The verb and the maththa

1. Fundamentals of Conjugation
2. The Infinitive or doweiri kond
3. The masarxanu conjugation
4. The eindri conjugation
5. The plain and emphatic verbs 'to be'
6. Tense forms: the wishawi past
7. Tense forms: the nanibari past
8. Tense forms: the amavei or future tense
9. Tense forms: the future past
10. Tense forms: the meraxi or shadow past
11. The maththa
12. The verbal auxiliaries
13. The yoke

Fundamentals of conjugation

The vast majority of baxathmel verbs are regular, and fall into one of two major conjugations, known as the masarxanu, and the eindri. In addition, there are a small group known as the tan-masarxanu verbs, which often have a reflexive meaning, and a very few truly irregular verbs.

An important point, and one which may need stressing for speakers of Indo-European languages, is that the apparent similarity of the baxathmel verb to European languages may be misleading, since the conjugation differs in a very fundamental respect: the verb is not conjugated by person (I, you, we, they, etc.) but by distance (true or metaphorical) from the speaker. Although many of these forms have an 'implied person', to be understood if not further qualified, the two are not necessarily the same.

The usual conjugation pattern is:

• central singular - almost exactly equivalent ot first person singular, 'I', and rarely used for anything else.
• central plural - usually equivalent to first person plural, 'we'.
• proximal singular - may be equivalent to Indo-European 2nd person singular, 'you', but occasionally used for 'I' if the speaker is distancing themself from their own actions, and used for what would be the 3rd person singular (he,she,it) if they are close or closer than the person(s) addressed by the speaker. Subdivided into a form for persons within the 'azeran (social unit) and one for those outside it.
• proximal plural - normally equivalent to 'you' (more than one of you), with the same form being used within and outside the 'azeran, but the same strictures apply as to the singular form - may be 'we' or 'they'.
• distal singular - normally a 3rd person singular (he, she, it), but sometimes used for 'you' (singular), and very rarely for 'I'.
• distal plural - similarly, normally 'they', but occasionally 'you'; it does not appear to be used for 'we'.

The person of the verb may be qualified, if necessary, by following it with the appropriate personal pronoun, and this is usually done if the implied person of the form chosen differs from the person it actually represents. However, since Xaîni are fond of ambiguity, they sometimes deliberately omit the personal pronoun.

The infinitive or doweiri kond

The infinitive ( actually known in xathmel as the 'potential form' or doweiri kond) has somewhat wider uses than in English. It is often used instead of the appropriate conjugated form to express a general concept or point of wide application, it is usually used to form imperatives (see the section on maththa), and it is often used where English would employ a verbal noun.

The masarxanu conjugation

Masarxanu verbs have an infinitive ending in -on. Some examples of the masarxanu conjugation:
melathon - to speak

• melathammu (central singular) - understood as (I) speak
• melathammen (central plural) - (we) speak
• melathamma (proximal singular 'azeran-form) - (you (member of the group)) speak
• melathammat (proximal singular non-'azeran form) - (you (outsider)) speak
• melathammax (proximal plural) - (you (several)) speak
• melathamme (distal singular) - (he, she, or it) speaks
• melathammer (distal plural) - (they) speak

• arammu - (i) go
• arammen - (we) go
• aramma - (you) go
• arammat - (you) go
• arammax - (you) go
• aramme - (he, she, it) goes
• arammer - (they) go

A form roughly equivalent to the present participle is made by dropping the -on of the infinitive ending, and replacing it with -u. Thus:

melathu - speaking
aru - going

This form is much less commonly used than in English - a Xaîni will prefer 'he goes' to 'he is going'.

There are a small number of xathmel verbs which employ the so-called tan-masarxanu conjugation. These verbs, some but not all of which have reflexive meanings, are marked by ending in the affix -tan. The masarxanu endings are simply added onto the end of this, thus:

dast-tan - to wash oneself
dast-tanammu, dast-tanammen, etc.

The past forms are equally regular:

udast-tanammu or dast-tanuxi, and so on.

The -tan affix is useful, since it can be employed to make new verbs from loanwords or neologisms.

