Trigedasleng

Trigedasleng is a language spoken by the group known as Grounders. The Woods Clan and Nomadic Grounders are the most commonly seen using this language. Luna's Clan may also speak this language as Lincoln was teaching Octavia Trigedasleng on their way there. However, the language is a universal language, meaning most if not all Grounders know this language. Trigedasleng is a Creole English that has evolved over three generations. As a result, while the words might not be recognizable at first, on closer examination many of them can be identified as slurred English words which are now pronounced differently and which took on different grammatical meanings, i.e. "kru" apparently stems from "crew", as in "our crew", but which is now broadly used to mean "people" in general.

Grounders often speak Trigedasleng around their own. However, they speak English around their enemies.

The language

 * "If you take a look, you should be able to figure some things out. In effect, the Grounder language (called Trigedasleng) is an evolved form of English. All the words in the language come from English; the grammar and pronunciation’s just changed a little bit (and the meanings of words)." -- David J. Peterson, language creator.


 * "...it is basically a heavily-accented dialect of American English. I’m actually surprised when people working on the show don’t pick up on it (I think it’s the use of a standard romanization as opposed to using conventional English spellings). I think a couple people have picked up on it (Ryan Causey, script coordinator for The 100, has got it), but for the most part, the actors have been approaching it like a totally foreign language—which I think is cool (gives it more of an other-worldly sound), but unnecessary. I think it takes very little work for a native English speaker to understand all of it." -- Peterson.

The Grounders' developed their own language/dialect partially due to simple linguistic drift, but also because there was a pressure for them to develop code-terms and euphemisms that their enemies could not readily understand, particularly the Mountain Men of Mount Weather. Instead of calling the leader of a group of warriors "commander", they refer to their commander as "head" - though their word for "head" slurred into "heda". Their warriors still learn correct English, because the Mountain Men still speak regular English, and they want to be able to eavesdrop on their patrols.

Below is some terminology that is either often used, or is part of a plotline.


 * Octavia: "Ai laik Okteivia kom Skaikru en ai gaf gouthru klir."
 * Translation: "I'm Octavia of the Sky People, I seek safe passage".
 * Grounders : "Jus drein jus daun!"
 * Translation: "Blood demands blood!"

When David J. Peterson invented the Grounder language, he came up with a phonetic way of writing it, to try to reflect how pronunciation has slurred over three generations into a unique Grounder accent. For example, the word "I" is pretty much the same, but he writes it in the scripts as "Ai" to try to reflect how the Grounders specifically pronounce it. Peterson did acknowledge, however, that this phonetic writing system is not entirely sacrosanct - he wrote it for the sake of the actors, but there is no "official" way to write it, because the Grounders might not even have a writing system anymore.

Pronouns

 * I: "ai"
 * Slurred from English pronounciation
 * You: "yu"
 * Slurred from English pronunciation
 * He/She/It: "em"
 * Slurred from English "Him". The Third Person Singular in many languages is subdivided between "He, She, It" forms.  Trigedasleng lacks this distinction, they all came to blur together under "em" (him).
 * Us: "osir" (inclusive) OR "oso" (exclusive)
 * Possibly slurred from "us" to "us-o" to "os-o". Example:  "Ai don tel em bilaik oso ste klir" = "I told him that we were safe."
 * Them: "emo"
 * Slurred from "'em-all" = "them all". Pronounced sort of like "em-awe", not like "Emo", the pseudo-Goth clothing style.

A distinction is no longer made between the subject/object forms, I/me and he/him. "Ai fis em op" = "I fix him up", while "Em fis ai op" = "He fix me up". The simplified forms don't change depending on whether they are used as subjects or objects. Third Person Singular forms were all simplified under "em", derived from "him" - the other forms "he", "she", "her", and "it" do not exist anymore.

English does not make a distinction between inclusive and exclusive "we", though other languages such as Hawaiian do. "Osir" is used when the speaker is referring to everyone present, including who he is addressing. "Oso" is used when the speaker does not include the person he is addressing when he says "we". For example, if two Grounder warriors come up to their commander and one says "I think we should scout out that hill ahead", he would use "oso" if he meant "we, that is, the two of us" - but he would use "osir" if he meant "we, that is, all three of us including you our commander". Similarly, if two Grounder scouts were attacked by Reapers and then report back to their commander, they would say "we were attacked" using "oso" (the exclusive form) because the commander himself was not with them and thus was not attacked.

The plural forms "we" and "them" don't exist either: "Oso" can mean "we" or "us", and "emo" can mean "they" or "them". Apparently "emo" can even refer to "these" or "those": "kamp raun emo tri" = "Take the trees", sort of like "take them trees".

