Erish grammar
Erish is a Germanic language with grammatical properties that reflect extensive contact with Nordic relatives. Similar to many other Germanic languages, it has undergone a transition away from more complex grammars of older Indo-European languages, in part driven by the historic strong accent on first syllables by Germanic languages, but it still retains a fairly robust inflectional system and flexible word order.
Erish is a fusional language which inflects multiple parts of speech to indicate their grammatical roles. Nominals decline for two cases (nominative, oblique), three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), and two numbers (singular, plural); nouns and adjectives further inflect for definiteness, and several core pronouns have possessive forms descended from the old genitive case. Although the traditional Germanic distinction between "strong" and "weak" nouns is present, the changes in Erish inflection, especially in the spoken language, mean this distinction is not particularly descriptive of modern Erish; instead, Erish is usually presented as having five regular declensions, two somewhat irregular declensions, and assorted irregular nouns that usually have inflections that involve umlaut. Verbs conjugate for two moods (indicative, imperative), two numbers (singular, plural), and three persons (first, second, third). Similar to nouns, the traditional distinction between "strong" and "weak" verbs is not as descriptive of Erish as it once was - the loss of the past tense in most Erish verbs, combined with regularization of several strong verbs, has made many strong verbs indistinguishable from weak verbs.
Erish shares an extremely similar syntax to the Nordic languages, having a default subject-verb-object word order which, in main clauses, is subject to the V2 restriction that the first constituent of the clause, which is the topic, must be immediately followed by the finite verb, which acts as topic marker. Due to the preservation of some degree of inflection in both nominals and verbs which marks grammatical roles, Erish word order is fairly flexible, especially in poetic or lyrical contexts.
The grammar of this standard language does not necessarily reflect the grammar of spoken Erish. Whilst speech according to its grammar can generally be understood, most dialects deviate in at least a few respects from the norms. Consequently, this section describes the grammar of written Erish, and points out notable exceptions to the rules in common speech.
Word order
Erish has a basic word order similar to Nordic languages. The basic subject-verb-object word order is subject in main clauses to the V2 restriction that the first constituent, the topic, most often the subject (the person/thing doing the verb's action), must be immediately followed by the finite verb, which acts as the topic marker. In the basic unmarked word order, the direct object (the person/thing the verb's action is done to) immediately follows the verb. In simple interrogative or imperative clauses, it may appear to be verb-subject-object, as the finite verb occurs first; simple imperative clauses use the same basic word order, though the subject is often omitted.
Fuglis etar fiskin The bird eats the fish "The bird eats the fish."
Etar fuglis fiskin? Eats the bird the fish? "Does the bird eat the fish?"
Et (dú) fiskin! Eat (you) the fish! "Eat the fish!"
Unmarked indirect objects (the beneficiaries of the verb's action) immediately precede direct objects. As in English, they can also follow the direct object, though they must be marked by the preposition til ("to"). The latter word order is considered less neutral than the former, often emphasizing the indirect object:
Faðris lesar sonin sínun bókin. The father reads his son the book. "The father reads his son the book."
Faðris lesar bókin til sonin sínun. The father reads the book to his son. "The father reads the book to his son (the son is emphasized)."
Whenever two or more verbs are used in an interrogative, imperative, or non-subject topic clause, the subject is followed by the verb cluster. If a non-subject is topicalized, the subject usually appears after the finite verb.
Hundis kundi høyra barnið. The dog could hear the child "The dog could hear the child."
Barnið kundi hundis høyra. The child could the dog hear
Similar to Anglish or Norsk, adpositional phrases have an unmarked word order of place-manner-time. The negating adverb ikki ("not") precedes any infinite verbs in the main verb cluster.
Läkis mátti ikki skríva pasientin ein bodskap í bókhúsið mið dein nýi reknarin í dag The doctor could not write the patient a message in the library with the new computer today "The doctor couldn't write the patient a message in the library with the new computer today."
Infinitive clauses follow the non-finite verbs at the end of a clause:
Leirlingis bir lesa bókin fur að leira nátúraløyr. The student will read the book to study physics. "The student will read the book to study physics."
Subordinate clauses formally use the same syntax as main clauses, with the V2 restriction applying to them as well as main clauses. In practice, however, topicalizing any subordinate constituent other than the subordinate subject is confined to lyrical contexts.
Kona hopar dað sjú ser mannin sínun The wife hopes that she sees her husband "The wife hopes that she sees her husband."
Kona hopar dað mannin sínun ser sjú The wife hopes that her husband sees she
Because the basic grammatical roles of nouns are generally marked by the nominative and oblique cases, word order is less important for conveying basic meaning in Erish. Consequently, the following translations of "The Queen writes the Prime Minister a letter" are all perfectly valid in Erish:
Kynga skrívar Ríkileirdin eit brev The Queen writes the Prime Minister a letter
Kynga skrívar eit brev til Ríkileirdin The Queen writes a letter to the Prime Minister
Til Ríkileirdin skrívar Kynga eit brev To the Prime Minister writes the Queen a letter
Eit brev skrívar Kynga til Ríkileirdin A letter writes the Queen to the Prime Minister
Skríva gjerar Kynga eit brev til Ríkileirdin Write does the Queen a letter to the Prime Minister
Generally speaking, these variations would be the ones most commonly found in speech. Others may occur in poetic or lyrical contexts, where word order is most flexible. A speaker generally uses a non-default word order for topicalization and focus, with the emphasis of a sentence often occurring at the end of a sentence. When a verb is topicalized and there is no auxiliary verb already present in a sentence, the verb gjera (“to do”) is used.
Nominals
Erish nominals, which include nouns, adjectives, determiners, and pronouns, decline for two cases (nominative, oblique), three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). Adjectives and nouns further decline for definiteness, and several of the personal pronouns preserve distinct nominative and accusative cases (though the accusative merges with the dative). Nouns generally fall into one of seven declensions, though there are several commonly used irregular nouns.
Case
Modern Erish retains two distinct grammatical cases: the nominative case (hvasfallið), and the oblique case (hveinfallið). These two cases are used depending upon the roles of nouns in a given sentence:
- The nominative case is normally used for the subject (the noun performing the verb's action) of the sentence, as well as the complement of a copular verb (the "object" of verbs like vera "to be", blíva "to become", heita "to be named", and furblíva "to remain"):
- Subject: Dú hjelpart him ("You help him.")
- Complement: Vis eru männ ("We are men.")
- The oblique case is normally used for the direct object (the noun the verb's action is done to), the indirect object (the noun that receives or benefits from the verb's action), and prepositional objects:
- Direct object: Mannis havir ein hund ("The man has a dog")
- Indirect object: Barnið gjørdi singa faðrin sínun ein sang ("The child sang their father a song.")
