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Lindjerblau verbs conjugate according to 3 persons (1st, 2nd and 3rd), 2 numbers (singular and plural), 7 moods (indicative, subjunctive, imperative, jussive, passive, inferential and conditional/hypothetical) and 5 tenses (present, past, pluperfect, future, future perfect). Verbs are not inflected to show aspect. Aspects are marked instead by various particles.
History
Grammar
Because Almsaundean dialects allow gemination, some inflections may cause triple or quadruple consonants. These combinations of consonants have been replaced by the "geminate consonant" (ß) which changes the pronunciation of geminate consonants existing in groups greater than 3 to /pts/.
- Soi + tett + t once formed the word "soitettt" but now forms the word "soiteß" for ease of pronunciation.
The geminate consonant previously had no capitalized for, and the original gemination was used. Recently, the Nithalosian "Ş" was borrowed as the geminate consonants capital form.
- SOITETTT » SOITEŞ
- HIJ ZZZ GIT. » HIJ Ş GIT.
Person
The three persons that Lindjerblau verbs decline to include two "genderless" persons and three "gendered" persons. Conjugation for person is fairly simple as the simple verb endings, which are the same regardless of tense or mood, tells which person is performing the action. The first person (I, we) endings are "-e" and "-en" for singular and plural respectively. The second person (you) uses the endings "-st" and "-est" for the singular and plural respectively.
- Ą itsche - I eat
- Rjij itschen - We eat
- Wë itschst - You (singular) eat
- Fau itschest - You (plural) eat
The three "gendered" persons are the third person. Some conjugations are used solely in reference to male entity or a group made entirely of male entities (he, they), or in reference with masculine nouns (nouns of the man or boy genders). The verb endings are the singular "-t" and the plural "-et." Other conjugations are used solely in reference to a female entity or a group made entirely of female entities (she, they), or in reference with feminine nouns (nouns of the woman or girl genders). The verb endings are the singulare "-sse" and the plural "-esse." Finally, there are conjugations that are more particular. They are used in reference with neuter nouns or groups of things that don't all share the same gender. They are also used with entities whose gender is unkown (someone, something) or refer to a generic idea which may not have an absolute gender (anyone, anything). Lastly, they are used with impersonal verbs. The endings are the singular "-ec" and the plural "-adszch."
- Hij itscht - He eats; Pfuh Man itscht - The man eats
- Pfë itschet - They (all males) eat; Pfi Boii itschet - The boys eat
- Schij itschsse - She eats; Pfij Wom itschsse - The woman eats
- Pfë itschesse - They (all females) eat; Pfe Gęrle itschesse - The girls eat
- Ę itschec - one, someone, something, anyone, anything, it, he, she eats
- Al itschadszch - all, everyone, they eat(s); Pfi Męnje itschadszch - The young men eat
Mood
The 7 moods include the indicative, subjunctive, imperative, jussive, passive, inferential and conditional.
Infinitive
The infinitive is the dictionary for of the verb. The infinitive is formed by taking the root form of the noun (the ergative singular, subtract the final -e if the noun is of the 4th or 5th genders), changing the root ending to meet verbal sandhi, and adding the infinitive ending -äne.
- pfuh Lew (love) » levv » levväne (to love)
- pfij Heilpe (help) » heilp » heilpäne (to help)
The entire -äne ending is dropped and the endings for the correct person is added in conjugated verbs.
- levväne (to love) » rjij levven (we love), al levvadszch (everyone loves)
- heilpäne (to help) » hij heilpt (he helps), pfë heilpet (they, all males, help)
For verbs derived from the 3rd gender, roots ending in hard vowels take the -hne infinitive while roots ending in soft vowels take the -jne infinitive ending.
- pfuh Sie (sight) » siejne (to see)
- pfuh Tro (attempt) » trohne (to try, to attempt)
In conjugated forms of these verbs, the entire ending is dropped before declinations beginning with a consonant but retains the h or j when the declination begins with a vowel.
- siejne (to see) » ą sieje (I see), wë siest (you see)
- trohne (to try) » ę trohec (it tries), schij trosse (she tries)
The infinitive, alike all verbs, conjugates strongly to reflect mood.
