Obrenje Grammar

2.  Verb Conjugation

Obrenje verbs inflect for person, tense, voice, aspect and mood.  They do not distinguish the number of the subject.  Mood is expressed with prefixes, while person, aspect and voice manifest themselves in endings.  Tense is designated by a vowel shift towards |u| for past and |i| for future.

Not only the three basic tenses (present, past, future) but also an aspect (solid vs liquid) is distinguished.  Solid aspect is used for single actions, sequences of single actions, generalized statements ("truths"), or habits.  Liquid aspect is used when an action's ongoing or temporary nature, extension over a period of time, or momentary state of being under way is emphasized rather than the action as a whole.  The solid vs liquid distinction roughly corresponds to the simple vs continuous distinction in English.

Example: |Kelze funtu| "I see badly" (e.g. due to myopia; solid aspect), |kelenza funtu| "I am seeing badly" (e.g. due to fog; liquid aspect).

Two groups of verbs are distinguished: The vocalic and the consonantic verbs.  The verb stems of the former always end in either |-a|, |-e| or |-o|, while most (but not all) of the latter have verb stems ending in a consonant.

There is no infinitive form as such, but participles abound, and a gerund can be formed to refer to the action itself.  For example, |povamma| means "giving", |povumma| "having given", |povush| "given", |povish| "destined to be given".  Gerunds exist for all tenses (present, past, future) and both voices (active and passive), but there is no aspect distinction (solid/liquid).  Technically, they are nouns, thus they have a definite and an indefinite form like other nouns.

The passive can promote both predicative and objective objects into the subject slot.  The former subject is marked by the non-possessive genitive preposition |ur|.  If a verb can have both kinds of object at once, then the exact meaning can usually be derived from the context.

With participles, the aspect distinction plays an important role:  The solid form is often more aptly translated with an actor/patient noun, while the liquid form always becomes an -ing form in an English translation.  For instance, |warve setamma| "a guarding dog", |warve setam| "a watchdog"; |narpe teginta| "a mushroom that is going to be eaten", |narpe tekse| "a mushroom to be eaten = an edible mushroom".

The zero person is used for impersonal subjects or generalized ones.  It can also be used to refer to a whole sentence previously stated.

Silce.
Rain:0
It rains.

Zince    u    obrenje     ro  contra.
Speak:0  PRE  Obrenje:i   in  Contra:i
One speaks Obrenje in Hontra.

Ule      xim     culdin   i    tje   quqel.       Letce    ro  xim     kjobaja.
Love:3e  poss:1  brother  DIR  that  idiot_fem.   Stick:0  in  poss:1  head_of_hair.
My brother loves that stupid girl.  That sticks in my hair (= that bothers me).

For the meaning of the persons 3i and 3e, please consult the chapter "Syntax".
 
 

2.1.  Vocalic Verb Forms

Here follows a chart of all verb forms of a typical vocalic verb, |pova-| "give (as a present), donate".  The active solid forms of another verb, |fendre-| "draw (with a pen)", are also listed in order to show how the endings change for other stem vowels.  Only the present tense forms are influenced.

In the vocalic verb group, the vowel at the end of the verb stem is changed to |u| and |i| in the past and future tenses, respectively.
 

