Tense Tenses

Well, given that I've set up another blog for Tas Eldwaraj, perhaps this information ought to go there instead. But I think it this post would seem too cluttered for that, so it'll stay here for now. I worked this all out over a rather dull activity known as guard duty. Where I decided that coming up with a conjugation system would be more productive than calculating the angle between the hour hand and minute hand on my watch.

The conjugation system for Tas Eldwaraj verbs was originally quite simple, with only an infinitive, three tense forms, and positive and negative suffix that yielded a total of eight conjugations. I'm afraid Latin's rubbed off on me though, the conjugation system is simple no longer.

There is now one infinitive, three tenses, three voices, five aspects, and the positive/negative suffix. i'm not sure about moods, I think I'll just stick with one, but the subjunctive may grow on me as I learn more about it.

The verb I'll use for demonstration purposes is 'evelyo' - to love, evelyom - not to love,

First off, the simple active system. The tenses are past, present and future :

evelpio - loved, evelpiom - did not love
evelto - love, eveltom - do not love
evelcao - will love, evelcaom - will not love

The simple aspect indicates the action occurring once, at some time before the speaker is speaking, while the speaker is speaking, or at some time in the future.

Second, the incipient aspect looks at the beginning of an action :

evelpico - began to love, evelpicom - did not begin to love
evelteco - am beginning to love, eveltecom - am not beginning to love
evelcaco - will begin to love, evelcacom - will not begin to love

This aspect is formed off the simple aspect by the addition of the infix [-c-]. This refers to the start of an action, and helpfully, lets me eliminate the need for an auxiliary verb like to begin or to start.

Third, the continuous aspect looks at the action as an ongoing process :

evelpito - was loving, evelpitom - was not loving
evelteto - am loving, eveltetom - am not loving
evelcato - will be loving, evelcatom - will not be loving

This aspect is used to indicate the process of an action that is either occurring while or immediately before or after the speaker is speaking. The continuous aspect would also be preferred over the present simple in a situation where an action occurs over a long duration instead of for an isolated moment. For example, while English would say That husband loves his wife, Tas Eldwaraj would prefer to use something closer to That husband is loving his wife. Its infix is [-t-].

Fourth, the perfect aspect views an action from its completion :

evelpipo - had loved, evelpipom - had not loved
eveltepo - am ceasing to love, eveltepom - am not ceasing to love
evelcapo - will have loved, evelcapom - will not have loved

This aspect is used to describe the termination of an action, again to help reduce the need for auxiliary verbs. The infix for this aspect is [-p-].

The final aspect is the habitual or repeated aspect, which doesn't translate very well in English :

evelpiro - used to love regularly, evelpirom - did not use to love regularly
eveltero - love regularly/habitually, evelterom - does not love regularly/habitually
evelcaro - will love habitually/ regularly, evelcarom - will not love regularly/habitually

This indicates repeated incidents of the same action, and can sometimes serve as an adjective of sorts. For example, someone who swims regularly can be thought of as a swimmer. The infix for this aspect is [-r-]. It also implies breaks in between the iterations of an action. So 'eveltero' may not have positive connotations.

Now, the passive system is similar, except that the final vowel is changed from [-o] to [-u], so :

evelyu - to be loved, evelyum - not to be loved,

evelpiu - was loved, evelpium - was not loved
eveltu - is loved, eveltum - is not loved
evelcau - will be loved, evelcaum - will not be loved

evelpicu - began to be loved, evelpicum - did not begin to be loved
eveltecu - am beginning to be loved, eveltecum - am not beginning to be loved
evelcacu - will begin to be loved, evelcacum - will not begin to be loved

evelpitu - was being loved, evelpitum - was not being loved
eveltetu - am being loved, eveltetum - am not being loved
evelcatu - will be being loved, evelcatum - will not be being loved

evelpipu - had been loved, evelpipum - had not been loved
eveltepu - am ceasing to be loved, eveltepum - am not ceasing to be loved
evelcapu - will have been loved, evelcapum - will not have been loved

evelpiru - was loved regularly, evelpirum - was not loved regularly
evelteru - is loved regularly/habitually, evelterum - is not loved regularly/habitually
evelcaru - will be loved habitually/ regularly, evelcarum - will not be love regularly/habitually

Finally, there is the reciprocal voice, which indicates the subject and object acting mutually on each other. In the absence of an object, this voice is used to indicate performing actions on oneself. The voice suffix in this case is [-odu].

evelyodu - to love and be loved, evelyodum - not to love and be loved,

evelpiodu - loved each other, evelpiodum - did not love each other
eveltodu - love each other, eveltodum - do not love each other
evelcaodu - will love each other, evelcaodum - will not love each other

evelpicodu - began to love each other, evelpicodum - did not begin to love each other
eveltecodu - are beginning to love each other, eveltecodum - are not beginning to love each other
evelcacodu - will begin to love each other, evelcacodum - will not begin to love each other

evelpitodu - were loving each other, evelpitodum - were not loving each other
eveltetodu - are loving each other, eveltetodum - are not loving each other
evelcatodu - will be loving each other, evelcatodum - will not be loving each other

evelpipodu - had loved each other, evelpipodum - had not loved each other
eveltepodu - are ceasing to love each other, eveltepodum - are not ceasing to love each other
evelcapodu - will have loved each other, evelcapodum - will not have loved each other

evelpirodu - loved each other regularly, evelpirodum - did not love each other regularly
evelterodu - love each other regularly, evelterodum - do not love each other regularly
evelcarodu - will love each other habitually, evelcarodum - will love each other regularly

This system brings me to a total of 96 conjugations for verbs of Tas Eldwaraj. At the moment, I am trying to devise a system of mood particles that will indicate imperatives, uncertainty, intention, belief and so on, but that will not be included in the inflectional system. At least for now. I think it's quite a handful the way it is already.