He is...

[Imralu]

a.) He is a fisherman.
b.) He is strong.
c.) He is my husband.
d.) He is in my house.

Ngolu

Ngolu is basically just verbs and nominals (article-pronouns), so these are all essentially the same grammatically. The prefix g-, n-, m- is essentially a copula that converts nominals into verbs

a.)

(hau) vujiio ja
(be.intrinsically) catch.fish NOM.3s.DEF.MASC
He is a fisherman.

b.)

bala ja
be.strong NOM.3s.DEF.MASC
He is strong.

c.)

muja g-uni ja
be.initiated.man be-GEN.1s.ANIM NOM.3s.DEF.MASC
He's my husband.

muja ja uni
be.initiated.man NOM.3s.DEF.MASC GEN.1s.ANIM
He's my husband.

d.)

xa mala g-uni ja
be.in be.house be-GEN.1s.ANIM NOM.3s.DEF.MASC
He's in my house.

xa ja xua mala g-uni
be.in NOM.3s.DEF.MASC LOC.3s.DEF.INAN.REL be.house be-GEN.1s.ANIM
He's in my house.

N-xua mala g-uni ja
be-LOC.3s.DEF.INAN.REL be.house be-GEN.1s.ANIM NOM.3s.DEF.MASC
He's at my house. (not specifically 'inside' it)

[Lao Kou]

Ngolu: Examples

Neeeecro those threads! You go, girl!

Géarthnuns

Söb la se gdíasözalöths nöi.
3SG-NOM AUX.PRES INDEF fisherman-NOM be
He is a fisherman.

Söb la rakusöb nöi.
3SG-NOM AUX.PRES strong-NOM be
He is strong.

Söb la che bleths nöi.
3SG-NOM AUX.PRES DEF husband-NOM be
He's my husband.

Söb la síb chlai mal.
3SG-NOM AUX.PRES 1SG-POST "chez" be.at
He's in my house.

Söb la chö béöbsöv síteböv mal.
3SG-NOM AUX.PRES DEF house-LOC 1SG.POSS.ADJ-LOC be.at
He's at my house. (a little more physically "hands-on")

Söb la chö béöbsöb síteböb bö mal.
3SG-NOM AUX.PRES DEF house-POST 1SG.POSS.ADJ-POST in be.at
He's in my house. (you're calling 911 from a bedroom closet in a horror film)

:roc: Mandarin

他是個漁。
He is a fisherman.

Not:

他是個漁夫。

[alynnidalar]

Tirina:

Ye uwikewida.
3SG.MASC fish-AGT
He is a fisherman.

Ye nehe'ed.
3SG.MASC strong-MASC
He is (physically) strong.

Ye sitedanil nihu.
3SG.MASC spouse 1SG.FEM.GEN
He is my husband.

Ye tewa letakan nihu.
3SG.MASC in house 1SG.FEM.GEN
He is in my house.

Old Azen:

O bālukču ābčima.
3SG.NOM fish-ADJ hunter-ACC
He is a fisherman (lit. hunter of fish).

O duŋbojma.
3SG.NOM strong-NMZ-ACC
He is strong.

O menin dūl.
3SG.NOM 1SG.GEN husband-ACC
He is my husband.

O menin ebte.
3SG.NOM 1SG.GEN house-LOC
He is in my house.

[Iyionaku]

a.) He is a fisherman.
b.) He is strong.
c.) He is my husband.
d.) He is in my house.

