Classical Arithide conjugation
- See also Classical Arithide grammar for more information
Classical Arithide verbs are divided into four conjugations based on their stems: whether they end in the vowels -a, -e, -i or a consonant. Whereas all consonant-stem verbs (C-verbs) take -ēn in the infinitive, vowel-stem verbs (V-verbs) double their stem-final vowel and add -n to form the infinitive. The two conjugations differ in their basic finite forms, whereas additional affixes for the various aspects and moods are common; a small group of verbs are mixed-conjugation: though consonant-stem, they take vowel-stem conjugations.
Within the C-verb class, nasal-stems (-m- and -n-) conjugate slightly differently from the non-nasal-stem verbs; also, V-verbs possess a second stem, with which are formed their derivatives, such as the protractive aspect and the agentive noun.
Verbs in each class are conjugated for four voices, three basic aspects, five derivative aspects, seven moods and four tenses, on a cascading hierarchy as above. I.e., to the root form of the verb would first be appended affixes indicating voice, followed by aspect, then mood and subsequently tense. Certain aspects and moods in Classical Arithide form separate infinitives from the main verb, but, as semi-independent verbs, are not always able to take the full range of verb conjugations.
There is a small class of antideponent verbs in Classical Arithide, i.e. verbs with an active form but a passive meaning.
Verbs are the only group of words in Classical Arithide that exhibit a significant degree of non-inflectionary morphology, namely, agglutination, which occurs in affixing aspects, moods and tenses onto individual verbs.
Conjugations of an Arithide verb
The basic conjugations of an Arithide verb are given in table format as laid out in the following template.
| verb | stem, gerund, imperative, cohortative potentive, causative, passive | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| supine location instrument agent patient |
perfect aspect | perfect participle | present tense | |
| perfective aspect | perfective participle | past tense | ||
| imperfective aspect | imperfective participle | - | ||
| (conditional mood) | (conditional participle) | future tense | ||
| habitual, inceptive, frequentative, protractive desiderative, jussive, subjunctive | ||||
Stem & gerund
The conjugation of a verb is conducted with its stem as the basis. To find the stem of a consonant-stem verb, simply remove the infinitive ending -ēn; vowel-stem verbs display their inherent vowel in the infinitive: a-stems have -ān, e-stems have -ēn and i-stems have -iān. From the stem is formed the second major part of a verb's conjugation, the gerund: C-verbs affix an -o directly onto the stem, hence napsēn "to hide" has the stem naps- and the gerund napso; V-verbs, on the other hand, append it to the derivative stem, hence sebiān "to hear" has the gerund form sebito. Most complex conjugations are formed using the gerund, as are a number of common verbal phrases and periphrastic constructions; frequently, when those conjugations require an affix beginning with a vowel, the -o of the gerund is elided.
Verbal nouns
The left side of the table, shaded slightly darker, lists the main verbal nouns, of agency (doer), of patiency (done to), of instrument (tool), of location (place done at), as well as the supine (act of). Agentive nouns are of declension VI and instrumentive nouns are declension Vb, the patientive is declension VII, while locative nouns as well as the supine are of declension VIII (see Classical Arithide declension for the respective inflection patterns).
There is an applicative infix, -(i)t-, that is appended only to first conjugation (consonant-stem) verbs, to derive nouns one degree removed semantically from the verb. Examples are:
- segrēn "to write" > segros "the act of writing", segritos "writing (i.e. words that have been written)"
- damēn "to carry" > damos "the act of carrying", damptos "transport, conveyance"
Imperative & cohortative
At the top-right of the table, listed with the stem and the gerund, are the imperative ("walk!") and the cohortative ("let's walk") moods respectively. These are the only two forms of the verb that are progressively invariable (see Progressive inflection), i.e. they do not inflect further for the next level of time-flow distinction, in this case tense. The imperative is formed with V-verbs by lengthening their inherent vowel and adding -ra, and with C-verbs by adding -ēra to the stem (i.e. napsēn > napsēra, kalān > kalāra, sebiān > sebīra). The cohortative is constructed, in C-verbs by appending -ōra to the stem; V-verbs lengthen the final -o in their gerundive and add -ra. In colloquial speech or for purposes of scansion, the final -ra may be omitted for both these moods.
