<< Part 2 | A minor update to Askeisk >>
Determiners
Like in Swedish (and probably the other Scandinavian languages, but I don’t know for sure since I’ve only studied Swedish), determiners are formed with a combination of tann “it” + heir/tar.
The proximal demonstratives “this/these” are:
|
Singular | Plural | ||||
|
Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
Nominative | tann heir | tøn heir | tad heir | tanner heir | tønir heir |
tad heir |
Object | tann heir | tøni heir | tadi heir | tannum heir | tønym heir |
tadum heir |
Genitive | tans heir | tønar heir | tads heir | tana heir | tønæ heir |
tada heir |
And the distal demonstratives “that/those”:
|
Singular | Plural | ||||
|
Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
Nominative |
tann tar | tøn tar | tad tar | tanner tar | tønir tar |
tad tar |
Object | tann tar | tøni tar | tadi tar | tannum tar | tønym tar |
tadum tar |
Genitive | tans tar | tønar tar | tads tar | tana tar | tønæ tar |
tada tar |
Examples:
- Tann heir er køttrinn minn. “This is my cat.”
- Tad tar epli eru raudt. “These apples are red.”
- Tøn tar er døttrin sin. “That is her daughter.
- Tønir tar røydhakar eru smølær. “Those robins are small.”
The Definite & Indefinite Articles
The definite article is suffixed to the noun. The indefinite article comes from the word einn meaning “one”. It declines in the way any other noun does.
Verbs
Verbs are not nearly as complex as they are in Old Norse. I prefer to create highly regular conlangs, and there was a lot that was irregular in Old Norse. Still, this is supposed to be a naturalistic language, and natlangs have a lot of irregularity and redundancy built into them.
Verbs have four classes: strong, weak, preterite-present, and irregular. There is no subjunctive mood, primarily because I couldn’t find enough examples of it on Wiktionary. That, and I didn’t want to make more verb tables.
Verbs are marked for person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), number (singular, plural), tense (present, past), mood (indicative, imperative) and have infinitive, present & past participle forms.
Strong Verbs
In strong verbs, the past tense and participle are indicated with a vowel change. This happens for every single vowel:
- /a/ → /e/
- /au/ → /ei/
- /æ/ → /ø/
- /ei/ → /øy/
- /i/ → /ei/
- /o/ → /a/
- /ou/ → /au/
- /ø/ → /y/
- /u/ → /au/
- /y/ → /ø/
The present participle ends in –andi, past participle ends in –inn, singular imperative is the stem, and plural imperative ends in –id.
Indicative verb endings are shown in the table below:
|
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
Present |
Past |
|||
1st |
– | -um | – | -um |
2nd | -ur | -id | -t |
-ud |
3rd | -ur | -a | – |
-u |
Example: at falla “to fall”
- Present participle: fallandi
- Past participle: fellinn
- Imperative singular: fall
- Imperative plural: fallid
|
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
Present |
Past |
|||
1st |
fall | fallum | fell | fellum |
2nd | fallur | fallid | fellt |
fellud |
3rd | fallur | falla | fell |
fellu |
If a strong verb starts with the consonant /v/, then the first vowel in the past tense plural and past participle shift to /u/ while the initial /v/ is dropped.
Example: at verda “to become”
- Present participle: verdandi
- Past participle: urdinn
- Imperative singular: verd
- Imperative plural: verdid
|
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
Present |
Past |
|||
1st |
verd | verdum | vard | urdum |
2nd | verdur | verdid | vart |
urdud |
3rd | verdur | verda | vard |
urdu |
Weak Verbs
Weak verbs have no vowel shift, only verb endings to indicate tense and person.
The present participle ends in –andi, past participle ends in –dur or –tur, singular imperative is the stem, and plural imperative ends in –id.
Indicative verb endings are shown in the table below:
|
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
Present |
Past |
|||
1st |
-i | -um | -a | -um |
2nd | -ir | -id | -ir |
-ud |
3rd | -ir | -a | -i |
-u |
Example: at læra “to learn”
- Present participle: lærandi
- Past participle: lærdur
- Imperative singular: lær
- Imperative plural: lærid
|
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
Present |
Past |
|||
1st |
læri | lærum | læra | lærum |
2nd | lærir | lærid | lærir |
lærud |
3rd | lærir | læra | læri |
læru |
Preterite-Present Verbs
These are only a handful of verbs in this class, but they were interesting enough that I decided to keep them instead of putting them with the strong or weak verbs.
Present tenses are the same as strong verbs’ past tenses, and past tenses are formed like weak verbs’ past tenses. The participles are the same as weak verbs’, the singular imperative is the stem, and the plural imperative ends in –ud.
Indicative verb endings are shown in the table below:
|
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
Present |
Past |
|||
1st |
– | -um | -a | -um |
2nd | -t | -ud | -ir |
-ud |
3rd | – | -u | -i |
-u |
Example: at muna “to remember”
- Present participle: munandi
- Past participle: munadur
- Imperative singular: mun
- Imperative plural: munud
|
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
Present |
Past |
|||
1st |
maun | munum | muna | munum |
2nd | maunt | munud | munir |
munud |
3rd | maun | munu | muni |
munu |
Irregular & Auxiliary Verbs
Askeisk only has a few irregular verbs. The most used is the copula, vera “to be”:
- Present participle: verandi
- Past participle: verit
- Imperative singular: ver
- Imperative plural: verid
Singular |
Plural | Singular | Plural | |
|
Present | Past | ||
1st |
em | eru | var |
vøru |
2nd | ert | eru | vart |
vøru |
3rd | er | eru | var |
vøru |
Auxiliary verbs follow the same declension as weak verbs.
Passive Verbs
Passive verbs are formed by suffixing –sk to the verb form.
The Future Tense
Askeisk doesn’t have a specific verb ending for the future tense. Most of the time, an auxiliary verb (munu, skulu, or vilja) is used in front of the bare infinitive form of the following verb.
Jeg munu fulgja tig. “I will (in the future) follow you.”
Jeg skulu fylgja tig. “I will (must) follow you.”
Jeg vilja fylgja tig. “I will (intend to) follow you.”
A temporal adverb can be used with a present tense verb to indicate that an action occurs in the future:
Jeg fylgjir tig senn. “I’ll follow you soon.”
Negating Verbs
The adverb ekki “not” is used to negate verbs:
Jeg em ekki gladur. “I am not happy.”
Tau er ekki fornt. “They are not old.”
The Present & Past Perfects
The weak verb hava “to hold” can be used as an auxiliary verb when the following verb is in its supine form. The supine form is formed by suffixing the verb stem with –(a)t.
Jeg havi fylgjat tig. “I have followed you.”
Jeg hava fylgjat tig. “I had followed you.”