Tjoc

Tjoc
Tjoc
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|'tjo:tʃ]]
Created by	–
Native to	Kingdom of Angelkinn
Native speakers	30 millions (2012)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo-Frisian Anglic Anglo-Saxon Tjoc
Official status
Official language in	Kingdom of Angelkinn
Language codes
ISO 639-1	tj
ISO 639-2	tjo
ISO 639-3	tjo
Kingdom of Angelkinn

General informations

Tjoc is a language spoken in the Ljoshare af Angelkinn (= Country of Angelkinn), a country that corresponds to Modern England on a parallel timeline, where the United Kingdom doesn't exist. This language has evolved from the Anglo-Saxon with a scarce influence of Latin, while one can appreciate a Scandinavian influence. Thus Tjoc is a Germanic language that is strongly linked to Modern English.

Phonology

Alphabet

Tjoc alphabet uses letters from Latin alphabet and contains 24 characters:

Letters	Pronunciation	Further informations
a	[a]	short 'a'
å	[ɑ:]	long 'a'
b	[b]	-
c	[tʃ]	-
d	[d]	it can be realized as both a dental and an alveolar
e	[ɛ] / [e:]	in plural cluster -es it is not pronounced
f	[f]	-
g	[g]	it is always pronunced as in the English word "get"
h	[h]	in the digraph 'hv' it is read [k]
i	[ɪ]	short 'i'
j	[j]	it corresponds to y in English you
k	[k]	-
l	[l]	-
m	[m]	-
n	[n]	-
o	[ɔ] / [o:]	-
p	[p]	-
r	[r]	trilled just as in Italian
s	[s]	always voiceless
t	[t]	it can be realized as both a dental and an alveolar
u	[ʊ]	short 'u'
ů	[u:]	long 'u'
w	[v]	it was [w] in Old English, then this sound evolved into [v], but the grapheme <w> remained
y	[i:]	long 'i'

The letter 'c' had two different sounds in Old English: [tʃ] or [k], but when <k> was generalised to express the sound [k], <c> remained to express the sound [tʃ], as in the Old English word ic, "I".

Consonantic phonemes

Tjoc language has the following consonantic phonemes:

Phonemes	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	p b		(t̯) (d̯)	t d			k g
Affricate					tʃ
Nasal	m	(ɱ)		n			(ŋ)
Fricative		f v		s	ʃ			h
Approximant				r		j	(w)
Lateral approximant				l

In the South the final postvocalic <f> is not pronunced, ex.: stof is read as [sto:], wouf is read as ['vɔu̯], and so on. The [w] phoneme is found as a glide in words like wouen, wolves, that is pronounced as ['vɔu̯wɛn].

Vocalic phonemes

In Tjoc there are the following vowels:

Phonemes	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Closed	ɪ	ʊ	i:	u:
Mid-closed			e:	o:
Mid-open	ɛ	ɔ
Open	a			ɑ:

The 'a' is realized not precisely in the front of mouth, but in the mid between the front and centre of the mouth, wehereas the 'å' [ɑ:] is realized in the mid between the back and the centre of mouth.

Vowel length

The short vowels 'a', 'i' and 'u' have got a long counterpart: 'å', 'y' and 'ů'. Only the vowels 'e' and 'o' can be either short or long, but they are written always in one way. The pronunciation of these two vowels, however, seems not to be more relevant in the language. Actually there are words that differ in the pronunciation of these vowels, such as wjor, that means both "far", when it is pronounced ['vjɔr], and "four", when it is pronounced ['vjo:r]. Anyway in the present language the context has become more important than the correct pronunciation of 'e' and 'o'.