Free derivatives
Under them are listed the only three derivative verbs that can conjugate nearly as fully as the main verb itself, with only minimal restrictions (the "free derivatives"): the potentive (-ābēn), causative (-ārēn) and passive (-stēn) voices.
To illustrate, napsābēn (napso- + -ābēn potentive) can take any ending that the main verb can, except the passive, because potentive verbs are intransitive by nature and thus do not have a passive; nor can napsostēn (napso- + -stēn passive), for the same reason that passive verbs are also intransitive by definition; in addition, the causative is the only derivative of the three that allows recursion: napsārāre "made to cause to hide" is semantically permissible, whereas napsābābēn is illogical and napsostostēn is forbidden for transitivity reasons as already discussed.
Of these, the passive verb is constructed in certain regards somewhat differently from its active counterpart.
- The imperative is conjugated -ura—i.e. napsostura not *napsostēra
- The cohortative is conjugated -ulla—i.e. napsostulla not *napsostōra
- There is a third-person imperative ("let him hide") ending in -sit—i.e. napsosit
Records of earlier Arithide show the passive form as originally having been constructed -sitēn, which casts some light on the origins of the seemingly irregular third-person imperative, and the patientive verbal noun. The latter is attested as once regular (napsositos, which phonetic attrition reduced), and the former of which is unattested but postulated by scholars to have been napsositu, paralleling the imperative and cohortative. For those moods, however, no material is available to explain their distinct construction from the active.
Aspects & tenses
The table is ordered with the aspects preceding what is, in Classical Arithide grammar, traditionally known as the four basic tenses, for reasons of origin: the tenses ultimately derive from reduced versions of the aspects; written records exhibit tenses only from the fifth century BCIE. The perfect aspect gave rise to the present tense, the perfective to the past tense, and the once-common conditional mood decayed into the future tense, in a logical process of mapping, in the early decades of the establishment of the Lazeian Empire.
- See also Development of Classical Arithide tenses for more information
With the development of the tenses, finer temporal distinctions became possible, and the aspects evolved from finite verb forms to dually functioning affixes: they could stand alone without tense-marking, or, as with many Indo-European languages, they could act as aspectual stems and take tenses. This overlapping feature of the aspect was often utilised in literature, as well as politics, for reasons of style, emphasis, or deliberate ambiguity.
The participles of the various aspects and the conditional mood serve two main purposes. First, due to the SOV syntax of Classical Arithide, verbs were used prenominally as modifiers. Initially these modifier verbs used the same forms as final verbs, but gradually evolved distinct forms with lengthened vowels and, in the case of the imperfective, lost the accompanying consonant. Adjectives of the verbal class, however, did not undergo this change (see Classical Arithide adjectives). Second, analogously to the Latin ablative absolute construction, the participles could indicate the context of a main sentence, e.g.
- Kodhē roimeūm, sōpeda tholorae ivage. Having weakened the enemy, the soldiers went in for the kill.
Limited derivatives
The "limited derivative" verbs are, as opposed to the free derivatives, independent derivative verbs that may not take the full range of conjugations. Most derivatives in this category are modal: the inceptive mood (-senēn "to begin to"), the frequentative (-vasēn "to do repeatedly"), the protractive (-tamēn "to go on and on"), the desiderative (-ssēn "to want to"), the jussive (-spēn "to want the listener to") and the subjunctive (-ōnēn). The first three moods take the imperfective stem; the latter three take the gerundive stem with C-verbs and the basic stem with V-verbs. None of these verbs may take a subordinate voice (as they are moods), nor recur (i.e. napsisenisenēn, for example, is not permissible); all may take the inceptive and the subjunctive subordinately, and the inceptive may take the frequentative in subordination.
Also part of the limited derivatives are the progressively invariable habitual and perfective habitual aspects, which are conjugated like tenses, by taking the imperfective stem, affixing -mnēn, and conjugating it with the present or past tense respectively. The simple habitual (with the present-tense ending) also doubles as the generic mood, to express universals.
