Seuna verbs

In finite form, the verb can have upto five slots after the main word. These slots are for subject, mood, voice and tense. A fifth slot, which gives evidential information is also often tagged on.

Subject suffix

The subject slot is filled as follows ;-

I	-a-	we(exc.)	-au-
		we(inc.)	-ai-
you	-i-	you(pl.)	-e-
he/she	-o-	they	-u-

??? There are also forms used when the agent is unknown or unimportant. These forms are -oi- for the singular and -eu- for the plural. An obvious question is ... if they agent is unknown, then how do you decide which of the two forms to use.

The answer is that if the action is typically performed by one person you use the oi form.

Whereas if the action is typically performed by more than one person, you use the eu form.

bundeurin dwolo = they say a house was built

caito kludoirus = (I guess) the book will be written

skriver = 'writing happens' (on écrit) [IMPERSONAL] The equivalent of the English passive is expressed by using the impersonal _with a direct object_, e.g. skriver ul levr = on écrit un livre = a book is being written These forms roughly correspond to indefinite pronouns such as Swedish and German man, French on and English one a house is built = someone built a house

???

Mood suffix

The mood slot is filled as follows ;-

indicative	-r-
subjunctive	-s-
imperitive	-ya

When the imperative is used there is no tense suffix. Also it is used only with the two second person subject suffixes. So for example;-

to hit	timpa
Hit him/her.	timpiya na
Hit him/her(spoken to more than one person).	timpeya na

To negate the imperative we use the particle kya. For example ;-

Don't hit him/her.

kya timpa na

Notice that in the negative form, the single/plural distinction is lost.

Voice suffix

active	-ɸ-
passive	-t-

The active is indicated by the absence of "t", that is - the active is assumed. ɸ is 'null'.

dwolo bundortin = they say a house was built

dwolo bundortan = they say a house has been built (i.e. it is still standing)

caito kludortus = (I guess) the book will be written

???

need subjunctive examples ??

Tense suffix

The tense slot is filled as follows ;-

past	-i
future	-u
perfect	-a
past perfect	-ua
future perfect	-ia
general/habitual	-o
present	-e
simultaneous	-ai
consequential	-au

She walked and walked = walkori walkorau

She walked and walked and walked = walkori walkorau walkorau

Evidential suffix

reported	-n
inferred	-s
seen	-o

Evidentials are only used in main(independent clauses), with the indicative mood. The "seen" evidential is only used with the past tense suffix. None of the evidentials are obligatory. The reported and inferred seem to bring into doubt the reliability of the information somewhat.

-n means inferred from evidence and is used in the situations in which we prefix or tag on "I guess" or "I think" to a clause in English.

-s means and information asserted is got from some third party and is used where we might prefix "they say" to a clause in English.

Negation and ???

The way to negate is to put the particle ka in front of the verb.

ka solboru = he/she will not drink

The infinitive is also negated in the same way.

ka timpa = to not hit

Only the negative imperative differs a little as already mentioned, using the particle kya.

Used in a similar manner to ka are the two particles meu and loi. meu means "may" and loi means probably.

The copula

The forms of the copula are almost identical to the TAM markings. Only the 3sng form is different, its vowel being dropped.

I was	ari	we(exc.)were	auri
		we(inc.) were	airi
you were	iri	you(lot) were	eri
he/she was	ri	they are	uri

You will notice that in the above table we demonstrated the copula system using the past tense. The reason that the past tense was used is that the present tense in English corresponds to two forms and two meanings in Seuna. The difference in meaning between the two forms, is the same as the difference between the two Spanish copulas “estar” and "ser". The "e" form being used for a less permanent state of affairs (similar to the use of "estar")and the "o" form being used for a more permanent state of affairs (similar to the use of "ser").

are buke = I am sick aro buke = I am an invalid

To negate the copula, you must always use the particle ka after the copula. Notice that this is the opposite from normal verbs where ka precedes the verb.

re ka buke = He is not sick

As in Russian, if tense information is unimportant, two words can just stand together with no copula.

mi "doctor" = I am a doctor

Nouns from verbs

solbe	to drink	humpa	to eat
solbela	the drinker	humpala	the eater
solbo	beverage	humpo	food
solbenda	a bar	humpanda	a restaurant

If it was some device doing the action then the suffix would be ma instead of la. da is a particle meaning "at" and also a noun meaning "place".

Adjectives from verbs

There are two participles. The passed passive is the infinite with oi replacing the original vowel. The present active is the infinite with eu replacing the original vowel.

It could be said that there is a third participle. The infinitive can be used to mean "that must be". For example "shirt" "to wash" means the shirt that must be washed.

The single syllable verbs

Usually a verb is recognizable by its midword consonant cluster. These verbs are of course multi-syllable. However the most common verbs are single-syllable. They are given below.

to leave	yi
to arrive	wu
to give	loi
to be	bia
to have	kua
to get/obtain	kwa
to become	bwa
to loose	kya
to stop being	bya
to go	go
to come	me
to know	sai
to realize/notice	swai
to return	gwia
to tell	slai
to send	glo
to rise	teu
to go down	joi
to raise	twe
to lower	jwo
to enter	pai
to exit	fau
to insert	pli
to extract	flu
to go through	mya
to see	bai
to show	bla
to say	plo
to think	kle
to want	nyo
to wish	fyu
to take	oi
to put	heu
to understand	nai
to follow	dwe
to cross	cwo

Other

You ought to hit him = you should hit him = timpohire na

You must hit him = timpuhire na

You can hit him = timpawire na

Index

1. Introduction to Seuna
2. Seuna : Chapter 1
3. Seuna word shape
4. The script of Seuna
5. Seuna sentence structure
6. Seuna pronouns
7. Seuna nouns
8. Seuna verbs (1)
9. Seuna adjectives
10. Seuna demonstratives
11. Seuna verbs (2)
12. Asking a question in Seuna
13. Seuna relative clauses
14. Seuna verbs (3)
15. Methods for deriving words in Seuna
16. List of all Seuna derivational affixes
17. Numbers in Seuna
18. Naming people in Seuna
19. The Seuna calendar
20. Seuna units