Diphthongs and digraphs

Tjoc has got also twenty diphthongs, that is clusters of two vowels pronounced with a single emission of air. These diphthongs are:

Diphthongs	Pronunciation
aj - åj	[aɪ] - [ɑ:ɪ]
au - åu	[aʊ] - [ɑ:ʊ]
ej	[ɛɪ] - [e:ɪ]
eu	[ɛʊ] - [e:ʊ]
ja - jå	[ja] - [jɑ:]
je	[jɛ] - [je:]
jo	[jɔ] - [jo:]
ju - jů	[jʊ] - [ju:]
oj	[ɔɪ] - [o:ɪ]
ou	[ɔʊ] - [o:ʊ]

Tjoc has got two digraphs too: <hw>, that is pronounced [hv] or [kv] depending on the speaker, and <sh>, that is pronounced [ʃ].

Stress

The position of stress in this language is quite regular, because it falls on the root and thus there are few rules to observe:

• In substantives (and in adjectives and adverbs) the stress generally falls on the first syllable, but if they are compound nouns / adjectives, formed by prefix + noun / adjective, the stress falls on the root syllable of the noun / adjective, ex.: jarjewels, "forgiveness", is read as [var'jɛvɛls]. In compounds which are formed by noun / adjective + noun / adjective, the various words are read as if they were written separately, ex.: lerstof, "school", is read as ['le:r 'sto:f];

• In verbs the stress falls always on the root, even if they are compounds, ex.: iwacan, "to wake up", is read as [ɪ'vatʃan].

Grammar

Nouns, gender and number

Tjoc language has got only two genders: common gender (or uter gender) and neuter gender. The previously masculine and feminine words have merged into the uter gender, whereas neuter words have remained neuter, even if in some cases there has been a gender switch.

Nouns can be both singular (denoting just one object) and plural (denoting more than one object). The formation of plural is not always so simple, because there are four ways to form it:

1) Some uter nouns take -es suffix, the <e> in this suffix is generally not pronounced; 2) some uter nouns take -(e)n suffix; 3) some uter nouns take no suffix, some of these undergo a root vowel change too; 4) neuter nouns take no suffix, that is singular and plural forms are identical.

Generally uter nouns ending in -ing or consonant have the first kind of plural, whereas uter nouns ending in -e have the second kind of plural. Some monosyllabic uter nouns ending in consonant experiment a root vowel modification, but they are just few. Endly some uter words have got two kinds of plural: a regular one (in -es or -en) and an irregular one (with no ending at all or/and a root vowel change). Some nouns with their plural form and meaning

Here is a list of nouns of both genders with their plural form, their gender and their meaning:

Singular	Plural	Gender	Meaning
stån	stånes	uter	stone
wot	wet	uter	foot
lond	lond	neuter	land
hjoun	hjounes	uter	sky, heaven
sho	shon	uter	shoe
ljot	ljot	neuter	light
lyf	lyen	uter	life
språc	språcen	uter	language
djor	djor	neuter	animal
bok	bek	uter	book
frywe	-	uter	love
frjå	frjån	uter	lord
frjåstre	frjåstren	uter	lady
mann	menn	uter	man
wyf	wyen	uter	woman
wouf	wouen	uter	wolf
hjort	hjort	neuter	heart
håle	hålen	uter	head
stof	sten	uter	place
tyd	tyd	neuter	time
merjen	merjen	neuter	morning
dag	dages	uter	day
åfning	åfninges	uter	afternoon
hwiltyd	hwiltyd	neuter	evening
nyt	nyten	uter	night
mone	monen	uter	moon
atelkund	atelkundes	uter	nobleman
atlestre	atlestren	uter	noblewoman
trjo	trjo	neuter	tree
hann	hannen	uter	hand
shor	shor	neuter	star
jaw	jawen	uter	eye
lerend	lerend / lerend	uter	teacher
frjond	frjondes / frynd	uter	friend
wjond	wjondes / wynd	uter	enemy
lynd	lyndes / lynd	uter	lover
hůnn	hůnnes	uter	dog

The nouns ending in '-nd' are present participles and have two kinds of plural:

• '-es' plural, that is quite spread;
• zero plural, that is quite literary.

Though the nouns in '-ȝond' have got both an '-es' plural and a zero plural with a vowel change from '-jo-' to '-y-'. In this case the second form is the most spread.

