Upper Sorbian language

Upper Sorbian, occasionally referred to as Wendish, is a minority language spoken by Sorbs in the historical province of Upper Lusatia, today part of Saxony, Germany. It is a Slavic languages|West Slavic] language, along with Lower Sorbian, Czech, Polish, Silesian, Slovak, and Kashubian. It is now spoken by fewer than 10,000 people, mostly in Budyšin and its immediate countryside.
Upper Sorbian differs from its closest relative, Lower Sorbian, at all levels of the language system: in phonetics, morphology, and vocabulary. At the same time, the two languages share a number of features that distinguish them from other West Slavic languages—in particular, the preservation of the dual number, the retention of simple past tense forms of verbs, and an especially large number of lexical borrowings from German. Several linguistic features link Upper Sorbian with the Lechitic languages, while in a number of other features it is similar to the Czech-Slovak subgroup.
At present, in addition to everyday use, Upper Sorbian is used as a literary language in education, the mass media, science, and so on. Compared to Lower Sorbian, it has a larger number of speakers, a stricter literary norm, and greater stylistic differentiation. Nevertheless, the number of Upper Sorbian speakers is constantly declining, with the main speakers of the language generally being older members of the Sorbian community, whose main means of communication is not the literary language but dialects. The writing system is based on the Latin alphabet; the earliest written records in Upper Sorbian date back to the 16th century.
Upper Sorbian is one of the minority languages in Germany that are officially recognized under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In the officially designated settlement area in Upper Lusatia, there are therefore, on the basis of the Saxon Sorbs Act, among other things, bilingual street and place name signs as well as state schools with Upper Sorbian as the language of instruction or Sorbian as a foreign language.

History

The history of the Upper Sorbian language in Germany began with the Slavic migrations during the 6th century AD. Beginning in the 12th century, there was a massive influx of rural Germanic settlers from Flanders, Saxony, Thuringia and Franconia. This so-called "Ostsiedlung" led to a slow but steady decline in use of the Sorbian language. In addition, in the Saxony region, the Sorbian language was legally subordinated to the German language. Language prohibitions were later added: In 1293, the Sorbian language was forbidden in Berne castle before the courts; in 1327 it was forbidden in Zwickau and Leipzig, and from 1424 on it was forbidden in Meissen. Further, there was the condition in many guilds of the cities of the area to accept only members of German-language origin.
However, the central areas of the Milzener and Lusitzer, in the area of today's Lusatia, were relatively unaffected by the new German language settlements and legal restrictions. The language therefore flourished there. By the 17th century, the number of Sorbian speakers in that area grew to over 300,000. The oldest evidence of written Upper Sorbian is the Burger Eydt Wendisch document, which was discovered in the city of Bautzen and dates to the year 1532.

Linguistic geography

There are an estimated 18,000 speakers of Upper Sorbian. Almost all of these live in the state of Saxony, chiefly in the district of Bautzen. The stronghold of the language is the village of Crostwitz and the surrounding municipalities, especially to the west of it. In this core area, Upper Sorbian remains the predominant vernacular. In this area, Sorbian is an official language and children are taught Sorbian in schools and day cares. Other concerted efforts to preserve the language through media, club, and related resources have continued into the 21st century. In spite of these efforts, numbers of Upper Sorbian speakers were still considered to be dwindling. It has been suggested that this may be in part because of a lack of understanding of the benefits of bilingualism.

Sociolinguistic information

The language situation in modern Upper Lusatia is characterized by complete German–Sorbian bilingualism, with a growing tendency toward German monolingualism. The domain of Upper Sorbian, unlike that of German, is significantly limited. German is practically the universal means of communication for all Sorbs, while Upper Sorbian is used mainly in everyday communication—in the family, with friends and acquaintances; the literary form of Upper Sorbian is used in public life mainly in Sorbian organizations and in the church.
The functions of Upper Sorbian also include Sorbian or bilingual groups in kindergartens, teaching of some subjects in schools providing special education as provided for by Saxony state law, the periodic press and publishing, and use in certain fields of art, culture, and science supported by the Foundation for the Sorbian People, which is funded by the federal government of Germany and the governments of Saxony and Brandenburg. At the same time, due to the small number of pupils, Sorbian schools are under threat of closure; language development is hindered by the administrative fragmentation of Sorbian-inhabited areas, the mass outmigration of young people to western Germany, the industrial development of the region, and the expansion of brown coal mining, which forces Sorbs to relocate and disrupts the compactness of their settlement area. The low prestige of Sorbian, the existence of mixed Sorbian–German marriages, and the dominant role of German in all areas of life in Upper Lusatia contribute to the constant decline in the number of Upper Sorbian speakers.
Upper Sorbian exists in several forms: the supraregional form, which includes the literary written and spoken varieties as well as the colloquial form ; and the regional form, represented by Upper Sorbian dialects. A distinctive feature of the relationship between the different forms is the relatively large gap between the literary language and the developing dialectal koine, which influences the colloquial form of Upper Sorbian.
The use of Upper Sorbian varies in different regions of Upper Lusatia, particularly between Catholic and Protestant areas.
Among Catholics in the far west of the Upper Sorbian-speaking area, natural language transmission from the older and middle generations to the younger generation is preserved. In Catholic communities located in the triangle Bautzen–Hoyerswerda–Kamenz, 60–65% of the population speak Upper Sorbian, and in some places this figure reaches 80–90%. Members of the younger generation here typically have equally good command of both Upper Sorbian and German; the German population may understand Sorbian passively or even speak it actively. In the Catholic church, services are conducted in Upper Sorbian; in some schools, teaching is carried out in Upper Sorbian, while in others it is taught as a subject. These areas are characterized by more active use of the literary language, due to the concentration of scientific and cultural Sorbian organizations. In everyday communication, speakers from this dialect area often use a colloquial form of the language that ranges from strongly dialectal to semi-literary with dialectal coloring. The language situation in Catholic communities is somewhat similar to that in Bautzen, the cultural center of the Sorbs.
For most other Upper Sorbian speakers, natural language transmission from the older generation has been broken; members of the middle and younger generations have learned their native language in its literary form only at school. Sorbs here are a minority compared to the German population, and German is the main language of communication; Germans generally do not speak Sorbian. The use of Upper Sorbian in public life is limited; in schools, it is taught as a special elective subject. The role of the literary language compared to dialects is very low. The language situation among Sorbs in the Protestant areas of Upper Lusatia is largely similar to that observed in Lower Lusatia.
As of 2009, there were 12 Sorbian kindergartens in Saxony, three of them following the Witaj program; in addition, 11 kindergartens had Witaj program groups. Sorbian schoolchildren attended six Sorbian and three bilingual primary schools, four Sorbian and one bilingual secondary school; in the 2009/2010 school year there were 2,232 Sorbian pupils. Bautzen also has a Sorbian gymnasium, and in two other gymnasiums Upper Sorbian is taught as a subject. Upper Sorbian is taught at the Institute for Sorbian Studies at Leipzig University.
Upper Sorbian-language periodicals include the newspaper Serbske Nowiny, the cultural monthly Rozhlad, the children’s magazine Płomjo, and religious publications—the Catholic Katolski Posoł and the Lutheran Pomhaj Bóh. Radio programs are broadcast by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. As of 2017, MDR produces 21.5 hours of radio programming per week. MDR also produces a half-hour Upper Sorbian television program Wuhladko. There are also online publications, such as Runjewonline.info.
The preservation and development of Sorbian language and culture is overseen by Domowina—a union of scientific, cultural, religious, student, and other Sorbian organizations. Domowina also operates a publishing house producing books in the Sorbian languages. The current regulator of the literary language is the Upper Sorbian Language Commission.

