Verb Conjugation
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This article gives a summary of verb endings in Tsunem.
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 31 Mar 2024, 14:48.
[comments] cyuverb inflectionconjugationtransfixaspectmoodtensewitnessevidentiality
1. Determiners
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2. Noun Declension
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5. Roots and Stems
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6. Verb Conjugation
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7. Word Formation
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This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
Verb conjugation is one of the two main ways in which words undergo grammatical inflection in
Tsunem, the other being nominal declension. The term conjugation is used in relation the type of grammatical inflection of verbs specifically. Conjugation is further subdivided into three parts: formation of the verb stem, the conjugation of the finite verb through affixes placed directly on the stem, and the conjugation involving an auxiliary verb.Each form of the verb can be related to the root through a series of derivative operations, which have to occur in a predefined order. Starting from the bare root:
- Valency
- Aspect
- Mood
- Voice
- Witness
Different verb stems are formed by shifting the main vowel. For verbs that are derived from triconsonantal stems, there are three different stems. For biconsonantal root, stem 1 and 2 are identical.
- Infinitive
- Indicative
- Conjunctive
A morphological distinction is made between transitive and intransitive verbs. The transitive verbs have a prefix on the stem's root that intransitive verbs lack. Many verb stems can have both transitive and intransitive stems.
The root √VST has the following stems:
'-ausoth' seat TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments
'-uusoth' sit down / seat oneself TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments.MEDPMediopassive (voice)
passive, reflexive, and/or middle voice
'-usoth' sit INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
With color verbs, the intransitive also indicates a static verb, and the transitive a dynamic verb. The root √TBZ has:
'ituilh' be blue
'atuelh' become blue
In regular verb stems from consonantal roots the imperfective is derived through reduplication and prefixing of the beginning of main stem. The vowels e and o change to a in the unstressed prefix. For instance INFInfinitive (TAM)
non-tensed verb cacol will render a prefix ca-, moch gives ma-.
1) cacoy (√CCoH) "drink"
achoy → cachoy
2) moch (√BoC) "mark"
aboch → maboch
Irregular Imperfective Stems
There are three kinds of irregular imperfective stems: morpho-phonetic irregularity, morphological irregularity or substitution. Morpho-phonetic irregularity occurs when the prefix and stem or the prefixes among themselves interact according to an unpredictable pattern for phonetic simplification. Verbs beginning with two the same consonants such as sur √SS, have imperfective stems beginning with silent h- , husur (finite forms suhusur, truhusur and not *sususur *trususur.
Morphological irregularity occurs when one or more prefixes are substituted for unpredictable ones, while the root is retained. The perfective stem of ten (√TD) "watch" has the imperfective hiaten instead of *taten.
Full substitution occurs when the perfective is not suitable for the imperfective. For instance the perfective gih (√GH) "know" is substituted with hasich (√HSČ) "know".
The conjunctive is formed from the indicative stem though transposing the main vowel to the end of the stem. So that a vowel pattern V-V1-∅ becomes V-∅-V1. (this rule can alternatively be stated as a metastasis of the final VC).
ceth (√ČT) "be named"
aceth /ækɛθ/ → athe /æθɛ/
VCV1C → VCCV1
If the transposition of the main vowel causes a clash of three successive consonants, metastasis occurs in transitive verbs in the preceding syllable which has the thematic vowel.
hiciom (√HCiBo) "warm" (TR)
hiciom /icjʌm/ → hiciobo /iciɑ̯bʌ/
VCCV1C → CVCCV1
iciom "heat" (INTR)
iciom → icuio
CCV1C → CVCCV1
The active voice in transitive verbs is formed with the agent prefix a-, which is a derivative of underlying phoneme h-. The medio-passive is formed with the agent prefix i- or u-, which are derivatives of the underlying morpheme j-.
ten "watch"
atenACT ⇆ iten MEDP
tlhen "watch" (IPFV)
atlhen ACT ⇆ itlhen MEDP
cuor "buy"
acuor ACT ⇆ ucuor MEDP
ambe "recount" (CNJV)
ambe ACT ⇆ imbe MEDP
The active voice in intransitive verbs has no infix.
tqith INTR "be green" ⇆ atqith TR "make green"
usuth INTR "sit down" ⇆ ausuth TR "set down, put down"
In addition, there is a distinct evidentiality prefix for the witness passive voice while the non-witness active and passive voice have the same prefix (see below).