		Pova-								Fendre-
		Active Solid		Passive Solid		Active Liquid		Passive Liquid		Active Solid
Present	gerund	pov	ae	pov	ad					fendr	ee
	part	pov	am	pov	ash	pov	amma	pov	anta	fendr	em
	0	pov	ac	pov	acte	pov	anga	pov	akka	fendr	ec
	1	pov	aze	pov	azde	pov	anza	pov	adza	fendr	eze
	2	pov	ale	pov	arde	pov	andra	pov	atra	fendr	ele
	3i	pov	a	pov	ade	pov	ana	pov	asta	fendr	e
	3e	pov	e	pov	at	pov	aq	pov	atta	fendr	e
Past	gerund	pov	ue	pov	ud					fendr	ue
	part	pov	um	pov	ush	pov	umma	pov	unta	fendr	um
	0	pov	uc	pov	ucte	pov	unga	pov	ukka	fendr	uc
	1	pov	uze	pov	uzde	pov	unza	pov	udza	fendr	uze
	2	pov	ule	pov	urde	pov	undra	pov	utra	fendr	ule
	3i	pov	aw	pov	ude	pov	una	pov	usta	fendr	ew
	3e	pov	u	pov	ut	pov	uq	pov	utta	fendr	u
Future	gerund	pov	ie	pov	id					fendr	ie
	part	pov	im	pov	ish	pov	imma	pov	inta	fendr	im
	0	pov	ic	pov	icte	pov	inga	pov	ikka	fendr	ic
	1	pov	ize	pov	izde	pov	inza	pov	idza	fendr	ize
	2	pov	ile	pov	irde	pov	indra	pov	itra	fendr	ile
	3i	pov	aj	pov	ide	pov	ina	pov	ista	fendr	ej
	3e	pov	i	pov	it	pov	iq	pov	itta	fendr	i

 

2.2.  Consonantic Verb Forms

Most verbs of the consonantic group have stems ending in a consonant, e.g. |bel-| "take".  Obviously, the endings of the vocalic group don't quite fit these stems, a word like *|belm| or *|belc| would violate the phonology of Obrenje.  Therefore, consonantic verbs need a different set of endings that don't require a stem vowel.

As mentioned before, the past and future tenses are marked by vowel shifts towards |u| and |i|.  However, since consonantic verb don't have a vowel at the end of their stem, the vowel inside the stem must suffer those shifts.  Chapter 2.3 offers a table that shows which vowels become which in past and future tenses.
 
 

		Bel-
		Active Solid		Passive Solid		Active Liquid		Passive Liquid
Present	gerund	bel	a	bel	eta
	part	bel	me	bel	se	bel	emma	bel	enta
	0	bel	ce	bel	ecte	bel	enga	bel	ekka
	1	bel	ze	bel	ezde	bel	enza	bel	edza
	2	bel	re	bel	erde	bel	endra	bel	etra
	3i	bel	e	bel	ede	bel	ena	bel	esta
	3e	bel		bel	et	bel	eq	bel	etta
Past	gerund	bol	a	bel	uta
	part	bol	me	bol	se	bel	umma	bel	unta
	0	bol	ce	bel	ucte	bel	unga	bel	ukka
	1	bol	ze	bel	uzde	bel	unza	bel	udza
	2	bol	re	bel	urde	bel	undra	bel	utra
	3i	bol	u	bel	ude	bel	una	bel	usta
	3e	bol		bel	ut	bel	uq	bel	utta
Future	gerund	bil	a	bel	ita
	part	bil	me	bil	se	bel	imma	bel	inta
	0	bil	ce	bel	icte	bel	inga	bel	ikka
	1	bil	ze	bel	izde	bel	inza	bel	idza
	2	bil	re	bel	irde	bel	indra	bel	itra
	3i	bil	i	bel	ide	bel	ina	bel	ista
	3e	bil		bel	it	bel	iq	bel	itta

Unfortunately, inflecting a consonantic verb isn't quite as trivial as it is with vocalic ones.  Some consonantic verb stems mutate under the influence of certain endings.  These mutation patterns are quite systematic, though.

• Due to the lack of a mediating vowel, the endings directly collide with the stem, thus a voiced suffix might meet a voiceless stem ending head-on, or vice versa. In some cases, namely with the suffixes |-ze|, |-ce| and |-se|, the stem ending assimilates to the voicedness of the suffix.  Example: |cif-| "whisper" becomes |civze| "I whisper", |tog-| "eat" yields |tokce| "one eats" and |tokse| "being eaten".

• Verb stems which contain either |u| or |i| can't shift towards |u| or |i| any more, respectively, so the past/future forms turn out to be indistinguishable from the present forms.  To amend this, the vocalic endings are used in that particular tense.  Example: |cif-| "whisper" has |cifre| "you whisper" but |cifile| "you will whisper"; |luz-| "kiss" has |luzze| "I kiss" but |luzuze| "I kissed".

