Emnian verbs

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In Emnian, verbs take the form of derived stems, and are conjugated to reflect their tense and mood, as well as to agree with their subjects in gender, number, and person. Each verb has an inherent voice, though a verb in one voice typically has counterparts in other voices. This article deals primarily with modern Emnian but the information shown here applies to some extent to Middle Emnian as well.

Verb classification

Roots

Verbs in Emnian, like nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, are formed and declined by altering a two- to five- (but usually three-) letter stem. Vowels are added between these consonants in a pattern to form a related meaning between different roots. For instance, somháir "he kept" and cotháibh both have the same CoC(h)áiC(h) pattern to indicate the third person singular past tense.

Emnian verbs can be further divided into strong verbs (wholly regular verbs), weak verbs (verbs with predictable irregularities), and irregular verbs (wholly irregular verbs).

There are three common types of weak verbs: guttural (containing ʾ, Ḥ, or ʿ in any position, H in any position except final, or R as second radical in the historic root), hollow (containing W or Y anywhere, or H as the final radical in the historic root), or repeating (ending with two of the same radical).

Historic radicals and their modern orthographic representations
Root Initial Medial Final
ʾ
(glottal stop)

(deletion)
gh
b b
g g
d d
h th
(deletion)
w mh
z dh
ch
t
y
(deletion)
dh
k c
l l
m m
n n
s s
ʿ
(pharyngeal fricative)

(deletion)
gh
p p
f
s
q c
ś s
š
t t

Note that c and t are resistant to lenition when derived from historic roots q and .

Guttural weak roots

Guttural roots contain a historic guttural (ʾ, Ḥ, or ʿ in any position, H in any position except final, or R as second radical). The observable effect of this is "broadening" — i.e. the replacement of a slender environnment with a broad one when a guttural consonant occurs as the final radical.

Hollow weak roots

Roots containing a historic W or Y, as well as roots with a final historic H are known as hollow roots.

Repeating weak roots

Roots containing two of the same letter are considered repeating roots. In some nonstandard dialects, roots with an initial N also behave as repeating roots.

Stems

Emnian verbs are inflected according to specific patterns called Conjugations. There are seven basic conjugations as well as some irregular verbs coming from otherwise obsolete conjugations.

Regular conjugation

Infinitive

Infinitive patterns
Stem
Conjugation I
Strong l'o12ó3
Conjugation II
Strong l'oi1i22éi3
guttural 3 l'oi1i22éa3
Conjugation III
Strong l'ai12í3
guttural 3 l'ai12ío3
Conjugation IV
Strong l'oith1i22éi3
guttural 3 l'oith1i22éagh
Conjugation V
Strong l'u12ái3
guttural 3 l'u12á3
Conjugation VI
Strong l'o1u22ái3
guttural 3 l'o1u22á3
Conjugation VII
Strong l'oi11i2éi3
guttural 3 l'oi11i2éa3

Prefix conjugation (Nonpast Tense)

Nonpast tense patterns
Stem Suffix y/n
No Yes
Conjugation I
Strong -12ió3 -12ió3-
Conjugation II
Strong -1ai22éi3 -1ái223-
guttural 3 -1ai22éa3 -1á223-
Conjugation III
Strong -12í3 -12í3-
guttural 3 -12ío3 -12ío3-
Conjugation IV
Strong -th1i22éi3 -th1iái223-
guttural 3 -th1i22éa3 -th1iá223-
Conjugation V
Strong -12ái3 -12ái3-
guttural 3 -12á3 -12á3-
Conjugation VI
Strong -1u22ái3 -1ú223-
guttural 3 -1u22á3 -1ú223-
Conjugation VII
Strong -11i2éi3 -11iái23-
guttural 3 -11i2éa3 -11iá23-

Suffix conjugation (Past Tense)

A verb in the past tense agrees with its subject in person, number, and, in the second person and third person singular, gender.

Conjugation in the past tense is done by adding a suffix to a Conjugation-specific root. For example:

  • somháir "kept" + -t (1st person singular suffix) = somháirt "I kept"
  • somháir "kept" + -e, -a (3rd person singular feminine suffix) = sóimhre "she kept"

Below are the suffixes used with the past tense. Note that some suffixes have two possible forms, depending on whether the ending of the root is slender or broad.

Past tense subject suffixes
Person Singular Plural
Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine
1st person -t -ne, -na
2nd person -te, -ta -t -ten, -tan
3rd person no suffix -e, -a -eamh, -amh
Past tense patterns
Stem Suffix
None Vowel Consonant
Conjugation I
Strong 1o2ái3 1ói23- 1o2ái3-
Guttural 3 1o2á3 1ó23- 1o2á3-
Conjugation II
Strong 1oi22éi3 1oí223- 1oi22éi3-
Guttural 3 1oi22éa3 1oío223- 1oi22éa3-
Conjugation III
Strong i12í3 i12í3- i12í3-
Guttural 3 i12ío3 i12ío3- i12ío3-
Conjugation IV
Strong oith1i22éi3 oith1iái223- oith1i22éi3-
Guttural 3 oith1i22éa3 oith1iá223- oith1i22éa3-
Conjugation V
Strong u12ái3 u12ái3- u12ái3-
Guttural 3 u12á3 u12á3- u12á3-
Conjugation VI
Strong 1u22ái3 1uái223- 1u22ái3-
Guttural 3 1u22á3 1uá223- 1u22á3-
Conjugation VII
Strong noi12iá3 noi12éi3- noi12iá3-
Guttural 3 noi12iá3 noi12éa3- noi12iá3-

Present participle

The present participle agrees with its subject in gender and number, as it is grammatically an adjective. In written Emnian, the present participle can be combined with a copular formula to form a periphrastic present progressive tense. For example:

  • Is cothaibhe thaoi. — "She is writing."

