You've seen some uses of the verb ser (to be) in the previous lessons. In this dialog, you see that same verb used in other tenses, aspects, and moods beside the simple present active indicative (is/am/are). In this lesson, you are going to learn that by changing the er ending of the infinitive to one of the vowels a, e, o, and u, you can conjugate any verb in three simple, active tenses plus one other tenseless form that can act as a conditional or imperative. The following chart shows these tenses (first the simple aspect tenses) and how ending are suffixed to the verb stem:
Conjugation in the Simple Active Tenses
ASPECT
VOICE
MOOD
TENSE
ser....to be s-
xer ....to do x-
uper...to come up-
Simple
Active
Indicative
Present
at se....I am
at xe....I do
at upe....I come
Simple
Active
Indicative
Past
at sa....I was
at xa....I did
at upa....I came
Simple
Active
Indicative
Future
at so....I will be
at xo....I will do
at upo....I will come
Simple
Active
Hypothetical
(Conditional)1 (Imperative)1
at su....I would be su!....Be!
at xu....I would do Xu!...Do!
at upu....I would come Upu!....Come!
Note 1: These are TENSELESS forms.
These are called simple aspect tenses and refer to habitual states and actions. In the dialog, the verb form xeye is in the progressive aspect (I am in doing something, as oppposed to I do something as a habitual action), which will be discussed in a later lesson.
Verb forms do not change for person and number:
At xe....I do
Et xe....you do
It xe....he does
The plural pronouns begin with a y:
Yat xe....We do
Yet xe....You (pl.) do
Yit xe....They (pl.) does
Notice that the verb form does not change from person to person or from singular to plural.
Take note also, that the above pronouns are genderless. So it xe can mean he does or she does. The singular pronouns can be marked for specific gender, but we'll get to that in a later lesson. Also, be aware that these personal pronouns do not change form whether they are the subject or object of a verb.
If the verb form ends in -u, it is in the tenseless hypothetical mood. It can act as a conditional verb form or an imperative verb form. It acts as a conditional if the subject is present and it is functioning in a main clause:
Hus su fia.....That would be good.
If the -u verb form has no subject, it can usually be interpreted as a command (= imperative):
Su baka!....Be well!
Xu has hij!....Do it now!
Omitting Prepositions after Certain Verbs[edit | edit source]
Certain verbs contain inherent positionality or directionality and therefore can be followed by an direct object without a preposition. This is done in English a lot with expressions like go home or come this way or live downtown (instead of go to home or come toward this way or live in downtown). Here are some common examples of this omission:
In the dialog, you see words like hoyen? (how), hij (now), and him (here). These are called deictic adverbs, because they point to the context of manner, time and place. This chart shows a few of these forms, which are correlated:
Correlative Deictic Adverbs
TYPE
PLACE
TIME
MANNER
Interrogative
duhom?....where?
duhoj?....when?
duhoyen?....how?
Indefinite
hem....somewhere
hej....sometime
heyen....somehow
Proximal
him....here
hij....now
hiyen....this way
Distal
hum....there
huj....then
huyen....that way
There are quite a few more types that can be correlated this way, but you will learn them in future lessons.
Examples of usage:
Duhom yit se?....Where are they?
Yit tambesa him.....They lived here.
Yat tambeso hem.....We will live somewhere.
Ha tuxut upo hum.....The teacher will come there.
Upu hij!....Come now!
Duhoj et upo?....When will you come?
Duhoyen et xeye?....How are you doing?
At tambesa hum.....I lived there.
A complete list of deictic adverbs can be found in the chapter on Determiners.