- Prepositional object: Ig skrívi mið deira rettra håndjan ("I write with my right hand.")
Generally speaking, the primary exception to these uses of the cases involve verbs which historically took a dative subject. With these verbs, the oblique case is used for the subject of the verb, and sometimes the nominative for the object. One of the most common of these verbs is líka ("to like"); in the sentence Mig líkar bøkir ("I like books"), for example, mig ("me") is used instead of ig ("I") (a literal translation of the sentence would be "Books please me"). Additionally, the neuter gender never distinguishes the nominative and oblique cases.
The modern case system arose through several different factors, though it was heavily driven by the development of the definite article. As the table below summarizes, the unstressed -n of the definite article disappeared unless it was geminated or followed by -um; this essentially led to all oblique cases ending in -n (the genitive was lost as early as late Old Erish), but remaining generally distinct from the nominative. Similar to what happened in the pronouns of more analytic Germanic languages, the final step in the collapse of the system was the merging of the accusative and dative forms with the form of the dative into the modern oblique case.
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Western dialects have lost grammatical case in adjectives, and are in the process of losing them in the definite article. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Western Erish speakers generally make less use of Erish's flexible word order, often making greater use of the passive voice for the topicalization of objects.
Gender
All Erish nouns retain the classical Indo-European tripartite gender system of masculine, feminine, and neuter, for which adjectives, determiners, and pronouns inflect; in the standard language, this distinction is completely made in the singular, and partially made in the plural, as neuter nouns have a distinct plural. Nouns referring to people normally have a grammatical gender matching their natural gender: deis mannis ("man"), dei kvinna ("woman"). Exceptions, however, do occur, particularly when a suffix is applied to such nouns, such as deis kvinnaheidis ("womanness"). Inanimate nouns, however, have highly semantically unpredictable genders as seen in how deis steinis ("stone"), and dei jårði ("earth"), and dað landið ("land") masculine, feminine, and neuter respectively. Consequently, students are taught to memorize nouns with their double definite construction, since it clearly delineates the gender of the noun.
Though standard written Erish preserves the three-way gender distinction, the dialectal situation is more complicated. Several dialects across Erishland, such as southerly Bayland dialects, tend to completely merge all three genders in the plural. Western dialects generally do so as well, whilst additionally merging the masculine and feminine into a common gender.
Articles and case
Erish has an article system similar to the Nordic languages, wherein the primary definite article is suffixed to the noun, with a preposed definite article appearing if a definite noun is preceded by an adjective or numeral. Instead of an indefinite article, Erish has a "specific" article eis, which, alongside the preposed definite article, has a single inflection pattern that is described in the following table; the suffixed definite article is essentially part of a noun's declension paradigm, and so cannot be as succinctly described.
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Erish has an article system which indicates both their definiteness and specificity, resulting in three states of nouns:
- The indefinite (ubistimmat) state has a noun without a preceding article. It is used to indicate that the noun is an indefinite noun or group of nouns which the audience does not know about and the speaker does not intend to talk about. In the sentence Ig vill häbba hund ("I want a dog"), for example, the speaker just wants any dog, without regard to breed or other factors.
- The specific (halvbistimmat) state has a noun preceded by the article einn. It is used to indicate that the noun is a specific noun or group of nouns which the audience does not know about, but which the speaker intends to talk about. In the sentence Ig vill häbba ein hund ("I want a dog"), for example, the speaker wants a specific dog or kind of dog, which they may go on to describe.
- The definite (bistimmat) state has a noun suffixed by the definite article. It is used to indicate that the noun or group of nouns is already known by the audience; it translates directly to "the" in Anglish. In the sentence Ig vill häbba hundin ("I want the dog"), for example, the speaker may want a dog that the audience has or knows about.
The definite article tends to be used for proper names and nouns, but it is not necessarily required. A proper name or noun can be indefinite, specific, or definite. Ig søkkji Áleivin, for example, most often corresponds to its Anglish equivalent, "I'm looking for Aleiv". However, Ig søkkji Áleiv means "I'm looking for an Aleiv (any person named Aleiv)", whilst Ig søkkji ein Áleiv means "I'm looking for an Aleiv (a specific person named Aleiv)".
In common speech, the vowels of these words are generally reduced in their article uses, resulting in (d)eis [(d)ɪs], dað [da], and so on. The ending -a of eina and deira is generally only pronounced when they are being used as a numeral and demonstrative respectively.
Declensions
Modern Erish nouns have generally simpler declension patterns than their Old Erish counterparts, although they still inflect for case, definiteness, and number. Most Erish nouns essentially fall into six regular declensions and one fairly irregular declension, but there are still Erish nouns which are not cleanly a part of any of them. All Erish nouns do not distinguish cases in the indefinite, only distinctly marking them when they are specific or definite.
First declension: The first declension consists of both masculine and feminine nouns, and derives from the Old Erish strong declension of masculine and feminine nouns that ended in consonants. Masculine first declension nouns have the plural indefinite/specific suffix -ar; their definite articles are -is (sg. nom.), -in (sg. obl.), -as (pl. nom.), and -un (pl. obl.). Feminine first declension nouns mostly use the same suffixes as their masculine counterparts, but have the singular definite articles -i (nom.) and -an (obl.). The first declension is the most productive for masculine and feminine nouns that end in consonants.
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Some masculine first declension nouns which have two syllables and rising tone drop the vowel of the second syllable upon inflection:
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Second declension: The second declension descends from the Old Erish strong declension of masculine and feminine nouns that ended in vowels. In contrast to all other regular declensions, these nouns generally preserve the original second syllables of the definite article. Masculine nouns use the indefinite/specific plural suffix -r; their definite articles are -s (sg. nom.), -n (sg. obl.), -nis (pl. nom.), and -nu (pl. obl.). Feminine nouns use the same suffixes except in the singular definite, where their suffixes are -i (sg. nom.) and -na. The second declension is the productive declension for masculine or feminine nouns which end in a stressed vowel.
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Third declension: The third declension consists of neuter nouns, and is derived from the Old Erish strong neuter declension. Third declension nouns can end in a consonant or vowel. their declension nouns do not inflect for case, as the neuter gender never does so, and they generally do not inflect for number except in the written language. They have distinct definite singular and plural suffixes, which are -ið and -i, but these are homophones in most Erish dialects. A few third declension nouns have an irregular vowel change in the plural, resulting in distinct forms; these nouns always have a root vowel of a which changes to å. The third declension is generally the productive declension for neuter nouns, though some loans like klima ("climate") are fourth declension nouns.
