Uberish/More Grammar

The city for conlangs

Here I will detail on some of the important constructs not mentioned in the previous chapters.

[edit] Asking Questions

Information questions that use question words simply use the interrogative word plus the conjugated form of the verb. Yes or no questions, however, are asked by adding let- to the beginning of the verb. Thus, "letasalis domalasis?" is "are you going (to your) home?".

[edit] Verb Negation

Verb negation is perfomed by adding net- to the beginning of the conjugated verb.

[edit] The Subjunctive

The subjunctive has a variety of uses. By itself, it can be used in the cohortative or jussive: "esaliuns" is "let's go", while "esalituns" is "let them go". It can also mean "we might go" (in general, but if it is referring to an event in the future, it is necessary to conjugate it in the future tense.)

Another use of the subjunctive is to give contrary to fact statements or wishes. For a contrary to fact wish, such as "I wish I were at home", it is simple. One simply conjugates suhatir in the indicative, and estir in the subjunctive. Thus "I wish I were at home" becomes "assuhati esesti domalasi." Contrary-to-fact statements are most often accompanied by the conditional, such as "If I had money, I would buy it". The first clause is preceded by si, "if". Thus the previous statement becomes "si eshabi pekunios, ios isemi".

An additional use of the subjunctive is in subordinate clauses. There are many types of subordinate clauses, detailed in the next subsection.

The final use of the subjunctive detailed here is the request/demand form in sentences like "I want you to be better" and "I demand that he leave". In both cases, the second verb is conjugated in the subjunctive and according to the person and number of that same verb, not the verb of the main clause. Thus the two sentences become "aswoli esestis bonatior" and "asordoni essortit". This can be classified as a subordinate clause, and is.

[edit] Subordinate Clauses

A subordinate clause is a part of a sentence that contains it's own verb and subject, but does not indicate the main action, a function which the main clause serves. Subordinate Clauses generally use the subjunctive mood.

Indirect Questions are statements such as, "They were asking from where we were." This translates to: "abamrogituns netubialas ebamestiuns." Notice that the second verb is in the same tense with respect to the main verb. If the sentence were "They were asking where we had been", the second verb would have been in the pluperfect.

Result Clauses are clauses that use an expression of quantity in the main clause, and a "that" clause as the subordinate clause. For example, "I was so tired that I slept."

Purpose Clauses are obviously clauses that indicate purpose, such as "I ate in order to get fat."

Indirect Commands are sentences such as, "He ordered me to stand."

These last three types of clauses use ut as a positive conjunction and ne if the clause is negative. For example, the result clause example becomes "Abamfatigatak ut ebamdormi.", and "I was so tired that I didn't go to sleep" would use ne instead of ut as the conjunction.

[edit] Verbal Adjectives and Nouns

To create a verbal adjective (participle or gerundive), one simply adds the endings of a noun or adjective to the infinitive of the verb in the correct mood, tense, and voice. The future passive participle also acts as obligatory if used with estir or as a predicate nominative.

[edit] Examples

dormir-to sleep

asdormirat-sleeping (present active participle)

ahafdormirat-having slept (perfect active participle)

aldormirat-about to sleep (future active participle)

mangir-to eat

asmangarat-being eaten (present passive participle)

ahafmangarat-having been eaten (perfect passive participle)

almangarat-about to be eaten (future passive participle)

almangaratik-it must be eaten (obligatory as predicate nominative)

amas asmangaret- love of being eaten (passive present gerund)