Verbs

A verb is a part of speech that expresses an action, event, or state by means of tense, aspect and voice.

Furthermore, the person or thing that performs the action is also being made visible. This can either be displayed by a pronoun or a so-called verb-ending that is related to the pronoun.

The Personal Pronouns and their VE
P/N	Gender	English	Mathal		Verb-Ending
1st Sg.	Common	I	muiju	muiju	-em	em
2nd Sg.	Common	you	síne	síne	-es	es
3rd Sg.	Common	he, she, they, it	reisa	reisa	-er	er
3rd Sg.	Neuter	he, she, they, it	nit	nit	-in	in
1st Pl.	Common	we	bóni	bóni	-op	op
2nd Pl.	Common	you	lýsou	lýsou	-ol	ol
3rd Pl.	Common	they	dóma	dóma	-ot	ot
3rd Pl.	Neuter	he, she, they, it	kus	kus	-uk	uk

The verb ending consists of the Gender-Marker and the first letter of the respective pronoun.

A last note, Mathal distinguishes between three classes of verbs. What's being looked at is the length of the stressed vowel of the word root, which is always is the nucleus of the first syllable. It can be short, long or be a diphtong. These mark the three classes that each will be explained below.

[edit] [top]SHORT VERBS

The short verb has one of seven vowels as their main stress: a - ɛ - ɪ - ɔ - ʊ - œ - ʏ.

Before one can start conjugating, there is one thing that needs to be shown first. The short verbs come in two different grades. The full grade and the long grade (also called 2^nd grade).

Full grade	a	ɛ	ɪ	ɔ	ʊ	œ	ʏ
2^nd grade	á	é	í	ó	ú	ǿ	ý

In the second grade the length of the short vowel turns into a long one. It is used to display the perfect aspect or as it is called in Mathal, the impact aspect.

Short (vowel) verbs are conjugated as follows:

	ACTIVE VOICE		PASSIVE VOICE
aspect	simple	impact	simple	impact
tense	simple	impact	simple	impact
present	a‘[root]-[VE]	a’[2^ndgrade]-[VE]	ala‘[root]-[VE]	ala’[2^ndgrade]-[VE]
present subjunctive	a‘[root]-af-[VE]	a’[2^ndgrade]-af-[VE]	ala‘[root]-af-[VE]	ala’[2^ndgrade]-af-[VE]
past	ø‘[root]-[VE]	ø’[2^ndgrade]-[VE]	ølø‘[root]-[VE]	ølø’[2^ndgrade]-[VE]
past subjunctive	ø‘[root]-af-[VE]	ø’[2^ndgrade]-af-[VE]	ølø‘[root]-af-[VE]	ølø’[2^ndgrade]-af-[VE]
future	y‘[root]-[VE]	y’[2^ndgrade]-[VE]	yly‘[root]-[VE]	yly’[2^ndgrade]-[VE]
future subjunctive	y‘[root]-af-[VE]	y’[2^ndgrade]-af-[VE]	yly‘[root]-af-[VE]	yly’[2^ndgrade]-af-[VE]

[edit] [top]LONG VERBS

The short verb has one of seven vowels as their main stress: á - é - í - ó - ú - ǿ - ý
This class is very special because it neither has a 2nd grade nor uses a specific Verb-Ending to display the person or thing that performs the action. The long verbs always need a subject that accompanies them, either before or after the verb.
The aspect of impact is shown by means of reduplication of the first syllable of the root. The now created second syllable is shortened in length and added to the first syllable. Then the roots continues.
To understand this better the example will be the word 'root' transcribed into IPA: /ruːt/.

