Definite means that the speaker assumes that the reference can be identified by the addressee.
Relative time means that the time is specified in terms of some other time reference. If the other time reference is the time of utterance, the time is absolute.
Verbs are divided into 2 classes with regard to action type: dynamic and static. Static verbs are those denoting states, with no internal change. There are different kinds of static verbs; they denote qualities ("hot"), spatial relationships ("in"), mental states ("know"), and others ("have"). Dynamic verbs are those denoting actions or state transitions. There are four kinds of dynamic verbs: activities ("walk") denoting constant state change without transition, accomplishments ("drown") denoting the process preparing for a state transition, achievements ("realise") denoting a single state transition, and semelfactives ("knock") denoting the event of a double state transition, forth and back.
Note: the above descriptions were adapted from Henrik Theiling's Trukva page.
The same suffixes are used for both aspect and tense, their interpretation depending on the mode, so the term tense will be used for both here. Dynamic verbs have four tenses: present, aorist, perfect, and future; static verbs have three tenses, lacking the aorist.
The following table shows the tense suffixes appearing on dynamic verbs and their usages for each mode:
| Suffix | Tag | Tense | Mode | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opt/Jus/Imp | Att/Sec/Sub | Fac/Ctf/PQ/CPQ | |||
| -0 | -Aor | aorist | aoristic | relative present | definite past |
| -fi | -Prs | present | durative | relative present | absolute present |
| -te, -to | -Prf | perfect | retrospective | relative past | indefinite past |
| -bu | -Fut | future | prospective | relative future | absolute future |
The following table shows the tense suffixes appearing on static verbs and their usages for each mode:
| Suffix | Tag | Tense | Mode | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opt/Jus/Imp | Att/Sec/Sub | Fac/Ctf/PQ/CPQ | |||
| -0 | -Prs | present | durative | relative present | absolute present |
| -te, -to | -Prf | perfect | retrospective | relative past | absolute past |
| -bu | -Fut | future | prospective | relative future | absolute future |
Note: The perfect suffix is -to before -Fac or -Ctf and otherwise -te.
Here's a more detailed explanation:
If Fac, Ctf, PQ, or CPQ is present:
| Fut | the situation occurs at some future time, whether definite or not |
|---|---|
| Prs | the situation is occurring |
| Prf | depends on the verb's class: |
| if the verb is dynamic, the situation occurs at some indefinite past time | |
| if the verb is static, the situation occurs at some past time, whether definite or not | |
| Aor | the situation occurs at a definite past time |
If Sub, Sec, or Att is present:
| Fut | the situation occurs at some later time |
|---|---|
| Prs | the situation is in progress at the time indicated by context |
| Prf | the situation occurs at some earlier time |
| Aor | the situation occurs at the time indicated by context |
If Imp, Jus, or Opt is present:
| Fut | the situation is ready to occur at some future time |
|---|---|
| Prs | the situation is occurring at some future time |
| Prf | the situation is complete by some future time |
| Aor | the situation occurs at some future time |
Examples:
| sumalefā pifcisenque gubritabāc. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| suma- | lef-ā-0-0 | pifci- | senque-0-0-0 | gubri- | tab-ā-0-c |
| man- | give-Dir-Aor-Sec | crumb- | find-Inv-Aor-Sec | cockroach- | eat-Dir-Aor-Fac |
| "The man fed the cockroach a crumb." | |||||
| haldumexte rufcatabābuc. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| haldu- | mexte-0-0 | rufca- | tab-ā-bu-c |
| meat- | raw-Prs-Sec | dog- | eat-Dir-Fut-Fac |
| "The dog will eat the meat raw." | |||
| cattugranō daxtanēstu daxitōsetoc. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cattu- | grano-0-w | daxta- | nē-stu-0-0-0 | daxi- | tōse-0-to-c |
| cat- | black-Prs-Att | house- | in-All-Inv-Aor-Sec | woman- | release-Dir-Prf-Fac |
| "The woman has put the black cat in the house." | |||||
| daxtaneō cattugranoc. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| daxta- | nē-0-0-w | cattu- | grano-0-c |
| house- | in-Inv-Prs-Att | cat- | black-Prs-Fac |
| "The cat in the house is black." | |||
| pifcitaber gubrilāc. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| pifci- | tabe-0-0-r | gubri- | lā-0-0-c |
| crumb- | eat-Inv-Aor-Opt | cockroach- | want-Dir-Prs-Fac |
| "The cockroach wants to eat the crumb." | |||
| haldumexte rufcatabāten sumaguentoc. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| haldu- | mexte-0-0 | rufca- | tab-ā-te-n | suma- | guen-0-to-c |
| meat- | raw-Prs-Sec | dog- | eat-Dir-Prf-Sub | man- | see-Dir-Prf-Fac |
| "The man saw that the dog had eaten the meat raw." | |||||
Note that "see" is static.
The aorist (or perfect if static) is normally used for the "imperfect" (past imperfective):
| pifcibē gubritabāc. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| pifci- | bē-0 | gubri- | tab-ā-c |
| crumb- | exist-Sec | cockroach- | eat-Dir-Fac |
| "The cockroach ate the crumb." (perfective) or
"The cockroach was eating the crumb." (imperfective) | |||
However, there's another construction with sem@ "remember" that can be used for the imperfect:
| pifcibē gubritabāfin semoc. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pifci- | bē-0 | gubri- | tab-ā-fi-n | 0- | semo-0-c |
| crumb- | exist-Sec | cockroach- | eat-Dir-Prs-Sub | 0- | remember-Dir-Fac |
| "I remember the cockroach eating the crumb." (literal)
"The cockroach was eating the crumb." | |||||
Similarly, pet@ "predict" can be used as the auxiliary for the future imperfective. Also, these auxiliaries can be used to construct the pluperfect, future perfect, and past prospective.
| cattudō salutabeten petoc. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cattu- | dō-0 | salu- | tabe-0-te-n | 0- | peto-0-c |
| cat- | do-Sec | fish- | eat-Inv-Prf-Sub | 0- | predict-Dir-Fac |
| "I predict the cat having eaten the fish." (literal)
"The cat will have eaten the fish." | |||||
page started: 2013.Aug.03 Sat
current date: 2013.Aug.04 Sun
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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