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Fourth declension: The fourth declension consists of feminine and neuter nouns, and is derived from the Old Erish weak declension of those genders. Along with the fifth declension, these nouns always have a rising tone. Fourth declension nouns always have an ending indefinite/specific singular suffix -a, which changes to -ur in the feminine plural and -u in the neuter plural. Feminine fourth declension nouns lack a singular nominative definite article, but otherwise have the definite articles -an (sg. obl.), -us (pl. nom.) and -un (pl. obl.); neuter nouns do not have definite articles at all, though they use an orthographic -ð for the singular definite. The fourth declension is fairly productive, with loans ending in -a usually joining the declension. There is a fourth declension noun, hjarta ("heart"), which has an irregular vowel change in the plural.
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Fifth declension: The fifth declension consists of masculine nouns, and derives from the Old Erish weak masculine declension. Along with the fourth declension, these nouns always have a rising tone. Fifth declension nouns have indefinite/specific singular endings of -i, which change to -ar in the plural; the definite articles of the fifth declension are -is (sg. nom.), -in (sg. obl.), -as (pl. nom.), and -un (pl. obl.). Similar to the fourth declension, loans ending in -i tend to join this declension, though these are somewhat less common. There is a fifth declension noun, nami ("name"), which has an irregular definite oblique plural.
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Sixth declension: The sixth declension consists of masculine and feminine nouns derived from the Old Erish -ja/-jō stems; during Old Erish, several -i and -u stem nouns had been remodelled into that declension, and this trend continued during the Middle Erish, leaving only a few now irregular nouns. The sixth declension itself is fairly regular in its declension, although it often causes consonants to palatalize. Masculine sixth declension nouns have indefinite/specific plurals of -jar; their definite articles are -is (sg. nom.), -jin (sg. obl.), -jas (pl. nom.), and -jun (pl. obl.). Feminine fifth declension nouns have the same suffixes in the plural, though their definite singulars are -i (nom.) and -jan (obl.).
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Seventh declension: The seventh declension is more irregular than the five regular declensions, as the root vowels of nouns often change, but still generally follows regular suffixation. It consists of a mix of mostly masculine and feminine nouns that were directly inherited from the Old Erish consonant stem declensions, as well as some old -i and -u stems. Virtually all of these nouns involve an irregular umlaut in the plural. Apart from the masculine having a definite nominative article -is and the feminine the definite nominative article -i, masculine and feminine nouns use the same declension patterns: the plural indefinite/specific suffix is -ur; in the definite, the singular oblique is -in, and the plural definite suffixes are -us (nom.) and -un (obl.).
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Irregular nouns: These seven declensions describe the majority of all Erish nouns, but there are nonetheless still nouns which cannot be described as falling into any of them. The following table presents a sample from each gender of these nouns:
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Adjectives
Erish adjectives decline for the case, definiteness, gender, and number of the nouns they modify, and have three degrees of comparison, positive, comparative, and superlative, which are normally formed with the root, the suffix -ari, and the suffix -ast respectively.
When an adjective is precedes a noun suffixed by the definite article, preceded by a noun phrase using the possessive -s clitic, or preceded by a demonstrative determiner, possessive determiner, or the determiners älls ("all, each"), beid ("both"), hvilk ("which"), or slík ("such"), it uses the "weak" declension, which only distinguishes case in the plural. When the definite article is used with a noun described by an adjective, and there is no preceding determiner, the adjective must be preceded by deis ("the; that").
| number | case | M | F | N |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SG | NOM | deis stóri mannis | dei stóra kvinna | dað stóra tingið |
| OBL | dein stóri mannin | deira stóra kvinnan | ||
| PL | NOM | deis stóru männis | deis stóru kvinnus | dei stóru tingi |
| OBL | dein stóru männun | dein stóru kvinnun |
In any other scenario, adjectives decline using the "strong" declension:
| number | case | M | F | N |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SG | NOM | stórs mann | stór kvinna | stórt tingið |
| OBL | stórun mann | stórra kvinna | ||
| PL | NOM | stóris männ | stóris kvinnur | stór tingi |
| OBL | stórun männ | stórun kvinnur |
The -s ending of the strong masculine singular nominative is only usually used after vowels, or the consonants l, m, n, ng, or r (or their geminated variants). When an adjective's root ends in t, the t strong neuter ending is generally not used.
Whenever an adjective is used predicatively after copular verbs such as vesa ("to be"), blíva ("to become"), heita ("to be named"), or furblíva ("to remain"), declines for the gender and number of the subject using the strong declension.
- Faðrin bir gammals. ("The father will be old")
- Kvinna varð sjúk. ("The woman became sick")
- Húsi blíva hvít. ("The houses are still white.")
The comparative and superlative are mostly formed through the suffixes -ari the suffix -ast respectively, both of which inflect (though -ari only uses the weak declension). Several adjectives and determiners, however, have irregular comparative and superlative forms:
- gammals-äldri-älst ("old-older-oldest")
- mangs-fleiri-fleist ("many-more-most")
- fjarrs-fordri-forst ("far-further-furthest")
- fás-mindri-minst ("few-fewer-fewest")
- furs-fyrdri-fyrst ("early/fore-earlier/former-earliest/first/foremost")
- gód-bättri-bäst ("good-better-best")
- houg-høygri-høyst ("high-higher-highest")
- ungs-yngri-yngst ("young-younger-youngest")
- lat-lätri-läst ("late-later/latter-latest/last")
- lág-lägri-läst ("low-lower-lowest")
- lýttils-leisi-leist ("little-less-least")
- mikkils-meiri-meist ("much-more-most")
- nás-nära-nästa ("near-nearer-nearest")
- yvils-versi-verst ("bad-worse-worst")
Adverbs
There is minimal distinction in Erish between adverbs and adjectives, especially in the written language. Adverbs can simply be derived from adjectives simply by inflecting the adjective in its strong neuter form.
- Hin sov yvilt ("He slept badly")
- Dú singart gódt! ("You sing well!")
- Vis atu kvikkt gódun mät. ("We quickly ate good food.")
Western dialects often attach the suffix -lig ("-ly") to an adjective, and then inflect it as a strong neuter form. Certain Eastern dialects similarly use the strong neuter form of the suffix -vis.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
The Erish personal pronouns, similar to English, are the only class of words to retain case. The reflexive forms, used for when the subject and object are the same, are the oblique cases for the first and second person, whilst third-person subjects use the reflexive pronoun sig. Personal pronouns have possessive determiner forms used to indicate possession of a given noun; normally, they follow the noun they describe, but they may be preposed to emphasize the owner of a possessed noun.
| number | case | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PERS | REFL | ||||||
| M | F | N | |||||
| SG | NOM | ig | dú | hin | sjú | hið | ― |
| OBL | mig | dig | him | hira | sig | ||
| PL | NOM | vis | jis | sjeis | sjú | ― | |
| OBL | oss | júg | hjun | sig | |||
The English "you" corresponds to both dú and jis. Dú is used when the speaker is addressing a single person (Ig älskar dig "I love you"), and jis when they are addressing two or more people (Ig älskar júg "I love you/y'all"). Unlike many European languages, there is no T-V distinction of formality, and these two pronouns are used purely with reference to number.