Also it might not have a Second Person Plural form ("Vous" in French, rendered "You all" in English, when addressing a group of people directly) - though English doesn't really have a one-for-one equivalent to this form either, often just re-using "You", so maybe Trigedasleng would also just use "yu".

Apparently there are no possessive pronounces such as "your": "Yu gonplei ste odon" = "your fight is over" - "yu" being the same as the pronoun "you". Similarly, "Ai gonplei ste odon" = "my fight is over", making no distinction between "I/me" and "my". It would seem that possession is supposed to be implied by context. Similarly, no distinct "their" form exists, "emo" is simply re-used: "emo honon" = "their prisoners".

Nouns

 * Passage : "Gouthru"
 * "Go-through".
 * Healer : fisa
 * Fis from the english "fixer" (the "-er" suffix now tends to be slurred as an "-a" suffix).
 * Murderer : ripa
 * Slurred from English "ripper"/"reaper". Literally used as a proper noun to refer to Reapers.
 * Fight : Gonplei
 * Gon from the english "gun".
 * plei from the english "plei", play/fight - "gun play" = "gun fight" = "fight" in general.
 * Group: "-kru" suffix
 * Slurred from english "crew", now meaning "group" or "people" in general.
 * Sky: skai (slurred from English)
 * Sky People: skaikru
 * Slurred from english "sky-crew", "crew" now meaning "people". What the Grounders call the humans who survived the nuclear war in orbital space stations.
 * Warrior : gona
 * Gona from the english "gunner".
 * Warriors/army : Gonakru
 * "Gunner-crew", slurred from English.
 * English (language) : Gonasleng ("the language of warriors"; only warriors learn to speak English)
 * "Gunner-slang" = "Gunners-language".
 * Language: " 'sleng "
 * From English "slang", now used as "language" in general.
 * Commander: "Heda"
 * Apparently slurred from English "head", as in "head officer". "Heda" is gender neutral, so it doesn't change if the commander is male or female.
 * Grounders : Trigedakru
 * Meaning "Tree People", the Grounders' name for themselves. "-Kru" means "people". "Tri-" = "tree"; "-geda" = "gather". Literally, "tri-geda" means "tree-gather(ing)" - "a gathering of trees" = "forest".  Their language stopped using "-ing" to indicate a participle.  Thus "Tri-geda-kru" = "Tree-gather-crew" = "Forest-Crew" = "Forest People".  Officially translated into English as "Tree People".
 * Shadows: "trikova"
 * Slurred from English "tree-cover", because that's what casts shadows in the forest.
 * Odon : over/done/finished
 * Perhaps slurred from "over and done"
 * Nowe : never
 * Apparently slurred from "no way"
 * Blood: "Jus"
 * Apparently slurred from "juice"
 * Tunnels: "sobwe"
 * Slurred from "subway" - many tunnels that Reapers hide in actually are old abandoned subway tunnels.
 * Another Time: "Nodotaim"
 * "Mebi oso na hit choda op nodotaim" = "May we meet again/Maybe we will meet again later (in the future)".
 * Prisoners: "Honon"
 * Unknown derivation.
 * Number: "Noma"
 * Slurred from English.
 * Mother : Nomon
 * Father : Nontu
 * Over time, Grounder tribes surviving after the nuclear war didn't want to tip off scouts from hostile other tribes about who their leaders were, which in clans tended to be mothers and fathers. So they started using the euphemisms "Number One" and "Number Two" to refer to "Mother" and "Father", respectively. Over the generations these got slurred into "Nom-on" and "Nom-tu".
 * "Branwada" = literally, "Brown Water". Came to be used as an insult/expletive by the Grounders.
 * Slurred from "Brown Water". In the years after the nuclear war, the basic needs of finding drinking water clean enough for human consumption were often hard to meet.  "Brown Water" was a generic term for water which was not suitable for drinking, either because it was simply fetid (there are no water treatment plants), or because it was contaminated by chemicals.  Over the decades it became an insult or expletive among the Grounders, i.e. saying "this thing is Brown Water!" is similar to the expression "this thing is trash!" ~ "not useful", "worthless".

Adjectives
At least some adjectives seem to follow the noun they describe, which is more like French usage than English usage (though due to the influence of French on medieval English, there are some current English adjectives that follow this pattern).


 * Safe: "klir"
 * Slurred from "clear"; used in "gouthru klir" = "go-through clear" = "safe passage", as in "clean getaway".
 * Lying: "spichen"
 * "Ai don fis disha spichen gona op" = "I cured this lying warrior." "I done fix this (lying) gunner up".  It isn't clear what "spichen" derives from in English.
 * Hidden: "stelt"
 * Slurred from English "stealth".