- Schij n rjantsse hęrtschaftäne.
- [SHE-erg. [GEN.neg-informal] WANT-ind.3p.fem.pres. SUFFER-juss.inf.]
- She doesn't want to have to suffer. (Jussive))
The infinitive may also be used as a gerund, or verbal noun. When this happens the verb is adopted by and follows the case patterns the Girl gender such as in the idiom "Kniwena Siejne isse." (Seeing is believing.) Many nouns have meanings that are equivalent to gerunds, and can be substituted (Siejne vs. Sietsche).
Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs are easy to spot because the end in -(consonant)ne and never the common -äne, -hne or -jne. Irregular verbs are derived from nouns that belonged to the 10th, 11th and 12th genders that existed in the Ancient and Old Almsaundean languages. These verbs followed strong declensions for mood that have become obsolete. Quite often, these verbs contain initial or ending consonants that are silent, but occassionally they contain no silent consonants at all.
- Kniwne (to know a fact), contains silent k and w
- Naghtne (to rise (the moon)), contains no silent letters
Gerundive
The gerundive is formed by taking the first person present, dropping the "-e" ending and attaching -'eln'. It is used as a verbal adjective where it agrees in case with the noun it describes, but maintains the function of a verb by never attaching to the modifier comments.
- Indjë ą eponjone j, vit pfe Kwęntakhetäunschafte gijelne bijesse.
- [AND-conj. I-erg. THINK/JUDGE-ind.1p.sing.pres. [PROGR.asp-informal], THAT-conj THE-erg.fem.plur. CWENTACHIANCITY-erg.4.gend.plur. GO-grnd. BE-subj.3p.fem.plur.pres.]
- I, too, think the Cwentachian cities are to be visited.
The gerundive may also function as the infinitive past. In this case, like all verbs, it conjugates strongly to reflect mood.
- Al j rjantadszch ïtscheln rjenvit autgïjne.
- [EVERYONE-erg [PROGR.asp-informal] WANT-ind.3p.neu.plur.pres. EAT-subj.grnd. WHEN-conj. OUT|GO-subj.inf.]
- They want to have eaten(subjunctive) before leaving.
Participle & Supine
The two participles have a simple conugation that does not change to agree with any other words in the sentence.
The participle, for all verbs, regular and irregular, is formed by taking the singular, first person, indicative present, dropping the ending "-e", and adding "-an (or "-n" to those ending in j or h).
- ą hivve (I have) » hivv » hivvan
- ą sieje (I see) » sej » siejn
- ą flahe (I fly) » flah » flahn
- ą knofnije (I know) » knofnij » knofnijn
The supine for all verbs, regular and irregular, is formed by taking the singular, first. Person, indicative past, dropping the ending "-e", and adding "-te."
- ą hovve (I had) » hovv » hovvte
- ą soije (I saw) » soij » soijte
- ą flehe (I flew) » fleh » flehte
- ą knewne (I knew) » knewn » knewnte
Phrasal Verbs
Some verbs change their meaning when they take a preposition or postposition. The phrasal adpositions attach themselves at the head of the infinitive.
- autgijne - to leave; from aut (out) + gijne (to go).
- autgijeln - to have left; from aut (out) + gijeln (to have gone)
Pronouns governed by an infinitive attach likewise.
- egijne - to go there; from e (there) + gijne (to go)
- ehautgijne - to leave from there; e (there) + autgijne (to leave)
In conjugated forms, the adpositions are placed after the conjugated verb, after the particle, or at the end of the phrase to avoid confusion with other adpositions governing nouns. Phrasal adpositions do not take objects of their own.
- Tąlk bik wëmo. - ( Answer me.)
- Mein Fapfer ist luvvte pfru menii Rjiri rjenvit hij det. - (My father survived many wars before he died.)
- Hij j git pfel Hauschel aut aut. - (He is leaving his house. (With the nuance that he is going very far from it.))
Indicative Mood
The indicative mood relates to general statements of truth, generic actions or states of being. Verbs conjugated with endings and no changes to the verbal stem are in the present tense of the indicative mood.
