Guild Wars 2

I, myself, was confused about the difference between “asura” and “asuran,” but I’m certain I have it down now.

I find it a little annoying when people call an “asura” an “asuran” or multiple “asura” “asurans.”

Let’s go over the basics.

• “Asura” refers to the being or person. Ex. “Vini is an asura.”
• “Asura” is plural of “asura.” Ex. “There’s a group of asura over there.”
• “Asuran” is a possessive. However, it only refers to objects created by or originating from asura. Ex. “An asuran lab.” If say, a weapon was of asura creation, you’d say “That’s an asuran sword.”
• As for possessing objects of not asura origin or created, you would say, ex. “That raptor belongs to an asura” or “Those raptors belong to the asura” or “The asura’s raptor.”
• To avoid confusion whether they are referring to multiple asura or the race, I’d add “Those raptors belong to the asura race.” or “asura people.”

The use of the name “asura” is pretty complex. So, let’s get it down right.

NOTE: I may have some incorrect usage of the word(s). Correct me if I’m wrong.

Thank you.

Pretty well stated I’d say. I agree with everything except the quote below.

AegisRunestone.8672:

• To avoid confusion whether they are referring to multiple asura or the race, I’d add “Those raptors belong to the asura race.” or “asura people.”

I’d say, “Those raptors belong to the asura.” rather than adding race or people since it is clear from the context of the sentence that you are referring to the entire race.

Vesuvius.9874:

Pretty well stated I’d say. I agree with everything except the quote below.

AegisRunestone.8672:

• To avoid confusion whether they are referring to multiple asura or the race, I’d add “Those raptors belong to the asura race.” or “asura people.”

I’d say, “Those raptors belong to the asura.” rather than adding race or people since it is clear from the context of the sentence that you are referring to the entire race.

What would you say then if the Raptors belong to multiple asura and not the race?

AegisRunestone.8672:

Vesuvius.9874:

Pretty well stated I’d say. I agree with everything except the quote below.

AegisRunestone.8672:

• To avoid confusion whether they are referring to multiple asura or the race, I’d add “Those raptors belong to the asura race.” or “asura people.”

I’d say, “Those raptors belong to the asura.” rather than adding race or people since it is clear from the context of the sentence that you are referring to the entire race.

What would you say then if the Raptors belong to multiple asura and not the race?

It would still be the same sentence based on your own initial statements that the plural of asura is still asura (which I actually agree with). The word asura in that sentence would refer to the group and not the race based on the context of the conversation taking place.

AegisRunestone.8672:

• “Asura” is plural of “asura.” Ex. “There’s a group of asura over there.”

Or “Those raptors belong to those asura?” or something like that. I know it uses the word “those” twice which is considered a no-no, but we can work on that.

English isn’t my first language so I’m not 100% certain on the double usage of the word “those” but maybe one of them should be “these”? Not sure :P

Perhaps someone with a better understanding of English grammar can chime in.

Vesuvius.9874:

English isn’t my first language so I’m not 100% certain on the double usage of the word “those” but maybe one of them should be “these”? Not sure :P

Perhaps someone with a better understanding of English grammar can chime in.

‘Those’ or ‘these’ are both acceptable in each case, it’s just that having ‘those’ twice feels a bit clumsy. The main difference between the words is distance. ‘These’ refers to something close, ‘those’ refers to something further away, so really it comes down to where the raptors and asuras are.

Another option is: Those are the asuras’ raptors
But I’d only recommend that in writing, as you can’t hear where the apostrophe is when spoken aloud.

This post sums up why I don’t like how “asura”, “norn” and “sylvari” are both the singular and plural forms. If there was any sort of difference, even something borrowed from Latin (eg. asura, asurae or sylvarus, sylvari) it would’ve been fine by me. Small matter, though, as it was decided over 5 years ago.

The use of “those” twice in a sentence is fine if it applies to two different groups, especially if the raptors and the group of asura (or is a group of asura called a “krewe”, just like it’s a pride of lions?) are both far away but not near each other. If there was another word to use, it should be substituted, but there isn’t another way to say “those”, really.

I think there’s one final use of the word “asuran”, which is describing something vaguely asura-like. It hasn’t been used so far, because there’s not another creature that looks like an asura in Tyria, but if there were, it could sure apply.

In regards to “Asuran” it seems it very rarely used even in connection with something made or originating with the Asura, the biggest example being that its ‘Asura Gates’ as opposed to ‘Asuran Gates’.

Rognik.2579:

This post sums up why I don’t like how “asura”, “norn” and “sylvari” are both the singular and plural forms. If there was any sort of difference, even something borrowed from Latin (eg. asura, asurae or sylvarus, sylvari) it would’ve been fine by me. Small matter, though, as it was decided over 5 years ago.

The use of “those” twice in a sentence is fine if it applies to two different groups, especially if the raptors and the group of asura (or is a group of asura called a “krewe”, just like it’s a pride of lions?) are both far away but not near each other. If there was another word to use, it should be substituted, but there isn’t another way to say “those”, really.

I think there’s one final use of the word “asuran”, which is describing something vaguely asura-like. It hasn’t been used so far, because there’s not another creature that looks like an asura in Tyria, but if there were, it could sure apply.

I would love it if they borrowed from Latin! Asurae sounds awesome to me! No, a krewe is a group of asura working on an invention. Once the invention is completed, the krewe disbands.

The Greyhawk.9107:

In regards to “Asuran” it seems it very rarely used even in connection with something made or originating with the Asura, the biggest example being that its ‘Asura Gates’ as opposed to ‘Asuran Gates’.

Dang it. You’re right, Greyhawk. I didn’t think of that. This makes Asuran vs. Asura more complicated.

I wish Anet had a grammar book, darn it.

AegisRunestone.8672:

No, a krewe is a group of asura working on an invention. Once the invention is completed, the krewe disbands.

I’m aware of this culturally, but I was mostly making a joke. Of course, since ANet seems to be against using common plurals, is it 2 krewe or 2 krewes? Also, is there a special term for a group of asura or are there enough troubles pointed out in this thread that we don’t need to add more?

Ironically, with ‘krewe,’ I believe multiple of them is “krewes.”

We’ve got a lot of troubles already. x.x;

“As for possessing objects of not asura origin or created…’”

Wouldn’t this be “as for possessing objects not of asuran origin”? Well, just a typo I’m sure, not an intentionally incorrect usage.

At least asura have a proper possessive adjective. The other four races don’t. Human ruins, sylvari clothing, norn weapons, charr catnip… I’m not sure how I feel about it, personally. Traditional fantasy has elven (or elvish) archers and dwarven/dwarfen warriors. Even orcish hordes (and goblin whelps, I suppose). Being in no way an expert when it comes to grammar, I’m both okay and not okay with it. At this point, I think it’s up to the Rule of Cool when deciding which direction you should go with it.

Edit: I’m, like, 99.9% sure “krewes” is grammatically correct and acknowledged as grammatically correct by the game. If it’s not, that would be… odd…