TODO: intro

The infinitive is unmarked, but always ends in a vowel. A borrowing from another language adds an a to the end if necessary. It is the citation form for verbs as well as being used in several constructions.^{[citation needed]}

Tense

There is a distinction between two different past tenses, recent and distant past. The recent past is most commonly used, while the distant past is used to denote an action happening further in the past than to another action already expressed using the recent.

Stories are narrated in the present tense.

Ƶasim kalńḿt jaƶí.
ƶasi–m	kalń–ḿ–t	jaƶí
dog–DEF	cat–DEF–GEN	love;PRS
The dog loves the cat.

Ƶasim kalńḿt jaƶísi.
ƶasim	kalńḿt	jaƶí–si
the:dog	the:cat	love–RPST
The dog loved the cat.

Ƶasim kalńḿt jaƶísaji.
ƶasim	kalńḿt	jaƶí–saji
the:dog	the:cat	love–DPST
The dog had loved the cat (until …).

Ƶasim kalńḿt jaƶímá.
ƶasim	kalńḿt	jaƶí–má
the:dog	the:cat	love–FUT
The dog will love the cat.

Person

These suffixes are used instead of pronouns (but not nouns) in the subject and object positions. The subject suffix comes before the object. For the plural, the vowel is lengthened and –š is added (e.g. –na to –náš).

Just like with the pronouns, the first person plurals –náš and –dúš can only be used with an inclusive meaning. The exclusive sense is expressed by using conjunctions of pronouns instead of suffixes.

Bairunagu.

bairu–na–gu

see–1SG;SBJ–2SG;OBJ

I see you.

Ƶasim bairunáš.
ƶasi–m	bairu–náš
dog–DEF	see–1PL;SBJ
We see the dog.

Ƶasim bairudúš.
ƶasi–m	bairu–dúš
dog–DEF	see–1PL;OBJ
The dog sees us.

Voice

TODO replace this, probably

There is a four way voice distinction. The voice markers are placed between the tense and person markers.

• The active voice is the default form of the verb and does not modify the roles of the arguments.
• The passive voice promotes the direct object of the verb to subject position, leaving the former subject role unspecified. There is no way to specify the agent (i.e., no equivalent to by); to merely emphasise the object but keep the subject specified, the object can be moved to the beginning of the clause.
• The reflexive voice indicates that the subject(s) act on themselves.
• The reciprocal voice indicates that the subjects act on each other.

Ƶasimat tassána.
ƶasimat	tassá–na
the:dog	wash–1SG
I wash the dog.

Ƶasim tassálú.
ƶasim	tassá–lú
the:dog	wash–PSV
The dog is washed.

Tassásiduna.

tassá–sidu–na

wash–RFL–1SG

I wash myself.

Tassálƶináš.

tassá–lƶi–náš

wash–RCP–1PL

We wash each other.

Negative

TODO

• –tul
• “is not” is just tul instead of aitul

Nominal forms

A verb stem can also be used as a noun: for example, šikkú both means ‘to go’ and ‘an act of going’. The definite plural is also used to mean the act in a general sense. The definite form is also used for the verb of content clauses, for example indirect quotations, and with auxiliary verbs such as modals.

When the final part of the verb is a subject suffix ending in –a, that a is dropped and the –ḿ form of the definite is used instead, e.g. rusmánḿ “that I sleep” rather than rusmánam. The definite form of ai “to be” is am rather than aim.

hipsamł

hipsa–m–ł

solve problem–DEF–PL

logic (the general act of problem solving)

Fíra fuham suasifa.
fíra	fuha–m	sua–si–fa
air	blow–DEF	say–RPST–3SG
He said it was windy.

Šikkúnḿt ušminatul.
šikkú–n(a)–ḿ–t	ušmi–na–tul
go–1SG–DEF–GEN	want–1SG–NEG
I don’t want to go.

Modifier forms

TODO: maybe replace –ja with –[ka]t? (or –gu???)

A verb form can be suffixed with –ja to turn it into a noun modifier. This is used to make relative clauses.

ƶasim bairuja ausut kášńḿ
ƶasi–m	bairu–ja	ausu–t	kášń–ḿ
dog–DEF	see–REL	size–GEN	lizard–DEF
the big lizard that the dog sees

ƶasimat bairuja ausut kášńḿ
ƶasim–at	bairu–ja	ausut	kášńḿ
the:dog–GEN	see–REL	big	the:lizard
the lizard that sees the dog

TODO: probably remove and modify some word instead?

A relative clause can be made into a noun phrase of its own with –ƶ, meaning ‘the one who ____’.

kášńł bairujaƶ
kášń–ł	bairu–ja–ƶ
lizard–PL	see–REL–NOM
the one who sees lizards

Pro-verbs

Pro-verbs are placeholders standing in for verb phrases; they are the verb equivalent of pronouns.

The word for ‘to do this’ is mai, related to the pronoun mua. There are also lai and ƶai, which are used only when contrasting between two options.

Naranášḿ iš lut saunusam gibanášḿ fulla.
nara–náš–ḿ	iš	lut saunu–sa–m	giba–náš–ḿ	fulla
walk–1PL–DEF	or	bus–AD–DEF	ride–1PL–DEF	can
We can walk or take the bus.

Laim iš ƶaim ušmiha?
lai–m	iš	ƶai–m	ušmi–ha
do this–DEF	or	do that–DEF	want–2SG
Which do you want to do?

Ƶaim ušmina.
ƶai–m	ušmi–na
do that	want–1SG
I want to take the bus.

There is also a negative pro-verb tulla, ‘to not do this/that’.

Polar questions

TODO idk

Polar (yes/no) questions add a –ǧi clitic on the word or phrase being questioned. The word being questioned receives the primary stress. If there is no particular focus for the question, it is attached to the final word of the sentence.

Inlantimsasǧi šikkúmáha?
inlanti–m–sa–s–ǧi	šikkú–má–ha
england–DEF–AD–LAT–QU	go–FUT–2SG
Are you going to england (vs going somewhere else)?

Surǧi inlantimsas šikkúmá?
sur–ǧi	inlantimsas	šikkúmá
2SG–QU	to:england	will:go
Is it you (vs someone else) who is going to england?

Inlantimsas šikkúmáhaǧi?
inlantimsas	šikkúmáha–ǧi
to:england	you:will:go–QU
Are you going to england (vs coming from it)?

To answer a yes/no question, the verbs mai or tulla, respectively, are conjugated for person (but not tense, etc). Their literal meaning are as pro-verbs, ‘to (not) do this’.

• Inlantimsasǧi šikkúmáha?
  Are you going to england?
• Maina./Tullana.
  Yes, I am/No, I’m not.

If/then

TODO

• if-clause nominalised, in IN-ABL
• then-clause main clause of sentence, with aux verb tisu