This type of sentence structure is not common in spoken Emnian.

Present participle patterns
Root Type Singular Plural
Masculine
(no suffix)
Feminine
-e / -a
Masculine
-imh / -aimh
Feminine
-eoth / -aoth
Conjugation I
Strong 1o2ai3 1o2ai3e 1oi23imh 1oi23eoth
guttural 3 1o2a3 1o2a3a 1o23aimh 1o23aoth
Conjugation II
Strong ma1ai22ei3 ma1ai22ei3e ma1ai22ei3imh ma1ai22ei3eoth
guttural 3 ma1ai22ea3 ma1ai22ea3a ma1ai22ea3aimh ma1ai22ea3aoth
Conjugation III
Strong mai12í3 mai12í3e mai12í3imh mai12í3eoth
guttural 3 mai12ío3 mai12ío3a mai12ío3aimh mai12ío3aoth
Conjugation IV
Strong moith1i22ei3 moith1i22ei3e moith1i22ei3imh moith1i22ei3eoth
guttural 3 moith1i22ea3 moith1i22ea3a moith1i22ea3aimh moith1i22ea3aoth
Conjugation V
Strong mu12ái3 mu12ái3e mu12ái3imh mu12ái3eoth
guttural 3 mu12á3 mu12á3a mu12á3aimh mu12á3aoth
Conjugation VI
Strong ma1u22ai3 ma1u22ai3e ma1u22ai3imh ma1u22ai3eoth
guttural 3 ma1u22a3 ma1u22a3a ma1u22a3aimh ma1u22a3aoth
Conjugation VII
Strong noi12ia3 noi12ia3a noi12ia3aimh noi12ia3aoth

Past participle

Past participles are formed according to the tables shown below. Grammatically, the past participle is an adjective and is inflected for gender and number. Conjugations IV-VII lack past participles. Conjugation I verbs that have a corresponding Conjugation VII verb use the Conjugation I past participle and the Conjugation VII nonpast to indicate different states of completion.

The Conjugation I past participle indicates a completed action:

  • Is cathuibhimh them an seapharaimh. — "The books are written."

The Conjugation VII nonpast, on the other hand, indicates that the action is still being done.

  • Oiciáithbe an seapharaimh. — "The books are (being) written."
Present participle patterns
Root Type Singular Plural
Masculine
(no suffix)
Feminine
-e / -a
Masculine
-imh / -aimh
Feminine
-eoth / -aoth
Conjugation I
Strong 1a2ui3 1a2ui3e 1a2ui3imh 1a2ui3eoth
guttural 3 1a2u3 1a2u3a 1a2u3aimh 1a2u3aoth
Conjugation II
Strong mo1u22ai3 mo1u22ai3e mo1u22ai3imh mo1u22ai3eoth
guttural 3 mo1u22a3 mo1u22a3a mo1u22a3aimh mo1u22a3aoth
Conjugation III
Strong mu12ái3 mu12ái3e mu12ái3imh mu12ái3eoth
guttural 3 mu12á3 mu12á3a mu12á3aimh mu12á3aoth
Conjugation IV
Strong N/A
Conjugation V
Strong N/A
Conjugation VI
Strong N/A
Conjugation VII
Strong N/A

Imperative

Imperatives are only used in affirmative commands. Negative commands use the particle aell followed by the corresponding prefix conjugation form.

Nonpast tense patterns
Stem singular plural
Conjugation I
Strong u12ói3 u12ói3inn
guttural 3 u12ó3 u12ó3ann
Conjugation II
Strong 1a22ae3 1a22ae3ann
Conjugation III
Strong ai12éi3 ai12éi3inn
guttural 3 ai12éa3 ai12éa3ann
Conjugation IV
Strong oith1i22ei3 oith1i22ei3inn
guttural 3 oith1i22ea3 oith1i22ea3ann
Conjugation V
Strong NA
Conjugation VI
Strong NA
Conjugation VII
Strong oi11e2éi3 oi11e2éi3inn
guttural 3 oi11e2éa3 oi11e2éa3ann

Action noun

Nonpast tense patterns
Stem singular plural
Conjugation I
Strong i12io3a i12io3aoth
Conjugation II
Strong 1i22iu3 1i22iu3aimh
Conjugation III
Strong a12a3a a12a3aoth
Conjugation IV
Strong oith1ia223a oith1ia223aimh
Conjugation V
Strong NA
Conjugation VI
Strong NA
Conjugation VII
Strong oi11ea23a oi11ea23aoth

Auxiliary verbs

Irregular verbs

See also