| Elements: |
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| Forms: | Tense operators may be (1) simple, (2) continuous (with an infixed -i-, (3) habitual (with an infixed -u-, (4) compound; and any of these may me (5) quantified with any of the affixes zi, za, or zu. Any form may occur in any context. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Contexts: | There are 3 contexts: (i) before predicates, where they function as verbal inflections of that predicate; (ii) before arguments, where they function as prepositions (with concrete arguments) or conjunctions (with abstract ones); and (iii) in any other position where they function as adverbial modifiers of the sentence as a whole, or suitably punctuated, of the elements they follow. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Null-Form: | Standing outside this system is the word ga which preserves the timelessness of the unadorned predicate in contexts in which the predicate would otherwise be absorbed by a preceding description: Le mrenu ga penso = ‘The man is a thinker’ vs. Le mrenu penso = ‘The man-type of thinker’. |
| Inflection | Preposition or Conjunction | Adverbial Modifier | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Simple Tenses: | |||
| pa | …-ed / was … / was a … | before … | then / formerly |
| na | …-s / is a … | at / during / when … | now / currently |
| fa | will … / will be …-ing / will be a … | after … | afterwards |
| 3 Continuous Tenses: | |||
| pia | was …-ing/ was being …/ was being a … | until | until now |
| nia | is now …-ing / is now being … / is now being a … | while … | meanwhile |
| fia | will be … / will be …-ing | since … | ever since |
| 3 Habitual Tenses: | |||
| pua | …-ed / was … / was a … (habitually) | before … (habitually) | then / formerly (habitually) |
| nua | …-s / is a … (habitually) | at / during / when … (habitually) | now / currently (habitually) |
| fua | will be … / will be …-ing (habitually) | since … (habitually) | ever since (habitually) |
| 9 Compound Tenses: (here translated only as infections) | |||||
| papa | had (past perfect) | pana | was then … | pafa | was going to … |
| napa | has (present perfect) | nana | is just now … | nafa | is now going to … |
| fapa | will have (future perfect) | fana | will then be … | fafa | will be going to … |
| A large number of Quantified Tenses: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pazi | just now | fazi | immediately | piazi | continuously and briefly before now |
| paza | recently | faza | soon | piaza | continuously for a short time before now |
| pazu | long ago | fazu | eventually | piazu | continuously for a long time before |
| etc | etc | etc | |||
| Note: | Tense Operators, Causal Operators, and Location Operators can be combined in arbitrary ways navi = ‘here-now’; vakou = ‘there-causing’; etc. Also, such forms such as pacenoina = ‘once-but-not-now’; vicava = ‘here-or-there’; etc., may be used. And, quantified forms may be formed by prefixing a Quantifier before a Tense Operator, Causal Operator, or Location Operator: nina = ‘never’; nepa = ‘once (in the past)’; rava = ‘everywhere’; etc. Also, zi, za, and zu may be used as a prefixes, where they denote the length of the event: zipazu = ‘long ago, for a short time’. |