Stonebreaker Language/Grammar/Verbs

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Verbs

Verbs are fairly straightforward in Stonebreaker. The spoken language is generally confined to the present, past historic and simple future tense, also the conditional voice. These are constructed in a regular way and there are very few irregular verbs (notably Einna - to be and Oona - to have).

Infinitive

The infinitive of the verb is easily recognized in Stonebreaker as almost all end in –na. Examples include: Donna to give
Idna to go
Imna to want or need

And the irregular verbs:
Eina To be
Oona to have

There are 3 persons that exist in the singular and plural:
I, You (sing), he/she/it, We, You (pl), They
In regular verbs, these are expressed as follows:

Present Tense

Donõ: I give,
Donor: You (sing) give
Don: He/she/it gives
Donoth: We give
Donorth: You (pl) give
Donith: They give

The third case is formed by removing –na from the infinitive:
Im: he wants, from Imna to want
Id: he goes, from Idna to go
Pel: he speaks from Pelna to speak

The plural is formed by adding the generic –th to the singular. Note that in the first person the o is unstressed in the plural. So:
Imõ (I want) becomes Imoth (we want)
Idõ (I go) becomes Idoth (we go).

Present Continuous

There is only one present tense in Stonebreaker. Some langages (including English) have a present continuous tense: I am going, I am thinking, etc.

The difficulty with this construction is that it introduces an element of ambiguity into the language. Take the following:

I am going to hunt Tefusang.

This can mean I am going (ie on my way ) to hunt Tefusang
I will hunt Tefusang at some point in the future
I intend to hunt Tefusang.

In Stonebreaker these would be expressed quite differently:

Idõ na Hassna Tefusangeth
Hassõ’n Tefusangeth
Tendõ Hassna Tefusangeth

Irregular verbs

Einna: to be
: I am
Ar: You (s) are
Ei: He/she/it is
Yoth: We are
Arth: You (pl) are
Eith: They are

Oona: to have
Õ: I have
Or: You (s) have
Oo: He/she/it has
Oth: We have
Orth: You (pl) have
Ooth: They have

Imperative

Singular: Dono’ Give (it)!
Õl Dono’! –Give it to me!
Plural Doneth Let’s give (it)
Doneth Ekk Harnquistol – Let’s give the axe to Harnquist

Irregular verbs

A’: (Be)
­ A’Ganta!: ‘be strong!’

Ath: (Let us be)
Ath Amnartth: ‘let’s be friends’

O’: (Have, have it)
O’Felim: ‘Have fun’

Oth: (let’s have, let’s have it)
Oth Repart: ‘Let’s have dinner

Simple Future tense

In Stonebreaker, the concept of future is expressed by the use of the word en (and). This can be seen in the words for Today (Dem) and Tomorrow (Demen – ‘Today…and…’)

The simple future is made by adding –en to the end of the present tense in each case, using apostrophes where necessary to avoid vowel clashes: Dono’n: I shall give
Donoren: You (sing) will give
Donen: He/she/it will give
Donothen: We shall give
Donorthen: You (pl) will give
Donithen: They will give

Notice again the unstressed o in the 1st person singular: Dono’n

In some dialects the apostrophe is avoided by the addition of the letter ‘m’. So Verõ (I swear) can take the form Veromen (I will swear) in the future tense. (This construction is also used in expressing the Ablative case for plural nouns – more on this later). The name ‘Veromen’ means ‘one who will be faithful’ ie one who will swear allegiance. Both forms are acceptable, so Donomen and Dono’n both mean I shall give.

Past Tenses

Past Historic

This is the tense used most in narrative and reported speech. It’s construction is slightly more complex than the future. First, take the 3rd person singular (the root of the verb): Don. Now add –el to create the past participle: Donel (‘given’). Note that this is not the same as the adjective Dona – ‘given’ as in Don’ekk – a gift-axe. To conjugate add the present tense of the verb Oona – to give:
Donelõ: I gave
Donelor: You (sing) gave)
Doneloo: he/she/it gave
Doneloth: We gave
Donelorth: You (pl) gave
Donelooth: They gave

‘Oo’ is pronounced as a short ‘oo’ as in the English ‘Shoot’

Past continuous

This is used to express something that was done over a period of time, for example:

I stayed in Akkaio for a few days
or
While I was hunting I met Lordbug.

Both of these constructions use the past continuous.

Stedinelõ Akkaiom tevertom demeth.

Als hassinelõ, voyelõ Lordbug.

The contruction is Root + in + present tense of oona (to have).

e.g. Pelna: to speak

Pelinelõ: I was speaking
Pelinelor: You were speaking
Pelineloo: He/She was speaking
Pelineloth: We were speaking
Pelinelorth: You were speaking
Pelinelooth: They were speaking

Past pluperfect

This is used to express something that happened even further back in time than the reported action. In English this is expressed with the past tens of the verb to have:

I had finished my lunch when the door opened.

In Stonebreaker this is also expressed with the past tense of oona with the past participle.

Elõ lukel Alimert or’t, kan Portert h'oveloo.

Elõ pelel: I had spoken
Elor pelel: You had spoken
Eloo pelel: He/She had spoken
Eloth pelel: We had spoken
Elorth pelel: You had spoken
Elooth pelel: They had spoken