Ancient Figo syntax
- Main article: Ancient Figo
This page gives an extensive description of ancient Figo syntactical features.
Main clause and word order
Ancient Figo is an almost strictly SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) language.
līruli soba līločeš the man sees the dog
The quite rich case system allows every other possible word order, but most of them prove to be very marked and infrequently used. The only word order with a clear role and a frequent usage is OSV (Object-Subject-Verbs), which marks the so-called passive construction.
soba līruli līločeš the dog is seen by the man
The other elements in the sentence are usually placed in the order “place-manner-cause-time”, although they are basically freer than the main elements. An object in the dative case, when conveying the indirect object, tends to be placed before the direct object of the sentence.
A peculiar feature is the verbal infinitival agreement: when infinitival forms, as nominal forms of the verbs, take a direct object, are regarded as an expression of belonging, and the direct object is declined in the genitive case.
sobaɕu līločem īsow I do not see the dog.
The frequency of this feature, however, is already declining in the classical period, when the infinitival forms are used in a verbal costruction (as, for example, with modal verbs). The infinitival agreement is still widely used up to the later classical period when these forms are used in a nominal construction.
Moreover, as it can been seen in the example above, when an infinitival form is governed by a modal verb or by the negative verb īsem, the infinitive is always placed before the conjugated modal form.