The nouns ending in vowel + 'f' lose final 'f' when forming plural.

Formation of feminine

Distinguishing between nouns that indicate a feminine being and those that indicate a masculine being can be very difficult in a language that has a common gender for both masculine and feminine. However distinguishing is not always so difficult as one could think, because Tȝoch language has a suffix with that the feminine form of a noun can be formed: -estre (pl. -estren).

Usually this suffix causes no changes in root, but some times it is used with a modified root:

• frjå - frjåstre;
• lerend - lerendstre;
• frjond - fryndstre;
• wjond - wyndstre;
• lynd - lyndstre.

Articles

Two kinds of article exist in Tjoc: indefinite and definite article.

The indefinite article has got no plural form and the singular one is the same for all the genders: an. This article is used to talk about things, facts, beings that are introduces for the first time into the conversation, that is we use the indefinite article to talk about new and not known informations, to talk about undetermined informations.

The definite article is used to talk about well known things, facts, beings instead. These informations are familiar to the speakers, because they are already talking about them, or because they belong to the experiences baggage of the speakers, that is we use the definite article to talk about known informations, to talk about determined informations.

Even if Tjoc has lost nouns inflection, the definite article has three cases, in addition to the plural forms:

Definite article	Uter	Neuter	Plural
Nom. / Acc.	se	tat	te
Gen.	tes	tes	tejr
Dat.	tem	tem	ten

The nominative case refers to the subject of a sentence; the accusative case, that is identical to the nominative, refers to the object of a sentence or to the complements that indicate movement; the genitive case refers to possession and the dative case refers to the addressee or to the complements that indicate state. The plural forms are the same for both uter and neuter gender.

Often it is sufficient to use this inflection to express syntactic functions of the elements of a sentence or a phrase, ex.:

• Se språc tes mann - The language of the man;
• Jef het tem frjåstre - Give it to the lady.

Adjectives

The adjectives generally precede the noun to whom they refer, but in some case they follow the noun. In Tjoc the adjectives have two different forms: one for the singular (without ending) and one for the plural (with '-e' ending). Moreover the form ending in '-e' is used for both singular and plural when the nouns to whom the adjective refers is preceded by a determiner, that is a possessive, a demonstrative or the definite article, this form of the adjective is called weak form.

If the substantive is not preceded by a determiner (remember that the indefinite article is not a determiner), than it is used the adjective without ending for the singular and that with '-e' ending for the plural, this form is called strong form.

Adjectives in predicative position, that is after a verb, are never inflected.

Here is a list of adjectives with the two forms:

Strong singular	Strong plural / Weak	Meaning
goj	goje	good
iwel	iwele	bad
glåj	glåje	happy
sari	sari (!)	sad
hjå	hjå	tall / high
skam	skame	short
shen	shene	beautiful / goodlooking
unfawer	unfawre (!)	ugly
grjat	grjate	big / great
litel	lille (!)	little / small
gemel	gemle (!)	old
jong	jonge	young
strong	stronge	strong
wåk	wåke	weak
håt	håte	hot
call	calle	cold
joker	jokre (!)	terrible
njå	njå	near / close
wjor	wjorre	far / distant

As it can be seen, adjectives ending with '-i' or with a long vowel don't take the '-e' ending in the weak forms and in the plural form. An example of use:

• An litel katt - A little cat;
• Se lille katt - The little cat.

Comparative

The higher degree comparative is formed with the suffix '-ar' (some irregular adjectives form it with '-er'). The second term of comparation is introduced by als and is in the same case of the first, ex.:

• An blosne shenar als an trjo - A flower more beautiful than a tree.

The same degree comparative is formed with the periphrasis så + adjective + hů, ex.:

• An blosne så shen hů an trjo - A flower as beautiful as a tree.

The lower degree comparative is formed with the periphrasis lass + adjective + als, ex.:

• An blosne lass shen als an trjo - A flower less beautiful than a tree.