German

a) Er ist (ein) Fischer.
3SG.MASC COP-3SG (NDEF.ART.MASC) fisherman.

b) Er ist stark.
3SG.MASC COP-3SG strong

c) Er ist mein Mann/Ehemann.
3SG.MASC COP-3SG 1SG.POSS husband

d) Er ist in meinem Haus.
3SG.MASG COP-3SG in 1SG.POSS.DAT house.DAT

Utzseech

a) A i ach fiamân.
3SG.MASC COP-3SG NDEF.ART fisherman

b) A i tarl.
3SG.MASC COP-3SG strong

c) A i bech hûsbâd.
3SG.MASC COP-3SG 1SG.POSS husband

d) A i ich bejem şuhu.
3SG.MASC COP-3SG in 1SG.POSS.OBL house

Yélian

a) Te movrosbit icatyor.
3SG.MASC occupational-COP-3SG fisherman.

b) Te docobit.
3SG.MASC strong-COP-3SG

c) Te bit reo brovalta.
3SG.MASC COP-3SG 1SG.POSS husband.

d) Te bit pun reo pilat.
3SG.MASC COP-3SG in 1SG.POSS home/house

[Plague]

Is ist fiskja.
he be.3SG.PRS fisher
He is a fisherman.

Is ist swinþaz.
he be.3SG.PRS strong
He is strong.

Is ist meins aba.
he be.3SG.PRS my husband
He is my husband.

Is ist in meinamma razna.
he be.3SG.PRS in my.DAT house.DAT
He is in my house.

It's as unimaginative as you would imagine.

[loglorn]

Proto-Gigxkpoyan
miẕ kat' ghut'rrorrarr
COP-GNO distal fisherman
He is a fisherman

miẕ kat' téq
COP-GNO distal strong
He is strong

Adjectives and nouns are not really distinct, so it's exactly the same.

miẕ kat' kik jit yt'axṯ
COP-GNO distal 1PS GEN husband/wife (the word is the same)
He is my husband (actually, as there's nothing gendered in it, it could be 'she is my wife')

tzulṯ kat' knuxṯh kik jit treklum
existencial-IPF distal inside 1PS GEN house
He is in my house

The existencial is used instead in this phrase. (it is not gnomic because the gnomic would give the impression he is always there, lives in my house)

[Maraxxus]

Qhod qhev lopaliq.
3SG.M he.who fish-3SG

Qhod raspare.
3SG.M strong-ADJ

Qhod qæloj tæmóm.
3SG.M 1SG.POSS husband

Qhod ajas qæloj nestü.
3SG.M INE 1SG.POSS home

[prettydragoon]

Rireinutire

ha siriteya yakava:
ha siriteya ya-ka-va
3RS.NOM fisher.NOM be-PRS-SENS
She is a fisher.

too yakava:
too ya-ka-va
strong be-PRS-SENS
She is strong.

mano haha yakava:
ma-no haha ya-ka-va
1S-GEN wife.NOM be-PRS-SENS
She is my wife.

mano mayara yakavo:
ma-no maya-ra ya-ka-vo
1S-GEN house-INE be-PRS-INFR
She is in my house.

Rireinutire is pro-drop, so repeating the subject would give a marked effect.

Also, the verb in the final sentence has inferential evidential rather than sensory because the speaker didn't see her wife go in the house, but that is where she must obviously be.

[Znex]

1.
tshuruwiuku
/Ø-tʃuruw-il-k-w-i/
3SG-fisherman.SG-PAT-IND-IMPF-STA
He is a fisherman.

2.
k'ashuku
/Ø-kʼas-il-k-w-i/
3SG-strong.SG-PAT-IND-IMPF-STA
He is strong.

3.
pɛraxkajuku
/Ø-pɛ-raXka-il-k-w-i/
3SG-1SGPOSS-husband.SG-PAT-IND-IMPF-STA
He is my husband.

4. a.
pɛtsalhishku
/Ø-pɛ-tsaɬ-iʃ-k-w-i/
3SG-1SGPOSS-home.SG-LOC-IND-IMPF-STA
He is at/in my house.

b.
pɛtsalhixku
/Ø-pɛ-tsaɬ-iX-k-w-i/
3SG-1SGPOSS-home.SG-INESS-IND-IMPF-STA
He is in my house. (as opposed to being within the vicinity of the house)

[Nate]

a.) He is a fisherman.
b.) He is strong.
c.) He is my husband.
d.) He is in my house.