There is a participle for each combination of the above verb forms. The participles can take the form of an adjective (type I) or noun (type II). Type I participles are similar to the indicative stem, type II participles are similar to the conjunctive stem.
Transitive Participle
Type I: VaCVC or CVaCVC is the adjective active participle as well as the active infinitive of the verb. In triliteral roots metastasis of the initial VC is required, e.g.: agqen ACT.IND.PFV → ngaqen ACT.PCP.PFV, also ausuth → uasuth. Note that the active participle is not imperfective by default.
Type II: VaCCV or CVaCCV is the nominal active participle of the verb, e.g.: atev → atve, vasuth → vartu.
Type I: Vi,uCVC or CVi,uCVC is the adjective mediopassive participle as well as the mediopassive infinitive of the verb. In triliteral roots metastasis of the initial VC is required, e.g.: ucvor MEPD.IND.PFV → cuvor MEDP.PCP.PFV. Note that the passive participle is not a past participle by default.
Type II: CVi,uCCV is the nominal mediopassive participle of the verb, e.g. ngaqde.
Intransitive Participle
Type I: CVC or CCVC is the adjective active participle of the intransitive verb, e.g. viph, usoth.
Type II: CCV or C(V)CCV is the nominal active participle of the intransitive verb, e.g. upi, urto.
Evidentiality is indicated with a prefix on the stem, which undergoes sandhi with the prefixed vowel for voice, which generally results in different forms for stems beginning with a vowel (V~) and those beginning with a consonant (C~).
Transitive Active Witness and Non-Witness
- r-V~ or sa-C~ for witness perfective or imperfective, from underlying morpheme sh-.
- tv-V~ or tan-C~ for non-witness perfective or imperfective, from underlying morpheme td-.
Transitive Mediopassive Witness and Non-Witness
- th-V~ or tii-/tuu-C~ for witness perfective or imperfective, from underlying morpheme th-.
- tv-V~ or tin-/tun-C~ for non-witness perfective or imperfective, from underlying morpheme td-.
Intransitive Active Witness and Non-Witness
- r-V~ or sa-C~ for witness perfective or imperfective, from underlying morpheme sh-.
- tvV~ or t-V-n-C~ for non-witness perfective, from underlying morpheme td-.
Deponent Verbs and Defective Verbs
Certain verbs take the active stem, but the mediopassive prefix for the witness. These are called deponent verbs, because they borrow a prefix from a different conjugation. Most deponent verbs are intransitive.
Verbs which can only be conjugated in the mediopassive, are called defective, since they lack part of the conjugation.
There are three auxiliary prefixes that can be added to the type I participle to form a finite verb. The participle stem is marked for valency, aspect, and voice. The auxiliary is marked only for evidentiality: zh- for witness, td- non-witness and th- impersonal. An echo vowel is inserted between the prefix and the stem if the stem begins with two consonants (CCV~). These participles can only produce the indicative mood, for the conjunctive it is necessary that an independent auxiliary be used.
Negation
The negative is used to deny a statement or state the opposite of a thing, when English would employ the adverb "not". The auxiliary stem is k-, and forms the following prefixes.
- zak- for witness.
- sn-V-k- for non-witness.
- tak- for impersonal.
Past Recollective
The past recollective is in its true sense a verb aspect used for recalling from memory that an act took place and it can be best approached by the English phrase "to recall that" or "to give account of". In a general sense it is used for the past tense when someone witnessed the event or heard learned it from someone else, as opposed to inferential statements (see below) or random thoughts or assumptions. The auxiliary stem is b-, and forms the following prefixes.
