User:Aegon/High Valyrian Tutorial/1-3
Lesson 3| Present Verbs
Note: copy/paste from Latin wikibook to see what it looks like.
Grammatical Introduction to Verbs
This introductory section may be a bit overwhelming;, is an overall look at verbs. The majority of this section will be covered in later chapters. Nevertheless, looking over this chapter may help you to familiarize yourself with verbs.
Verbs are parts of speech which denote action. There are two main forms of verbs in High Valyrian:
• Principal Verbs (the main verb which is found in every sentence. e.g.,: vala dekurūbas = the man is walking)
• Adjectival Verbs (also known as participles, gerunds and gerundives which describe the state of the described noun. e.g.,: vala dekurūbare = the walking man. The verb behaves as an adjective)
Every sentence must have a verb. In a sense, the principal verb is the sentence and all the nouns, adverbs and participles are only describing the scenario of the verb. Thus in High Valyrian this constitutes a sentence:
issa.
If you want to explain 'who' is or exists, you add a nominative substantive:
Daenerys issa.
We now know Daenerys 'is'. What is she? So we add an adjective.
Daenerys sȳz issa.
Now we can see that Daenerys is good; to elaborate further we can add an adverb:
Drīvose Daenerys sȳz issa.
Now we know that Daenerys is 'truly' good.
Vocabulary
Lesson Vocabulary | |
---|---|
High Valyrian | English |
ñuha (adj. I) | my |
nyke ao ziry ūja īlon jeme pōnta |
I you he/she/it he/she/it we y'all they |
yne (acc.) | I, me |
muña (1lun.) | mother |
kepa (1lun.) | father |
lenton (3ter.) | house |
dekurūbas | (he/she/it) is walking |
dekurūbare (part. lun./sol.) | walking |
dakogon (v-fin.) | to run |
maghagon (c-fin.) | to bring, carry |
zālagon (c-fin.) | to burn |
epagon (c-fin.) | to ask |
jemagon (c-fin.) | to lead |
rȳbagon (c-fin.) | to hear |
pāsagon (c-fin.) | to trust |
ūñagon (c-fin.) | to count |
kȳvagon (v-fin.) | to plan |
ōregon (v-fin.) | to hold |
āmāzigon (v-fin.) | to return |
nektogon (v-fin.) | to cut |
arghugon (v-fin.) | to hunt |
jentegon (v-fin.) | to command |
sytilības | should |
sīr (adv.) | now |
daor (adv.) | not |
sȳrī (adv.) | well |
va (prep.) | to |
Key to Vocabulary:
- 1lun. = first lunar
- 3ter. = third terrestrial
- prep. = preposition
- adv. = adverb
- part. lun/sol = lunar and solar participle
Examples
These two examples will demonstrate the difference between an adjectival verb and a principal verb.
The wounded knight went before the queen. |
'wounded' is a perfect participle (Adjectival) describing the knight, while 'went' is the principal verb in the sentence. |
The changed king sees the light. |
'changed' is a perfect participle (Adjectival) describing the king, while 'sees' is the principal verb in the sentence. |
Exercises
Answer the following questions:
What is the difference between a principal and adjectival verb? |
The principal verb is the main verb which is found in every sentence. Adjectival verbs are participles, gerunds and gerundives which describe the state of the described noun. |
What constitutes a sentence? |
A verb. |
Write the sentence I am in High Valyrian. |
Nyke iksan. |
Conjugate the verb 'to be' in the present tense in High Valyrian (I am, You are, He is etc.). |
iksan, iksā, issa, iksi, iksāt, issi. |
Personal Endings
Verbs in High Valyrian are inflected to reflect the person who performs the action. English does the same to some extent in the verb to be:
High Valyrian | English |
iksan | I am |
iksā | You are |
issa | (He/she/it) is |
iksi | We are |
iksāt | You (all) are |
issa | They are |
High Valyrian, however, inflects all verbs, and is much more extensive than English, allowing writers and speakers of High Valyrian to often drop the personal pronoun, as the performer of the action is understood by the formation of the verb. The personal pronoun is only usually added for emphasis. In a way, the ending on High Valyrian verbs are a type of pronoun.
For example, examine the below sentence that introduces the possessive pronoun ñuha (my) and features the vowel lengthening coordination introduced in the first lesson that means and.
[nyke] ñuhe(1) muñe ñuhe kepē jorrāelan. |
I love my mother and my father. 'nyke' is an optional personal pronoun. |
- (1) ñuha, my (1lun.). ñuhe, (acc.)
Exercises
Answer the following questions:
What do the personal pronouns indicate? |
Personal pronouns (nyke, ao, ziry, ūja, īlon, jeme, pōnta) add emphasis. They are usually omitted because they are understood. |
Moods
High Valyrian has three moods each used to convey certain ideas. These are (with example English sentences):
- Indicative: I have a lot of work. He needs to see this.
- Subjunctive: If it rains, I can't do to the market.
- Imperative: Go away. Pick up the dog.
The two moods we will first learn are the imperative (commands and orders) and the indicative (declarative statements and factual questions).
