Posts about Reisu every Monday and Thursday

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Conjugating modality

Besides what's covered in my previous verb conjugation post, verbs can also be conjugated for some modalities. This is done with prefixes.

To Need - Ru Fahei  
 PositiveNegative
BasicIfaheiUfahei
DoKifaheiKufahei
WillSifaheiSufahei
WouldZifaheiZufahei
CanLifaheiLufahei
CouldPifaheiPufahei
May/mightMifaheiMufahei
MustNifaheiNufahei
Ought to/shouldXifaheiXufahei


The basic positive and negative forms are mostly used for answer yes/no questions. The most correct way to answer a question is to repeat the verb with i- or u-.

Example:
O amufu gaparu nei?
     Will you eat the apple?
Ihamufu/Uhamufu
     Yes/No (in the future)
Ihamu/Uhamu
     Yes/No (now)
I/U
     Yes/No (impolite, implies annoyance or frustration with the question)

The other modalities are used similarly to their English equivalents. For example will gets the prefix si-, and will not gets the prefix su-.

Just the prefixes:

ModalityPositiveNegative
BasicI-U-
DoKi-Ku-
WillSi-Su-
WouldZi-Zu-
CanLi-Lu-
CouldPi-Pu-
May/mightMi-Mu-
MustNi-Nu-
Ought to/shouldXi-Xu-

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