Demonstratives
Trigedasleng lacks definite and indefinite articles: "the" and "a, an".

It does apparently have demonstrative adjectives: "this, that, these".


 * That: "Daun"
 * "Daun ste pleni" = "that is enough".
 * The demonstrative "That" specifically means when "that" is used to describe something, "that warrior", "that tree", etc. The word "that" is also used to make relative or subordinate clauses in English:  "he told me that you saw a warrior".  Trigedasleng uses a different word for such uses:  "Bilaik".
 * This: "Disha"
 * Slurred from English. "Ai don fis disha spichen gona op" = "I done fix this lying gunner up" = "I cured this lying warrior."
 * These/Them: "Emo"
 * Apparently "emo" ("They"/"Them") can even refer to "these" or "those": "kamp raun emo tri" = "Take the trees", sort of like "take them trees".

Conjunctions

 * And: "an"
 * Slurred from English pronunciation, dropping the "d" at the end.
 * With personal pronouns, at least, apparently the conjunction "and" can simply be dropped if two of them appear in a row: for "you and me", instead of "yu an ai", the word used is "yu-mi" - though given that "me" doesn't normally exist, "yumi" might be a specific term for "you and me".

English makes relative clauses by linking phrases with the word "that", though in simple sentences this may be omitted. "The warrior I cured is safe" and "the warrior that I cured is safe" are both acceptable.

Trigedasleng makes relative clauses by linking them with "bilaik" instead of "that":


 * Gona bilaik ai don fis op ste klir = "The gunner (that) I done fix up still clear" = "The warrior (that) I done fixed up (is now and still is) safe"

It isn't certain what "bilaik" derives from in English.

Prepositions

 * From: "Kom"
 * Shortened from "come from": "Ai laik Okteivia kom Skaikru" = "I like Octavia come Sky Crew" = "I'm (like) Octavia, I come from the Sky People"

Numbers
Number words did not change that much from English, just pronounced with the same Grounder accent:


 * One - won
 * Two - tu
 * Three - thri
 * Four - fou
 * Five - fai
 * Six - sis
 * Seven - sen
 * Eight - eit
 * Nine - nain
 * Ten - ten
 * Hundred: "Honet"
 * Slurred from English.

Grammar structure
Two of the main changes that drove the grammar of Trigedasleng are:
 * The elimination of articles (i.e. a(n) and the).
 * The ascension of the verb + preposition system.

Tense conjugation was also simplified.

Tense conjugation
Verb forms apparently don't change in different tenses, instead relying on their auxiliary word. This happens in some English tenses already: "I walk" is present tense, "I will walk" is future tense - the form of "walk" has not changed, but the phrase gains the auxiliary "will". In English, however, the past tense is "I walked" - changing the form of "walk" by adding the suffix "-ed" instead of using an auxiliary the way future tense does. Trigedasleng uses "gon" instead of "will" for future tense (apparently derived from "I am going to" to "I'm gonna" to "I gon"); mirroring future tense, the past tense doesn't change the form of the main verb, but uses the auxiliary "don" (from "I done" to "I don").

Agreement between subject and verb has also been eliminated: the verb doesn't change form depending on the subject. In English, the forms are "I walk", "you walk", and "he/she/it walks" - gaining an "s" for third person "he". Trigedasleng stopped doing this, so the same verb form is used for each without distinction.

There are a few irregular verbs that still retain these distinctions: "Ai don breik em au" is "I done broke them out" = "I freed them", and is based on "broke" them out, instead of present tense form "break" them out".

The language has developed in a way that shows some resemblance to the french language. The participle is fixed in all tenses, and the use of an added word indicated the tense. The following example is about the verb 'fis' which means 'cure' or 'heal' derived from the verb 'to fix'.
 * Ai fis em op. “I cure him.”
 * Ai don fis em op. “I cured him.” - apparently slurred from "I done fix him up"
 * Ai na fis em op. “I’m going to cure him.” - apparently slurred from "I'm gonna fix him up" - "I'm going to heal him"
 * Ai ste fis em op. “I’m curing him.” - apparently slurred from "I'm still fixing him up." The English Present Participle is formed by adding the suffix "-ing" - "I am walking". Trigedasleng simply dropped this, and as with normal tenses, it is now simply signaled with the auxiliary word "ste" = "still". It also doesn't use "is, am" with the participle the way English does. Instead of "I am still fix-ing him up", it is now simply "I still fix him up", because "still" on its own indicates ongoing action the way "-ing" does. "Yu gonplei ste odon" means "Your fight is over" = "You gunplay still over-and-done" = "Your fight (is now and still continues to be) over"
 * Past participles are formed similarly: "Ai don ste fis em up" = "I done still fix him up" = "I was fixing him up" (ongoing action).