Adjectives with an irregular higher degree comparative

Some adjectives have got an irregular form of higher degree comparative:

Positive	Strong comparative	Weak comparative
goj	beter	betre
iwel	wyrs	wyrse
litel	småler	smålre
grjat	gryter	grytre
gemel	eller	elre
jong	jenger	jengre
hjå	hyr	hyrre
strong	strenger	strengre
njå	nyr	nyrre
wjor	wyr	wyrre

Irregular higher degree comparatives are used as normal comparatives, ex.:

• Tů jart hyr als y (jom) - You are taller than I (am).

Superlative

The superlative degree is formed with the suffix '-ast' (some irregular adjectives form it with '-est'). The relative superlative is the same form of the absolute superlative, but it is preceded by the definite article and is generally followed by a limitation, that is expressed with i + dative case, ex.:

• Se shenast blosne i tem werl - The most beautiful flower in the world.

Adjectives with an irregular superlative

The same adjectives that have an irregular higher degree comparative have got also an irregular superlative form:

Positive	Strong superlative	Weak superlative
goj	best	beste
iwel	wyst	wyste
litel	smålst	smålste
grjat	gryst	gryste
gemel	ellest	elste
jong	jengst	jengste
hjå	hyst	hyste
strong	strengst	strengste
njå	nyrst	nyrste
wjor	wyrst	wyrste

Numerals

Numerals don't inflect. Here are the numerals from 0 to 100:

Number	Cardinal	Ordinal
0	naut	-
1	ån	wirst
2	twejn	twejd
3	try	trid
4	wjor	wjort
5	wy	wift
6	sys	syst
7	sjoun	sjount
8	jåt	jåtet
9	nejn	nejnt
10	ten	tent
11	elljoun	elljount
12	twelf	twelft
13	trjotin	trjotint
14	wjortin	wjortint
15	wiftin	wiftint
16	systin	systint
17	sjountin	sjountint
18	jåttin	jåttint
19	nejntin	nejntint
20	twejnti	twejntit
21	twejnti-ån	twejnti-wirst
22	twejnti-twejn	twejnti-twejnt
30	tryti	trytit
40	wjorti	wjortit
50	wifti	wiftit
60	systi	systit
70	sjounti	sjountit
80	jåtti	jåttit
90	nejnti	nejntit
100	hůdre	hůdret

Units are written linked to the tens with a hyphen, while tens and hundreds are written detached, ex.: 195 hůdre nejnti-wy.

From 100 on, numerals are formed with a suffix '-od': 200 twåod, 300 tryod, 400 wjorod, 500 wyod, 600 sysod, 700 sjounod, 800 jåtod, 900 nejnod. This form is the evolution of a former juxtaposition, ex.: try hůd > tryod.

Please note that the numeral 200 is irregular, because an alternative form of 2, that is twå, is used. Also the form for hundred in compounds is irregular: hůd, this form is quite archaic nowadays.

The ordinals of the numbers from 200 to 900 are obtained by substituting the final '-d' for '-t', ex.: 200 twåod > 200th twåot.

A thousand is said tusenn and its ordinal form is tusent. The numbers from 1000 on are expressed with a hypen, ex.: 2000 twejn-tůsenn, 5000 wy-tůsenn, 9000 nejn-tůsenn and so on.

The word for a million is miklenn (< O.E. miclung, "greatness" × Ti. tůsenn) and it behaves as tůsenn.

A thousand million is an tůsenn miklenn. A billion (in the sense of a million million) is biklenn, from the French "bi- + million", that has been substituted for "bi- + miklenn".

Pronouns and kinds of adjectives

Personal pronouns

In Tjoc personal pronouns inflect according the four cases that have been seen for the definite article: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive.

