User:Aegon/High Valyrian Tutorial/2-4
Lesson 4|The Perfect
The perfect tense is used for action that has already been completed. English has two corresponding constructions: present perfect and simple past. The present perfect uses the present of "to have" plus the past participle. ("I have sailed to Braavos twice." "These women have spoken the truth.") The simple past is a separate verb form that indicates a completed action. ("I came, I saw, I conquered.")
In High Valyrian, the perfect indicative is equivalent to both of these.
Below is a conjugation of maghagon in the perfect. Note first that the personal endings mimic the present tense for consonant final verbs with the exception of the third person plural. Second, notice that the stem of maghagon changed from magh- to mād-. This will be covered next.
mād-an | I carried | first person singular |
mād-ā | you carried | second person singular |
mād-as | he, she, it carried | third person singular |
mād-i | we carried | first person plural |
mād-āt | you (all) carried | second person plural |
mād-is | they carried | third person plural |
Forming Perfect Stems
Consonant Final Verbs
Consonant final verb perfect stems follow a general pattern that has many deviations. Thankfully, the dictionary is organized such that you can check the perfect stem quickly on the main page! This table conveys general guidelines for forming a perfect stem from any regular consonant final verb.
Note that verbs ending in -jagon actually end in -ljagon. lj is one consonant. √ represents the verbal stem, √(consonant) means that the final consonant of the stem changes to that in parentheses, :√ indicates a vowel lengthening (adding a macron) earlier in the stem.
Final Consonant | Liquid | Voiceless Stop | Nasal | Voiced Stop | Fricative | Palatal | Consonant Clusters | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
l | r | p | t | k | q | m | n | b | d | g | h | s | z | gh | v | j | ñ | lj | ||
Simple | √-t | √-t | ||||||||||||||||||
Replace Final Consonant | √(t)-t | √(n)-t | √(p)-t | √(t)-t | √(g)-d | √(s)-t | √(n)-t | √(l)-t | √(e)-t | |||||||||||
Lengthen vowel | :√(d) |
Example
Ērinagon follows the pattern √(n)-t; thusly, the perfect stem is ērint-.
Leghagon follows the pattern :√(d); thusly, the perfect stem is lēd-. Remember, in High Valyrian, gh is treated as one consonant.
Morghūljagon follows the pattern √-t; thusly, the perfect stem is morghūlt-. Remember, in High Valyrian, lj is treated as one consonant.
Iderēbagon follows the pattern √(p)-t; thusly, the perfect stem is iderēpt-