Active voice is when the subject is performing the action of the verb: "I hit (the ball)". Passive voice is then the subject is itself being acted upon by the verb: "I was hit (by the ball)". In English this is normally achieved using several auxiliaries and word order, though in other languages passive voice is created by changing the form of the verb itself. Trigedasleng forms passive voice by using the auxiliary "ge", apparently from "get":


 * "Em don ge fis up" = "He done get fix up" = "He was fixed up" = "He was healed".

Indicative Mood is "normal" mood for statements of fact; Subjunctive Mood is used in some languages to express uncertain or conditional things, such as future actions: "We read so that we may learn", or "We read in order to learn". English forms this using these auxiliary phrases, other languages have the verbs shift into Subjunctive forms. Subjunctive carries an idea of future action so there is sometimes overlap with future tenses. Trigedasleng forms such Subjunctive ideas as "Purpose Clauses" by simply using the Future tense: "Ai don fis em op na sis oso au" = "I done fix him up gonna assist us out" = "I fixed him up going to help us out" = "I healed him so that he may help us out". The regular future tense auxiliary formation "going to" is simply re-used in the sense of "in order to" or "so that he may".

The future tense particle can similarly be used in the Purpose Subjunctive sense of "for": "Ai don fis em op gon heda" = "I done fix him up gonna (going to) head" = "I cured him for the commander." - though this is essentially just a loose expansion of the "in order to Purpose idea: "I cured him (in order that / for ) the commander".

Verb + preposition system
English already has several verbs which need to be paired with a preposition: "take out", "take in", "take up", "take down", "take on", or "take up" - these words have related meanings but they are really different verbs (which just happen to be written as more than one distinct word). In contrast, most verbs in Trigedasleng require a verb particle. This sounds more complicated than it actually is: basically, in English it is preferable to say "he helped me" but more loosely it can be said as "he helped me out" - in Trigedasleng, it is required to use the extra "out" particle in "he helped me out".

Just as with "take out" or "take in", using a different preposition paired with the verb will change its meaning. There are about nine major verb particles used in Trigedasleng:


 * op (the most commonly used of these satellite-particles) - apparently slurred from "up": "fis op" = "fix up".
 * raun - apparently slurred from "round". "Kamp raun" = "camp around" = "go to, stay near".
 * daun - slurred from "down"
 * in
 * au - slurred from "out". "Breik au" = "Break out"
 * of
 * we - slurred from "away". "Pul we" = "Draw away", "Pull away/Pull back from your location".
 * thru - slurred from "through"
 * klin - slurred from "clean"

The more commonly used verb particles can have very broad meanings, while the more rarely used ones have more specialized meanings. For example, "klin" indicates a sense of finality or completion - "a clean cut" is one that abruptly stops, without tapering off. For example, in "The 48", Octavia tries to say "Ai laik Okteivia kom Skaikru en ai gaf gouthru klir", but she accidentally says "klin" instead of "klir" (apparently, "clean" instead of "clear"). In Trigedasleng, "gouthru" = "go-through" = "passage", and "go-through clear" means "safe passage" (sort of like "a clean getaway" or "the roads are clear"). "Go-through clean", however, means "Final Passage", and is a Grounder euphemism for suicide. Thus Octavia actually said, "And I want to commit suicide”, as opposed to “And I seek safe passage”, which is why Lincoln emphatically correcting her.

The crucial point, however, is that the verb and its satellite are a linked pair which goes around the direct object of the sentence: "I heal him" - "him" is the direct object, being acted upon by the verb. Thus "fis...op" has to go around the direct object, "em" (him). "Ai fis em op" = "I fix him up", which is acceptable. "Ai fis em" is not acceptable. Most verbs need to use satellite particles like this, so most verbs will need to put the two linked words around the direct object.

