Dal'qörian adjective tense
Dalcurian has a unique past tense inflection with adjectives. This is because Dalcurian has no literal equivalent of the auxiliary verbs was/were and the perfect tense had been. This is formed with the prefix gé’ and when used with an adjective, it renders was/were or had been. Here are some examples: (Note: modifying words like disiri-very, disénig-quite and veclérÞ-really, always FOLLOW the adjective in the past tense but PRECEDE it in the present and future):
Past tense denoting was/were
- Sia gé’vélø. She was nasty.
- Ädiáda, danöÞ gé’strömi disénig. It was quite hot yesterday. lit: Yesterday, it was hot quite.
- Éren, gé’lenandrädn veclérÞ. They were really helpful. lit: They were helpful really.
- Di ødörämösel gé’vemörädn disiri. The instructions were very clear.
As you can see, was or were is denoted by a singular or a plural noun/pronoun.
Adjective continuous past
Because of the Dalcurian tense system, ambiguity can arise on many occasions if it is not used correctly. Lets look at this example sentence:
- She has been depressed for a very long time.
The past tense has been implies that she 'had' become depressed in the past and 'still is'. So the action of being depressed is 'still' on going. However, we cannot literally translate this sentence into Dalcurian because we cannot say has been. A common mistake might be to put the sentence into the adjective past tense:
- Öcra tirimiÞ, sia gé’námaroqu disiri. She was very depressed for a long time.
This however, would be conveying the wrong message because was would imply that she is no longer depressed when, in fact, she is. We would only use this tense if we wanted to say:
- She had been very depressed for a long time. (and is no longer)
So, for this kind of continuous past formation (with adjectives/adverbs only), where the ‘state’ is still on going, we use the PRESENT TENSE with the preposition sintra-since:
- Sintra tirimiÞ, sia disiri námaroqu. lit: Since a long time, she is very depressed. Translating as: She has been depressed for a very long time.
The first part of the sentence tells us that the action had begun in the past; the second part, being in the present indicative, tells us that the action is still on going.
A more expressive way would be to use the noun:
- Sintra tirimiÞ, sia abra námaroquámn. She has had depression for a while.
NOTE: When stating the continuous past regarding the existential position of people or objects, you would normally use the verb Þalár-reside. However, in colloquial Dalcurian, the verb can be omitted:
- Sintra sol qömblel, éren [gä’ábraÞalár] dérÞ. lit: Since six weeks, they have resided here. Translating as: They have been here for six weeks.
Attributive and Predicative adjectives
