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This is a guide to the Gerudo conlang used in A Bird Has Swallowed the Sun, chapters 5-7. Note that this is more focused on grammar, conjugations, and sentence structure in Gerudo rather than an actual vocabulary, so many words are missing. However, if you created words for various objects and adjectives, they could be plugged into this structure fairly easily to make a sentence. There are also a number of existing Gerudo conlang projects with a sizeable vocabulary; any of them could be plugged into this framework.

Direct translations of the phrases in A Bird Has Swallowed the Sun are listed at the bottom of this guide if you want a quick-hits version.

Disclaimer I: I am not a linguist. This was created using my existing knowledge of languages - I speak two languages proficiently and have rough knowledge of a few others. An actual linguist's Gerudo conlang will be much more robust and likely more accurate, although at the end of the day, we weren't given much to work with.

Disclaimer II: please excuse the janky HTML tables, AO3 was not built for this.

Vocabulary

In-game words

Many of the syllables and sounds are the same between these words; however, since most of the words are greetings, we can't assume that the rest of the language is also mostly composed of these sounds. Nintendo has long had a Gerudo alphabet that's a simple substitution of the 26 Roman characters - a practical explanation for this is that it was easiest to create for an English-speaking audience, but if we imagine this was a lore-based decision, we can assume that Gerudo has access to many of the familiar sounds that make up English and other European languages.

Based on the tiny amount of voice-acting for some of these phrases, I'm also willing to assume that vowels are pronounced the Japanese way (a = ah, i = ee, u = oo, e = eh, o = oh), with double vowels changing the stress/length of the word rather than modifying the actual sound of the vowel. Clusters of consonants appear to exist (sarq'so) but they don't seem to be common. Notably, Sav'saaba has an extra vowel added in its pronunciation (savasaaba) to split up the cluster of consonants.

No other words make an appearance in-game. The following are some words based off of existing ones:

Based on the existing words, it seems that the apostrophe is used for some elided/conjoined words. Longer words can be created by joining multiple one- or two-syllable words together in this way.

Based on the order of things in the greetings (Sav'aaq instead of Aaq'sav), it also seems as if adjectives/descriptors precede nouns, like they do in English. We can also consider place names - Kara Kara Bazaar is "oasis market" instead of "market by the oasis", and while Gerudo Town would likely have a different name in Gerudo, the order is descriptor-noun instead of noun-descriptor. However, for some words (vaba, vehvi), they go the other way around, and they're also joined without apostrophes. This could be due to the way they evolved and entered the language, or it could be an exception for age-related descriptors. Gerudo culture seems strongly organized around military service and respect of ancestors (Gerudo Town is a fort, Riju asks Urbosa for guidance rather than a deity), so it seems reasonable to treat age-related descriptors differently and attach them directly to a word.

Doubling up on a word (eg. kara kara) is a diminutive (little water, oasis). In contrast, doubling the vowels (eg. kaara, kaaraa) in a word emphasizes it (river, ocean).

Completely made-up words

Some of these words are based off of other things in the game, while others are an invention. These words are mainly relevant to what I've been writing rather than what a Gerudo speaker might regularly use, but there are a number of other conlangs where the language's vocabulary is the main focus.

Compound words

The more complex vocabulary comes from joining these more basic words together. These are examples, although others can be constructed in the same way.

Other words

These are the determiners, conjunctions, and other essential parts of a sentence that aren't as glamorous as nouns and adjectives.

Words are all feminine in Gerudo, since male pronouns have fallen out of use. "It" (ku) is actually the feminine third-person pronoun, eg. equivalent to "she".

To apply a negative, the word is directly followed by qo (eg. "Not that" becomes ku qo, "It is not true" becomes etero varai qo).

Pronouns

Gerudo has formal and informal versions of its second- and third-person pronouns, but not first-person. Formal pronouns are used when referring to someone in a work-related setting, someone who is older than the speaker, or someone who is more influential than the speaker. Informal pronouns are used for friends or family members, provided the family member is of the same generation or younger. A family member of an older generation is referred to by formal pronouns.

Singular pronouns

Plural pronouns

As above, male pronouns do not exist in the modern Gerudo language. When referring to a man in Gerudo, male pronouns are borrowed from Hylian (he/his).

When using the possessive (eg. I/my, you/yours), a -u suffix is added to the pronoun (eg. ka/kaana vs. kau/kaanau). For third-person pronouns, -a is added to the end to make it possessive (eg. ku/kuu vs. kua/kuua). Kus and kuus become kusa/kuusa.

She/her and they/them are the same in Gerudo - "I go with her" becomes ko vanu sono ku.

Verbs

This is the most complex part of the Gerudo language. Because military and respect feature strongly in their culture, verbs are conjugated differently based on whether you're in a formal or informal setting.

The example verbs below are all in infinitive tense, eg. unconjugated. To conjugate the verb, the infinitive doesn't change, and the correct suffix is joined to the end without an apostrophe.

Example verbs

Conjugations

Examples

I am, you are, she is - eteru, eterui, etero
We have, you (plural) have, they have - avorum, avoruit, avorot
I speak, you speak, she speaks - biru, biruui, biroo
We know, you (plural) know, they know - sombum, sombuuit, somboot

Because Gerudo has robust conjugations, the pronoun can be dropped when it precedes a verb. For example, "I go to the market" would be ko vanu an o bazaar, but the pronoun can be dropped, becoming vanu an o bazaar.