Dialect

For most speakers of the Sorbian languages—primarily rural residents—dialects are the main means of communication. Only a relatively small portion of the Sorbian population, mainly the rural and urban intelligentsia, speak the literary languages, including literary Upper Sorbian. In the peripheral areas of the Sorbian language territory, dialects are disappearing relatively quickly, while in the central regions they are better preserved. Overall, the dialects have been more heavily influenced by the German language compared to the literary Upper Sorbian language.
In Upper Lusatia, the Upper Sorbian group of dialects is spoken; the modern literary Upper Sorbian language developed on the basis of several of these dialects. The area of this dialect group is located in the southern part of the Sorbian-speaking territory and contrasts with the Lower Sorbian dialect area in the north. Upper Sorbian dialects are separated from Lower Sorbian dialects by a zone of transitional dialects, through which broad bundles of isoglosses of major Sorbian linguistic features pass.
Despite covering a relatively small area, the Upper Sorbian territory is characterized by considerable dialectal diversity. The following main dialects are distinguished:
Western dialects, including:Kulow dialect.Catholic dialect.
Central dialects, including:Bautzen dialect.Golan dialect.
Eastern dialects, including:Eastern Golan dialect.
According to the Sorbian Linguistic Atlas, there is also the Lubij or Löbau dialect, among others.
The Bautzen dialect, which formed the basis of the literary language, is spoken in the area surrounding the town of Bautzen. The Catholic dialect is spoken in Catholic parishes west of Bautzen up to the town of Kamenz. The Kulow dialect, closely related to the Catholic dialect, is spoken by Sorbs in the vicinity of Kulow. To the north and northeast of the Bautzen dialect area lie the regions where the Golan and Eastern Golan dialects are spoken.

Writing system

The Sorbs use the Latin alphabet, supplemented with letters created by means of the diacritical marks ˇ and ´.
Following the orthographic reform of December 1, 1948, the Upper Sorbian alphabet contains 34 letters. The letters Qq, Vv, and Xx are used only in foreign proper names. The orthography follows an etymological–phonetic principle.

Letter

dź

Name

bei̯

ʦei̯

ʧei̯

ʨɛt

dei̯

ʥei̯ / ʥɛt

ei̯

ʲɨt

ɛf

ɡei̯

xa / kʰa

i̯ɔt / i̯ʊt

ɛu̯

ɛl

When alphabetically sorting, no distinction is made between the letters n and ń or between o and ó. For example, nósk is sorted before nosorohač. If two words differ only in these letters, their alphabetical order is still taken into account, as in won – wón – wóń.
The letters Ě, Ń, Ó, and Ř never occur at the beginning of a word; therefore, their uppercase forms are very rare and are only used when the entire word is written in uppercase.

Phonology

Vowels

The vowel inventory of Upper Sorbian is exactly the same as that of Lower Sorbian.

	Front	Central	Back
Close
Near-close
Mid
Open

Word-initial vowels are rare, and are often preceded by a non-phonemic glottal stop, or sometimes. appear in word-initial position only in recent borrowings, whereas the diphthongs never occur in this position.
The near-close can also be analyzed as diphthongs. Here, they are analyzed as monophthongs.
The diphthongal allophones of are falling:. occurs only under strong sentence stress in monosyllabic words. Conversely, is a more common realization of than.
has three allophones:
* Open-mid between hard consonants and after a hard consonant;
* Mid between soft consonants and after a soft consonant ;
* Diphthong with a mid onset before.
has two allophones:
* Diphthong with a mid onset before labial consonants;
* Open-mid in all other cases.
Additional diphthongs arise from r-vocalization, as in German. For instance, uniwersita 'University' may be pronounced.
The distinction between on the one hand and on the other is weakened or lost in unstressed syllables.
is phonetically central. It is somewhat higher after soft consonants.

