'' (I am saying something to the children).{{sfn|Usikova|2005|page=116}} Additionally, ''на'' can serve to replace the [[genitive case]] and express possession, ''таткото на другар ми'' (my friend's father).{{sfn|Friedman|2001|p=49}}