Like other languages with grammatical gender, the third-person personal pronouns (as well as the relative pronoun) are used with reference to grammatical and not natural gender. The proper pronoun for dei lúsi ("louse") is not hið ("it") but sjú ("she"), because even though the English natural gender of a louse is neuter, the proper Erish grammatical gender is feminine. Erish also partially has this gender distinction in the plural. The pronoun sjú is used in the plural for groups composed of exclusively neuter nouns, whilst sjeis (and hjun) are used in other cases.
Interrogative and relative pronouns
The two most important Erish pronouns after the personal pronouns are the interrogative pronoun hvas ("who; what") and the relative pronoun deis ("that; who"). The interrogative pronoun’s functions correspond to those of English who, what, and so on, though they generally cannot be used as relative pronouns. Instead, the relative pronoun is almost always deis ("that; whom"), as seen in Hin er mannis dein ig sá ("He is the man whom I saw").
| number | case | REL | INT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F | N | M | F | N | ||
| SG | NOM | deis | dei | dað | hvas | hvað | |
| OBL | dein | deira | hvein | ||||
| PL | NOM | deis | dei | hvas | hvað | ||
| OBL | dein | hvein | |||||
Similar to the personal pronouns, the neuter plurals of the interrogative and relative pronouns are only used for groups of exclusively neuter nouns.
Determiners
Determiners are a class of Erish pronouns which can be used either substantively (Vis villa häbba dei "I want those") or attributively (Vis villa häbba dei treï "I want those trees."). The most important classes of determiners are the demonstrative, possessive, and relative determiners. Many determiners use the strong adjectival declension to decline for the case, gender, and number of the noun they modify or replace, but a few use an irregular declension which reduces the strong adjective endings, and some possessive determiners do not necessarily decline for gender and number.
Erish has two demonstrative determiners, dänna ("this, these"), and deis ("that, those"). Whenever a demonstrative is used attributively, the noun(s) it describes use the definite article. Dänna is mostly absent from common speech in Bayland dialects, as well as some Eastern dialects, often replaced by a construction of deis her ("this here") and deis dár ("that there").
| number | case | dänna "this, these" | deis "that, those" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F | N | M | F | N | ||
| SG | NOM | dänna | dässi | dätta | deis | dei | dað |
| OBL | dässun | dässa | dein | deira | |||
| PL | NOM | dässis | dässi | deis | dei | ||
| OBL | dässun | dein | |||||
Erish has several possessive determiners used to indicate ownership of a given noun. In contrast to English, these possessive determiners normally follow the nouns they describe, though they may be preposed to emphasize the owner, similar to the possessive -s. Possessive determiners use a variety of different declensions, sometimes not even necessarily declining at all. The following table lists the Erish possessive determiners:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PERS | INT | REFL | |||||||||||||
| M | F | N | M | F | N | ||||||||||
| SG | mís | dís | his | hiras | his | hveiras | hveis | sís | |||||||
| PL | várs | júrs | hiras | hveiras | hveis | sís | |||||||||
The possessive determiners have three different declension patterns: strong, none, or irregular. Várs ("our, ours") and júrs ("your, yours") use the strong adjective endings to decline, whilst the third-person possessive determiners other than sís ("his/her/its/their own") do not decline at all. The possessive determiners mís, dís, and sís use an irregular declension demonstrated by mís:
| number | case | M | F | N |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SG | NOM | mís | mí | mítt |
| OBL | mínun | mína | ||
| PL | NOM | mínis | mí | |
| OBL | mínun | |||
Possessive determiners have several features unlike their English counterparts:
- Possessive determiners normally follow the nouns they describe. The regular translation for "I saw her cat", for example, is Ig sá kåttjin hiras (lit. "I saw cat-the her"). Possessive determiners can be preposed to emphasize ownership (the interrogative uses of those three pronouns almost always have them preposed, however). Returning to the previous example, Ig sá hiras kåttjin emphasizes that "I saw her cat". Whenever a possessive determiner precedes the noun it describes, the noun uses the definite article. The postposition of possessive determiners is a feature of Bayland and many Eastern dialects, but some always prepose possessive determiners.
- It is important to note that the possessive determiners his and hiras cannot be interchanged with sís, even though they can all be translated as English "his", "her", etc. Sís is used as the possessive determiner for the third-person subject or subjects of a sentence, whilst those three determiners are used for other third-person nouns. In the sentence Mikelis sá Áleivin and dóttrin sínun ("Mikel saw Aleiv and his daughter"), the "his" of sís refers specifically to Mikel, because he is the subject of the sentence. By contrast, the "his" of his in the sentence Mikelis sá Áleivin and dóttrin his refers to Aleiv, because his cannot refer to the subject of the sentence.
- Regular nouns can use the third-person personal possessive determiners to a similar effect as the regular use of the possessive determiners. Normally, possession is indicated through the construction possessed plus av ("of") plus possessor, as in kúi av mannin ("the cow of the man"). However, to emphasize the possessor, the possessor may be preposed and followed by a third-person personal pronoun which agrees with the gender and number of the possessed, as in mannin hiras kúi ("the man's cow").
Erish has a number of other determiners, but the most important are alls ("all"), beiðs ("both"), hvilk ("which"), ingis ("no, none"), sums ("some"), and slík ("such"). Hvilk commonly replaces deis as a relative pronoun in Bayland dialects.
Numerals
Erish has a number system similar to English, though there are some differences:
- Instead of a comma seperating every three spaces, Erish uses a space. Along these lines, numbers which are in a set of three digits, like elftig-túsund tveis-hundrad-syftig-seks (110 276), are written with dashes between them.
- Erish has remnants of the old Germanic hybrid of base-ten and base-twelve numbers.
- Instead of having a number like *(eit-)hundrad-einn ("one hundred one") or *(eit-)hundrad-syftin ("one hundred seventeen"), Erish has títtig-eis ("tenty-one") and elftig-syv ("eleventy-seven").
- After one hundred and twenty, however, Erish turns into the full base-ten (ett-)hundrad-tveitig-eis ("one hundred twenty one") or tre-hundrad-fýrtig-tre ("three hundred forty three").
