The Veps language has 8 vowels.
Front: i, ü e, ö ä Back: u o a
with "u": au, ou, äu, öu, üu with "i": ai, ei, oi, ui, äi, öi, üi
Consonants
Veps consonants can be hard or soft, voiced or unvoiced. Some can also appear as geminates (kk, tt, pp, mm, nn, ss).
Labial stops - unvoiced: p, pj Labial stops - voiced: b, bj Dental stops - unvoiced: t, tj Dental stops - voiced: d, dj Velar stops - unvoiced: k, kj Velar stops - voiced: g, gj Labial fricatives - unvoiced: f, fj Labial fricatives - voiced: v, vj Dental fricatives - unvoiced: s, sj Dental fricatives - voiced: z, zj Alveo-cacuminal fricative - unvoiced: š Alveo-cacuminal fricative - voiced: zš (zh) Velar fricatives - voiced: j, h, hj Dental affricates - unvoiced: c, cj Alveo-cacuminal affricates - unvoiced: tš Labial nasals - voiced: m, mj Dental nasals - voiced: n, nj Dental liquids: l, lj Alveo-cacuminal trills: r, rj
The consonants "f, š, z, zš" appear at the beginning of words only in onomatopoetic words and in loanwords of Russian origin, e.g. šuuk - silk.
The consonant "n" before "k" and "g" is pronounced as "ng".
The only affricate found at the beginning of native Veps words is "tš" (tšarta - to cut, tšup - angle). The afrricate "c" at the beginning of words is found only in loanwords from the Russian language (cipuinje - chicken, cigark - cigar-butt).
Veps has partial vowel harmony. It is most widespread in the southern dialects, but seems to be restricted to the first and second syllables (southern njäljktüda, northern njäljktuda - to become hungry).
Stress in Veps, as in the other Balto-Finnic languages, is always on the first syllable.
Consonant gradation occurs in Veps.
kk ~ k akk - woman = akan - woman (gen.)
pp ~ p tappab - he threshes = tapan - I thresh
tt ~ t kattab - he covers = katan - I cover
The following parts of speech are found in the Veps language: substantives, adjectives, numerals, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, postpositions and prepositions, and interjections.
Grammatical gender is absent in Veps.
The substantives, as well as adjectives, numerals and pronouns, are declined according to case and number. The marker of the plural in the nominative is -d, and in the oblique cases it is -i. Declensions of the substantives kana - hen, lapsj - child, and hambaz - tooth.
Kana - 'hen'
s pl
Nom. kana kanad
Gen. kanan kanoidjen
Acc. kana kanad
Part. kanad kanoidj
Iness. kanas kanoiš
Elat. kanaspäi kanoišpäi
Illat. kanaha kanoihe
Adess. kanau kanoilj
Abl. kanau kanoilj
All. kanale kanoilje
Transl. kanaks kanoikš
Abess. kanata kanoita
Lapsj - 'child'
s pl
Nom. lapsj lapsed
Gen. lapsen lapsidjen
Acc. lapsj lapsed
Part. last lapsidj
Iness. lapses lapsiš
Elat. lapsespäi lapsišpäi
Illat. lapshe lapsihe
Adess. lapsuu lapsilj
Abl. lapsuu lapsilj
All. lapsele lapsilje
Transl. lapseks lapsikš
Abess. lapseta lapsita
Hambaz - 'tooth'
s pl
Nom. hambaz hambhad
Gen. hambhan hambhidjen
Acc. hambaz hambhad
Part. hambast hambhidj
Iness. hambhas hambhiš
Elat. hambhaspäi hambhišpäi
Illat. hambhaze hambhizše
Adess. hambhau hambhilj
Abl. hambhau hambhilj
All. hambhale hambhale
Transl. hambhaks hambhikš
Abess. hambhuta hambhita
Genitive: This is used to indicate the possessive (pertin siin = "the wall of the house"); in the rôle of the predicate (njene pjüudad oma miidjen = "these fields are ours). The genitive is also used with prepositions and potpositions. The marker of the genitive is -n in the singular and -djen in the plural.