Nevobrec iae Smaconéiscaelco Conegiél Taaevodiél: view article

Menu 1. Retrospective and Prospective 2. Simultaneous Actions 3. Inchoative Structures 4. Durative Structures
This article serves to explain finer points in Edievian verbal syntax than the tense and aspect distinctions found in conjugation. Verbal aspect, particularly sequence of tenses, will not be addressed, either. Instead, the focus will be on additional ways that tense, aspect, or both can be specified. Edievian employs prepositions primarily in this function to further specify verbal tense and aspect.

[edit] [top]Retrospective and Prospective

The restrospective and prospective tenses refer to actions that occur either before (restrospective) or after (prospective) the time of narration. As they are relative tenses, they can be combined with any other tense (past, present, and future) to produce tense/aspect combinations such as future perfects or the pluperfect. Perfect and prospective tenses are generated with the use of the copula abae and the prepositions nev "after" and pov "before".

There are two main rules when handling the restrospective and prospective: the copula must appear in the progressive aspect (which surfaces as an imperfect in the past and future), and the semantic verb must be in its nominal form.

Bas pov obiat aéis art.

COPCopula
used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I.PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing before go-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun to.DEFDefinite
"the" store

I am just about to go to the store.

Baéins nev catiat no siáer.

COPCopula
used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate-3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech.IPRFImperfect (aspect/tense)
was verb-ing after drink-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun PTVPartitive (number)
'some of' or for mass nouns beer

He had just drunk some beer.

Nives pov hentariat dóis 5's or.

NEGNegative (polarity)
not.COPCopula
used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate-1PFirst person plural (person)
we (inclusive or exclusive).FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech.IPRFImperfect (aspect/tense)
was verb-ing before leave-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc.DEFDefinite
"the" fifth hour

We won't be about to leave at 5 o'clock.

[edit] [top]Simultaneous Actions

While multiple imperfect verbs can be strung together to indicate simultaneous actions, such a construction emphasizes each action equally. To emphasize an action that is simultaneous to another, the locative preposition do can be employed, producing an adverbial phrase that can than be fronted. Much like the perfect and prospective structures, the simultaneous construction only allows for a conjugated verb to appear in the imperfect, and the fronted, topicalized verb must be in the nominative form as it is acting as the object of a preposition.

Do eltiat, lopandiás daéis fent.

LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc cry-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun run-3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them.PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech.IPRFImperfect (aspect/tense)
was verb-ing from.DEFDefinite
"the" room

Crying, they ran out of the room.

In the above example, "crying" is topicalized while "ran" is pushed into the background. The same phrase can have the verbs swapped to topicalize the latter and push the former into the background, too:

Do lopiat daéis fent, eltandiás.

LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc run-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun from.DEFDefinite
"the" room cry-3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them.PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech.IPRFImperfect (aspect/tense)
was verb-ing

Running out the room, they cried.

The fronted adverbial phrase can take accusative and/or dative objects, as well, though they must be subordinated with the genitive or partitive (for accusative objects) articles o or no, and/or dative particle ae.

Do tiágiat on aomal aen aem, spisiól braeclaéins sertaéis plats.

LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc give-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun GENGenitive (case)
possessive money DATDative (case)
indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location all proud walk-3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech.IPRFImperfect (aspect/tense)
was verb-ing through.DEFDefinite
"the" square

She strutted through the square, giving money to all.

Do siáomiat o naóisclo, draëvéins!

LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc eat-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun GENGenitive (case)
possessive breakfast drive-2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you).PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech.IPRFImperfect (aspect/tense)
was verb-ing

You were eating breakfast while driving!

[edit] [top]Inchoative Structures

Edievian features the non-productive inchoative suffix -ofae (c.f. barae → barofae "carry → contract [a disease]"), but this suffix cannot be used productively. Instead, there are a few inchoative structures that can be implemented.

po satiat po nes [verb]
Po satiat po nes... is best glossed as "as soon as", and encodes for an event that is beginning but has not yet occurred. Many speakers mistakenly replace po ("in") with do ("in, at"), as do is a much more frequently used preposition and po often appears fossilized in phrases such as po satiat po nes.... The pre-verbal irrealis particle ne is often used in combination with this phrasing, usually if the speaker expects that the verb will not occur.

Po satiat po nes rencaéis, hus obives aéis faest.

in begin-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun in CMPComplementiser (syntactic)
[clause] that [clause] arrive-3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing | then go-1PFirst person plural (person)
we (inclusive or exclusive).FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech.IMPFUnknown code DATDative (case)
indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location.DEFDefinite
"the" party

As soon as he gets here, we'll leave for the party.

Po satiat po nes ne feséis clasió ovranc, diógac gae'd.

in begin-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun in CMPComplementiser (syntactic)
[clause] that [clause] IRRIrrealis
mood cook-2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you).PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing meal fancy | fuck-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I.FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech.PERFPerfect (aspect/tense)
have verb-ed 1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I-2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)

As soon as you cook me a fancy dinner, I'll bang you.

satae [verb]
Literally "to begin verbing", this construction provides the option to emphasize the 'beginning' of the action, and that the subject is indeed doing the action (albeit just having started):

Tac satas fesiat siáe becgro!

now begin-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I.PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing cook-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun DEFDefinite
"the" pork

I'm starting the pork now!

[edit] [top]Durative Structures

Further focus on the length of an action can be expressed outside the usage of the progressive/imperfect aspect. Several verbs can express durative aspects, each with different connotations. Each heavily emphasizes the length of the action, moreso than the actual action itself. All of them must be in the imperfect when used unless a time scale is mentioned (for a week, for three years, etc), in which case the perfect is used.

argae [verb]
"To continue" - usually carrying a connotation of effort or work being exerted to continue to activity, and tends to be somewhat negative.

Argas natriat téilc dóis uecié.

continue-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I.PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing put-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun tile=PLPlural (number)
more than one/few LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc.DEFDefinite
"the" bathroom

I'm still tiling the bathroom (unfortunately).

cosmae [verb]
"To hold" - cosmae entails more achievement or pride than does argae, though it does also encode for some work. It is often used with jobs or other long-term commitments, and is normally positive.

Cosmaen crediat fael todsoteman nem tiímemae máind.

hold-3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech.PERFPerfect (aspect/tense)
have verb-ed work-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun as senator for twenty-six year=PLPlural (number)
more than one/few

She worked as a senator for twenty-six years.

barae [verb]
"To carry" - does not really have much of a connotation, and just emphasizes the duration of the action. It can be combined with nev "after" to delineate the action of having just stopped.

Barives caviat epaéis boot.

carry-1PFirst person plural (person)
we (inclusive or exclusive).FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech.IPFVImperfective (aspect)
'interrupted or incomplete' live-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun near.DEFDefinite
"the" bay

We'll be living near the bay for a while.

Barom nev siáomiat gro héis siáedman mimbor.

carry-1PFirst person plural (person)
we (inclusive or exclusive).PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech.PERFPerfect (aspect/tense)
have verb-ed after eat-NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun meat until.DEFDefinite
"the" week past

We had been eating meat up until last week.

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