Voice, aspect, mood and tense
Verbs in each class are conjugated for four voices, three basic aspects, five derivative aspects, seven moods and three tenses. Of the following list, those marked with an asterisk form separate verbs (i.e. take their own infinitives), which usually do not hold the full conjugation range. Additionally, the interrogative mood is marked with the auxiliary particle da. Verbs are conjugated on a cascading hierarchy as above, i.e. to the root form of the verb would first be appended affixes indicating voice, followed by aspect, then mood and subsequently tense.
Voices
- Active John hits the ball.
- Passive The ball is hit by John.
- Causative Jack makes John hit the ball.
- Potentive Jack can hit the ball.
Aspects
- Imperfective, indicating the progression of an action
- Habitual/Generic I walk to work every day. Mangoes grow on trees.
- Protractive* I walk on and on; I go on walking.
- Inceptive* I begin to walk.
- Frequentative* I walk around.
- Perfective, indicating the completion of an action
- Habitual I used to walk to work every dat. Mangoes used to grow on trees.
- Perfect I have walked to the cinema (and am now there).
Moods
- Indicative, stating facts, strong beliefs
- Subjunctive*, used with wishes, hopes, doubts, conditions
- Optative* I want to walk.
- Jussive* I want you to walk.
- Imperative Walk!
- Cohortative Let's walk.
- Negative1
I do not walk.
1 There are technically two types of the negative mood in Classical Arithide, but traditionally have been conflated into one by the Dethrians, who were not generally able to effectively distinguish between the two (see #Negation below for more information).
Tenses
- Present
- Past
- Future
There is no progressive tense in Classical Arithide due to the semantic overlap with the imperfective aspect.
Negation
In Classical Arithide, as with its modern descendant, there are two possible ways of constructing negation—broad and narrow—using the affixes av- and -va respectively. Broad negation negates the semantic meaning of an entire word, phrase, or even sentence; the narrow variant negates only the specific conjugated meaning of the verb.
Compare the following two sentences and the nuanced difference in their meaning:
- Vagēn raenābava. You cannot choose to go. (lit. "to-go choose-can-not")
- Vagēn avraenāba. You can not choose to go. or You can choose not to go. (lit. "to-go not-choose-can")
- Avvagēn raenāba. You can choose not to go. (lit. "not-to-go choose-can")
The former sentence is an example of narrow negation, because the negative suffix applies only to the conjugated verb, i.e. it refers to the narrow act of not presently wanting to be sick; the latter of broad, because the prefix inverts the lexical meaning of the verb, and subsequent conjugations modify the prefixed verb as a single unit of negative meaning—the new word is technically considered grammatically affirmative.
Certain constructions require the use of either of the negatives over the other due to grammatical constraints, e.g. in the case of the following two sentences:
- Sit iter avvagōna do, vagae. If that person is not going, I will go.
- Sit iter vagōna do, vagaeva. If that person is going, I will not go.
- Sit iter avvagospa. He does not want that person to go. (Lit. "he desires the person to not-go")
- Sit iter vagospava. He does not want that person to go. (Lit. "he desires not the person to go")
In the first sentence the broad negative has to be employed due to the overlap in the various functions of the subjunctive mood, which here is used as a "subjunctive of condition": if it were said Sit iter vagōnava..., it would imply a separate grammatical topic (e.g. dās "I", nās "he" etc.) and that the subjunctive is being used as a "subjunctive of desire", i.e. the clause would mean, instead, the equivalent of sentence (4).