- zab- for witness.
- snVb- for non-witness.
- tab- for impersonal.
Future Foreseeable
The future foreseeable is in its true sense a verb aspect used for acts that, one having no reason to doubt it, will happen and can be best approached by the English phrases "to be going to", "to have plans to", "will next", "will now". In a general sense it is used for the future tense, expressing little or no uncertainty. The auxiliary stem is t-; since the future cannot be witnessed, this auxiliary lacks a form for the witness.
- sn-V-t- for non-witness.
- tat- for impersonal.
Inferential
The inferential aspect or mood is used to express that someone believes to be true or what seems likely. inferential is independent of tense. The meaning of each prefix is some specialized than with the other auxiliaries.
- zaz- with the witness prefix it expresses logical necessity or high probability.
- sn-V-z- with the non-witness it is used for indirect quotations.
- taz- with the impersonal prefix it expresses that something seems to be the case.
Apart from the auxiliary prefixes, which only cover a limited number of cases, the moods and aspects of the verb can be further modified with independent auxiliary verbs. These are used with participle I of the main verb, and precede it. Auxiliary verbs can take the auxiliary prefix.
- nem anterior verb
- er posterior verb
Anterior Auxiliary
The anterior actions take place before a reference point. In the present, it can be used to form the past conjunctive:
rambe zatrusy "who was working"
rambe vif "who slept"
The anterior can be combined with a negative auxiliary.
zaxne' zatrusy "[he] did not work"
To form more complex aspectual time refrences, the anterior auxiliary can be combined with the other prefixes. They can be Past in the Past, when taking place before a past event, or Past in the Future, when they take place in the future before a future event. The stem for the anterior auxiliary are the participle stems -de'
zande' zatrusy [he] had been working
snande' zatrusy [it seemed that he] had been working
tande' zatrusy there had been working
Past in the future:
snande' zatrusy [it seemed that he] had been working
tande' zatrusy there had been working
Posterior Auxiliary
...
A. kafosy "clean"
| TRTransitive (valency) has two arguments | PFVPerfective (aspect) completed action.INDIndicative mood (mood) a common form of realis | PFVPerfective (aspect) completed action.CNJVConjunctive (mood) subordinates or serialises verb | IPFVImperfective (aspect) 'interrupted or incomplete'.INDIndicative mood (mood) a common form of realis | IPFVImperfective (aspect) 'interrupted or incomplete'.CNJVConjunctive (mood) subordinates or serialises verb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACTActive voice (valency, volition) the subject acts, voluntarily.PCPParticiple adjectival form of a verb | kafosy | kafco | paxposy | paxpsyo |
| MEDPMediopassive (voice) passive, reflexive, and/or middle voice.PCPParticiple adjectival form of a verb | kufosy | kufco | puxposy | puxpsyo |
| TRTransitive (valency) has two arguments | PFVPerfective (aspect) completed action.INDIndicative mood (mood) a common form of realis | PFVPerfective (aspect) completed action.CNJVConjunctive (mood) subordinates or serialises verb | IPFVImperfective (aspect) 'interrupted or incomplete'.INDIndicative mood (mood) a common form of realis | IPFVImperfective (aspect) 'interrupted or incomplete'.CNJVConjunctive (mood) subordinates or serialises verb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACTActive voice (valency, volition) the subject acts, voluntarily.WITWitness (evidential) speaker witnessed action | raxposy | zaxafco | zafaxposy | zafaxpsyo |
| ACTActive voice (valency, volition) the subject acts, voluntarily.NWITNonwitness (evidential) speaker did not witness action | naxposy | tankafco | tanpaxposy | tanpaxpsyo |
| MEDPMediopassive (voice) passive, reflexive, and/or middle voice.WITWitness (evidential) speaker witnessed action | suxposy | taxufco | tapuxposy | tapuxpsyo |
| MEDPMediopassive (voice) passive, reflexive, and/or middle voice.NWITNonwitness (evidential) speaker did not witness action | nuxposy | tunkufco | tunpuxposy | tunpuxpsyo |
*NOTE that the voice marker a- and i-/u- are essentially prefixed to the formed PFV or IPFV stem, and through metastasis become infixes in to reduce consonant clusters, e.g.: a-pxposy > p-a-xposy, not *pxaposy.