Consonants

are bilabial, whereas are labiodental.
* are strongly palatalized.
* is a somewhat velarized bilabial approximant, whereas is a strongly palatalized bilabial approximant.
* is very rare. Apart from loanwords, it occurs only in two Slavonic words: zełharny 'deceitful' and zełharnosć 'deceitfulness', both of which are derivatives of łhać 'to lie'. Usage of these words is typically restricted to the Bautzen dialect, as speakers of the Catholic dialect use łžeć and its derivatives.
are alveolar, is alveolo-palatal, whereas are dental.
* before are weakly palatalized. also reports palatalized as allophones of. Among these, the labiodental are extremely rare.
* are velar in front of velar consonants.
* is very rare. In many cases, it merges with into.
* are very rare. According to, the phonemic status of is controversial.
In most dialects, are palato-alveolar. This is unlike Lower Sorbian, where these consonants are laminal retroflex . Laminal retroflex realizations of also occur in Upper Sorbian dialects spoken in some villages north of Hoyerswerda.
are velar, whereas are uvular.
* An aspirated is a morpheme-initial allophone of in some cases, as well as a possible word-initial allophone of.
* is typically accompanied with trilling of the uvula, so that brach 'fault' is typically pronounced.
* does not occur word-initially, whereas does not occur word-finally.
* are typically realized as fricatives or approximants. They can be trilled in clear and careful pronunciation. Furthermore, can also be realized as a voiceless fricative. It can also be vocalized in the syllable coda, as in uniwersita 'University'. They are never alveolar, which is an archaic pronunciation.
* Soft is strongly palatalized.
An epenthetic is inserted before a post-vocalic soft consonant, yielding a diphthong. If the soft consonant occurs before or, it is often realized as hard, and the vowels merge to.
In literary language, the contrast between hard and soft consonants is neutralized in word-final position. For instance, the letter represents the sequence in this position, not a single phoneme.

Final devoicing and assimilation

Upper Sorbian has both final devoicing and regressive voicing assimilation, both word-internal and across word boundaries. In the latter context, is voiced to. Regressive voicing assimilation does not occur before sonorants and.

Stress

Words consisting of up to three syllables are stressed on the first syllable.
Foreign words, such as student 'student', preserve their original accent.

Prosody

Stress in Upper Sorbian is expiratory and falls mainly on the first syllable. In four-syllable or longer words, a secondary stress appears on the penultimate syllable. In compound words, the secondary stress falls on the first syllable of the second element. In the superlative forms of adjectives, the main stress is placed on the prefix naj-, and the secondary stress is on the first syllable of the root. In preposition + noun combinations, the preposition draws the stress onto itself from monosyllabic and disyllabic nouns and pronouns, but if the noun carries logical emphasis, it also receives the phonetic stress. Upper Sorbian also has enclitics, i.e., words that cannot bear stress. In loanwords, the stress falls on the same syllable as in the source language.

Morphology

In Upper Sorbian grammar, the following parts of speech are distinguished: noun, adjective, numeral, pronoun, adverb, verb, conjunction, preposition, particle, and interjection.
Nouns and pronouns in Upper Sorbian have the grammatical categories of gender, number, case, animacy, and person. As in other Slavic languages, masculine, feminine, and neuter genders are distinguished. The category of animacy applies to masculine nouns and the words agreeing with them in the singular. The category of person applies to masculine nouns and their agreeing words in the dual and plural. In the category of number, the archaic dual has been preserved — it also survives in modern Lower Sorbian and Slovene.
Nouns and pronouns have six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and locative, as well as a special vocative form.

Singular

In the singular, the declension of nouns of the masculine and neuter genders differs from that of the feminine gender. Before the ending -e in feminine nouns in the dative case, and in nouns of all genders in the locative case, alternations occur between a hard stem consonant and its palatalized counterpart, as well as the following specific alternations: d — dź, t — ć, ł — l, h — z, ch — š, k — c, g — z.
Masculine and neuter nouns in the locative case, if they have a soft or hardened final consonant, as well as in most cases when ending in g, h, ch, k, ł, take the ending -u instead of -e. In masculine and neuter nouns ending in h, ch, k, when the rare ending -e occurs, the following alternations take place: h — z, ch — š, k — c.
Feminine nouns with stems ending in z, c, s take the ending -y in the dative and locative. Feminine nouns with stems ending in k, g, ch, h take the ending -i in the genitive.
Masculine gender — Examples of declension of masculine nouns: nan, jež, dub, and ćerń.
Some monosyllabic inanimate nouns in the genitive case can have, along with the ending -a, also the ending -u: hroda/hrodu, doma/''domu, loda/lodu, mjeda/mjedu, and so on. In the dative case in some nouns the ending -u'' occurs along with -ej: ludu, měru, wozu, and so on, bóh ends in the dative case only with -u. In the accusative case the endings of animate nouns coincide with the endings of the genitive case, the endings of inanimate nouns — with the endings of the nominative case. Special paradigms of nouns ending in -a and personal names ending in -o : predsyda, predsydy, predsydźe, predsydu, predsydu, predsydźe; ćěsla, ćěsle, ćěsli, ćěslu, ćěslu, ćěsli; Beno, Bena, Benej, Bena, Benom, Benje.

Feminine and neuter gender. Examples of declension of neuter nouns: słowo, morjo, ranje, and feminine gender: žona, kólnja and hródź.