	ACTIVE VOICE		PASSIVE VOICE
aspect	simple	impact	simple	impact
tense	simple	impact	simple	impact
present	a‘[ruːt]-an	a’[ruːrut]-an	ala‘[ruːt]-an	ala’[ruːrut]-an
present subjunctive	a‘[ruːt]-afan	a’[ruːrut]-afan	ala‘[ruːt]-afan	ala’[ruːrut]-afan
past	ø‘[ruːt]-an	ø’[ruːrut]-an	ølø‘[ruːt]-an	ølø’[ruːrut]-an
past subjunctive	ø‘[ruːt]-afan	ø’[ruːrut]-an	ølø‘[ruːt]-afan	ølø’[ruːrut]-afan
future	y‘[ruːt]-an	y‘[ruːrut]-an	yly‘[ruːt]-an	yly‘[ruːrut]-an
future subjunctive	y‘[ruːt]-afan	y‘[ruːrut]-afan	yly‘[ruːt]-afan	yly‘[ruːrut]-afan

[edit] [top]DIPH VERBS

The diphtong verb has one of the following diphtongs as their main stress: ai - ei - oi - ui - øi - au - yi - ou
This class is a mixture of the strong and short verb class. It has specific Verb-Endings to display Number and Gender but also uses Reduplication and not gradation.
For better understanding the Mathal word for root which is 'røip' will be used here. Notice how the final consonant changes due the distribution rules.

	ACTIVE VOICE		PASSIVE VOICE
aspect	simple	impact	simple	impact
tense	simple	impact	simple	impact
present	a‘[røib]-[VE]	a’[røirøb]-[VE]	ala‘[røib]-[VE]	ala’[røirøb]-[VE]
present subjunctive	a‘[røib]-af-[VE]	a’[røirøb]-af-[VE]	ala‘[røib]-af-[VE]	ala’[røirøb]-af-[VE]
past	ø‘[røib]-[VE]	ø’[røirøb]-[VE]	ølø‘[røib]-[VE]	ølø’[røirøb]-[VE]
past subjunctive	ø‘[røib]-af-[VE]	ø’[røirøb]-af-[VE]	ølø‘[røib]-af-[VE]	ølø’[røirøb]-af-[VE]
future	y‘[røib]-[VE]	y‘[røirøb]-[VE]	yly‘[røib]-[VE]	yly‘[røirøb]-[VE]
future subjunctive	y‘[røib]-af-[VE]	y‘[røirøb]-af-[VE]	yly‘[røib]-af-[VE]	yly‘[røirøb]-af-[VE]

[edit] [top]MODAL VERBS

There is another type of verbs that needs mentioning. This type can belong to any of the three classes above and follows their respective conjugation. These modal verbs describe the modality of the action. But they require a second verb in the infinitive. The infinitive is marked by the preceding word 'at', like 'to' in English.

English	Mathal	Runes
can	fen	fen
I can bake	muiju a'fenem at bam.	muiju a'fenem at bam.

English	Mathal	Runes
shall	mulus	mulus
You should kill them.	ei:dóma ø'muluses at nikin.	ei:dóma ø'muluses at nikin.

English	Mathal	Runes
must, have to	los	los
She must feed the ducks so that they won't die.	ei:bragong a'loser at ðan, oðuim y'dauþinot ika.	ei:bragong a'loser at ðan, oðuim y'dauþinot ika.

English	Mathal	Runes
need	gút	gút
We need to sleep to fight better. We need to sleep for a better fight.	ui:iþ bjatjafi knaman a'gudan at slán Bóni.	ui:iþ bjatjafi knaman a'gudan at slán Bóni.

English	Mathal	Runes
want	vat	vat
You want (from) me to steal a brain tonight.	au:ling toun a'vatol at tír øi:muiju ei:giliþ.	au:ling toun a'vatol at tír øi:muiju ei:giliþ.

English	Mathal	Runes
want	vat	vat
Only the dogs may call me (an) idiot.	Vaugong a'húran ikun ei:muiju yi:bobaniþ.	Vaugong a'húran ikun ei:muiju yi:bobaniþ.

English	Mathal	Runes
hope	vut	vut
I hope to never arrive at my grandma's .	oi:meng mámel a'vutem at numar au:ing metli ten.	oi:meng mámel a'vutem at numar au:ing metli ten.

English	Mathal	Runes
like	lit	lit
You like to move it.	ei:seng treil a'lites at jin.	ei:seng treil a'lites at jin.

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