WORD-SHAPING. SPECIAL ETYMOLOGY. VERB. VERB QUALITY. Verbs always denote some form of activity, whether transitive or intransitive, which can be looked at in three distinctly different ways. The action may be regarded generally or Indefinitely, as when we think of writing; as going on and Imperfect, as in to be writing; or as finished and Perfect, as in having written. Thus it is that the Verb has three main qualities of expression. These are-the Indefinite, Imperfect, and Perfect. THE THREE VERB QUALITIES. The Inflections attached to the Verb to denote this variation of quality are always placed at the end of the Verb, after the Tense Inflections. When the quality is Indefinite, this is indicated by the absence of any Quality Inflection. When it is Imperfect, the Inflection is i' (simply the Verb to go, going, chosen because it expresses the idea of action going on better than any other word would). When the quality is Perfect, then the Inflection is i'vi (derived from the perfect of i', to go-i.e., gone). [See Note on Page 69.] E Passive Voice is always expressed by the Verb being preceded by the Verb to be-es-, being prefixed thus-es-SCRI'B, being written; id es-SCRI’B-tum, it was written. Active Voice.-The Verb is in the active voice unless shown to be in the passive. MOOD. Infinitive.-Verb without a subject before it is in the Infinitive. Tense Signs and Verb Quality Signs are used in this Mood. Imperative.-Verb (or subject of Verb, if any) preceded by the particle He' causes it to be in the Imperative. This sound is written thus-! Example: ! SCRI'B-Hế SCRIB. The subject of a transitive active Verb always precedes its Verb. Indicative.-Verb with subject, tense, and quality signs is in the Indicative. Subjunctive.-Its functions are fulfilled either by Conjunctions placed at the commencement of sentences, or by prefixed auxiliaries. [See COMPOUND VERBS, p. 69, and CONJUNCTIONS, p. 88.] TENSE. There are three Tenses-Present, Past, and Future. These are indicated by the suffixes Present. -num Past. -tum Future. Num is taken as the best word to indicate Present time, being an old form of the Latin Adverb nunc, now. Tum and qum are chosen to indicate the Past and Future for similar reasons-tum meaning then, and qum meaning at a time when. VERB. TABLE OF TENSES, MULTIPLIED BY VERB QUALITY. 67 Twelve different Tenses are formed by combining in different ways Time and Quality of Action. PAST Me SCRI'B-num-í I writing now-going. PERFECT I have written Me SCRI❜B-num-ívi INDEFINITE I wrote IMPERFECT I was writing PERFECT I had written FUTURE INDEFINITE I shall write IMPERFECT I shall be wri- PERFECT I shall have I writing-now-gone. I writing-then-going. I writing-when. PERFECTS OF CONTINUED ACTION. PRESENT I have been writing PAST I had been writing Me SCRI'B-num-ívi-í I writing-now-gone-going Me SCRI'B-tum-ívi-í I writing-then-gone-going FUTURE I shall have been writing Me SCRI'B-qum-ívi-í I writing-when-gone-going As every inflection in the Verb is a definite Lingua word, each tense can in the above manner be translated literally into other languages-thus : 68 PARTICIPLES AND COMPOUND VERBS. PARTICIPLES. The Participles are formed by attaching the three fense Inflections to the Verb stem, but dropping the final m in each case: -nu, -tu, -qu -- thus : le scríb-nu manu, me, scríb-qu, dubita-tumí, le es-scríb-tu libro, the writing hand. having written, he went out. I, about to write, was doubting. the written book. When the Attribute is complex, it generally follows the Substantive. In this case a comma is placed after the Substantive, the Attribute immediately following it-thus: Il, vert-nu se ad le auditórs, dic-tum. He, turning towards the audience, said. Hic es-num a libro, nunquam es-leg-tu. A jurnál, leg-tu ab millions. A newspaper read by millions. In Lingua many Verbs can be combined in a similar manner to that in which Compound Nouns are formed. When they are thus combined, the ideas they indicate amalgamate into one idea. The most used of these Combining Verbs are what are known generally as Auxiliary Verbs. COMBINING VERBS. 69 The following is a list of the Combining Verbs most used: In order to illustrate the distinction made by Combining Verbs, a few examples will be given : Me aude-dic-num, I daresay. |