In the nominative and accusative cases the noun knjeni ends in -i, in the other cases it declines like the word kólnja. Nouns of the type kuchnja, bróžnja have parallel forms kucheń, bróžeń. Nouns of the type spěwanje, drěnje, ranje have the ending -e, in the other cases they decline like the word morjo. In the genitive case the forms of the nouns škla and woš : šklě and wši. In the dative and locative cases the nouns stwa and hra have the ending -ě.
Dual number
The endings of masculine nouns in the nominative and accusative cases of the dual number differ from the endings of feminine and neuter nouns. Depending on whether masculine nouns in the accusative case denote a person or not, they have different endings. For nouns denoting paired objects, instead of dual forms, plural forms can be used: nohi instead of noze, ruki instead of ruce. Before the ending -e in the nominative and accusative cases for feminine and neuter nouns, alternation of a hard consonant of the stem with a soft one occurs, as well as alternations d — dź, t — ć, ł — l, h — z, ch — š, k — c, g — z. After soft consonants in the nominative and accusative cases, alternation a — e occurs. Neuter and feminine nouns with a stem ending in z, c, s in the nominative and accusative cases have the ending -y.
Examples of the declension of masculine nouns: nanaj, mužej, psykaj and ježej ; feminine gender: žonje ; and neuter gender: mori :
In the nominative and accusative cases, the nouns stwa and hra have the ending -ě. The nominative and accusative forms of the nouns wucho and woko are: wuši and woči.
Special paradigms of nouns in -a : predsydaj, predsydow, predsydomaj, predsydow, predsydomaj, predsydomaj; ćěslej, ćěslow, ćěslomaj, ćěslow, ćěslomaj, ćěslomaj.
Plural
Depending on the endings that occur in the nominative and accusative cases of the plural, all nouns are divided into three groups: masculine nouns denoting persons, other masculine nouns and feminine nouns, and neuter nouns.
Examples of declension of personal masculine nouns: nanojo, mužojo ; non-personal masculine nouns: duby ; and feminine nouns: kólnje ; as well as neuter nouns: słowa and morja :
Non-personal masculine nouns of masculine and feminine gender in the nominative and accusative cases with a stem ending in k, g, ch, h have the ending -i. In the instrumental case, after soft consonants, alternation a — e occurs. In the nominative case, nouns denoting a male person mostly end in -ojo. Nouns with the suffixes -ar-, -er-, -el-, -ol-, -an- have the ending -jo. Nouns ending in -c and -k end in -y. Some nouns have endings -i and -a, before which alternation of a hard stem consonant with a soft one occurs, as well as alternations t — ć, d — dź, ł — l, ch — š and others: bratřa, kmótřa, susodźa, husići/husića, studenći/studenća, etc. Forms of the nouns škla and woš in the nominative and accusative cases: šklě and wši.
In the genitive case, nouns with a soft stem or with a stem ending in -ł have, alongside the ending -ow, also the ending -i ; in the nouns husy and kury the ending -y is found alongside -ow. Some nouns have no ending in the genitive case: pjenjez, Drježdźan, and others.
In the dative case, for a number of nouns denoting living beings, alongside the ending -am the ending -om is also found: wołam/wołom, kruwam/kruwom, husam/husom, etc.; some nouns have only the ending -om: dźěćom, ludźom, etc.
In the instrumental case, alongside the ending -ami , the ending -imi is also found: konjemi/konimi, kruwami/kruwymi, etc.; some nouns have only the ending -imi : dźěćimi, ludźimi, etc.
In the locative case, alongside the ending -ach, the ending -och is also found: konjach/konjoch, kruwach/kruwoch, swinjach/swinjoch, etc.; some nouns have only the ending -och: dźěćoch, ludźoch, etc.
Special paradigms of nouns ending in -a: predsydojo, predsydow, predsydam, predsydow, predsydami, predsydach; ćěslojo, ćěslow, ćěslam, ćěslow, ćěslemi, ćěslach.
Peculiarities of the declension of some nouns.
For nouns denoting young creatures, in the singular and dual numbers, the suffix -eć- is added to the stem ; in the plural — the suffix -at-: ćelo, ćeleća, ćeleći, ćelata.
For some nouns with a stem ending in a soft consonant, it is characteristic to add the suffix -en- to the stem : znamjo, znamjenja, znamjeni, znamjenja.
To the stem of the noun mać in all forms except the nominative and accusative, the suffix -er- is added.
To the noun dźěćo, in the singular and dual numbers, the suffix -s- is added to the stem : dźěćo, dźěsća, dźěsći. The plural paradigm: dźěći, dźěći, dźěćom, dźěći, dźěćimi, dźěćoch.
Adjective
Adjectives are divided into three categories:

qualitative : stary “old”, młody “young”, wuski “narrow”, šěroki “wide”, wysoki “tall”, niski “low”, němy “mute”, slepy “blind”, žiwy “alive”, mortwy “dead”;
relative, expressing the quality of an object through another object: hórski “mountain”, dobroćiwy “benevolent”, wěriwy “believing”, “trusting”;
possessive, expressing possession: nanowy “father’s”, “paternal”, maćerny “mother’s”, “maternal”.

Adjectives have two types of declension — soft and hard. A number of adjectives are indeclinable: ryzy, bosy, nabruń, načorń, nazeleń, sćicha, zhorda, zwulka, and others.
Declension of hard-type adjectives using the example mały “small”:
Declension of soft-type adjectives using the example tuni :
In the masculine gender, the form of the accusative singular coincides with the form of the genitive if the adjective agrees with an animate noun. In the dual and plural, the form of the accusative coincides with the genitive if the adjective agrees with a noun denoting a male person. In personally masculine forms of the nominative plural, consonant alternations occur: ch — š, t — ć, d — dź, l — ł before the ending -i; with similar alternations k — c, h — z, this ending itself is replaced with -y: wulki → wulcy, nahi → nazy, etc. In Upper Sorbian, there are no short forms of adjectives.
Forms of the comparative and superlative degrees are formed only from relative-qualitative adjectives. The comparative form is made using the suffixes -ši and -iši/-yši. Some comparative forms are formed suppletively: wulki “big” → wjetši, mały “small” → mjeńši, dobry “good” → lěpši, zły “bad” → hórši, dołhi “long” → dlěši. The superlative form is made by adding the prefix naj- to the comparative form. In addition to the synthetic method of forming degrees of comparison, there is also an analytic one, in which the comparative form is made by adding to the positive form the adverb bóle, and the superlative — najbóle.
Numeral
Upper Sorbian numerals are divided into the following categories:cardinal ;ordinal ;collective — used with pluralia tantum nouns: jedne, dwoje, troje, štwore, pjećore, šesćore;species — indicating qualitative differentiation: jenaki, dwojaki, trojaki, štworaki, pjećoraki;multiplicative : dwójny “double”, trójny “triple”;adverbial numerals : jónu “once”, dwójce “twice”, trójce “thrice”.
Numerals from one to twenty-one:
Numerals from thirty to a billion:
Declension of the numeral “one”:
Under the influence of the German language, in colloquial Upper Sorbian, the numeral jedyn is often used in the function of an indefinite article.
Declension of the numerals two, three, four, five:
The personally masculine forms of the numeral “two”, except for the accusative case form dweju, are colloquial in nature. Numerals from 6 to 99 decline like five. Thousand, million, and billion decline like nouns. Numerals starting from five decline only when used independently; when used in a phrase, they do not decline.