Past tense, future tense, conditional tense

In past tense, the verb is preceded by sum. In future tense, the verb is preceded by aum. In conditional tense, the verb is preceded by tar and directly followed by zi.

Examples

I was, you were, she was - sum eteru, sum eterui, sum etero
I will not have, you will not have, she will not have - aum avoru qo, aum avorui qo, aum avoro qo
I might go, you might go, she might go - tar vanu zi, tar vanui zi, tar vano zi
I might not go, you might not go, she might not go - tar vanu zi qo, tar vanui zi qo, tar vano zi qo

Pronominal verbs

The pronoun is added to the end of the verb with an apostrophe. In conditional tense, it's added to zi.

Examples

I need you - vosu'ka or vosu'kaana
I don't need you vosu'ka qo or vosu'kaana qo
I will need you aum vosu'ka or aum vosu'kaana
I might need you - tar vosu zi'ka or tar vosu zi'kaana
I swear to you - ruju'ka or ruju'kaana
She didn't fool me - sum tav'orro'ko qo

Gerudo don't often use the male gender or male pronouns, but if they do, they'll borrow "he" straight from Hylian and drop it in. This goes for conjugations as well as pronominals.

He has - avorhe
He will know - aum sombhe
He didn't say - sum birhe qo
He swears to you - rujhe'ka or rujhe'kaana
He didn't fool me - sum tav'orrhe'ko qo

Imperative tense

Using a formal conjugation of a verb, you can make a formal request or give directions, similar to imperatif in French. "Please" would become voluuit (you want to, similar to the French word veuillez), and to give directions, you might say vanuuit an (you go to). If you wanted to use the word "please" (makoi) directly, it would always go at the end of the phrase and not at the beginning.

Examples

Please come with me (formal) - Voluuit vanar sono ko (You want to come with me)

Note: when one verb follows another, it doesn't need to be conjugated, so vanar (to come) is in its infinitive form.

Please come with me (informal) - vanu sono ko makoi (Come with me, please)

Ancient Gerudo

Ancient Gerudo is slightly different than modern Gerudo, since it's evolved over the many years. Instead of a written double vowel, a macron (ā) is used for emphasis. Male pronouns (dur and dūr) are still in use, rather than borrowings. The ancient form of oten (heaven/heavens) is ushe, and the ancient form of vaado is mādorf. Qāmhe'usheni, therefore, means "great powers from the heavens", and usheteh'kūru means "heavenly one of the earth" (Din). Their modern forms would be qaambe'oteni and otenteh'kuuru respectively.

Example phrases

Eteru Riju, vaado bu Gerudo. Voluuit bir an vaado Aveil so vosu bir sono kuu. - I am Riju, Chief of the Gerudo. Please tell Chief Aveil that I want to speak with her.

Riju drops the pronoun before eteru because it directly precedes a verb, so the pronoun is implied. Voluuit is the imperative form of vol; it functions as "please" because of the formal setting. Because bir directly follows a conjugated verb, it doesn't need to be conjugated, so it's in its infinitive form. The same thing happens later in the sentence at vosu bir (I want to speak).

Sarq’so bar kaanau sho’ten. - Thank you for your attention.

Soombui so tav’orrhe’ka qo? - Do you really believe that he's not fooling you?

Once again, the pronoun is dropped from the beginning of the sentence, since the verb's conjugation already indicates who the subject of the sentence is. The vowel is stressed in sombui, turning it from "do you believe?" into "do you really believe?" The verb tav'orr is pronominal, since one person is fooling another person - he fools you, tav'orrhe'kaana. In Gerudo, the only difference between a question and a statement is the inflection, so we put a question mark on the end and call it a day.

Aveil is also using informal conjugations when speaking to Riju (soombui vs. soombuui). If the guards and scribe hadn't left the room at this point, formal conjugations would be more appropriate, but when they leave, the setting changes from strictly formal to one that's more casual, since Riju and Aveil know each other well. Because Riju is a fair bit younger than Aveil, she still uses formal conjugations, but as Aveil is of an older generation, she can switch to informal at this point.

Ruju’kaana so berhe’ko — qafirhe’ko, o qabrati qo. - I swear to you that he serves me - he is indebted to me, not the other way around.

O qabrati qo would directly translate to "not the opposite".

Sombhe qo buya sum vana’shiu’he. Kumuui an he, eu his kesho aum biro'num ohoi voso ferra. - He doesn't know why I've brought him here. Listen to him, and his story will tell us what needs to be done.

Since "he" and "him" are the same in Gerudo, Riju uses "he" when she says kumuui an he (listen to him). For the last part of the second sentence, his kesho aum biro'num ohoi voso ferra, the verbs bir (to tell/speak) and vos (to need) are conjugated in third person, and because ferra (to do) follows a conjugated verb, it remains in its infinitive form.

And you really believe that aum veehtaalhe’num qo? - And you really believe that he won't bring us to ruin?

Aveil emphasizes both vowels in vehtal (to destroy), making it a very strong statement - bring to ruin, completely annihilate.

Aum avoru o kishi furusekh sono seban. - I'll have the grilled mushrooms with flatbread.

Avoruuit darani? - Do you have weapons?

No, sum vanarum sonoqo darani. - No, we came without weapons.

Aum vanashiu’kaanas an o qaar’bivosau. - I will take you to the forbidden library.