[1] Judging by Laoust (whose work on the language predates systematic phonology), Shenwa has the following sounds, which are given below in the International Phonetic Alphabet along with differing representations in the Algerian standard Latin orthography for Berber languages in angle brackets ⟨ ⟩: Comparison with other Berber languages suggests that Laoust's transcription may have failed to distinguish certain sounds, notably pharyngealized /zˤ/.

Examples: ayḏi "dog"; fus "hand"; iri "neck"; urṯu "garden".

Feminine nouns start with h- (originally t-), and usually end with -t or -ṯ: hagmarṯ "mare", hesa "liver".

The plurals of feminine nouns fall into much the same types as masculine ones, but adding h- at the beginning and using -in rather than -en: hakṯemţ "female" → hikṯemin, harract "girl" → harracin, huqiṯ "stone" → huqay, hawleliṯ "spider" → hiwlela.

Thus, for instance: aman n ţala "the water of the fountain", aglim uγilas "the skin of the panther".

Adjectives agree in number and gender with the noun, and are formed in the same way: e.g. amellal "white", azegrar "long", azaim "good".

Similarly, the adjective "other" (invariable enniḍen) combines with "this" to make forms meaning "the other": unniḍen, henniḍen, id̠enniḍen, hid̠enniḍin.

The declarative mood is divided into two tenses: preterite (past) and aorist (non-past, formed by the addition of a-.)

sg., sometimes with ablaut of final vowels: inziz "he sang" → inzizen; ayenziz "he will sing" → ayenzizen, yut̠a "he hit" → yut̠in.

Prepositions precede their objects: i medden "to the people", sgi Bazar "from Tipaza".

Conjunctions precede the verb: ami yiwoḍ "when he arrived", qabel ma ţaγen "see if it's raining".

", ami, γassa(l), assγa, γir "when", ma, kagella, lukan, willa "if", (an)neγ "or".

Qaren midden: Unni ayḥağen d̠ug ass, adeffeγen arraw ennes d̠iferd̠asen.

Iroḥ uccen yaεd̠el iman es γer fwit̠ lami eqqoren iḍaren u iğim ec ayuwr.

Ikk ed sin iğ wumcic; innas uccen: "Sellek ay u c eţţγec."