Pronoun

Pronouns in Upper Sorbian are divided into the following categories:

Personal
* Basic : ja, mój, my, ty, wój, wy, wón, wona, wono
Possessive : mój, naju, naš, twój, waju, waš, jeho, jeje
Demonstrative : tón, tutón, wony, tamny, tamón
Reflexive
* Basic: sebje/so
* Possessive: swój
Interrogative : štó, što, čeji, kotry, kajki, hdy, kak, hdźe, kelko
Relative : kiž, kotryž, čejiž
Negative : formed with the prefix ni- from interrogatives: nichtó “nobody,” ničo “nothing,” ničeji “no one’s,” nikajki “no kind of,” nihdy “never,” nihdźe “nowhere”
Indefinite : formed with the prefix ně- from interrogatives: něchtó “someone,” něšto “something,” něčeji “someone’s,” někajki “some kind of,” něhdy “sometime,” něhdźe “somewhere”
Generalizing : wšón, wšitkón, kóždy
Emphatic / Exclusive : sam, samy, samón
Defining / Qualifying : samsny, jenaki

Declension of personal pronouns of the first and second person:
Declension of personal pronouns of the third person:
After prepositions, the forms of third-person pronouns beginning with n- are used: bjez njeho — “without him.”

Adverbs

Adverbs in the Upper Sorbian language are divided into determinative and circumstantial. The former are further divided into qualitative, which define an action or state from the point of view of quality, and quantitative.
Adverbs are formed from adjectives using the suffixes -e, -o, and -i. The most productive suffix is -e: słabje, hrubje, wědomje, měrliwje, nahle, mile, twjerdźe, rjenje, čisće, etc. The suffix -o predominates in the position after velar consonants: ćicho, sucho, rědko, droho, lochko, šěroko, etc. Less often after velar consonants appears the suffix -e: hłuboce, wusce, słódce, etc. Unlike the forms with -e, the forms with -o can have a predicative function.
Determinative adverbs can form degrees of comparison — comparative and superlative. The comparative degree is usually formed by adding the suffix -šo/-šo to the base: słabje — słabšo, sylnje — sylnišo. From adverbs ending in -ko and -sko, comparative forms are formed using the suffixes -e and -šo: blisko — bliže/blišo, hłuboko — hłubje/hłubšo. The forms with -e have an archaic flavor. From some adverbs, the comparative degree is suppletive: derje — lěpje, zlě — hórje, dołho — dlěje, mało — mjenje, wjele/mnoho — wjace. The superlative degree is formed by attaching the prefix naj- to the comparative form: słabšo — najsłabšo, sylnišo — najsylnišo.
Verb
The Upper Sorbian language is characterized by verb categories such as tense, mood, aspect, voice, person, number, and gender. Within the tense category, besides present and future forms, there are forms of several past tenses: perfect, synthetic preterite, pluperfect, and iterative preterite. The preterite is a historical past tense used in narration. The pluperfect indicates an action that occurred before some moment in the past. The iterative preterite indicates repeated actions in the past. Upper Sorbian has a peculiar implementation of aspect, and like many Slavic languages, has active and passive voices, three moods, forms for first, second, and third person in singular, dual, or plural; grammatical gender is expressed only in some verb forms.
Depending on the stem vowel in the present tense form, verbs in Upper Sorbian are divided into three conjugation classes. Verb forms are formed from infinitive or present tense stems, except for a small number of preterite forms and nominal forms with special stems. In personal verb forms, corresponding personal pronouns are usually omitted. When addressing a single person formally, the verb form in analytical constructions is used in the plural, while the nominal components remain singular.
Present tense
Present tense forms in Upper Sorbian are formed synthetically. Perfective verbs may express an action performed constantly or at the current moment, sometimes repeatedly and each time completed, and also an action in the future if additionally expressed by lexical means, or in the past.
Examples of verb conjugations: njesć — e-conjugation, warić — i-conjugation, dźěłać — a-conjugation:
Besides the verbs of the three conjugation classes, there also exist specially conjugated so-called irregular verbs, such as być — ja sym; ty sy; wón, wone, wona je; mój smój; wój staj/stej; wonaj/wonej staj/stej; my smy; wy sće; woni/wone su; měć, chcyć, dać, hić, jěć, jěsć, směć, spać, wědźeć
Future tense
Excluding the synthetically formed future tense forms of the verbs być — budu, budźeš…, měć — změju, změješ…, verbs of directed motion — póńdu, póńdźeš…, njesć — ponjesu, ponjeseš…, lězć, wjezć, běžeć, ćahnyć ), etc., all future tense forms of verbs are formed analytically by combining the personal forms of the auxiliary verb być in the future tense with the infinitive of the main verb. In the literary language, analytic forms are formed only from imperfective verbs — budu warić, while in colloquial speech analytic forms can also be formed from perfective verbs — budu zwarić.
Examples of conjugation of the verb pić in the future tense:

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st	budu pić	budźemoj pić	budźemy pić
2nd	budźeš pić	budźetaj/budźetej pić	budźeće pić
3rd	budźe pić	budźetaj/budźetej pić	budu/budźa pić