Case	1st person
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	y		we
Accusative	mek		ůs
Dative	me		ůs
Genitive	myn		ůr
Case	2nd person
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	tů		je
Accusative	tek		jou
Dative	te		jou
Genitive	tyn		jower
Case	3rd person
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	he	hjo	het	hy
Accusative	hin	hir	het	hy
Dative	him	hir	him	hem
Genitive	his	hjos	his	heras

Please note that the dative form of the 2nd person singular, te, is the same as the nominative form of the plural definite article. In a sentence the pronouns in dative case are positioned before of those in accusative case, so prepositions could be omitted, ex.:

• Jef me het - Give it to me.

When there are a pronoun and a noun, the pronoun always precedes the noun, ex.:

• Jef het tem frjåstre - Give it to the lady;
• Jef hir se hůnn - Give her the dog.

Tjoc has also preserved two ancient 2nd person pronouns which indicate a couple, they are the dual pronouns wit and jit, respectively we two and you two. Even if they are quite old, they are still very used:

Case	Wit	Jit
Nominative	wit	jit
Accusative	unk	ink
Dative	unk	ink
Genitive	unker	inker

Nowadays the difference between we and wit and between je and jit is fading and is losing its original number distinction: wit and jit are more and more used to express a higher grade of intimacy and informality, whereas we and je are acquiring a shade of formality and politeness. It is to be said that in the West zone of Angelkinn also the forms ůnk/ynk and ůnker/ynker are found, probably due to a contamination with the plural pronoun we (acc. ůs/gen. ůr) and to a generalisation of the long vowel.

Demonstratives

Demonstratives are formed with the three place adverbs her (here, "near to the speaker"), ter (there, but in Tjoc meaning "near to the listener") and jon (yon, but in Tjoc meaning "far from both speaker and listener"). These pronouns match perfectly the three persons:

Person	Adverb	Demonstrative	Meaning
1st	her	se / tat ... her	this one
2nd	ter	se / tat ... ter	that one (near you)
3rd	jon	se / tat ... jon	that one (over there)

If a noun is inserted between the definite article and the adverb, the demonstrative functions as an adjective, ex.:

• Se her - This one (here), but Se katt her - This cat (here).

As the place adverbs inflect, even the demonstratives "inflect". In fact the place adverbs take three kind of suffix to show if the indicate state, movement towards or movement from a definite place. So it is possible, with verbs denoting movement or state, to indicate this aspect with the demonstrative:

Relation	Her	Ter	Jon
State	tem ... her	tem ... ter	tem ... jon
Movement from	tem ... hens	tem ... tens	tem ... jons
Movement towards	se / tat ... heder	se / tat ... teder	se / tat ... jonner

This use of the demonstrative allows us not to use prepositions, ex.:

• Y jom tem hůs her means "I'm in this house" and there's no need to use the preposition i (= in);
• Y kume tem hůs tens means "I come from that house" without using af (= from);
• Y gå tat hůs jonner means "I go to that house over there" without using to (= to).

But it is true that these three sentences show a particularly refined language, colloquially speaking, these sentences become respectively:

• Y jom i tem hůs her;
• Y kume af tem hůs ter;
• Y gå to tat hůs jon.

People tend not to inflect demonstratives (nor place adverbs).

Possessives

Possessives are the same when they're used as both adjectives and pronouns and, while possessive adjectives don't need article before, possessive pronouns need it:

Person	Singular	Plural
y	myn	myne
tů	tyn	tyne
he / het	syn	syne
hjo	hirs	hirs
wit	unker	unkre
jit	inker	inkre
we	ůr	ůre
je	jower	jowre
hy	heras	heras

Possessives derive from the genitive of the personal pronouns, except for the 3rd masculine and neuter singular. Hirs and heras only have a single form for both singular and plural. Here are some examples:

• Myn katt > Se myn - My cat > Mine;
• Tyn hůnn > Se tyn - Your dog > Yours;
• Syn wyf > Se syn - His wife > His;
• Hirs mann > Se hirs - Her man > Hers;
• Ůr djor > Tat ůr - Our animal > Ours;
• Jower frjond > Se jower - Your friend > Yours;
• Heras hjort > Tat heras - Their heart > Theirs.