• The liquid aspect endings of consonantic verbs look just like those of vocalic verbs.  To join these endings to the stem, a mediating vowel has to be introduced for consonantic verbs.  In the past and future forms, |u| and |i| are the logical choices.  In the present liquid forms, where the vocalic verbs use the stem vowel, the consonantic verbs fill the blank with either |a|, |e|, |o| or |y|, whatever is closest to the vowel in the consonantic verb's stem.  For this purpose, |e| and |o| are chosen if the stem contains |i| and |u|, respecively.  Example: |bel-| "take" yields |belenza| "I am taking" and |belunza| "I was taking", while |luz-| "kiss" becomes |luzonza| "I am kissing" and |luzunza| "I was kissing".

• When a verb stem ends on a stop, adding the solid active participle ending |-me| produces ugly clusters such as |-pme| or |-tne|.  In these cases, the nasal is infixed before the stop.  Example: |tog-| "eat" gives us |tonge| "eating".

• Finally, some consonantic verb stems end in two consonants, the second of which is a stop.  This stop is dropped when no suffix follows, or when the solid active participle ending |-me| is added.  Example: |wend-| "run comfortably, jog" yields |wen| "runs" and |wenne| "running".

Apart from these systematically mutating verbs, there is also one truly irregular verb: |mo-| "be".  Its inflections are given in the table below.  Its derivatives |kimo-| "become, come into being", |primo-| "end, stop being", |dajmo-| "be again, continue being", and |rojmo-| "fulfill being, complete being" all share the same irregularities.
 
 

		Mo-
		Active Solid		Passive Solid		Active Liquid		Passive Liquid
Present	gerund	mo	a	mo	ta
	part	mo	m	mo	se	o	mma	o	tna
	0	mo	c	mo	cte	o	nga	o	kka
	1	mo	ze	mo	zde	o	nza	o	dza
	2	mo	le	mo	rde	o	ndra	o	tra
	3i	mo	e	mo	de	o	na	o	sta
	3e	mo		mo	t	o	q	o	tta
Past	gerund	mu	a	mu	ta
	part	wo	m	wo	se	u	mma	u	tna
	0	wo	c	wo	cte	u	nga	u	kka
	1	wo	ze	wo	zde	u	nza	u	dza
	2	wo	le	wo	rde	u	ndra	u	tra
	3i	mu	e	wo	de	u	na	u	sta
	3e	mu		mu	t	u	q	u	tta
Future	gerund	me	a	me	ta
	part	mje	m	mje	se	e	mma	e	tna
	0	mje	c	mje	cte	e	nga	e	kka
	1	mje	ze	mje	zde	e	nza	e	dza
	2	mje	le	mje	rde	e	ndra	e	tra
	3i	me	e	mje	de	e	na	e	sta
	3e	me		me	t	e	q	e	tta

 
 

2.3.  Vowel shifting rules for consonantic verbs

2.4.  Moods

Moods tell about the way the verb is meant:  Does it really happen?  Do we just wish it happened?  Or do we even want to express that it doesn't happen?  Obrenje has five moods:

• The indicative is the default mood for statements: |povale| "you give".
• The negative is employed to negate the verb: |tapovale| "you don't give".
• The interrogative turns the sentence into a yes/no question: |vypovale| "do you give?"
• The optative expresses a wish or hope: |opovale| "may you give!"
• The hypothetical is used to speculate about things that don't really happen: |ewpovale| "you would give"

The optative prefix |o-| causes a following |o| to dissociate into an |u|.

Example: |olja| "(he) drinks", |oulja| "may (he) drink!".

The mood markers can also be treated as separate words, rather than prefixes.  In this function, they can be placed before other parts of speech than the verb, to apply their value specifically to those parts.  The negative particle then becomes |tash|.

Lawne    vy   lonna.
Song:i   INT  sing:3e.
Lit.:  "A song sings-he?"
Does he sing a song?

Vy   lawne   lonna.
INT  song:i  sing:3e.
Lit.:  "A song? sings-he."
Is it a song he sings?