I guess I will just post a new lesson and hope to get some more people interested
LESSON 6
VERBS, SECOND PART
Quick recap: Emilian has three main conjugations, i.e. the 1st (-êr), the 2nd (-er) and the 3rd (-îr).
We already checked out 1st conjugation verbs; today, we're going to have a look at the remaining two conjugations.
2ND CONJUGATION: -ER
First of all, here are some common 2nd conjugation verbs:
màter (a → i) - to put
vàder (a → Ø) - to see
lěżer (ě → i) - to read
scréver (é → i) - to write
The main difference, in terms of infinitive, between 1st and 2nd conjugation verbs is the position of the stress. The 1st conjugation is stressed on the ending; the 2nd on the root. This distinction stays in the three singular persons as well as the 3pl; for 1pl and 2pl it's reversed. This means that, while for 1st conjugation verbs ablaut is applied (with respect to the infinitive) in 4 of 6 forms, for 2nd conjugation verbs it's applied only for the remaining 2, i.e. 1pl and 2pl.
Let's have a look at the conjugation!
Mè a màt
Tè't màt
Ló/lě al/la màt
Nuêtr'a mitàm
Vuêtr'a mitî
Lǒr i màten
From this verb, we can guess the 2nd conjugation endings:
Code: Select all
SG PL
1 Ø àm
2 Ø î
3 Ø en
1pl and 3pl are the same as the first conjugation; 2pl is different though, as it adds -î, and not -ê.
3RD CONJUGATION: -ÎR
3rd conjugation verbs are quite unique in their pattern. Here are some regular 3rd conjugation verbs:
finîr - to finish, to end
partîr - to leave, to start (from)
capîr - to understand
Let's take finîr and conjugate it:
Mè a finés
Tè't finés
Ló/lě al/la finés
Nuêtr'a finàm
Vuêtr'a finî
Lǒr i finésen
The first thing to notice is that there is no ablaut for 3rd conjugation verbs. The stress never moves from the ending, so one forms fits the whole conjugation.
The second important thing to notice is the -és ending, which is shared among the three singular persons and is found in the 3pl as well.
One could analyze the present conjugation of a 3rd conjugation verb as the same that the 2nd conjugation uses, except all forms that would carry a stress on the root get the extra -és.
This feature adds a layer of distinction between Emilian and Italian, since many -ire verbs in our national language don't get the -isc extension that -és corresponds to. Compare:
finîr - mè a finés vs. finire - io finisco
BUT
partîr - mè a partés vs. partire - io parto
Now, to tell the truth, there are some verbs in Emilian that don't get the -és extension. Most of them, however, do not belong to the 3rd declension - they are irregular. Take "durmîr" (to sleep), for example:
mè a drôm, tè't drôm, ló al drôm, nuêtr'a durmàm, vuêtr'a durmî, lǒr i drômen
Some other irregular -îr verbs include:
dîr (to say) - mè a dég, tè't dî, ló al dîṡ, nuêtr'a giàm, vuêtr'a gî, lǒr i dîṡen
gnîr (to come) - mè a végn, tè't vin, ló al vén, nuêtr'a gnàm, vuêtr'a gnî, lǒr i vénen
Some verbs have an -îr ending, but behave like 2nd declension verbs:
murîr (to die) - mè a mǒr, tè't mǒr, ló al mǒr, nuêtr'a muràm, vuêtr'a murî, lǒr i mǒren
One could, of course, classify these verbs in at least three ways:
-they are regular 3rd declension verbs, but don't get the -és extension;
-they are regular, but belong to a separate declension (4th maybe?);
-they are irregular altogether.
My advice is - don't worry too much about this. There's only a handful of such verbs, so learning them as if they were irregular is probably the best thing to do.
Speaking of which...
IRREGULAR VERBS
Let's have a look at some very common Emilian irregular verbs!
ĚSER - to be
Mè a soun
Tè t'ě
Ló/lě l'è
Nuêtr'a sàm
Vuêtr'a sî
Lǒr i/agli ein
AVĚR - to have*
Mè a j ò
Tè t'ê
Ló/lě l'à
Nuêtr'a j àm
Vuêtr'a î
Lǒr i/agli an
* avěr by itself can only be used to form compound tenses of verbs that use it as an auxiliary. The proper way to express possession is via its compound form avěreg:
AVĚREG - to own, to possess
Mè a gh'ò
Tè't gh'ě
Ló/lě al/la gh'à
Nuêtr'a gh'avàm
Vuêtr'a gh'avî
Lǒr i gh'an
Note that, while all other forms are just prefixed with gh', 1pl and 2pl have a different form, that looks like it was prefixed with av-. From an etymological point of view it's actually the opposite, i.e. the av- is dropped when the verb is used to form compound tenses.
TǑR - to take
Mè a tóg
Tè't tǒ
Ló/lě al/la tǒṡ
Nuêtr'a tulàm
Vuêtr'a tulî
Lǒr i tǒṡen
As a side note, tǒr comes from the Latin verb tollo, which has evolved into Italian to make togliere "to remove".
Emilian, on the other hand, uses a periphrasis to express this meaning, i.e. tǒr vìa, quite literally "take away".
VLĚR - to want
Mè a vój
Tè't vǒ
Ló/lě al/la vǒl
Nuêtr'a vlàm
Vuêtr'a vlî
Lǒr i vǒlen
This will be the last irregular verb for today, but now that I finally can, let me introduce a good old Emilian joke about irregular verbs!
Two men are going around in the red light district of their city, when they finally find two hookers they like.
As the driver pulls over, he tells the passenger:
"Edmandeg s'al vǒlen."
He looks out at the hookers and says:
"Oh, vulêv?"
"Mo nò! Edmandeg s'as tǒṡen!" the other guy tells him.
Again he looks out at the hookers and says:
"Oh, as tuṡêv?"
The joke here is that "vǒlen" is the 3pl of vlěr as much as of vulêr (to fly), and "s(a)" is both the conjunction "if" and the interrogative "what" (often used to mean "how much" with money). Thus, the driver might have told the passenger
Ask them how much money they want
or
Ask them whether they can fly
and, of course, the passenger picked the wrong possibility and asked "can you fly?".
So the driver tries to correct him, but falls once again into a linguistic trap: "tǒṡen" is the 3pl of "tǒr" (again used often with money, to mean how much someone charges for their service) but also of "tuṡêr" (to shave, especially the head). So the second question could be either
Ask them how much money they charge
or
Ask them to shave us
and yet again the passenger chooses the wrong possibility and asks "would you please shave us?".
EXERCISES
- Complete these sentences by properly conjugating the verb in brackets.
- Par Nadêl al _____ seimper trôp. (spànder) - He always spends too much on Christmas.
- Incǒ la cà't la ____ tè. (pulîr) - You clean the house today.
- Sa dît? A fóm dimóndi? A _____ quand a ____! (smàter, vlěr) - What are you saying? I smoke too much? I (can) quit when I want!
- Spàs as _____ elegant. (vistîr) - He often dresses smart. (the verb is reflexive in Emilian, but for the sake of this exercise nothing changes)
- Oh mo et _____ seimpr'incǒsa! (pěrder) - You always lose everything!
- Show the full conjugation of these verbs. Ablaut is shown in brackets where needed.
- měder (ě → i) - to harvest, to reap
- bâter (â → a) - to beat (an object, especially with a stick, or someone at a game; not as in "to purposefully hurt")
- armâgner (â → a) - to stay, to remain (somewhere)
- cumpîr - used with an age to mean "to turn (that age)"
- cundîr - to season food
- preferîr - to prefer