Dothraki Grammar Guide: Verbs, Nouns, and Word Order

Dothraki Grammar Guide: Verbs, Nouns, and Word Order

Dothraki grammar is approachable for English speakers in its overall structure but introduces specific features — particularly the animacy distinction and the case system — that require systematic study. This guide covers the essential grammar you need to start forming sentences.

Word Order: The Familiar Foundation

Dothraki is an SVO language — Subject, Verb, Object — the same order as English.

Anha dothrak hrazef. — "I ride a horse." (I ride horse) Khal dothraki hrazef vezhven. — "The Khal rides a great horse."

This means that, unlike Klingon learners, Dothraki beginners don't need to reorganize their basic sentence-building instincts. The core structure is already familiar.

Modifiers follow the nouns they modify: hrazef vezhven (horse great) — adjectives come after nouns in Dothraki, unlike English.

The Animacy Distinction

Dothraki makes a fundamental grammatical distinction between:

• Animate nouns — living beings (people, animals, especially horses)
• Inanimate nouns — objects, concepts, forces

This distinction affects noun plurals, pronoun reference, and some verb agreement patterns.

Animate plural: Add -i to the noun stem hrazef (horse) → hraze (the stem) + -i = hrazefis (horses, animate plural)

Inanimate plural: Add -a arakh (curved sword) → arakhea (swords, inanimate plural)

Why does this matter? Because if you use the wrong plural, you're misclassifying what you're talking about. Using an inanimate plural for a horse is grammatically bizarre — it would be like denying the horse's status as a living being. In Dothraki culture, this would be offensive.

Verb Conjugation: Tense and Aspect

Dothraki verbs conjugate for both tense (when) and aspect (how/whether completed).

Tense markers:

• Present: base verb form
• Past: prefix a- added to verb
• Future: suffix -i or other future markers

Aspect:

• Imperfective (ongoing, habitual): default verb form
• Perfective (completed, discrete): modified form

The verb dothralat (to ride):

• yer dothrae — you ride (present imperfective, ongoing)
• yer adothrak — you rode (past perfective, completed)
• yer dothrakhisi — you will ride (future)

Aspect is crucial because it distinguishes "I was riding" (imperfective — ongoing in the past) from "I rode" (perfective — completed action). In Dothraki culture, the distinction between an action completed and one still in progress often matters practically — did the hunting party complete the hunt, or are they still hunting?

Noun Cases

Dothraki has a case system — noun endings change based on grammatical function. The primary cases:

Nominative (subject): the default noun form Khal — the Khal [subject]

Accusative (direct object): marks what the verb acts upon Khal becomes modified to show it's being acted upon

Genitive (possession): shows belonging khalasaroon — of the Khalasar (the -oon ending indicates genitive)

Allative (movement toward): shows direction -o or related ending — "toward/to [noun]"

For beginners, focus on recognizing these case endings rather than producing them perfectly. Reading Dothraki with awareness of case endings builds intuition that later becomes productive.

Pronouns

Person	Dothraki
I	anha
You (singular)	yer
He/She	me (animate)
We	haji
You (plural)	yeri
They	mori

Note that Dothraki uses a single third-person singular pronoun me for all animate beings — there's no gendered "he" vs. "she" distinction in the pronoun system.

Building Your First Sentences

Start with simple SVO constructions:

• Anha dothrak — "I ride"
• Anha zhilak yera — "I love you" (zhilak — to love, yera — you [accusative])
• Me vekha hrazef — "He/she has a horse"

Gradually add adjectives (after nouns), try the past tense with a- prefix, and work toward more complex sentences.

Practice Dothraki grammar through structured exercises at learningelvish.com.

Related Reading

• How to Learn Dothraki: The Complete 2026 Guide for Beginners
• The Best App to Learn Dothraki in 2026 (I Tested Every Option)
• Dothraki Language Basics: Grammar, Vocabulary & Culture

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