- Any time the numbering system "restarts" after a túsund ("thousand"), miljon ("million"), etc., the títtig and elftig are used for 100-109 and 110-119 respectively, meaning títtig-túsund or elftig-miljon.
- For numbers between 120-199, 1 000-1 999, 120 000-199 999, etc., where English could have "a hundred", "a thousand", etc., eis is used according to the indefinite-specific distinction.
- The number eis "one", which is identical to the specific article, inflects for the gender of numbers like hundrad ("hundred"), túsund ("thousand"), miljon ("million"), and so on. Hundrad and túsund are neuter and feminine, whilst miljon and higher are all masculine.
- The numbers tveis ("two") and tres ("three") also inflect for gender. Tveis is used for masculine and feminine plurals, whilst tú is used for neuter plurals. Tres is used for masculine and feminine plurals, whilst tre is used for neuter plurals.
- For the numbers miljon and higher, any time they are not able to be preceded by eis, such as 2 100 000 or 323 000 000, the number receives an -ar plural.
- The ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) inflect for gender and number. Like eis, these inflections occur whenever a number ends in them (tveitig-annar "twenty-second (f.)"):
- fyrst ("first") and annars ("second") use both the strong and weak adjective endings (according to the rules for their use). In the oblique cases and weak declension, annars, which has a stem of annar-, changes to the stem andr-.
- núlldi ("zeroth"), treddi ("third") and higher only inflect using the weak adjective endings.
| Number | Cardinal numbers | Ordinal numbers |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | núll | núlldi |
| 1 | eis | fyrst |
| 2 | tveis | annars |
| 3 | tres | treddi |
| 4 | fýr | fjórði |
| 5 | fimm | fimmti |
| 6 | seks | seksti |
| 7 | syv | syvundi |
| 8 | átt | átti |
| 9 | ní | níundi |
| 10 | tí | tíundi |
| 11 | elf | elfti |
| 12 | tolv | tolfti |
| 13 | trettin | trettindi |
| 14 | fjórtin | fjórtindi |
| 15 | fimmtin | fimmtindi |
| 16 | sekstin | sekstindi |
| 17 | syftin | syftindi |
| 18 | attin | attindi |
| 19 | nittin | nittindi |
| 20 | tveitig | tveitig |
| 21 | tveitig-eis | tveitig-fyrst |
| 22 | tveitig-tveis | tveitig-annars |
| 23 | tveitig-tres | tveitig-treddi |
| 30 | trettig | trettigundi |
| 40 | fýrtig | fýrtigundi |
| 50 | fimmtig | fimmtigundi |
| 60 | sekstig | sekstigundi |
| 70 | syftij | syftigundi |
| 80 | áttig | áttigundi |
| 90 | níttig | níttigundi |
| 100 | títtig | títtigundi |
| 110 | elftig | elftigundi |
| 120 | (eit-)hundrad-tveitig | (eit-)hundrad-tveitigundi |
| 200 | tvei-hundrad | tvei-hundradi |
| 300 | tre-hundrad | tre-hundradi |
| 1,000 | (ei-)túsund | (ei-)túsundi |
| 1,101 | (ei-)túsund títtig-eis | (ei-)túsund títtig-fyrst |
| 2,222 | tveis-túsund tvei-hundrad-tveitig-tveis | tveis-túsund tvei-hundrad-tveitig-annars |
| 3,333 | tres-túsund tre-hundrad-trettig-tres | tre-túsund tre-hundrad-trettig-treddi |
| 100,000 | títtig-túsund | títtig-túsundi |
| 120,000 | (eit-)hundrad-tveitig-túsund | (eit-)hundrad-tveitig-túsundi |
| 1,000,000 | (eis-)miljon | (eis-)miljondi |
| 100,000,000 | títtig-miljonar | títtig-miljondi |
| 1,000,000,000 | (eis-)miljard | (eis-)miljardi |
Though the títtig and elftig system is mandatory in the written language, most non-Eastern dialects freely interchange it with a completely decimal system like English, i.e., (eit-)hundrad ("(one) hundred"). The partially duodecimal system is perceived as more formal than pure decimal. Despite the relatively complex system of inflection involved with numerals, the inflection for gender and number is essentially linked to what genders are distinct in a particular number in a dialect. The only meaningful exception is that ordinal numbers other than fyrst and annars are mostly uninflected in common speech, using the -i ending regardless of the noun.
Verbs
Erish verbs are similar to those found in Nordic languages, mainly differing in the general absence of the past tense, and the retention of conjugation for number and, to a lesser extent, person. Regular verbs conjugate for two numbers (singular, plural), three moods (indicative, subjunctive, imperative), and two voices (active, mediopassive). There are two major conjugation classes of Erish verbs, the -u and -a classes. Additional verbal grammar, such as further tenses or voices, is formed through analytic constructions which most often involve the verbs vera ("to be"), häbba ("to have"), or blíva ("to become").
Conjugation
Erish conjugation is most similar to the analytic Nordic languages, essentially only differing in the general absence of a conjugated past tense and mediopassive, and the presence of conjugation for number and, to a lesser extent, person. Most verbs are fairly regular, having a simple infinitive root to which regular suffixes are attached. Generally speaking, the distinction between strong and weak verbs is not as present in Erish due to most verbs lacking a past tense, but there are several remnants of both classes which do preserve one, including irregular verbs like vera ("to be"), bliva ("to become"), and gjera ("to do").
Regular verbs
Most Erish verbs fall into a regular conjugation paradigm, formed through the merger of weak verbs and several classes of strong verbs. These regular verbs merely conjugate through suffixation, and lack a conjugated past tense. The verb fiska ("to fish") demonstrates how most Erish verbs work:
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"to write" |
|---|---|---|---|
| INF | fiska | ||
| PTCP | PRS | fiskandi | |
| PST | fiskas | ||
| AUX | häbba | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | fiski |
| 2SG | fiskart | ||
| 3SG | fiskar | ||
| PL | fiska | ||
| IMP | SG | fisk | |
| PL | fiskið | ||
The past participle inflects as a strong adjective, with the supine being identical to the neuter singular. The present participle of any Erish verb inflects as a weak adjective in all contexts.
| Number | Case | -andi "-ing" | -as "-ed" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F | N | M | F | N | ||
| SG | NOM | fiskandi mann | fiskanda kvinna | fiskanda ting | fiskas mann | fiska kvinna | fiskat barn |
| OBL | fiskan mann | fiskan kvinna | |||||
| PL | NOM | fiskandu männ | fiskandu kvinnur | fiskandu ting | fiskas männ | fiskas kvinnur | fiska bårn |
| OBL | fiskan männ | fiskan kvinnur | |||||
Students of Erish are generally taught to memorize three principle parts of a verb, which provide all needed information about conjugation:
- The infinitive, which usually provides the stem for the first-person singular, the plural, the imperative singular, and the present participle.
