Nordaþ verbs
Nordaþ verbs are the fusional part of the synthetic language Nordaþ. They conjugate according to the indicative, conditional, subjunctive, potential, and imperative moods. Verbs have infinitive forms, but unlike many other languages, they do not have participle or gerund forms. They are also conjugated by two declensions which match Nordaþ nouns, wherein front-vowelled and middle-vowelled words will take a front-vowel affix over a middle-vowel affix, unless only a middle-vowel and back-vowel affix are available, and a back-vowelled word will take a back-vowelled affix over a middle-vowel affix, unless only a front-vowel and middle-vowel affix are present.
See Nordaþ verb paradigm for exhaustive conjugation tables
Mood, tense, and aspect - forms of the verb
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Pronunciation
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To illustrate the behaviour of verb conjugations in Nordaþ, let us use dekäsäm "to help". First, here is the non-finite conjugation of the verb:
Infinitive
Front-vowel: dekäsäm
(Middle-vowelled words take front-vowel affixes over middle-vowel affixes, so they will follow the front-vowel example. Thus, a back-vowel infinitive will use the -am suffix.)
The indicative
Next, there is the indicative mood with its eleven tenses. The indicative mood is used to describe factual events.
- Simple tenses
- present - dekäsie = I help
- imperfect - dekäsme = I used to help
- praeterite - dekäste = I helped
- future - dekäsfe = I will help
- Perfective tenses
- pluperfect - dekäsne = I had helped
- imperfect perfect - dekäsze = I had used to help
- future perfect - dekäsce = I shall/will have helped
- Continuous tenses
- present progressive - dekäsde = I am helping
- praeterite progressive - dekäsve = I was helping
- imperfect progressive - dekäsre = I used to be helping
- imperfect pluperfect progressive - dekäsše = I had used to be helping
- future progressive - dekäsle = I will be helping
- Perfective continuous tenses
- present perfect progressive - dekäse (note: the second s is dropped) = I have been helping
- pluperfect progressive - dekäske = I had been helping
- future perfect progressive - dekäsbe = I must have been helping
Note: Only the simple tenses are true tenses. The rest are the product of tense and aspect.
The conditional
The conditional tenses express an ability to have taken action, but with a condition.
- conditional present - dekäsäke = I would help
- conditional perfect - dekäsäde = I would have helped
- conditional perfect progressive - dekäsäve = I would have been helping
- conditional progressive - dekäsäne = I would be helping
The subjunctive
The subjunctive mood has a separate conjugation table with fewer tenses. It is used to express the speaker's opinion or judgement, such as doubts, possibilities, emotions, and events which may or may not occur.
- jussive - dekäsyke = I be helped
- hypothetical present - dekäsämäike = If I help (Archaic - replaced by nouns declined in the causal-final case and appropriate indicative-conjugated verb)
The potential (separate from hypothetical subjunctive)
The hypothetical mood states an ability to take an action.
- potential present - dekäskäne = I can help
- potential praeterite - dekäsräne = I could help
- potential perfect - dekäsväne = I could have helped
- potential perfect progressive - dekästäne = I could have been helping
- potential progressive - dekäsäne = I can/could be helping
The imperative
The imperative mood states a command. It only exists in present form.
- imperative present - dekäsnäs = Help
Negating
To express the negative mood, a prefix that doesn't vary by subject or aspect is attached to all verbs. It is nän-/nan-.
Passive
The passive voice can be made by adding the prefix ym/um to the verb conjugation. The verb paradigm page lists the verbs that can be put into the passive tense.