Voice
There are two constructions verbs can have regarding voice.
Verbs can have either an active or passive voice.
E.g. 'I smash the car.' 'smash' is an active verb construct.
The passive is used when the nominative is affected by the verb.
E.g. 'The car is smashed by me.' 'is smashed' is a passive construct.
Exercises
What is active voice? |
When the subject affects the verb. |
What is passive voice? |
When the nominative is affected by the verb. |
Tense
Tense in High Valyrian comprises two parts: TIME and ASPECT. Time reflects when the action is occurring or did occur: past, present, or future. Aspect refers to the nature of the action: simple, completed, or repeated. The "completed" aspect is generally termed "perfective" and repeated aspect "imperfective."
Theoretically, a verb could have nine tenses (combinations of time and aspect). However, High Valyrian only has seven, since some possible combinations are expressed by the same verb forms. High Valyrian tenses do not correspond exactly to English ones.
Below is a rough guide to tense in High Valyrian.
S P E C T |
Present | Future | Past | ||
Simple | Present Tense "I walk" |
Future Tense "I will walk" |
Perfect Tense "I walked" | ||
Imperfective | Present Tense "I am walking" |
Future Tense "I will be walking" |
Imperfect Tense "I was walking" | ||
Perfective | Perfect Tense "I have walked" |
N/A "I will have walked" |
Pluperfect Tense "I had walked" |
High Valyrian also has an Aorist tense for expressing ideas of an action always occurring or never-ending and a post habitual tense for expressing an action that "used to" take place.
As is evident, some High Valyrian tenses do "double duty." The High Valyrian Present and Future Tenses can either express simple or progressive aspect. Particularly difficult to grasp is the High Valyrian Perfect tense, which carries a number of stem spelling changes.
Infinitive
The infinitive (impersonal) is the form of the verb which simply means 'to (verb)' e.g. 'to do', or 'to be', or 'to love', or 'to hate' etc. All forms which are not in the infinitive are in the finite (personalized) form.
The infinitive has two flavors: consonant final (c-fin.) and vowel final (v-fin.). Consonant final verbs always end in -agon; vowel final verbs may end in -agon, -egon, -igon, -ogon, or -ugon. Pay special attention to vowel final verbs that end in -agon!
sīr dakogon yne sytilības = I ought to run now.
The adverb sīr means 'now' and may occur to open a sentence or before the verb as we will see later. The verb sytilības means 'should' and occurs after the infinitive. Between the infinitive and sytilības is the one who ought to be taking an action, in this case it is yne, is the accusative case of nyke.
Why is "I" accusative? in the above example |
Who is supposed to be running? 'I' am. It would be nominative if the sentence read "I'm running now." |
Exercises
Answer these two questions about the infinitive and finite.
What is the infinitive? Give an example. |
The infinitive is the verb-form that simply mean "to (verb)"; to sing, to dance, to drink, to love. |
What is the finite? Give an example. |
Every verb which is not in the infinitive, is in the finite; he smells, we plot, she had drunk, he pours. |
Personal Pronouns
In case you do ever use a personal pronoun to emphasise the SUBJECT of the verb, you must remember that the personal pronoun must be in the nominative case and the number and person of the verb must match that of the subject. (Review Lesson 7 if unfamiliar with the terms person and subject).
Exercises
What case should the subject (performer) of the verb be in? |
The nominative case. |
What person and number is 'nyke'? |
First person singular. |
What person and number is 'I'? |
First person singular. |
What person and number is 'we'? |
First person plural. |
What person and number is 'you'? |
Second person singular. |
What person and number is 'jeme'? |
Second person plural. |
What person and number is 'ao'? |
Second person singular. |
What person and number is 'boy'? |
Third person singular. |
Verbs: Conjugation in the Present Tense
The present is the simplest tense. To form the present imperfect all that is required is to place the personal endings at the end of the verb stem.
Thus, if you have the verb 'jorrāelagon' (love), to make it 'I love' you remove the -agon to form the stem to which -an is added to form the first person active indicative.
I love = jorrāelan we love = jorrāeli
Here are the forms of the verb 'maghagon', carry, in the present tense:
magh-an I carry first person singular magh-ā you carry second person singular magh-as he, she, it carries third person singular magh-i we carry first person plural magh-āt you (all) carry second person plural magh-is they carry third person plural
'maghan' can also be translated 'I am carrying' (present imperfect); for 'I do carry' (present emphatic), use a reflexive pronoun. 'I carry' is known as the 'present simple' tense in English. Maghagon is a fricative consonant final verb, and jorrāelagon is a liquid consonant final verb.