The eindri conjugation

Eindri verbs have an infinitive ending in -in, -ein, or occasionally -ain. The present tense is conjugated as follows:

karin - to burn, to take fire

• karin (central singular)
• karikke (central plural)
• karil (proximal singular 'azeran form)
• karilt (proximal singular non-'azeran form)
• karille (proximal plural)
• karie, kare (distal singular)
• karir (distal plural)

• xein, xeiin (central singular)
• xeikke, xeiikke (central plural)
• xeil, xeiil (proximal singular 'azeran-form)
• xeilt, xeiilt (proximal singular non-'azeran form)
• xeille, xeiille (proximal plural)
• xeie (distal singular)
• xeir, xeiir (distal plural)

The 'present participle' of the eindri verbs is formed by a) dropping the final n of the infinitive for verbs ending consonant-i-n:
kari - burning
or b) for those verbs which end in a dipthong plus n, dropping the n and adding i
xeii - hearing, understanding

The plain and emphatic verbs 'to be'

The verb 'to be' is in xathmel, as in English, irregular, and does not follow either of the standard conjugations, despite an infinitive which makes it look like a masarxanu verb.

venon -to be

• ven (central singular)
• vaxinei (central plural)
• vyenna (proximal singular 'azeran form)
• vyennat (proximal singular non-'azeran form)
• vyennax (proximal plural)
• velindar (distal singular)
• velyar (distal plural)

In addition to the plain form of 'to be' there is a second irregular verb, jnan, which also has the meaning of 'to be' but in a more emphatic sense - something like 'to be indeed', or 'certainly to be'. It is also often used to mean 'to exist', and conjugates as follows:

jnan - to be indeed

• jnan (central singular)
• jenanna (central plural)
• jnax (proximal singular 'azeran form)
• jnaxxa (proximal singular non-'azeran form)
• jenanax (proximal plural)
• jenai (distal singular)
• jeraxan (distal plural)

Both these verbs may be used for 'to be' in its absolute or defining sense, e.g. velindar sta 'he is a man' or jenai lo Tsunnyo 'she is certainly a Tsundranese'. However, where English would use the verb to be with an adjective to indicate the possession of a quality (he is tall, it is red) xathmel uses a special preposition called the auxiliary preposition, which is conjugated rather like a verb.

Tense forms

The wishawi past

baXathmel uses two basic forms for the simple past, known to Xaîni grammarians as the wishawi and the nanibari past. The distinction between them is not always clear to the non-native speaker, but essentially the nanibari form tends to be used for a past action that is complete in itself and whose consequences have been allowed to work themselves out, whereas the wishawi past tends to be used for past actions extending into the present, or with consequences still resonating in the present. However these distinctions are not absolute, and may be overridden by the effect of attached maththa, or by aesthetic considerations.

All the wishawi forms are regular. The -on of the masarxanu infinitive or the -in of the eindri is dropped (for eindri verbs ending in a dipthong only the terminal n is dropped) and to this stem are added the appropriate tense endings:

Wishawi Past Conjugation Endings

Masarxanu wishawi		Eindri wishawi
-uxi	central singular	-ixi
-uni	central plural	-ini
-ul	proximal singular ('az.)	-ithil
-ult	proximal sing. (non-'az.)	-ithilt
-umen	proximal plural	-imen
-ulo	distal sing. (female)	-ilo
-ula	distal sing. (male)	-ila
-ulet	distal sing. (neuter)	-ilet
-ura	distal plural	-ira

Note that, uniquely, gender specific forms are used for the distal singular: the form can therefore not be used for other persons.

The nanibari past

The nanibari is even more simple and regular to form than the wishawi, since it consists of adding the past marker, u- to the front of the present tense of the verb. Thus:
samadin - I write, but usamadin - I wrote
arammu - I go, but urammu - I went (note the elision of the initial vowel)
kare x-ntaa - the house is burning; ukare x-ntaa - the house burned.

