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 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 effect of this is "broadening" — i.e. the replacement of a slender environnment with a broad one.

Stems

Regular conjugation

Infinitive

Infinitive patterns
Stem
Conjugation I
Strong l'o12ó3
Conjugation II
Strong l'oi1i22éi3
Conjugation III
Strong l'ai12í3
Conjugation IV
Strong l'oith1i22éi3
Conjugation V
Strong l'u12ái3
Conjugation VI
Strong l'o1u22ái3
Conjugation VII
Strong l'oi11i2éi3

Prefix conjugation (Nonpast Tense)

Nonpast tense patterns
Stem Suffix y/n
No Yes
Conjugation I
Strong -12ió3 -12ió3-
Conjugation II
Strong -1ai22éi3 -1ái223-
Conjugation III
Strong -12í3 -12í3-
Conjugation IV
Strong -th1i22éi3 -th1iái223-
Conjugation V
Strong -12ái3 -12ái3-
Conjugation VI
Strong -1u22ái3 -1ú223-
Conjugation VII
Strong -11i2éi3 -11iái23-

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-
Conjugation II
Strong 1oi22éi3 1oí223- 1oi22éi3-
Conjugation III
Strong i12í3 i12í3- i12í3-
Conjugation IV
Strong oith1i22éi3 oith1iái223- oith1i22éi3-
Conjugation V
Strong u12ái3 u12ái3- u12ái3-
Conjugation VI
Strong 1u22ái3 1uái223- 1u22ái3-
Conjugation VII
Strong noi12iá3 noi12éi3- 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
Conjugation II
Strong ma1ai22ei3 ma1ai22ei3e ma1ai22ei3imh ma1ai22ei3eoth
Conjugation III
Strong mai12í3 mai12í3e mai12í3imh mai12í3eoth
Conjugation IV
Strong moith1i22ei3 moith1i22ei3e moith1i22ei3imh moith1i22ei3eoth
Conjugation V
Strong mu12ái3 mu12ái3e mu12ái3imh mu12ái3eoth
Conjugation VI
Strong ma1u22ai3 ma1u22ai3e ma1u22ai3imh ma1u22ai3eoth
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
Conjugation II
Strong mo1u22ai3 mo1u22ai3e mo1u22ai3imh mo1u22ai3eoth
Conjugation III
Strong mu12ái3 mu12ái3e mu12ái3imh mu12ái3eoth
Conjugation IV
Strong N/A
Conjugation V
Strong N/A
Conjugation VI
Strong N/A
Conjugation VII
Strong N/A

Imperative

Action noun

Auxiliary verbs

Irregular verbs

See also