First conjugation: Consonant-stem verbs
The first conjugation, containing all consonant-stem verbs, is the most common conjugation to which verbs in Classical Arithide belong, encompassing approximately three-quarters of all verbs. The regular conjugation is illustrated by the example verbs sernēn "to order" and evtēn "to show" below. Note the different way in which the conditional mood and future tense are formed for verbs with stems ending in nasals; note also that both these verbs lack agentive -er nouns:
| SERNĒN | sern-, serno, sernēra, sernōra sernābēn, sernārēn, sernostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. sernos (sernitos) loc. sernas (sernitas) ins. serneta agt. sernon (-) pat. sernosis |
sernat, sernat- | sernāt(a) | serna | |
| sernen, sernem- | sernēm(a) | serne | ||
| serni(s), sernir- | sernī(m) | |||
| (sernauer, sernauer-) | (sernauē) | sernae | ||
| sernimnēn, sernisenēn, sernivasēn, sernitamēn sernossēn, sernospēn, sernōnēn | ||||
| EVTĒN | evt-, evto, evtēra, evtōra evtābēn, evtārēn, evtostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. evtos (evtitos) loc. evtas (evtitas) ins. evteta agt. evton (-) pat. evtosis |
evtat, evtat- | evtāt(a) | evta | |
| evten, evtem- | evtēm(a) | evte | ||
| evti(s), evtir- | evtī(m) | |||
| (evtont, evtond-) | (evtōn(a)) | evton | ||
| evtimnēn, evtisenēn, evtivasēn, evtitamēn evtossēn, evtospēn, evtōnēn | ||||
-mēn verbs
Verbs whose stems end in -m take a slightly different ending in the perfective aspect, which has arisen due to historical phonetic dissimulation. Also, the agentive verbal noun takes an epenthetic -p-. To illustrate, the conjugation of the verb damēn "to carry" is provided below.
| DAMĒN | dam-, damo, damēra, damōra damābēn, damārēn, damostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. damos (damitos) loc. damas (damitas) ins. dameta agt. damon (dampter) pat. damosis |
damat, damat- | damāt(a) | dama | |
| dameum, dameun- | dameūm(a) | dame | ||
| dami(s), damir- | damī(n) | |||
| (damauer, damauer-) | (damauē) | damae | ||
| damimne/damamne, damisenēn, damivasēn, damitamēn damossēn, damospēn, damōnēn | ||||
Second conjugation: a-stem verbs
The regular conjugation for a-stem verbs is given below with the example kalān "to give".
| KALĀN | kala(t)-, kala, kalāra, kalatōra kalatābēn, kalatārēn, kalatostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. kalatos loc. kalatas ins. kalateta agt. kalaton (kalater) pat. kalasis |
kalas, kalar- | kalant | kalas | |
| kalet, kaled- | kalēth | kaleth | ||
| kalin, kalam- | kalīm | |||
| (kalōn, kalum-) | (kalōn) | kalōn | ||
| kalamnēn, kalasenēn, kalavasēn, kalatamēn kalassēn, kalaspēn, kalatōnēn | ||||
Third conjugation: e-stem verbs
E-stem verbs conjugate like balēn "to be able (to)" below.
| BALĒN1 | bale(t)-, bale, balēra, baletōra baletābēn, baletārēn, baletostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. baletos loc. baletas ins. baleteta agt. baleton (baleter) pat. balesis |
bales, baler- | balent | bales | |
| balet, baled- | balēth | baleth | ||
| balean, baleam- | balean | |||
| (baleōn, baleum-) | (baleōn) | baleōn | ||
| balemnēn, balesenēn, balevasēn, baletamēn balessēn, balespēn, baletōnēn | ||||
Fourth conjugation: i-stem verbs
The regular conjugation for i-stem verbs follows sebiān "to pull" as elaborated:
| SEBIĀN | sebi(t)-, sebi, seb'īra, sebitōra sebitābēn, sebitārēn, sebitostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. sebitos loc. sebitas ins. sebiteta agt. sebiton (sebiter) pat. sebisis |
sebis, sebir- | sebint | sebis | |
| sebiet, sebied- | sebiēth | sebieth | ||
| sebian, sebiam- | sebian | |||
| (sebiōn, sebium-) | (sebiōn) | sebiōn | ||
| sebimnēn, sebisenēn, sebivasēn, sebitamēn sebissēn, sebispēn, sebitōnēn | ||||
Mixed conjugation verbs
The mixed conjugation verbs are all consonant-stem verbs that conjugate as per vowel-stems. Due to the consequent coincidence of the consonants from the stem and the ending, phonetic assimilation or dissimilation may occur as demonstrated below. In certain cases where the syllable structure of the verb changes (e.g. from open to closed), vowel alterations may also take place with the high vowels i and u, lowering them to e and o respectively.