- hivväne (to have) » Brepfero ą hivve. - (I have a brother.)
- siejne (to see) » Ą sieje pfan Berdan. - (I see the birds.)
- flahne (to fly) » Berder flahesse. - (Birds fly.)
Indicative Past
The indicative past is the only non-present tense in any mood that isn't a compound tense. It was formed from the strong conjugation of the renarrative mood which collapsed with the evidential mood becoming the inferential mood. The indicative past is formed by taking the indicative present form of the verb, and moving the stressed vowel down one space on the strength chart.
- ą hivve (I have) » Ą hovve Ipelo. - (I had an apple.)
- ą sieje (I see) » Pfëma soijesse. - (They saw me.)
- ą flahe (I fly) » Berder flehesse erjej. - (The birds flew away.)
Subjunctive Mood
The subjunctive mood is found solely in dependent clauses. It expresses will/wanting and desires, opinion, emotions and doubt. Many verbs and phrases require the use of the subjunctive in dependent clauses that follow them. The subjunctive present is formed by taking the indicative present form of the verb and moving the stressed vowel left (or right) one place toward the middle column of the strength chart.
- ą hivve (I have) » Hij rjantt vit ąjje hïvve. - (He wants me to have it.)
- ą sieje (I see) » Hij n fienkt vit ąho sïeje. - (He doesn't think that I see it.)
- ą flahe (I fly) » Hij fienkt vit ą flähe. - (He believes I can fly.)
When a sentence begins with a conjuction ending in -vit + the subjunctive, its meaning is that of whether (or not)....
- Vit wëmo lëvve, vit wej, ąwo ß hivve levvan. - ( Whether you love me or not, I'll always love you.)
Imperative Mood
The imperative mood is used to issue orders and commands. The imperative present formed by taking the verbal stem and moving the stressed vowel left (or right) to the middle column of the strength chart. The imperative can not be used for every person or tense, and has its own personal endings for the persons it does conjugate to; -a (rjij), -- (wë), -s (fau) -asch (ę), -zä (al).
- hivväne (to have) » hivv » hıvv » (rjij) hıvva (let's have)
- siejne (to see) » siej » sıj » (wë) sıj (see)
- flahne (to fly) » flah » fląh » (fau) fląhs (fly)
Jussive Mood
The jussive mood relays need and necessity, advice, suggestion and judgment. Some verbs and phrases require the jussive mood in dependent clauses that follow them while others may take both the subjunctive and the jussive. In this case, the jussive usually strengthens the meaning of the phrase. The jussive is formed by taking the indicative form of the verb and moving the stressed vowel left (or right) to the middle column of the strength chart.
- ą hivve (I have) » ą hıvve (I must have)
- ą sieje (I see) » hij set fir vit ą sıje (he advises me to see)
- ą flahe (I fly) » hij niedt vit ą fląhe (he needs me to fly)
When a sentence begins with a conjuction ending in -vit + the jussive, its meaning is that of a polite request.
- Vit ąnaghtlij sıje? - ( Can I/may I/let me see you tonight.)
Passive Mood
The passive voice is considered a mood in Lindjerblau due to how it is formed grammatically. It is used simply to change the function of a subject of a verb into that of the object without having to change noun cases. When no pronouns or nouns are present in the accusative or dative cases, the passive can also act as a reflexive mood. The passive mood is formed by taking the verbal root and moving the stressed vowel down to the next row of the strength chart. The infix tett is placed between the verb stem and the personal ending.
- hivväne (to have) » hivv » hovv » ą hovvtette (I am had)
- siejne (to see) » sie » soi » ą soitette (I am seen)
- flahne (to fly) » fla » fle » ą fletette (I am flown)
With a sentence begins with a conjuction ending in -vit + the passive, its meaning is reflexive as long as the verb recieves neither a direct nor indirect object.
- Wë n arst bijn, vit ą hovvtette ontristeln. - (If not you, I have myself to believe in.)