- The third-person singular, which provides the stem for the second-person singular and the imperative plural.
- The auxiliary verb plus supine (neuter past participle), which provides the information for both.
For fiska, these three parts are all identical, but this is not necessarily the case for all verbs.
Strong verbs
Strong verbs are verbs which conjugate through a combination of suffixation and vowel change, such as seen in English sing-sang-sung. Because most of these verbs have lost the past tense, and the third-person singular and past participle of several strong verb conjugations uses the same stem as the infinitive, many have a regular conjugation paradigm. Nonetheless, there are still some examples of strong verbs left in Erish which lack a past tense, but still have some conjugation involving vowel changes. The following table provides examples of the sorts of conjugation which can occur:
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"cleave" | "find" | "help" | "shear" | "shave" | "wash" | "sacrifice" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF | klýva | finna | hjelpa | skjera | skava | vaska | blóta | ||
| PTCP | PRS | klývandi | finnandi | hjelpandi | skjerandi | skavandi | vaskandi | blótandi | |
| PST | klovas | fundas | holpas | skoras | skavas | vaskas | blótas | ||
| AUX | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | klývi | finni | hjelpi | skjeri | skavi | vaski | blóti |
| 2SG | klývart | finnart | hjelpart | skjerart | skjävart | väskart | bløtart | ||
| 3SG | klývar | finnar | hjelpar | skjerar | skjävar | väskar | bløtar | ||
| PL | klýva | finna | hjelpa | skjera | skava | vaska | blóta | ||
| IMP | SG | klýv | finn | hjelp | skjer | skav | vask | blót | |
| PL | klývið | finnið | hjelpið | skjerið | skjävið | vaskið | bløtið | ||
In terms of diachronics, the loss of the past tense has essentially meant that the Germanic class I, class V, and some class VII verbs are mostly absent in modern Erish. The only instances where they can still be found are in strong verbs which still have a past tense.
Strong verbs with a past tense
Several commonly used strong verbs retain a conjugated past tense, albeit with the syncretism of the past singular and plural stems, generally following that of the past singular. The following list provides examples of strong verbs with it in the standard language, though further examples can be found in dialects.
There is only a single remaining class I strong verb with a past tense.
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"bite" |
|---|---|---|---|
| INF | bíta | ||
| PTCP | PRS | bítandi | |
| PST | bítas | ||
| AUX | häbba | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | bíti |
| 2SG | bítart | ||
| 3SG | bítar | ||
| PL | bíta | ||
| PST | 1SG | beit | |
| 2SG | beitirt | ||
| 3SG | beit | ||
| PL | beitu | ||
| IMP | SG | bít | |
| PL | bítið | ||
There are two class II strong verbs with past tenses.
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"fly" | "suck" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF | flýga | súga | ||
| PTCP | PRS | flýgandi | súgandi | |
| PST | flogas | sogas | ||
| AUX | vera | häbba | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | flýgi | súgi |
| 2SG | flýgart | sýgart | ||
| 3SG | flýgar | sýgar | ||
| PL | flýga | súga | ||
| PST | 1SG | floug | soug | |
| 2SG | flougirt | sougirt | ||
| 3SG | floug | soug | ||
| PL | flougu | sougu | ||
| IMP | SG | flýg | súg | |
| PL | flýgið | sýgið | ||
There are six 'class III strong verbs with past tenses.
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"bind" | "burn" | "drink" | "flow" | "spring" | "swim" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF | binda | brinna | drikka | rinna | springa | svimma | ||
| PTCP | PRS | bindandi | brinnandi | drikkandi | rinnandi | springandi | svimmandi | |
| PST | bundas | brunnas | drukkas | rinnas | sprungas | svummas | ||
| AUX | häbba | häbba | häbba | vera | vera | vera | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | bindi | brinni | drikki | rinni | springi | svimmi |
| 2SG | bindart | brinnart | drikkart | rinnart | springart | svimmart | ||
| 3SG | bindar | brinnar | drikkar | rinnar | springar | svimmar | ||
| PL | binda | brinna | drikka | rinna | springa | svimma | ||
| PST | 1SG | band | brann | drakk | rann | sprakk | svamm | |
| 2SG | bandirt | brannirt | drakkirt | rannirt | sprakkirt | svammirt | ||
| 3SG | band | brann | drakk | rann | sprakk | svamm | ||
| PL | bandu | brannu | drakku | rannu | sprakku | svammu | ||
| IMP | SG | bind | brinn | drikk | rinn | spring | svimm | |
| PL | bindið | brinnið | drikkið | rinnið | springið | svimmið | ||
There are three class IV strong verbs with past tenses. The verb sova ("to sleep"), was originally a class V verb, but has been partially analogized with koma ("to come").
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"bear" | "come" | "sleep" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF | bera | koma | sova | ||
| PTCP | PRS | berandi | komandi | sovandi | |
| PST | boras | komas | sovas | ||
| AUX | häbba | vera | häbba | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | beri | komi | sovi |
| 2SG | berart | kjemart | søvart | ||
| 3SG | berar | kjemar | søvar | ||
| PL | bera | koma | sova | ||
| PST | 1SG | bar | kom | sov | |
| 2SG | barirt | komirt | sovirt | ||
| 3SG | bar | kom | sov | ||
| PL | baru | komu | sovu | ||
| IMP | SG | ber | kom | sov | |
| PL | berið | kjemið | søvið | ||
There are six class V strong verbs with past tenses. The verbs ligga ("to lie (upon)") and sitta ("to sit") are amongst the evidence of Erish's West Germanic origins, as they display the effects of West Germanic gemination.
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"kill" | "eat" | "give" | "lie" | "sit" | "see" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF | drepa | eta | gjeva | ligga | sitta | sjá | ||
| PTCP | PRS | drepandi | etandi | gjevandi | liggandi | sittandi | sjándi | |
| PST | drepas | etas | gjevas | legas | setas | ses | ||
| AUX | häbba | häbba | häbba | vera | vera | häbba | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | drepi | eti | gjevi | liggi | sitti | sjá |
| 2SG | drepart | etart | gjevart | ligart | sitart | sert | ||
| 3SG | drepar | etar | gjevar | ligar | sitar | ser | ||
| PL | drepa | eta | gjeva | ligga | sitta | sjá | ||
| PST | 1SG | drap | át | gav | lág | sat | ság | |
| 2SG | drapirt | átirt | gavirt | lágirt | satirt | ságirt | ||
| 3SG | drap | át | gav | lág | sat | ság | ||
| PL | drapu | átu | gavu | lágu | satu | ságu | ||
| IMP | SG | drep | et | gjev | lig | sit | se | |
| PL | drepið | etið | gjevið | ligið | sitið | seð | ||
There are six class VI strong verbs with past tenses. Døy was originally a class VII verb, but was remodelled in Old Erish as a class VI verb. Läkkja ("to laugh") displays the effects of West Germanic gemination.