Perfect tense
Perfect forms are formed using the personal forms of the verb być in the present tense and the -l- participle of the main verb. The perfect denotes an action in the past that still retains a connection to the present. The perfect is obligatorily used when the time of the action occurs before the described situation; in other cases, the perfect is used alongside the synthetic preterite. The perfect can also express an action that will be completed by some point in the future.
Examples of conjugation of the perfect forms of the verb dźěłać :

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st	sym dźěłał/-ła/-ło	smój dźěłałoj	smy dźěłali/-łe
2nd	sy dźěłał/-ła/-ło	staj/stej dźěłałoj	sće dźěłali/-łe
3rd	je dźěłał/-ła/-ło	staj/stej dźěłałoj	su dźěłali/-łe

A number of participles have stems with -d-, -t-, -s-, -st-, -k-, and -h-: jědł from jěsć, mjetł from mjesć, pasł from pasć, rostł from rosć, pjekł from pjec, móhł from móc, etc.
From the verb hić, participles are formed from a special stem: šoł, šla, šłoj, šli, šłe.
Synthetic preterite
The forms of the synthetic preterite express the completion of an action in the past, the connection of which with the present is not felt. In the 2nd and 3rd person singular, perfective verbs take endings of the old aorist, while imperfective verbs take imperfect endings. These forms may be formed from different stems — from the infinitive, from the present tense stem, and from a special stem with the formative -a. In colloquial speech, perfect forms are often used instead of them..
Examples of conjugation of the verbs wuknyć and nawuknyć in the synthetic preterite:

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st	wuknjech, nawuknych	wuknjechmoj, nawuknychmoj	wuknjechmy, nawuknychmy
2nd	wuknješe, nawukny	wuknještaj/-štej, nawuknyštaj/-štej	wuknješe, nawuknyše
3rd	wuknješe, nawukny	wuknještaj/-štej, nawuknyštaj/-štej	wuknjechu, nawuknychu

Pluperfect
The pluperfect is formed analytically using the verb być in the preterite form and the -l- participle of the main verb, indicating a completed action that preceded some situation in the past
Examples of conjugation of the pluperfect forms of the verb dźěłać :

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st	běch dźěłał/-ła/-ło	běchmoj dźěłałoj	běchmy dźěłali/-łe
2nd	bě dźěłał/-ła/-ło	běštaj/štej dźěłałoj	běšće dźěłali/-łe
3rd	bě dźěłał/-ła/-ło	běštaj/štej dźěłałoj	běchu dźěłali/-łe

Iterative preterite
Forms of the iterative preterite, which denote repeated events in the past, coincide with the forms of the subjunctive mood,
Subjunctive mood
Forms of the verb in the subjunctive mood are formed using the aorist forms of the auxiliary verb być and the -l- participle of the main verb. In colloquial Upper Sorbian, the verb być in the subjunctive mood loses its personal endings, and the form by is the same for all persons. Modal verbs can form subjunctive forms even without the personal forms of być,
Examples of conjugation of the verb dźěłać in the subjunctive mood:

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st	bych dźěłał/-ła/-ło	bychmoj dźěłałoj	bychmy dźěłali/-łe
2nd	by dźěłał/-ła/-ło	byštaj/štej dźěłałoj	byšće dźěłali/-łe
3rd	by dźěłał/-ła/-ło	byštaj/štej dźěłałoj	bychu dźěłali/-łe

Previously, forms of the subjunctive mood in the past tense were also used, formed with the verb być in the imperfect from the stem bud-: budźech, budźeše, budźechmoj, budźeštaj, budźeštej, budźechmy, budźešće, budźechu.
Imperative mood
Forms of the verb in the imperative mood are formed from the present tense stem. Examples of conjugation of the verb wzać in the imperative mood: wozmi with the ending -i after groups of consonants, and also a zero ending is possible — kupuj ; wozmimoj, wozmitaj/-tej ; wozmimy, wozmiće.
When forming imperative verb forms, consonant changes occur in the stem: -d-, -t-, -k- change to -dź-, -ć-, -č-; -n- changes to -ń-; -s- and -z- change to -š- and -ž-. Some verbs have irregular imperative forms: jěs, daj, and others. Indicative mood forms with the particle njech replace nonexistent 1st person singular and 3rd person imperative forms in all numbers.

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st	buch přeprošeny/-a/-e	buchmoj přeprošenaj	buchmy přeprošene/-ni
2nd	bu přeprošeny/-a/-e	buštaj/štej přeprošenaj/-ej	bušće přeprošene/-ni
3rd	bu přeprošeny/-a/-e	buštaj/štej přeprošenaj/-ej	buchu přeprošene/-ni

Direct passive forms compete with, on one hand, constructions of the same participles with -n-/-t- combined with forms of the verb być in any tense, but also sym přeprošeny, budu přeprošeny ), which express a state; and on the other hand — active voice forms with the reflexive particle so, e.g.: z uniwersity Lwow na Ukrainje přeprosy so delegacija na ekskursiju do Łužicy. The passive or active meaning of such forms is determined by context.
Indirect passive forms are formed with personal forms of the verbs dóstać, dóstawać and the participle of the main verb with -n-/-t-. In colloquial speech, the passive voice is expressed by constructions with the German loan verb wordować.
Verb aspects
Alongside imperfective and perfective verbs forming aspectual pairs, Upper Sorbian has verbs without aspectual pairs and verbs whose imperfective and perfective meanings are expressed by one lexeme. Aspectual pairs are mostly formed by prefixes and suffixes.
Most non-prefixed verbs are imperfective: dźěłać, warić, słyšeć, etc. Only a small part are perfective. Perfective verbs are mainly formed from imperfective non-prefixed verbs by prefixation: rězać — zarězać, stajeć — zestajeć, etc. Paired imperfective verbs can be formed from prefixed perfective verbs by suffixes -owa-/-uj, -wa- or -a- : zapisać — zapisować, wubrać — wuběrać, etc. Secondary prefixation is also possible: zabić — dozabić.
Under German influence in colloquial Upper Sorbian, present tense forms of perfective verbs may be used with an actual present meaning, which is not permitted in the literary language.
Participles and gerunds
Upper Sorbian includes the following participial forms:

