Mini-ma Beginner Course

Mini-ma v1.3 (formerly Mini+).

Language version: v1.3.

This course teaches Mini-ma v1.3 as a small, regular language for complete beginners. It is meant for self-study: read one lesson at a time, say the examples aloud, and do the short exercises before checking the answer key.

Mini-ma v1.3 is the standard form taught here. Plain Mini sometimes allows shorter or looser forms, but this course always teaches the clearer Mini-ma pattern first.

This course also keeps formal Mini-ma production separate from compatibility recognition. The lessons teach the forms recommended for new writing. Older plain-Mini alternants may still be recognized when reading legacy material, but they are not taught here as parallel standard options.

Start Here

• Begin with the one-page overview if you want the whole system in one pass.
• Read pronunciation and spelling before Lesson 1.
• Start the lesson sequence at Lesson 1.

Course Map

Quick Start

Mini-ma is built on a few simple ideas:

1. Words are flexible. The same word can act like a noun, verb, or adjective depending on the sentence.
2. Three small markers do most of the grammar:
   • i marks a verb
   • a marks a noun complement or direct object
   • e marks an adjective complement
3. Word order is regular:
   • modifiers come before nouns
   • adverbs usually come after the verb
4. Mini-ma prefers explicit forms:
   • plu for clear plural
   • sa for clear possession
   • ki for non-interrogative subordinate clauses
   • se for "if" and embedded "whether"
   • ke-man, ke-loke, ke-tempo, ke-rason, and ke-modo for specific questions
   • di and oda for a clear this/that contrast
5. New meanings are often built with compounds:
   • regen-uti = umbrella
   • ke-rason = why
6. Some grammatical series are fixed standard sets, not open word-building patterns:
   • the question set ke-man, ke-loke, ke-tempo, ke-rason, ke-modo
   • the negative-indefinite set nulo-man, nulo-loke, nulo-tempo, nulo-modo, nulo-kosa
7. Mini-ma can also adopt a few high-value new words when there is a real gap:
   • tenu = light in weight
   • proba = likely, probable

Formal Mini-ma also has clear yes-no questions with ke?, quantity questions with ke mui, plural-address forms like tu-ale, reciprocal forms like muto, reflexive forms like mi-ego, subjectless imperatives that keep i, listed ordinals such as uno-loke, duo-loke, and san-loke, and a few formal discourse particles such as tamen, voka, and tema.

The three main sentence patterns are:

[subject] i [verb] (a [object])
[subject] a [noun]
[subject] e [adjective]

Examples:

mi i manja
I eat.

si a man
He or she is a person.

vasa e kula
The water is cold.