The amavei (future) tense

Like the nanibari past, the future is simply formed by the addition of a tense marker, in this case am- to the front of the present tense verb form.
samadin - I write; amsamadin - I will write
amkare x-ntaa - the house will burn

The future past

Addition of the future marker, am- to a verb in the wishawi past form produces the future past tense:
amsamadixi - I will have written
amarulo - she will have gone

The meraxi past

Addition of the nanibari past marker u- to a verb in the wishawi past produces the meraxi, or 'shadow' past form. This is used
a) for the distant or mythic past: uvenulo gestaa - there was once a wise woman
and b) for the equivalent of the past perfect: urula - he had gone

The maththa

One of the most distinctive characteristics of baxathmel is its use of particles suffixed to the verb. These particles are known as maththa - literally 'shades' or 'tones'. Some of them are used to convey ideas such as negation of the verb action, or form the equivalent of a passive or imperative, whereas others convey subtleties of meaning that in English would often be managed by use of an adverb. There are several hundred maththa, of which some sixty or seventy are in common use, the rest being mainly reserved for poetic or technical language. Some of the most basic are listed below.

-ngye: negates the verb (arammu I go, arammungye I don't go)

-lla: emphatically negates the verb (arammulla I don't go !)

-shun: strengthens or emphasises the meaning of the verb (arammushun I go !)

-resh: makes the verb interrogative (forms a question) (arammuresh do I go ?)

-che: forms an imperative, makes the verb action into an order (usually used with the infinitive: aronche go!)

-fra: makes a polite order or request (aronfra please go)

-koth: negative imperative (do not!) (aronkoth don't go)

-dhuan: moral imperative (should) (arondhuan (you) should go)

-dhok: negative moral imperative (should not) (arondhok (you) shouldn't go)

-ssa: expresses the ability to perform the verb action (arammussa I am able to go)

-ro: roughly equivalent to English 'may' (arammuro I may go)

-rossi: conditional, 'if'+verb action (arammurossi if I go)

-tembe: reportative form, 'it is said that . . .' (arammutembe it is said that I go)

-kbi: implies indirect knowledge of the verb action, i.e. it is not something the speaker actually witnessed (arammekbi la he goes, I think)

-len: signifies commencement of action (arammulen I begin to go)

-mem: termination of action (arammumem I cease to go)

-lyo: imminent action, to be about to (arammulyo I am about to go)

-dao: sudden or explosive action (arammudao I'm off like a shot)

-ya: transient action (arammuya I'm there before you know it)

-klu: prolonged action (arammuklu I go on a long journey)

-el: very prolonged or continuous action (arammuel I go on forever)

-ku: diminutive (arammuku I toddle along)

-shim: deprecative (arammushim I shamble along)

-dis: to become or come to undertake the verb action (arammudis I get to go)

-paz: to perform the verb action but not as the prime mover of the action, to act for someone (combined with the emphatic negative -lla, it implies unwilling performance of the verb action (arammupaz I go on someone's behalf, arammupazlla I am forced to go)

-kwaiyo: 'because of' (arammukwaiyo because I am going)

-sin: comparative (used with any verb where the action is compared) (karesin xanna fenuf it burns like tinder)

The auxiliary

As mentioned in the section on the verb 'to be', xathmel employs the 'auxiliary preposition' to convey the concept of possessing some adjectival quality. Although considered by Xaîni grammarians to belong to the class of particles, the auxiliary is conjugated like a verb. There are two forms: one is used for the present tense (and with the future marker, am-, for the future tense) while the other is used for the past tense (and only the one past form exists).

Present auxiliary

Note that this resembles the eindri present conjugation except in the distal singular, where it resembles the eindri wishawi past.

Past auxiliary

When preceded by the auxiliary, the last vowel of the adjective (i or u, depending on the adjective class) is dropped. Thus:

tanu, beautiful; ilet tan it is beautiful
indri, young; welen indr I was young

Subsidiary phrases: the yoke

When a sentence contains one or more subsidiary phrases, xathmel requires that the verbs governing the subsidiary phrases be marked by the yoke prefix, ta-. Thus:
umelathammu ta-kifmarammu I said that I remember
umelathammeshimkwaiyo ta-xeiningye Because he spoke poorly, we did not understand.

The use of ta- implies that the secondary verbs are in some way dependent upon the first, unmarked verb. A yoked verb may be used where English would use an infinitive:
aramma ta-jiil you go to see (note that both verbs are conjugated: a literal translation might be 'you go that you see')
Multiple yoked verbs in one sentence are quite possible:
uterammatresh tajiilt tamelathamme did you come to see him speak ?

More about the Common Tongue

Phonetics

The triple grammar

The noun and noun qualifiers

The adjective/adverb

Prepositions and other particles

Xaîni Literature

The writing system

The Xaîni and their world

The World Xaîn