Sunday, July 29, 2007

Surath Lesson 4: To go (progressive), to make/to do conjugations

As is the case in Spanish and in English, when using the progressive tense, we combine the present form of the verb ‘to be’ with the progressive of the verb that is taking place in real time.

Note: A shortened form of the conjugated verb ‘to be’ can be attached to the end of the verb ‘to go’, which results in two different ways to say the progressive ‘to go’.
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VERB: TO GO
ROOT: izzal (ܐܸܙܲܠ)

TENSE: PROGRESSIVE

I (m) am going - ee-win bee-zāla (yen) bee-zāl-aywin
I (f) am going - ee-wen bee-zāla (yen) bee-zāl-ay-wen

You (m) are going - ee-wit bee-zāla (yen) bee-zāl-ay-wit
You (f) are going - ee-wat bee-zāla (yen) bee-zāla-wat

He is going - ee-lih bee-zāla (yen) bee-zāl-ay-lih
She is going - ee-lah bee-zāla (yen) bee-zāl-ay-lah

We are going - ee-wukh bee-zāla (yen) bee-zāl-ay-wukh
Ye/Yall are going - ee-wo-tun bee-zāla (yen) bee-zāl-ay-wukh
They are going - ee-lay bee-zāla (yen) bee-zāl-aly-lay

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This next verb, ‘to make/do’, is similar to the verb hacer in Spanish, which means both to make and to do. In English, of course, these are separate verbs

VERB: TO MAKE/ TO DO
ROOT:
‘wadh (ܥܘܲܕܼ)
TENSE:
PROGRESSIVE

I (m) am making/doing - ee-win bee-wādha (yen) bee-wādhay-win
I (f) am doing/making - ee-wan bee-wādha (yen) bee-wādhay-wen

You (m) are making/doing - ee-wit bee-wādha (yen) bee-wādhay-wit
You (f) are doing/making - ee-wat bee-wādha (yen) bee-wādhay-wat

He is making/doing - ee-lih bee-wādha (yen) bee-wādhay-lih
She is doing/making - ee-lah bee-wādha (yen) bee-wādhay-lah

We are making/doing - ee-wukh bee-wādha (yen) bee-wadhay-wukh
Ye/Yall doing/making - ee-wo-tun bee-wādha (yen) bee-wādhay-wotun
They are making/doing - ee-lay bee-wādha (yen) bee-wādhay-lay

Note: The verb root in the progressive tense does not change in the first person, second person, masculine, feminine, or plural conjugations. Only the article before or after the verb changes. This is the same behaviour as English progressive verbs.

In spanish, this is referred to ir + a + infinitive. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense, but in Surath, the infinitive of the verb is not used. Generally, a prefix of ‘bee’ is added onto the verb’s root, and sometimes a vowel added onto the end of the root, thus creating the progressive tense.

So, in Surath, to make a regular verb progressive, you want to use the following formula:

[hwa (conjugated in the present tense)] + [bee]+[infinitive]a

Hopefully that makes some sense to the readers.

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