Active present participle: formed from the short present stem with suffix -ac or from the infinitive stem with suffix -c : pisacy, słyšacy, etc.
Present gerund: formed from the short or extended present stem of imperfective verbs with suffix -o, rarely -cy, -ucy: njeso, kopajo/kopajcy, etc.
Passive participle: formed from the infinitive stem or full present stem with suffixes -n or -t: wuknjeny, nawuknjeny, wupity, etc.
Past gerund: formed from the infinitive stem of perfective verbs with ending -wši or from the present stem with ending -ši: rozkopawši, zdźěławši, zamjetši, etc.

In colloquial Upper Sorbian and dialects, present gerunds are very rarely used or absent, and past gerunds are not used at all.
Infinitive
The infinitive in Upper Sorbian is formed with the suffix -ć, except verbs with stems ending in -k, -h: pjec, rjec, móc. Like in most other Slavic languages, the supine has been replaced by the infinitive in Upper Sorbian.
Verbal noun
Verbal nouns are formed with the suffix -e from the participle stem with -n-/-t- : wuknjenje, słyšenje.
Prepositions
Prepositions in Upper Sorbian are divided into primary and secondary:

Primary prepositions used exclusively as prepositions: bjez, dla, do, k, mjez, na, nad, po, pod, podłu, pola, porno, pře, před, při, spod, w, wo, wob, wot, z, za, zeza, etc.
Secondary prepositions, derived from full words and not yet fully detached from them: blisko, dale, nimo, niže, njedaloko, spody, srjedź, wyše, zady, zboka, zespody.

Primary prepositions ending with consonants may vocalize — add a vowel -e at the end if the following word starts with a consonant cluster or a consonant of the same place of articulation, e.g. ze wšeho, wote dnja, we wodźe, ke choremu.
Particles
Like prepositions or conjunctions, particles in Upper Sorbian are divided into primary and secondary.
Functionally, particles are divided into word-forming, form-building, and modal particles.
F. Michalk divides Upper Sorbian particles into:

intensifiers: ha, da, pak, no etc.,
semantic modifiers: wjace, hišće, hižo, hakle, jenož, hač, wšak, nic etc.,
grammatical: forming reflexive verbs so, negative -nje, interrogative -li, and words for negation — ně — and affirmation — haj.

Interjections
Interjections in Upper Sorbian are divided into:

expressive, expressing emotions: a, aha, ach, aj, aw, fuj, hehe, jej,
vocative, expressing will or desire and used for addressing the listener: hop, pst, hej,
onomatopoeic, imitating natural sounds: bac, buc, bim, bom, buch, gigagak, kikeriki.

Syntax
Upper Sorbian syntax has the following features:

A characteristic feature distinguishing Upper Sorbian from most other Slavic languages is the order of main components in a simple sentence: Subject – Object – Verb : Naš dźěd drjewo kała ; Ludźo so wjelkow boja. If the predicate is compound, the auxiliary verb follows the subject, and the nominal part is at the end: Dobru chwilu bě hišće jich hołk a dźiwi spěw słyšeć. This syntactic construction is called frame construction.
Presence of a copula in sentences with nominal predicate: Nan je doma ; Ja sym strowy.
The second position in a sentence is often occupied by short forms of reflexive and personal pronouns: mje, mi, će, ći, jón, je, ju, so, sej, as well as some conjunctions and particles: drje, pak, wšak, etc. For example: Hač drje waša mać bórze přińdźe?. The reflexive particle so can also occupy the second position, with the main verb at the sentence end: Ja so přez tón dar wjeselu. Or immediately after the main verb: Ja wjeselu so přez tón dar.
When a modifier consists of a noun in genitive singular followed by an adjective or possessive pronoun agreeing with it and placed after the modified noun, changing the modifier to be before the modified noun causes the genitive noun to become a possessive adjective with suffixes -owy-/-iny-: Mojeho bratrowe dźěći ; Stareje žonina drasta. Possessive adjectives with these suffixes are considered a separate part of speech — possessives — in modern Upper Sorbian grammar.
The nominal part of compound predicates expressed by a noun in instrumental case is very rare; expressed by an adjective it never stands in the instrumental: Wowka so wróći strowa.
Use of constructions with accusative noun + infinitive: Wutrobu čuješe spěšnje kłapać. Verbs like stać, ležeć, sedźeć, spać, tčeć do not occur in such constructions with infinitive; instead, present gerund is used.
Genitive case forms with negation are very rare, mainly used in colloquial Upper Sorbian after the particle ani: Ani slowa wón njepraji.
Negation of the copula uses nominative case forms: Wón tu njeje.
Nouns take nominative case if two or more adjectives modify them: Serbski a ruski lud.
Family names in the genitive of possession precede the modified word: Markec swójba.
When the modifier follows the modified noun, changing the modifier to precede the noun reverses the word order inside the modifier group: Za nas přijomne wuměnjenja.
The relative pronoun kotryž, kotrež, kotraž in the genitive stands before the modified noun: To je ta stwa, kotrejež wokna do zahrodki hladaja.

