The infinitive of a verb is the form that is literally "to (verb)," such as "to walk," "to eat," "to have," etc. The infinitive form of verbs is the form found in the Sheřařma Lexicon. In order to form the infinitive from a verb stem, the suffix [-(w)es] is added. The reverse can applied to find the verb stem: simply remove the infinitive suffix.
Caution should be used when identifying verb stems based on their infinitive form; some verb stems end with [w]:
To create the past of a verb, add the suffix [-(w)e]. The past participle is the same for all subjects, regardless of duality, plurality, or animacy:
The negative past is formed by simply adding the prefix [ё(l)-] to the beginning of the verb stem in addition to the negative suffix:
In order to form the present tense, conjugation is a little more interesting. All verbs are conjugated the same way, regardless of whether the stem ends with a vowel or consonant. Below is the conjugation chart, organized by subject, for Sheřařma verbs in the present:
To conjugate a Sheřařma verb in the present tense, simply add the suffix that corresponds to the subject to the end of the verb stem.
Though there are a total of ten distinct conjugations, the endings are actually fairly easy to remember, so long as you know the conjugations for the singular. The difference between the singular and the dual and plural conjugations is the addition of [f ] or [sh] to the endings.
Seen to the right is an example of how the verb [tiřes] ("to sleep") is conjugated with all subjects. In this case, the verb stem ends with a consonant, but if the stem ended with a vowel, a glottal stop would be added at the start of the conjugation suffix.
You may notice the existence of an inanimate second person conjugation. While there is no set of inanimate second person pronouns, using the inanimate second person conjugations when talking to animals such as dogs or horses is common. Using the inanimate second person conjugations when talking to humans, however, is quite degrading. Basically, never use the inanimate second person when speaking with other humans unless you want to be particularly insulting or intend to piss people off.
There is a second set of conjugation endings in order to form the negative in the present. There are eight distinct endings. Like the present, these are predictable.
For the animate first and second, the dual and plural sounds [f] and [sh] are added after the singular endings. The second inanimate endings are all identical, as well as all of the third person endings.
To the right is a table showing the negative conjugations of [tiřes] in the present.
The future tense is fairly simple. Not quite as simple as the past, but much simpler than the present (that is, providing that you know how to conjugate in the present). To form the future, a prefix is added to the conjugation of the verb in the present. This prefix is dependent on the person, but not the number or animacy:
To form the negative future, simply add the the appropriate prefix to the verb conjugated in the negative present.
The imperative is used for making commands or requests. An example in English might be "give me the parasol" or "eat the aerosol" (but actually don't...eat the aerosol, that is. Do use the imperative). The imperative is used only in the present, and is created by adding the suffix [-(m)a] to the end of the verb stem before conjugating. When using the imperative, you usually drop the pronoun (though leaving it in may be appropriate in more formal situations). The imperative only is used in the second person and in the dual and plural first person.
To the left are two example charts of the verb [tiřes] in the imperative. The first chart is positive, and the second chart is negative.
In English, a difference is observed in "I eat" and "I am eating." In order to indicate this difference in Sheřařma, the present participle prefix [fu(d)-] is added to the verb stem before conjugation (meaning that, in the future tense, this future prefix will come before the continuous one; the same is true for the negative past prefix). Continuity indicates that an action is currently happening, or is unfinished.
Positive
Positive Continuous
Negative
Negative Continuous
Participles are confusing in English, so they'll probably be confusing when I try to explain them in Sheřařma as well.
In English, the past participle (generally) is the same as the past form of the verb (exceptions include "she sang the song" vs "the song was sung"). To form the past participle in Sheřařma, the suffix [-(w)ed] is added to the verb stem:
Another way to think about the formation of the past participle is that you add [-d] to the past form of the verb.
In English, the present participle is the form of the verb that ends with -ing, like "eating" or "sleeping" or "jet skiing." In the present, the participle is formed by adding the prefix [fu(d)-] to the verb stem:
When forming the present participle, if the verb stem ends with [i], a [t] must be added to the end of the stem. This [t] is dropped when conjugating for progression, however.
Participles can be used as adjectives, which behave just as any other adjective does; they come after the noun they modify and do not change based on case, number, or animacy.
In English, there are two forms of the perfect: the perfect (I had eaten, I have eaten, etc.) and the perfect continuous (I had been eating, I have been eating, etc.). In Sheřařma, like in English, "to have" is used in addition to the appropriate form of the verb for the form of the perfect.
For the perfect, the past participle of the verb is used with "to have", and for the present continuous, the (surprise) continuous form of the verb is used.
To express the perfect in the negative, only the verb "to have" is conjugated in the negative. To express the perfect continuous in the negative, both "to have" and the verb is conjugated in the negative.
Past ("I had eaten")
past "have" (had) + past participle
Present ("I have eaten")
present "have" + past participle
Future ("I will have eaten")
future "have" (will have) + past participle
Past ("I had been eating")
past "have" (had) + past continuous
Present ("I have been eating")
present "have" + present continuous
Future ("I will have been eating")
future "have" + future continuous
To turn a verb into its causative form, "to make (verb)," the suffix [-(i)ma] is added to the verb stem. Then, it is conjugated as normal. Causative verbs always take on at least one object which is "made" to do the verb. A causative phrase is formed as follows:
subject (causer) ➝ causative verb conjugated for subject ➝ object (thing being caused to do the verb) in the accusative ➝ any other objects the verb takes on in the appropriate case
To express ideas such as "might" vs "could" vs "should" do something, there are verbal auxiliaries that are added after the verb in a phrase:
These auxiliaries can be used with the negative conjugation to reverse the meeting:
*This phrase is in the present
These modalities can also be used in the other tenses to mean the same thing, but it in the past or the future. In these cases, the auxiliary does not change; only the verb does. This isn't really true in English, so I did my best with the translations below:
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