Novoromán

Es'is pecetúr.
/ˈesis peʃeˈtuɾ/

Es'is fore.
/ˈesis ˈfoɾe/

Es'is marisos míos.
/ˈesis maˈɾisos ˈmi.os/

Es'is nello casa mía.
/ˈesis ˈnel.lo ˈkasa ˈmi.a/

[masako]

Kala:

ha uatsiko
3SG fish-AG
He is a fisherman.

ha tinua
3SG be.strong
He is strong.

ha ke taya nayo
3SG O husband 1SG.POSS
He is my husband.

ha ke tsaka nayo nahe
3SG O house 1SG.POSS be.inside
He is in my house.

[nzk13]

Unnamed

bu nunur ru.
bu nun-ur r-u-0
3SG fish-AGENT be-3SG-PRS
He is a fisherman.

bu guc ru.
bu guc r-u-0
3SG strong be-3SG-PRS
He is strong.

bu ani ru.
bu ani-i r-u-0
3SG man-1SG be-3SG-PRS
He is my husband.

bu ca buti fi ru.
bu ca but-i fi r-u-0
3SG TOP house-1SG LOC be-3SG-PRS
He is in my house.

[Redaun]

Glenrién:
Domodako plir shol.
ERG-fish-hunter ABS.3sf NN.be
He is a fisherman.

Amariez plir troj.
ADJ.strong ABS.3sf ADJ.be
He is strong.

Ti lor dozuzon plir shol.
ERG.1pf GEN ERG-husband ABS.3sf NN.be
He is my husband.

Bron tin lor tisendra plir borna.
in DAT.1pf GEN DAT-house ABS.3sf PRP.be
He is in my house.

Glenrién has three different copulas, specifically for describing things with nouns, adjectives, or prepositions. (At least for now.)
I may also be changing how genitive phrases work soon, but at the moment, they use a genitive particle.

[eldin raigmore]

Glenrién has three different copulas, specifically for describing things with nouns, adjectives, or prepositions. (At least for now.)
I may also be changing how genitive phrases work soon, but at the moment, they use a genitive particle.

... prepositions.

The usual four functions that "to be" sometimes has some of (but are sometimes separated in some languages) are:
* noun in predicate also names noun/pronoun/nominal in subject
* adjective in predicate describes noun/pronoun/nominal in subject
* location in predicate is where noun/pronoun/nominal in subject lies or sits or stands or ... etc.
* subject exists

The example you* provided that has a preposition is a locating clause. The preposition "in" is one of the locational prepositions in English.
*(The original post provided it, I know. The original poster wanted responders to explore locating clauses and the "copula"'s function in them.)
Do you also want this copula to work with other prepositions?
For instance how would you say in Glenrién "I am all about that bass"?

And:
Does Glenrién have any other kinds of adpositions? Postpositions, or inpositions, or circumpositions, or ambipositions? (I think that list is exhaustive, but I may be wrong.)

... genitive phrases ... genitive particle.

"Of" is a genitive preposition in English.
And in many languages possession is treated like location.

I'm not criticizing your language, nor am I criticizing your post.
I'm saying that answering this translation thread doesn't tell us (well, doesn't tell me) enough about (for instance) why you translate "He is my husband" with shol instead of borna.
By "why" I mean "how would someone learning the language know which one to use?"
And I'm hoping and asking that you'll tell us -- sometime and somewhere, but not necessarily now (though that would be great!) nor necessarily on this thread.

And, as long as I'm doing this, I should say:
"Genitive" case is the case you put a noun in when you want to use it to modify another noun -- that is to say, when you want to use a noun as an adjective.
And if you have a genitive adposition (like "of" or "de" or "von"), one of the main things it does is create a PPhrase that can be used to modify a noun-phrase.
So, for some languages with cases, some grammarians call any case that can "turn a noun into an adjective" a "genitive case".
(Some of them are more precise, however. If a language has "attributive" and "possessive" and maybe "ablative" cases, then "genitive" is the case for a noun that tells what kind of thing some other noun is; for instance distinguishing "wooden coin" and "leaden coin" from "golden coin".)