Certain mixed-conjugation verbs also act as if they were e-stem verbs, and can conjugate accordingly, leading to two different conjugal matrices for the same verb; all the example verbs given below belong to this category: ludēn, dagēn, simēn and levēn.
| LUDĒN | lud-, ludo, ludēra, ludōra ludābēn, ludārēn, ludostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. luttos loc. luttas ins. ludeta agt. ludon (lutter) pat. ludosis |
ludes, luder- lōs, lōr- |
ludent | ludes lōs | |
| ludet, luded- lutt, lodd- |
ludēth lōth |
ludeth lutth | ||
| ludian, ludiam- | ludian | |||
| (ludiōn, ludium-) | (ludiōn) | ludiōn | ||
| ludimnēn, ludisenēn, ludivasēn, luditamēn ludossēn, ludospēn, ludōnēn | ||||
| DAGĒN | dag-, dago, dagēra, dagōra dagābēn, dagārēn, dagostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. daktos loc. daktas ins. dageta agt. dagon (dakter) pat. dagosis |
dages, dager- daks, dagr- |
dagent | dages daks | |
| daget, daged- dakt, dagd-/dangd- |
dagēth dākth |
dageth dakth | ||
| dagian, dagiam- | dagian | |||
| (dagiōn, dagium-) | (dagiōn) | dagiōn | ||
| dagimnēn, dagisenēn, dagivasēn, dagitamēn dagossēn, dagospēn, dagōnēn | ||||
| SIMĒN | sim-, simo, simēra, simōra simābēn, simārēn, simostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. semptos loc. semptas ins. simeta agt. simon (sempter) pat. simosis |
simes, simer- semps, sempr- |
siment | simes semps | |
| simet, simed- sempt, sembd- |
simēth sēmpth |
simeth sempth | ||
| simian, simiam- | simian | |||
| (simiōn, simium-) | (simiōn) | simiōn | ||
| simimnēn, simisenēn, simivasēn, simitamēn simossēn, simospēn, simōnēn | ||||
| LEVĒN | lev-, levo, levēra, levōra levābēn, levārēn, levostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. leptos loc. leptas ins. leveta agt. levon (lepter) pat. levosis |
leves, lever- leps, lepr- |
levent | leves leps | |
| levet, leved- lept, lebd- |
levēth lēpth |
leveth lepth | ||
| levian, leviam- | levian | |||
| (leviōn, levium-) | (leviōn) | leviōn | ||
| levimnēn, levisenēn, levivasēn, levitamēn levossēn, levospēn, levōnēn | ||||
Deriving other parts of speech
Like many other SOV languages, most notably Japanese, early Classical Arithide could turn its verbs into modifiers simply by putting them directly before the noun they modify, e.g. ores soli "the river flows (lit. is flowing)" vs. soli ores "the flowing river" "the river that flows (lit. is flowing)". However, due to the language's extensive and growing inflection, and consequently considerably free word order, the practice declined rather early on in the Lazeian Empire's existence in favour of the participle forms, which had already begun to differentiate from the finite forms before the conquest of Galaria (see Classical Arithide verb differentiation); it only experienced a sort of recovery after the fall of the Equora dynasty, and the consequent accelerated decay of the intricate inflection system it had built up over the years.
In the conjugation tables above, the participles for each verb are listed with an additional letter each appended in parentheses to the end. In the "standard" Classical Arithide, the correct participle forms do not include the letters in brackets, nor as modifiers include them but simply conjugate in their base form according to the declension class of their referent. In earlier periods, however, up to the decades before the Three Hundred Golden Years, the correct forms for the perfective and imperfective participles ended in -a, subsequently dropped, and as modifiers of the nominal class declined as per the fifth declension; the bracketed m after the imperfective participles, on the other hand, arose after the fall of the Equora by analogy with the perfective participle.
