[3][4] The word Plautdietsch translates to "flat (or low) German" (referring to the plains of northern Germany or the simplicity of the language).

In 2007, Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas directed the film Stellet Licht (Silent Light), set in a Mennonite community in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Plautdietsch speakers today are mostly the descendants of Mennonites who fled in the 16th century to escape persecution and resettled in the Vistula delta.

These refugees were Frisians and Saxons from East Frisia, people from Flanders (now part of Belgium) and central Europeans.

At the time of their migration to the Russian Empire, their spoken language resembled the dialects of the region with only some few Dutch elements.

Beginning in the late 18th century, the expanding Russian Empire invited Germans and many from the Kingdom of Prussia, including many Mennonites, to create new colonies north of the Black Sea in an area that Russia had recently acquired in one of the Russo-Turkish Wars.

There was a third variety[citation needed] spoken by Groningen Old Flemish Mennonites in Waldheim, Gnadenfeld [uk], and Alexanderwohl, which traced its origin from Przechovka.

The distinctive features of Chortitza-Plautdietsch as opposed to Molotschna-Plautdietsch include:[15] Some Plautdietsch speakers might speak a mixture of both dialects.

Most Anabaptists that settled in the Vistula Delta were of Dutch or northern German origins, and were joined by refugees from different parts of Germany and Switzerland, who influenced their developing language.

After almost two centuries in West Prussia, German replaced Dutch as church, school and written language and has become a source from where words are borrowed extensively, especially for religious terms.

The verb normally shows the unshifted consonant, whereas the noun has a shifted Germanized consonant: schluten, Schluss; bräakjen, Bruch (to close, closure; to break, a break) The first half of the 16th century was the onset of the rule of terror by the Duke of Alba in the Spanish Low Countries during the Dutch Revolt (a.k.a.

In Low German area, they left their language traces in particular at the lower Vistula, around Danzig and Elbing, and up the river towards Toruń.

Plautdietsch speakers living in Spanish-speaking countries use many Spanish words in daily speech, especially in business and communication (telephone, for instance) vocabulary.

In the following table, only his final system is taken into account, as used in his famous Koop enn Bua series, along with Herman Rempel (Kjenn Jie noch Plautdietsch?

), Reuben Epp (Plautdietsche Schreftsteckja), Jack Thiessen (Mennonite Low German Dictionary), J. J. Neufeld (Daut niehe Tastament) and Ed Zacharias (De Bibel).

It is, however, still moderately inflectional, having two numbers, three genders, two cases, two tenses, three persons, two moods, two voices, and two degrees of comparison.

In the oblique case, the masculine has a special definite article, making it once more different from the feminine, which, like the neuter, does not change.

Mennonite Low German nouns inflect into two numbers: singular and plural, three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter, but only two cases, nominative and oblique.

The historical dative and accusative have merged, even though some writers try to maintain a three cases distinction, which has been lost for most speakers, perhaps centuries ago.

The oblique case is distinct from the nominative only in 1) personal pronouns: ekj froag am, hee auntwuat mie (I ask him, he answers me) 2) articles and demonstrative and possessive adjectives in the singular masculine gender: de Voda halpt dän Sän (the father helps the son) (observe: nouns are not inflected themselves) and 3) proper names, i. e. traditional Mennonite names: Peeta frajcht Marie-en, Marie auntwuat Peetren (Peter asks Mary, Mary answers Peter) Plural formation is comparatively complex.

Although once even richer, simplification has done its work here too, leaving Mennonite Low German with three genders: feminine, masculine and neuter, and two comparison degrees: Comparative and Superlative.

Examples of a regular verbs: spälen (to play), lachen (to laugh), läwen (to live), odmen (to breathe) and roaren (to cry).

The past participle for strong and anomalous verbs is hard to predict, they could be formed in five or six different ways: Adjectives are frequently made from the past participle by attaching an adjective inflection ending and voicing the final t; if the preceding consonant is voiced, with -en participles the e is dropped: molen, jemolt, een jemoldet Bilt (to draw, drawn, a drawn picture) koaken, jekoakt, eene jekoakte Ieedschock (to boil, boiled, a boiled potato) stälen, jestolen, een jestolna Hunt (to steal, stolen, a stolen dog) Except for the present and simple past, all other tenses are constructed with the aid of the auxiliary verbs sennen, haben, woaren: Some intransitive verbs take sennen instead of haben as auxiliary verbs if they: 1) indicate a motion from one place to another, or 2) indicate a change of condition, or 3) the verbs sennen (to be) and bliewen (to keep being, to remain).

In some communities of Plautdietsch speakers, the religious prohibition of James 4:13-14[20] is interpreted to proscribe the simple use of the first person in talking about future plans or efforts.

In such communities it is considered proper to use a softening introductory phrase such as "Ekj proove," (I try, or will try, or alternately I will want to) to avoid giving offense.

A dependent verb, i.e. an infinitive or past participle, comes at the end of the sentence where in English it would be placed immediately after the main verb, as shown in the following examples: Mennonite Low German word order: Jehaun haft dän Desch jemoakt (John has the table made).

This pattern is demonstrated here: Mennonite Low German word order: Nu sie ekj schaftich.

As in English, when using verbs in the imperative mood, it is not necessary to specify the person addressed, but it can be added for emphasis: Brinj (du) mie emol dän Homa (Please, (you,) bring the hammer to me).

However, when a dependent clause has an infinitive or past participle, this rule is no longer strictly applied; there is a strong tendency to move the finite (main) verb before the infinitive or participle, the direct object (or even a long circumstantial complement): Example: German word order requires a sentence structure like: Hee fruach mie, auf ekj miene Mutta jistren daut Jelt jejäft haud.

Even though this sounds right and perfectly understandable, most speakers would rearrange these same words as follows: Hee fruach mie, auf ekj miene Mutta jistren haud daut Jelt jejäft.