B. kvus "break" (INTR) / kavus "break" (TR)
| INTRIntransitive (valency) has one argument | PFVPerfective (aspect) completed action.INDIndicative mood (mood) a common form of realis | PFVPerfective (aspect) completed action.CNJVConjunctive (mood) subordinates or serialises verb | IPFVImperfective (aspect) 'interrupted or incomplete'.INDIndicative mood (mood) a common form of realis | IPFVImperfective (aspect) 'interrupted or incomplete'.CNJVConjunctive (mood) subordinates or serialises verb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACTActive voice (valency, volition) the subject acts, voluntarily.PCPParticiple adjectival form of a verb | kvus | kutu | ukvus | ukutu |
| INTRIntransitive (valency) has one argument | PFVPerfective (aspect) completed action.INDIndicative mood (mood) a common form of realis | PFVPerfective (aspect) completed action.CNJVConjunctive (mood) subordinates or serialises verb | IPFVImperfective (aspect) 'interrupted or incomplete'.INDIndicative mood (mood) a common form of realis | IPFVImperfective (aspect) 'interrupted or incomplete'.CNJVConjunctive (mood) subordinates or serialises verb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACTActive voice (valency, volition) the subject acts, voluntarily.WITWitness (evidential) speaker witnessed action | zakvus | zakutu | rukvus | rukutu |
| ACTActive voice (valency, volition) the subject acts, voluntarily.NWITNonwitness (evidential) speaker did not witness action | tu'kvus | tu'kutu | nukvus | nukutu |
| TRTransitive (valency) has two arguments | PFVPerfective (aspect) completed action.INDIndicative mood (mood) a common form of realis | PFVPerfective (aspect) completed action.CNJVConjunctive (mood) subordinates or serialises verb | IPFVImperfective (aspect) 'interrupted or incomplete'.INDIndicative mood (mood) a common form of realis | IPFVImperfective (aspect) 'interrupted or incomplete'.CNJVConjunctive (mood) subordinates or serialises verb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACTActive voice (valency, volition) the subject acts, voluntarily.PCPParticiple adjectival form of a verb | kavus | akutu | aukvus | aukutu |
| MEDPMediopassive (voice) passive, reflexive, and/or middle voice.PCPParticiple adjectival form of a verb | kuvus | ukutu | uukvus | uukutu |
| TRTransitive (valency) has two arguments | PFVPerfective (aspect) completed action.INDIndicative mood (mood) a common form of realis | PFVPerfective (aspect) completed action.CNJVConjunctive (mood) subordinates or serialises verb | IPFVImperfective (aspect) 'interrupted or incomplete'.INDIndicative mood (mood) a common form of realis | IPFVImperfective (aspect) 'interrupted or incomplete'.CNJVConjunctive (mood) subordinates or serialises verb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACTActive voice (valency, volition) the subject acts, voluntarily.WITWitness (evidential) speaker witnessed action | rakvus | rakutu | raukvus | raukutu |
| ACTActive voice (valency, volition) the subject acts, voluntarily.NWITNonwitness (evidential) speaker did not witness action | nakvus | nakutu | naukvus | naukutus |
| MEDPMediopassive (voice) passive, reflexive, and/or middle voice.WITWitness (evidential) speaker witnessed action | sukvus | sukutu | suukvus | suukutu |
| MEDPMediopassive (voice) passive, reflexive, and/or middle voice.NWITNonwitness (evidential) speaker did not witness action | nukvus | nukutu | nuukvus | nuukutu |
*NOTE that, again metastasis of the voice prefixes is triggered by consonant clusters. Whereas kvus has an initial cluster *kvtu > kutu does not.
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