Vocabulary
As a result of long contacts with the German language, Upper Sorbian has borrowed a large number of Germanic lexical items, with their number being higher in dialectal speech than in the literary language. At the same time, the core lexical stock of Upper Sorbian remains Slavic — H. Bilfeldt counts no more than 2000 German words among the most common borrowings. Besides direct borrowings, the literary language also contains calques from German words — ćah < German Zug, stawizny < German Geschichte, wócny kraj < German Vaterland, and so on. Some German borrowings often differ significantly from words in contemporary German, as they entered Upper Sorbian relatively early; for example, the verb cwiblować was borrowed from Middle High German zwivelen, which differs from the modern German zweifeln, changed after the diphthongization of i. There are also borrowings from other Slavic languages, primarily from Czech < Czech stroj, basnik < Czech básník, dźiwadło < Czech divadlo, hudźba, though these are generally restricted to the literary language.
Examples of lexical differences between spoken and literary language:

	Spoken language	Literary language	German
glasses	bryla, brle	nawoči	Brille
thousand	tawzynt	tysac	Tausend
to become	wordować	stać so	werden
clock/watch	zejger	časnik	Seiger
armchair	zesl	křesło	Sessel
money	fenki	pjenjezy	Pfennige

Samples

Serbskej zemi by J. Bart-Čišinski

O zemja serbska! twoju nož chcu chwalić rolu,
chcu chroble sławić twoje městna starodawne
a wožiwjować twojich synow mjena sławne,
njech wutroba tež rozkoći so z dźiwjej bolu.
O zemja serbska! z kuzłom swojim moju wolu
bróń, zo bych wotkrył starych časow slědy krwawne
a słyšał, kak so z njebjes woła myto sprawne
na cuzu złósć přez twoje hory, hona, holu.
O zemja serbska! chwalić twoje płódne hona
chcu, hory módre, spěwow cunjozrudne hrona
a sławić ćichu nadobnosć chcu twojoh' ludu.
O zemja serbska! nihdy tebje njezabudu!
Twój wobraz widźu w myslenju a wosrjedź sona
mi twoje mjeno klinci kaž zwuk jasnoh' zwona.

O Sorb land! Your fields I want to praise,
boldly to honor your ancient towns,
and to revive the glorious names of your sons,
even if my heart breaks from wild pain.
O Sorb land! With your magic defend my will,
that I may uncover bloody traces of old times,
and hear how from the heavens calls the just reward
against the enemy’s malice across your mountains, fields, and forests.
O Sorb land! I want to praise your fertile fields,
blue mountains, the sad melodies of songs,
and to glorify the quiet nobility of your people.
O Sorb land! I will never forget you!
I see your image in thoughts and in the midst of dreams,
your name sounds to me like the clear ringing of a bell.

The Lord's Prayer in Upper Sorbian:
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Upper Sorbian:
A text in colloquial Upper Sorbian:

Text

German Translation

Alzo, po nas we swójbe dawe jen nałožk, kotryž my kóžde lěto jutre činimy, a to na jutrownej póndźeli. Po tym zo běchu nedźelu naše křižerjo po puću, so naša cóła swójba zetka jutre póndźelu šiponu. Alzo to rěka wowka, dźědo, šě wuje ha ćete, kuzine, kuzenki. A mó so pon šě hrómadźe na puć podamo do jedno blisko lěsa, to jo někak dwacci mejnšiny pěši zdalene wot našej wowki. A tam mamo mó jenu tajku małku hórku srejdź lěsa, hdźež žane štómu nejsu. Ha tam sej mó pon šece naše deki połožimo, ha mó dźěći hale tež te dorosćene so do lěsa podamo ha tam te dariki, kotrež jo jutrowne zajac, kwazi naš dźěd, do to schował, te mó pon šece pótamo. Nanajhušćišo su to někajke maličkosće ha słódkosće, warene jeja. Ha pon mó tam šě hrómadźe sejdźimo ha te jeja do so tykamo ha cyle jednore hrómadźe rěčimo, to jo jemo jen zes tych małoch wókomikow, zo šě hrómadźe šińdu. Ha ći křižerjo z našeje swójby su wězo tej wesoło, zo móža wone kusk wotpočnć po tym, haj, napinacym jutrownym jěchanju. Ha to zno moja wowka zes jeje staršimi činiła, moje starši su to čineli, hdyž su wone mało bóli, ha něk mó to zno tež činimo, ha to bě šece na tón samsny blak, ha mó budźemo to zawěsće tež šće šec tak dale wešć, haj. To jo poprawom šo

Also, bei uns in der Familie gibt es einen Brauch, den wir jedes Jahr an Ostern machen, und das am Ostermontag. Nachdem am Sonntag unsere Osterreiter unterwegs waren, trifft sich unsere ganze Familie am Ostermontag mittags. Also das heißt Großmutter, Großvater, alle Onkel und Tanten, Cousinen, Cousins. Und wir begeben uns dann alle zusammen auf den Weg in einen nahen Wald, das ist etwa zwanzig Minuten zu Fuß entfernt von unserer Großmutter. Und dort haben wir so einen kleinen Hügel mitten im Wald, wo keine Bäume sind. Und dort legen wir uns dann immer unsere Decken hin, und wir Kinder, aber auch die Erwachsenen, begeben uns in den Wald, und dort die Geschenke, die der Osterhase, das heißt unser Großvater, vorher versteckt hat, die suchen wir dann immer. Am aller häufigsten sind es irgendwelche Kleinigkeiten und Süßigkeiten, gekochte Eier. Und dann sitzen wir dort alle zusammen und stopfen die Eier in uns hinein und reden ganz einfach miteinander, das ist mal einer der wenigen Augenblicke, daß alle zusammen kommen. Und die Osterreiter aus unserer Familie sind natürlich auch froh, daß sie sich ein bißchen ausruhen können nach dem, ja, anstrengenden Osterreiten. Und das hat schon meine Großmutter mit ihren Eltern gemacht, meine Eltern haben das gemacht, als sie klein waren, und jetzt machen wir es auch schon, und es war immer zu demselben Fleck, und wir werden es bestimmt auch noch immer so weiterführen, ja. Das ist eigentlich alles.

Dictionaries

at Leipzig University
at Leipzig University

Czech-Sorbian and Sorbian-Czech

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German-Sorbian

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