So how would you say "He is mine"?
Would you use "troj"?
Because "mine" is an adjective; it's the genitive form of "I" that's used when the modified noun-phrase is a grammatical object (of a verb or a preposition or anything else that can take an object).
Or would you use "shol"? or "borna"?

And do you work from the inspiration that natlang examples give you?
I only know such examples exist -- I don't know what they are.
Maybe some other contributor to this thread knows some?
Maybe there are some early in this thread and I missed them somehow?

[Redaun]

... Apparently, I really don't know what I'm doing, haha.

What I meant by "preposition" was mostly locating clauses, yes. I hadn't thought of other types of prepositions yet. I think I'd like it to work with any and all prepositions, but I'll have to look at how that works. Saying "locating" rings a lot truer to what I originally had in mind, though.

I also hadn't thought of "subject exists" types of phrases either. I could say something like, "It is itself," and use the noun copula, or maybe, "It is alive/existing," and use the adjective version. Or I could just make another copula. I... will have to look at the options.

Glenrién does only have prepositions, though, as the word order requires them to come before their root. (I really hope I haven't messed up that somehow too, lol.)

"Of" is a genitive preposition in English.
And in many languages possession is treated like location.
...
"Genitive" case is the case you put a noun in when you want to use it to modify another noun -- that is to say, when you want to use a noun as an adjective.
And if you have a genitive adposition (like "of" or "de" or "von"), one of the main things it does is create a PPhrase that can be used to modify a noun-phrase.
So, for some languages with cases, some grammarians call any case that can "turn a noun into an adjective" a "genitive case".

Apparently I had how genitives work in my head wrong. I was under the impression that the word in the genitive was the word being modified. The right way, though, makes a lot more sense, now that I think about it. I've been planning on redoing how they work already, so I'm glad I realized this now, rather than after I did something stupid.

I'm not criticizing your language, nor am I criticizing your post.
...
And do you work from the inspiration that natlang examples give you?

Oh, I know you're just helping and asking questions. I'm open to any input, really. I know I'll need a lot before I'm done!

And I haven't reeeeeally been looking at specific examples. I'll read about something I think sounds fun somewhere, and maybe consider adding it, but usually I just go from scratch. If anything, the example I'm using is English, and then deciding what parts of it I want similar or different in Glenrién. Looking at other languages sounds like a good idea, though.

I guess I have some homework to do. Thanks so much!

[eldin raigmore]

I also hadn't thought of "subject exists" types of phrases either.

English's existence statement sounds an awful lot like it should be a location statement.
"There is a certain tavern …".
But it's said without pointing to the place the tavern is.
If the speaker does point, "There is a tavern!", I guess it is a location statement.
And of course if you can locate something for your addressee you can't help simultaneously revealing that it exists.

---

French's existence phrase "il y a" ("it there has") and German's existence phrase "es gibt" ("it gives") are different from English's and from each other's.
For one thing, neither of them uses that language's form of their "to be" verb.

---

I was under the impression that the word in the genitive was the word being modified.

There are languages (Semitic languages are the only ones I can think of at the moment) in which the head noun of a "genitive" phrase is marked and the dependent noun isn't.
For those, the head noun is said to be marked in the "construct state", and the dependent noun is left unmarked in the "absolute state".

(Maybe I shouldn't mention too much.
(But look at WALS.info chapters 23, 24, and 25 -- especially chapter 24, "Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases".
(Just avoid getting so fascinated by cool new stuff that you forget to make progress on your conlang. That's happened to me.)

[atman]

Atlántika

Watos éktutar yexte.
['wɑtos 'extutar 'jeʃte]
he fisherman be.3SG
He is a fisherman.

Ixcros yexte.
['iʃkros 'jeʃte]
strong-M be.3SG
He is strong.

Adar mèhu yexte.
['adar 'mɛhu 'jeʃte]
man my be.3SG
He is my husband.

