VERBS
Verbs have markers for tense, aspect, and mood, but they do not conjugate or modify the root.
-
tense (location in time) indicated by verb suffixes (conjugation)
-
aspect is not used that often unless it must be explicitly stated that the action has not ended yet
-
mood indicates degree of necessity, obligation, probability, ability, etc.
-
hortative modalities are verbal expressions used by the speaker to encourage or discourage an action. Different hortatives can be used to express greater or lesser intensity, or the speaker's attitude, for (cohortative) or against it (dehortative).
-
TO BE OR NOT TO BE?
There is no verb for "to be" in Seaspeak. Sentences in English like "the sky is blue" or "Tili is a sailor" are handled in a variety of ways. The main verbs that take the place of "to be" are as follows:
-
rūrre - to feel emotions
-
thithū - to feel sensations
-
ase - to act, behave, or do action
-
asana - to think or believe
-
ji - to seem or look for appearance
-
ponu - to appear or materialize for natural phenomena "it's raining"