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"pull" | "die" | "laugh" | "crush" | "slay" | "take" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF | draga | døy | läkkja | mala | slá | taka | ||
| PTCP | PRS | dragandi | døyndi | läkkjandi | malandi | slándi | takandi | |
| PST | dragas | dás | lagas | malas | slagas | takas | ||
| AUX | häbba | vera | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | dragi | døy | läkkji | mali | slá | taki |
| 2SG | drägart | døyrt | lärt | mälart | slärt | täkart | ||
| 3SG | drägar | døyr | lär | mälar | slär | täkar | ||
| PL | draga | døy | läkkja | mala | slá | taka | ||
| PST | 1SG | dróg | dó | lóg | mól | slóg | tók | |
| 2SG | drógirt | dórt | lógirt | mólirt | slógirt | tókirt | ||
| 3SG | dróg | dó | lóg | mól | slóg | tók | ||
| PL | drógu | dó | lógu | mólu | slógu | tóku | ||
| IMP | SG | drag | døy | lä | mal | slá | tak | |
| PL | drägið | døyð | läð | mälið | släð | täkið | ||
There are five class VII strong verbs with past tenses.
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"blow" | "get" | "weep" | "run" | "let" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF | blása | fá | gráta | loupa | láta | ||
| PTCP | PRS | blásandi | fándi | grátandi | loupandi | látandi | |
| PST | blásas | fangas | grátas | loupas | látas | ||
| AUX | häbba | häbba | häbba | vera | häbba | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | blási | fá | gráti | loupi | láti |
| 2SG | bläsart | färt | grätart | løypart | lätart | ||
| 3SG | bläsar | fär | grätar | løypar | lätar | ||
| PL | blása | fá | gráta | loupa | láta | ||
| PST | 1SG | bles | fekk | gret | lóp | let | |
| 2SG | blesirt | fekkirt | gretirt | lópirt | letirt | ||
| 3SG | bles | fekk | gret | lóp | let | ||
| PL | blesu | fekku | gretu | lópu | letu | ||
| IMP | SG | blás | fá | grát | loup | lát | |
| PL | bläsið | fäð | grätið | løypið | lätið | ||
kjänna verbs
The kjänna ("to know") verbs are a class of verbs which retain a conjugated past tense that is formed through suffixation, similar to how weak verbs work in other Germanic languages. However, these are considered irregular in Erish grammar because of the past tense, though there are a few irregular kjänna verbs.
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"kill" | "hear" | "buy" | "know (a person)" | "lay" | "let" | "name" | "run" | "set" | "pull" | "strive" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF | døyda | høyra | kjøypa | kjänna | lägga | løyva | nävna | ränna | sätta | träkka | yrkja | ||
| PTCP | PRS | døydandi | høyrandi | kjøypandi | kjännandi | läggandi | løyvandi | nävnandi | rännandi | sättandi | träkkandi | yrkjandi | |
| PST | døydd | høyrd | kjøypt | kjänd | lägd | løyvd | nävnd | ränd | sätt | träkt | yrkt | ||
| AUX | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | døydi | høyri | kjøypi | kjänni | läggi | løyvi | nävni | ränni | sätti | träkki | yrkji |
| 2SG | døydirt | høyrirt | kjøypirt | kjännirt | lägirt | løyvirt | nävnirt | rännirt | sätirt | träkirt | yrkirt | ||
| 3SG | døydir | høyrir | kjøypir | kjännir | lägir | løyvir | nävnir | rännir | sätir | träkir | yrkir | ||
| PL | døyda | høyra | kjøypa | kjänna | lägga | løyva | nävna | ränna | sätta | träkka | yrkja | ||
| PST | 1SG | døyddi | høyrdi | kjøypti | kjändi | lägdi | løyvdi | nävndi | rändi | sätti | träkti | yrkti | |
| 2SG | døyddirt | høyrdirt | kjøyptirt | kjändirt | lägdirt | løyvdirt | nävndirt | rändirt | sättirt | träktirt | yrktirt | ||
| 3SG | døyddi | høyrdi | kjøypti | kjändi | lägdi | løyvdi | nävndi | rändi | sätti | träkti | yrkti | ||
| PL | døyddu | høyrdu | kjøyptu | kjändu | lägdu | løyvdu | nävndu | rändu | sättu | träktu | yrktu | ||
| IMP | SG | døyd | høyr | kjøyp | kjänn | läg | løyv | nävn | ränn | sät | träk | yrk | |
| PL | døydið | høyrið | kjøypið | kjännið | lägið | løyvið | nävnið | rännið | sätið | träkið | yrkið | ||
täkkja verbs
The täkkja ("to think") verbs are another class of irregular verbs which correspond to the weak verbs of other Germanic languages. Unlike the kjänna verbs, however, the täkkja verbs have past tenses which involve stem change.
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"seek" | "think" | "seem" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF | søkkja | täkkja | tykkja | ||
| PTCP | PRS | søkkjandi | täkkjandi | tykkjandi | |
| PST | sótt | tátt | tútt | ||
| AUX | häbba | häbba | häbba | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | søkkji | täkkji | tykkji |
| 2SG | søkirt | täkkirt | tykkirt | ||
| 3SG | søkir | täkkir | tykkir | ||
| PL | søkkja | täkkja | tykkja | ||
| PST | 1SG | sótti | tátti | tútti | |
| 2SG | sóttirt | táttirt | túttirt | ||
| 3SG | sótti | tátti | tútti | ||
| PL | sóttu | táttu | túttu | ||
| IMP | SG | søk | täkk | tykk | |
| PL | søkið | täkkið | tykkið | ||
häbba verbs
The häbba verbs are a group of four irregular verbs which share similar conjugation patterns.