Inferential Mood
The inferential mood was formed by the collapsing of the evidentiality and renarrative moods of the Ancient and Old Almsaundean languages. It functions to recount an event at which the speaker wasn't present, to show how a speaker has come across a new fact they've learned or to convey by what means the speaker is inferring their statement as truth. Whatever the case may be, the inferential mood is used when either the speaker can not prove the statement as fact, or if they don't know the validity of the statement as so. The inferential mood is formed by taking the verbal root and moving the stressed vowel left (or right) toward the center column of the strength chart. The infix tett is placed between the verb stem and the personal ending.
- hivväne (to have) » hivv » hïvv » ą hïvvtette (I have (evidential))
- siejne (to see) » sie » sïe » ą sïetette (I see (evidential))
- flahne (to fly) » fla » flä » ą flätette (I fly (evidential))
With a sentence begins with a conjuction ending in -vit + the inferential, its meaning is that of the renarrative.
- Vit pfij Astrikhe n flätettsse. - (The ostrich doesn't fly, so I've been told.)
Evidentiality Markers
| Evidentiality Markers | ||
|---|---|---|
| Visual | p | from the Maian "pī" |
| Audio | ł | from the Maian "wo" |
| Sensual | c | |
| Taste | tsch | from "itschäne" |
| Smell | l | from "Smeil" |
| Generic | g | from the Maian "ge" |
| Logical | h | from the Maian"pa" |
| Reportative | t | from "Teil" |
Some particles function to make evidentiality more specific. Four of these markers (p, r, g and h) were brought into the Almsaundean language from the Kono Mai language during the Almsaundean language reforms of the 18th and 19th centuries. The remainder derive from native words of the Lindjerblau.
Like particles that mark aspects, evidentiality markers are single phoneme words that never form compounds with other words.
Examples:
- Hij p bijteß gijn aut. - (He left, I know because I saw him.); Visual
- Pfuh Beil ł hïvteß saundan! - (The bell's about ring; we will hear it ourselves!); Audio
- Kild schij c j isse. - (It's cold outside. I went out there and felt it!); Sensual
- Teiriei j om Pam tsch bijtettet. - (There are cherries in this pie. I can taste them.); Taste
- Mepfer l j küekhtettsse. - ( I can smell that mother is cooking.); Smell
- Cisokjees Plante g bijtettsse. - ( It is common knowledge that that plant is poisonous.); Generic
- Bijtettst wë h j knofnijn? - (You didn't know, I assume?); Logical
- Schij n gïtettsse t, schein Brepfer. - ( Her brother told us she's not going.); Reportative
Conditional and Hypothetical Mood
The conditional mood formed from the conditional and hypothetical moods. It is used to both show the plausibility or possibility of an action is dependent on the realization of another and to refer to actions taken in an event contrary to reality.
All conjugations in the conditional and hypothetical mood are compound using two words. They form their own unique pattern for tenses.
- The verb bijne, conjugated for person and number in the present tense of the indicative mood + Participle I of the verb in question = Conditional/Hypothetical Present Tense
- ą amme gijn - I would go, if I go
- The verb bijne, conjugated for person and number in the past tense of the indicative mood + Participle I of the verb in question = Conditional/Hypothetical Past Tense
- ą wasse gijn - I would have gone, if I had gone
- The verb bijne, conjugated for person and number in the past tense of the indicative mood + Participle II of the verb in question = Conditional/Hypothetical Pluperfect Tense
- ą wasse gijte - I would have gone, if I had gone
- The verb hivväne, conjugated for person and number in the past tense of the indicative mood + Participle I of the verb in question = Conditional/Hypothetical Future Tense
- ą hovve gijn - I would go, if I should go
- The verb hivväne, conjugated for person and number in the past tense of the indicative mood + Participle II of the verb in question = Conditional/Hypothetical Future Perfect Tense
- ą hovve gijte - I would go, if I should have gone
Tense
The five tenses are the Present, Past, Pluperfect, Future and Future Perfect.
The present tense refers to actions that that are happening now.
- Rjij j itschen. - (We are eating.)
The past tense refers to actions that happened before an action in the present tense, or to actions that "just" happened (recent past).
- Rjij j otschen. - (We ''were eating.)
- Rjij otschen. - (We (just) ate.)
The pluperfect tense refers to actions that happened prior to other actions in the past or pluperfect.