Consonant final verbs are classified per the final consonant in the verb stem. This isn't as important for the present tense as it is for the perfective aspect. Below shows how verbs are grouped:
liquid | l, r |
voiceless stop | p, t, k, q |
nasal | m, n |
voiced stop | b, d, g |
fricative | h, s, z, gh, v, j, consonant cluster |
palatal | ñ, lj |
There are six general conjugations for consonant final verbs, and below are some examples of verbs from each of the six conjugations (present tense). Bolded are differences in endings:
zālagon, burn (liquid) | epagon, ask (voiceless stop) | jemagon, lead (nasal) | rȳbagon, hear (voiced stop) | pāsagon, trust (fricative) | ūñagon, count (palatal) |
zālan, I burn | epan, I ask | jeman, I lead | rȳban, I hear | pāsan, I trust | ūñan, I count |
zālā, you burn | epā, you ask | jemā, you lead | rȳbā, you hear | pāsā, you trust | ūñā, you count |
zālza, he/she/it burns | epsa, he/she/it asks | jemas, he/she/it leads | rȳbas, he/she/it hears | pāsas, he/she/it trusts | ūñas, he/she/it counts |
zāli, we burn | epi, we ask | jemi, we lead | rȳbi, we hear | pāsi, we trust | ūni, we count |
zālāt, y'all burn | epāt, y'all ask | jemāt, y'all lead | rȳbāt, y'all hear | pāsāt, y'all trust | ūñāt, y'all count |
zālzi, they burn | epsi, they ask | jemis, they lead | rȳbis, they hear | pāsis, they trust | ūnis, they count |
There are also five vowel final verb forms that generally stick to their theme vowel. Don't get intimidated! They conjugate thusly:
kȳvagon, plan (-agon) | ōregon, hold (-egon) | āmāzigon, return (-igon) | nektogon, cut (-ogon) | arghugon, hunt (-ugon) |
kȳvan, I plan | ōren, I hold | āmāzin, I return | nekton, I cut | arghun, I hunt |
kȳvā, you plan | ōrē, you hold | āmāzī, you return | nektō, you cut | arghū, you hunt |
kȳvas, he/she/it plans | ōres, he/she/it holds | āmāzis, he/she/it returns | nektos, he/she/it cuts | arghus, he/she/it hunts |
kȳvī, we plan | ōrī, we hold | āmāzī, we return | nektī, we cut | arghī, we hunt |
kȳvāt, y'all plan | ōrēt, y'all hold | āmāzīt, y'all return | nektōt, y'all cut | arghūt, y'all hunt |
kȳvasi, they plan | ōresi, they hold | āmāzisi, they return | nektosi, they cut | arghusi, they hunt |
Each verb uses the same final letter or letters to indicate the 'subject' - I, you, he/she/it, we, y'all, they.
As the final letter, the liquids have a 'l' or 'r'; the voiceless stops a 'p', 't', 'k', or 'q'; the nasals a 'm' or 'n'; the voiced stops a 'b', 'd', or 'g'; the fricatives, a 'h', 's', 'z', 'gh', 'v', 'j', or a consonant cluster; the palatals, a 'ñ' or 'lj'. These verb forms really should be learned by heart.
Exercises
- Conjugate (find how a verb is in different forms) the verb 'jorrāelagon'.
nyke (I) |
[nyke] jorrāelan. (I love) |
ao (you) |
[ao] jorrāelā. (you love) |
ziry (he/she/it) |
[ziry] jorrāelza. (he/she/it loves) |
īlon (we) |
[īlon] jorrāeli. (we love) |
jeme (y'all) |
[jeme] jorrāelāt. (y'all love) |
riñi (the girls) |
riñi jorrāelzi. (the girls love) |
Imperative Mood
The imperative mood conveys an order (e.g. Go!, Run!, Away Now!). The imperative mood in the present tense is formed by simply using the stem of the consonant final verb and adding -ās. If the order is to a large group of people, you must use the -ātās suffix. For vowel final verbs, the theme vowel replaces 'ā' in the conjugation. Thusly, '-egon' verbs use -ēs and -ētēs, '-igon' uses -īs and -ītīs, '-ogon' uses -ōs and -ōtōs, and '-ugon' uses -ūs and -ūtūs.
For negative commands, use the infinitive form of the verb followed with daor, 'no.' Note that in the examples below, ziry means 'her, him, or it' and has the same form in the nominative and the accusative case; ziry is accusative below.
ziry jorrāelza = I love her.
ziry jorrāelās = Love her!
ziry jorrāelātās = Love (plural) her!
ziry jorrāelagon daor = Do not love her!
In the below example, va is a preposition meaning 'to' and lenton, 'house' appears in the locative case to convey that 'house' in this sense refers to a location.
va lentot dakon = I run home.
va lentot dakōs = Run home!
va lentot dakōtōs = Run (plural) home!
va lentot dakogon daor = Do not run home!
sȳrī jenten = I command well.
sȳrī jentēs = Command well!
sȳrī jentētēs = Command (plural) well!
sȳrī jentegon daor = Do not command well!
Exercises
- Translate High Valyrian verbs:
maghi |
we carry |
jentesi |
They command |
āmāzīt |
Y'all return |
rȳbā |
you hear |
nektosi |
they cut |
jenten |
I command |
maghas |
he/she/it carries |
zālza |
he/she/it burns |
- Translate sentences into High Valyrian:
I carry my wolf. |
Ñuhe zokle maghan. |
Do not cut me. |
Yne nektogon daor. |
They hear my mother. |
Ñuhe muñe rȳbis. |