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"have" | "live" | "say" | "be silent" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF | häbba | libba | sägga | tägga | ||
| PTCP | PRS | häbbandi | libbandi | säggandi | täggandi | |
| PST | havd | livd | sagd | tagd | ||
| AUX | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | häbbi | libbi | säggi | täggi |
| 2SG | havirt | livirt | sagirt | tagirt | ||
| 3SG | havir | livir | sagir | tagir | ||
| PL | häbba | libba | sägga | tägga | ||
| PST | 1SG | havdi | livdi | sagdi | tagdi | |
| 2SG | havdirt | livdirt | sagdirt | tagdirt | ||
| 3SG | havdi | livdi | sagdi | tagdi | ||
| PL | havdu | livdu | sagdu | tagdu | ||
| IMP | SG | hav | liv | sag | tag | |
| PL | havið | livið | sagið | tagið | ||
Preterite-present verbs
The preterite-present verbs use an irregular conjugation that mixes both suffixation and stem change in order to conjugate. They all retain a distinct past tense.
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"own" | "can, be able to" |
"may, be possible to" |
"must, have to" |
"should, ought to" |
"may, be allowed to" |
"want to, wish to" |
"know" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF | eiga | kunna | maga | móta | skola | torva | villa | vita | ||
| PTCP | PRS | eigandi | kunnandi | magandi | mótandi | skolandi | torvandi | villandi | vitandi | |
| PST | áttas | kundas | máttas | móstas | skoldas | torftas | vildas | vistas | ||
| AUX | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | häbba | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | á | kann | má | mót | skal | torv | vill | veit |
| 2SG | átt | kant | mátt | móst | skalt | torft | vilt | veist | ||
| 3SG | á | kann | má | mót | skal | torv | vill | veit | ||
| PL | eiga | kunna | maga | móta | skola | torva | villa | vita | ||
| PST | 1SG | átti | kundi | mátti | mósti | skoldi | torfti | vildi | visti | |
| 2SG | áttirt | kundirt | máttirt | móstirt | skoldirt | torftirt | vildirt | vistirt | ||
| 3SG | átti | kundi | mátti | mósti | skoldi | torfti | vildi | visti | ||
| PL | áttu | kundu | máttu | móstu | skoldu | torftu | vildu | vistu | ||
| IMP | SG | eig | ― | ― | ― | ― | ― | ― | vit | |
| PL | eigið | ― | ― | ― | ― | ― | ― | vitið | ||
Irregular verbs
There are five verbs which are classified as completely irregular in Erish, but they are nonetheless "regular" Erish verbs by virtue of lacking the future tense of vera ("to be").
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"become" | "bring" | "go" | "do" | "stand" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF | blíva | bringa | gá | gjera | stá | ||
| PTCP | PRS | blívandi | bringandi | gándi | gjerandi | stándi | |
| PST | voras | brátt | gás | gjørd | stá | ||
| AUX | vera | häbba | vera | häbba | vera | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | blívi | bringi | gá | gjeri | stá |
| 2SG | blívart | bringart | geirt | gjerart | steirt | ||
| 3SG | blívar | bringar | geir | gjerar | steir | ||
| PL | blíva | bringa | gá | gjera | stá | ||
| PST | 1SG | varð | brátti | gekk | gjørdi | stód | |
| 2SG | varðirt | bráttirt | gekkirt | gjørdirt | stódirt | ||
| 3SG | varð | brátti | gekk | gjørdi | stód | ||
| PL | varðu | bráttu | gekku | gjørdu | stódu | ||
| IMP | SG | blív | bring | gá | gjer | stá | |
| PL | blívið | bringið | geið | gjerið | steið | ||
vera "to be"
Similar to many other languages, the verb vera ("to be") is the most irregular verb in the Erish language. It is a highly suppletive verb with three different (and irregular) roots, and is the only Erish verb with a conjugated future tense.
| Mood | Tense | Person, Number |
"be" |
|---|---|---|---|
| INF | vera | ||
| PTCP | PRS | verandi | |
| PST | veras | ||
| AUX | vera | ||
| IND | PRS | 1SG | em |
| 2SG | ert | ||
| 3SG | er | ||
| PL | eru | ||
| PST | 1SG | vas | |
| 2SG | várt | ||
| 3SG | vas | ||
| PL | váru | ||
| FUT | 1SG | bin | |
| 2SG | birt | ||
| 3SG | bir | ||
| PL | bi | ||
| IMP | SG | ver | |
| PL | verið | ||
Verbal constructions
Due to the relatively minimal verbal morphology of Erish, the language relies on a number of analytic constructions to form additional tenses, voices, and so on. The most important of these are the future tense, the perfect tense, and the passive voice.
The future tense can be formed with the present tense, oftentimes with an accompanying adverb. In the sentence Ig gá dár í morgin ("I go there tomorrow"), the adverbial phrase í morgin ("tomorrow") indicates that the action takes place in the future. Another strategy Erish uses is to use the future tense of vera followed by an infinitive, such as Ig bin gá dár ("I will go there"). The future tense in Erish is also used to indicate gnomic aspect, or a general truth; oftentimes, when the gnomic aspect is used, the subject will be in the indefinite state. An example of the gnomic is found in Barn bi leika ("Children play"), which is a generic statement about something children do. The vera future is less commonly used in Bayland dialects, typically being more reserved for the gnomic aspect.
The past tense is formed analytically for most Erish verbs, through the use of the past tense of gjera ("to do") and the infinitive, as seen in the sentence Úlvas gjørdu jaga fär ("The wolves hunted sheep"). The specific use of do-support in this context is thought to have arisen through Celtic influence, Anglic influence, or some mixture of the two, as Germanic languages which have lost a conjugated past tense typically merge it with the perfect. That past-perfect merger is the case in the regular spoken language of non-Western dialects.
The perfect tense ("to have done") is generally formed with the verb häbba plus strong neuter past participle, as in the sentence Ig häbbi holpat him ("I have helped him"). However, verbs of change or motion may instead form the perfect through the construction vera plus strong neuter past participle, such as in the sentence Dú ert gátt her ("You have gone here"). The pluperfect ("had done") is formed through using the past tense of häbba or vera, whilst the future perfect is formed either with the present tense or the future tense of vera plus the infinitive of häbba or vera plus strong neuter past participle.
The passive ("is done") can be formed through several different strategies. The vera plus past participle construction, seen in Mätis vas kokas ("The food was cooked"), corresponds to the typical Anglish passive in its construction, but is only used when the action being described has been completed. When an action was ongoing, though not necessarily at the moment being described, the construction blíva plus past participle is used, resulting in Mätis varð kokas ("The food was being cooked"). Both of these constructions require the past participle to be properly inflected for the gender and number of the subject. When an action was ongoing at the moment being described, the construction blíva plus present participle is used, resulting in Mätis varð kokandi ("The food was being cooked (then)"). Finally, if one wants to use a different subject than the typical passive subject, the construction fá ("to get") plus past participle is used, making Hin fekk mätis kokas ("He got the food cooked").