- Rjij arn w otschte rjenvit schij bisse gijn on. - (We had already eaten before she arrived.)
- Rjij arn w otschte rjenvit hij bit siejte vit schij kimptsse on. - (We had already eaten before he had seen that she'd arrived.)
The future tense refers to actions that will take place immediately (near future) meaning things that are about to or going to happen, or actions that will take place in the distant future.
- Rjij hivven pfel Moddeel ah itschan. - (We will eat at midday.)
- Rjij j hivven Fischan pfën Naghtemiellën itschan. - (We are going to be eating fish for dinner.)
The future perfect tense refers to actions that will take place before other actions in the future or future perfect tense.
- Rjij hivven otschte rjenvit schij hïvvsse kemptan on. - (We will eat before she gets here.)
- Rjij hivven otschte rjenvit hij j hivveln knewnte vit indjë schij hivvsse kemptan on. - (We will eat before he realizes that she's coming too.)
While the present tense is a simple single word tense for all moods (except the conditional/hypothetical), all other tenses are compound dual-word tenses combining conjugations of the verbs "bijne," to be, or "hivväne," to have with a participle.
Verbs follow specific pattern to conjugate for tense:
- The verb bijne, conjugated in the present tense for the correct mood, person and number + Participle of the verb in question = Past Tense
- vit ą bije gijn - that I have gone/that I went
- The verb bijne, conjugated in the present tense for the correct mood, person and number + Supine of the verb in question = Pluperfect Tense
- vit ą bije gijte - that I had gone
- The verb hivväne, conjugated in the present tense for the correct mood, person and number + Participle of the verb in question = Future Tense
- vit ą hïvve gijn - that I will go
- The verb hivväne, conjugated in the present tense for the correct mood, person and number + Supine of the verb in question = Future Perfect Tense
- vit ą hïvve gijte - that I will have gone
The indicative mood is different however, having its own simple past tense; (ą goje, I went). The conditional/hypothetical mood has its own rule governing tense.
Particles
| Aspect Markers | ||
|---|---|---|
| z | djezint, wezint, sjant | generic negation |
| w | djuh, wasch, själ | affirmation |
| j | jes | progressive aspect |
| n | nej | negation for the progressive aspect |
| ß | alrjez | always |
| dszch | dszchamę | never |
| k | nikhte | neither, nor, none |
Beside particles that mark evidentiality, some particles are used to show aspect on a verb such as negation or perfectivity.
- Pfi Nejsıne z siejadszch. - (The blind do not see.); Generic Negation
- Wej, ąwo w levve. - (I do love you.); Affirmation
- Rjij j gijen Taunna. - (We are going to town.)
- Not using "j" or its counterpart n will make a phrase generic or habitual; Rjij gijen Taunna, We go to town (on Tuesdays, in the summer, every week).
- Schiwo n telksse. - (She was not talking to you.)
- Wë ß kniwjist pfa Biktalka. - (You always know the answer.)
- Pfel Hildiejel tuh dszch ą wasse. - (I have never been to Hyldia.)
- Schischa k wasse, k rjantsse schagïjne. - (She has neither been there nor wants to go there.)
Particles derived from auxiliary verbs that had been contracted into stand-alone adverbs, and then many times again into single phonemes (with the exception of "ß" which represents sound "pts"). The full form of the particles, when used, is regarded as formal speech and remain as the few remaining forms of formality in the Lindjerblau.
The following four sentences, each meaning "Would you give me some?" Show the four different levels of formality in Lindjerblau.
- Vit wëmajjen djuh gąvvst. - Highly formal.
- Vit wëmajjen w gąvvst. - Polite.
- Djuh gąvv majjen. - Formal.
- W gąvv majjen. - Familiar.
The formal groups djuh, wasch, själ and djezint, wezint, sjant are used with present, past and future formations respectively.
- Al wezint adszch lovvan siejne vit ep leine Kınde grijisse. - (They didn't live to see their children grow up.)
- Pfuh Tekkekker sjal hovvtettec gijn Klejen vit ęjje hovvec fandan. - (The thief will be taken to jail should they find him.)