Duómuyen mèhu xtète.
['dwomujem 'mɛhu 'ʃtɛte]
house-LOC my stand.3SG
He is in my house.

The -d- in adar is analogical from the plural and the oblique cases; duómuyen is a normal thematic -en locative, pronounced with a final [m] in this case because of sandhi.

And, for the sake of comparison:

Modern Greek

Αυτός είναι ψαράς.
[afˈtos ˈine psaˈɾas]
he be.3SG fisherman
He is a fisherman.

Είναι ισχυρός.
['ine isçiˈɾos]
be.3SG strong-M
He is strong.

Είναι ο άνδρας μου.
['ine o ˈanðɾas 'mu]
be.3SG ART.M man my
He is my husband.

Είναι στο σπίτι μου.
['ine sto 'spiti 'mu]
be.3SG at house my
He is at my house.

[Dezinaa]

’iiƞìm:

Mi’máat túàì.
[bɪʔmaːt˥˧ two˥˩i˩]
mi’má-at tú-àì
fish(v.)-NMLZ be-3SG.ERG
He is a fisherman.

Napakat túàì.
[daβaɣɐt two˥˩i˩]
napak-at tú-àì
strong-NMLZ be-3SG.ERG
He is strong.

Àn atpaƞunu túàì.
[ãn˩ ɐtpãŋunu ɾwo˥˩i˩]
àn atpaƞu=nu tú-àì
1SG husband=GEN be-3SG.ERG
He is my husband.

Àn paànmúnu’ai túàì.
[ɐ̃n˩ bãːn˧˩mũ˥nuʔej ɾwo˥˩i˩]
àn paànmú=nu=’ai tú-àì
1SG house=GEN=LOC be-3SG.ERG
He is in my house.

[xroox]

a.) He is a fisherman.
b.) He is strong.
c.) He is my husband.
d.) He is in my house.

Español
a) Él es pescador
3.MASC.SING COP-3.SING.PRES fisherman.MASC-SING

b) Él es fuerte
3.MASC.SING COP-3.SING.PRES strong-SING

c) Él es mi marido
3.MASC.SING COP-3.SING.PRES 1SING.POSS.SING husband.MASC-SING

d) Él está en mi casa
3.MASC.SING COP-3.SING.PRES PREP 1SING.POSS.SING house.FEM-SING

Tynaap

a) Taara ta ranruut.
[ˈtaːɾə də ˈrandrut]
taara ta tan-ruu-t
3.MASC.NOM.PROX DEF.MASC catch-fish-NOM
he he that-fishes

b) Irqiryr tar.
[ˈʔiɾkʷɪrɨɾ dəɾ]
i-rqir-r tar
3-STAT-strong-INHER 3.MASC.NOM.PROX
is.strong he

c) Taara sau snuka.
[ˈtaːɾə so znuˈgaː]
3.MASC.NOM.PROX 1SING.POSS.SING.PROX spouse
He my spouse

d) Jas tyys su sau qut.
[jɛs tɨːs su zo guːt͡s]
COP.LOC 3.MASC.NOM.NONVIS DAT 1SING.POSS.SING.PROX house
exists.at he to my house

[Luan]

Lingua Latina

Piscator est.
fisherman be.3SG
He is a fisherman.

Fortis est.
strong.MASC be.3SG
He is strong.

Maritus meus est.
husband my.MASC.NOM be.3SG
He is my husband.

Is est in domo meo.
3SG.MASC be.3SG in house.ABL my.MASC.ABL
He is in my house.

Derrovian

То тунарєт тондарас.
To túnaret tondaras.
3SG.MASC work-3SG fisherman.ESS
He is a fisherman.

ДЬот мидқас.
Dhot midcas.
exist.3SG strong.ESS
He is strong.

То'т пантою.
To't pantoiu.
3SG.MASC=be.3SG husband-1SG.POSS
He is my husband.

То'т и-аммєлтиъу (яммєлтию).
To't i-ammeltîu.
3SG.MASC=be.3SG in=house.DAT-1SG.POSS
He is in my house.