The basic structure in Aldéril for independent clauses is:
s v o x
where x represents prepositional phrases, adverbs and adverbial phrases, and subordinate clauses that modify the sentence, which are ordered with temporal information first, then locative information, then information regarding manner. Exceptions to this basic structure will be listed under the appropriate heading.
Transitive Clause
Transitive clauses are the most basic clauses in Aldéril. Every verb by default is transitive. Transitive clauses have a subject in the nominative, a verb in the active, inverse, or antipassive voice, and a direct object. The subject of the clause must be higher in animacy than the direct object and must always be definite. The object of the clause must be definite unless the antipassive voice is used. Since definiteness is semantically required, the definite article is often dropped, as it may be assumed.
Intransitive Clause
Intransitive clauses have a subject in the nominative and a verb in either the antipassive or passive voice, depending on whether the subject is experiencing the verbal action (passive) or is actively performing the verbal action (antipassive). The subject of an intransitive sentence must be definite, and as such, the definite article is often dropped as unnecessary.
Impersonal Clause
Impersonal clauses have a verb in the impersonal voice. An agent may be reintroduced using a prepositional phrase, which allows for indefinite nouns to function as the agent of a verbs action.
Ditransitive Clause
Ditransitive clauses have a subject in the nominative, a verb with an applicative marker, and two objectsː one in the accusative and one in the case matching the specific applicative. This allows the object of certain prepositional phrases to be promoted to a core argument.
Polar Questions
The most basic way to ask a polar question is to add the sentence final particle shillú. This is typically acompanied by a sligth rise in pitch on the word shillú. The pitch of the rest of the sentence remains the same as a standard declarative sentence.
Polar Questions with Expectation
The particle shillú is either neutral or expects an answer of yes. If a speaker wishes instead to indicate that the expected answer of a question is no, a different question particle, alshú, is used.
If the speaker wishes to indicate even more strongly what the expected answer to a polar question should be, they may use the answer shú yes, or lú no in place of the particle, with the same rise in pitch as a typical question.
Answering Polar Questions
The answer to a positive polar question can be as simple as just shú yes or lú no. However, it is more common for the question sentence to be repeated, possibly with with shú or lú added in the sentence initial position. A negative answer must explicitly use the particle lú, however a positive answer need not use the particle shú unless the speaker wishes to particularly affirm the truth of the answer.
Negative polar questions, i.e. a polar question expecting a negative, are answered in the same way as positive or neutral questions. The particle shú indicates the declarative sentence is true; the particle lú indicates the declarative sentence is false.