Verbs

 * Is, Am = "laik"
 * Slurred from english "like"; apparently mutated from the phrase, "I am, like, Octavia", (like in stereotypical Valley Girl usage), until "like" absorbed "am" entirely.
 * Note that this is exclusively used when the main verb of the sentence is "I am Octavia" or "She is Octavia", but not as an auxiliary word used with other verbs to form other tenses and participles: the Present Participle "I am healing" from English is formed in Trigedasleng by simply saying, "Ai ste fis" = "I still fix", with "ste" (still) now implying ongoing or continuous action.
 * "Ste" (still) can at times practically have the force of "is", depending on the construction of the sentence, because it stands for "is...-ing" in "he IS heal-ING". "Gona bilaik ai don fis op ste klir" = "The gunner (that) I done fix up still clear" = "The warrior (that) I done fixed up (is now and still is) safe" = "The warrior I healed IS safe".
 * "Ste" can also mean "stay", or "remain".
 * Have (past tense auxiliary): "don"
 * "Ai don fis em op" = "I done fix him up" = "I have healed him"
 * Will; Going to (future tense auxiliary): "Na"
 * From "Gonna" = "Going to". "Ai na fis em op".
 * Tell = "tel"
 * "Ai don tel em bilaik oso ste klir" = "I done tell him (that) us still clear" = "I told him (that) we were (still) safe."
 * Help = "sis"
 * From "assist". Often uses the adverb "au", a slurred from of "out", just as English uses the phrase "help us out": "Ai don fis em op na sis oso au" = "I done fix him up gonna assist us out" = I cured him (in order that he will) help us out"
 * Seek, Need: "gaf"
 * Sounds like "gaff", apparently deriving from "go-fer" = "go-for", i.e. "I go out for something, I go out to seek something," etc. Can also mean "Need".
 * Fall behind: "drag raun"
 * Apparently "drag around", i.e. "dawdle", fall behind.
 * Quiet / Be quiet : Shof op
 * Slurred form of "shut up", but it is no longer considered a rude command; now equivalent to simply "be quiet".
 * Wait, Stop : Hod op
 * Slurred from the english "hold up".
 * Strike, attack en masse (large scale military strike involving multiple warriors): "Zog raun"
 * "Den, oso na zog raun kom trikova" = "Then, we strike from the shadows."  To attack en masse through overwhelming numbers.  Slurred half-remembered cultural memory of the military term, "Zerg Rush" = "Zerg Run" = "Zog Raun".
 * Find: "hon"
 * Perhaps slurred from "hone"? "Ai don hon em op!" = "I done hone him up" = "I (have) found him"
 * Fall: "slip daun"
 * Slurred from "slip down". "Em slip daun kom skai!" = "Him slip down come sky!" = "He fell (down) from the sky!".

Adverbs

 * Enough: "pleni"
 * Slurred from "plenty". "That is enough" = "Daun ste pleni".  "Em pleni" (literally, "It enough") is a an expression meaning "Enough!" (as a command for someone to stop what they're doing), apparently clipped from a longer phrase.
 * Then: "den"
 * Slurred from English. "Den, oso na zog raun kom trikova." = "Then, we strike from the shadows."

Throughout the Series

 * -|Season Two =

In The 48, Octavia Blake practices the phrase Lincoln told her in Trigedasleng. Octavia expresses that she doesn't understand why she needs to learn it. Lincoln explains that only the warriors, in his clan, speak English and in order to blend in she needs to speak his native language.

In Inclement Weather, Octavia uses Trigedasleng to negotiate for Lincoln's life. Indra also uses this language to speak with Octavia.

In Reapercussions, Indra and her people use Trigedasleng to discuss strategy for the assault on some Reapers to get Nyko and their people back.
 * 'Taim yu drag raun, taim yu ge ban au. Oso souda lok em veida tro op fou bilaik emo hon emo sobwe op. Pas daun, em bilaik—'
 * Translation : “If you fall behind, you get left behind. We must find the raiding party before they reach the tunnels. After that, it is—”.

Also in Reapercussions, Indra gives instructions:


 * Hod op. Den, oso na zog raun kom trikova. Yo tu: kamp raun emo tri. Artigas, yumi na ste stelt kom taim Ripa ge pul we kom emo honon. Den, oso na breik oso kru au.
 * Translation: "Stop. Then, we (will) strike from the shadows. You two: take the trees. Artigas, you and I will remain hidden until the Reapers are drawn away from their prisoners. Then, we free our people."

Notes and Trivia

 * This language was made by David J. Peterson, whom also made the Game of Thrones Dothraki language.
 * Show creator Jason Rothenberg stated that the official name of the language is Trigedasleng.
 * The official spelling in the script is phonetic, meant to reflect the pronunciation shifts which occurred in the Grounder language. However, Marie Avgeropoulos had difficulty at first, so language creator David J. Peterson made a more explicit transcription, without as much slurred pronunciation: "I like Octavia come sky crew, an' I gaff go-through klin."
 * Due to speaking Trigedasleng and English many Grounders are bilingual.