Plural forms:

• Myne kattes > Te myne - My cats > Mine;
• Tyne hůnnes > Te tyne - Your dogs > Yours;
• Syne ƿyen > Te syne - His wifes > His;
• Hirs menn > Te hirs - Her men > Hers;
• Ůre djor > Te ůre - Our animals > Ours;
• Jowre frynd > Te jowre - Your friends > Yours;
• Heras hjort > Te heras - Their hearts > Theirs.

Relatives and 'interro-exclamatories'

Interrogative pronouns, which are used also to make exclamations, function also as relatives:

Case	Hwå (who)	Hwat (what)
Nominative	hwå	hwat
Accusative	hwan	hwat
Dative	hwam	hwam
Genitive	hwas	hwas
Instrumental	-	hwy

Ex.:

• Hwå is he? - Who is he?
• Hwat an shen hůnn! - What a beautiful dog!
• Hwas is se bok her? - Whose is this book?
• Hwam hafstů isagd het? - Whom have you said it to?
• Se jon is se wyf ƕan y frjowe - That there is the woman whom I love.

Instrumental case hwy corresponds perfectly to English "why" (but also to the English "because"!), ex.:

• Hwy haftů iskån se metning ter? - Why have you made that painting?

Indefinites

Indefinites give us incomplete informations, because they don't define the precise quantity or the identity:

Indefinite	Meaning
ålcen	someone/anyone
ålcet	something/anything
nån	nobody
nåt	nothing
åwilk	each
jall	all
oter / o'r	other

The indefinite jall and oter have got also a plural form: jallen and oteren/o'ren.

Indefinites can be formed also with the word elles:

• Elles hwå / elshwå - Someone else;
• Elles hwat / elshwat - Something else;
• Te elles - The others.

In elshwå and elshwat 'sh' isn't a digraph, 's' and 'hw' have to be read separately!

If these indefinites are used as interrogatives, than elles follows the pronouns:

• Tjarftů hwat elles? - Do you need something else?
• Knaut hjo hwan elles? - Does she know someone else?

Adverbs

Usually adverbs in Tjoc are formed by suffixation: many adverbs derive from adjectives, to that the suffix -lic is added. Some examples:

• glåj > glåjlic (happy - happily);
• sari > sarilic (sad - sadly);
• grjat > gryllic (great - greatly);
• strong > strenglic (strong - strongly);
• wåk > wåklic (weak - weakly).

Some adverbs have got suppletive forms, ex.: goj > jarwe; iwel > lyter.

Adverbs can be positioned wherever we want, but it is necessary to remember these rules:

1) adverbs can be positioned between subject and verb, but if this verb is the verb bjon, then the adverb is positioned after the verb;

2) adverbs can be positioned between auxiliary verbs and the taken verbs.

Place adverbs

As it has been seen in the chapter about demonstratives, some place adverbs - her, ter and jon - inflect to indicate a state, a movement towards or a movement from. Also the adverb hwer, "where", inflects:

Form	Hwer	Her	Ter	Jon
State	hwer	her	ter	jon
Movement to	hweder	heder	teder	jonner
Movement from	hwens	hens	tens	jons

The adverb hwer / hweder / hwens can be used also as a relative, ex.:

• Se stof her is se tůn, hwens y kume - This place is the town where I come from;
• Kerdit was se tůn, hweder y skolle gån - Cardiff was the town where I had to go to.

The adverb hwer also has the form hwerjen, but it is used only in the expression elles hwerjen, "elsewhere".

When hweder and hwens are used as interrogative adverbs, they can be written separately, ex.:

• Hwens kimtů? or Hwer kimtů hinnes? - Where do you come from?
• Hweder gåtů? or Hwer gåtů hider? - Where are you going to?

Other place adverbs are: ålhwer, "somewhere", and nålhwer, "nowhere".

Time adverbs

The adverb hwonne, "when", can be used both as interrogative and relative. Other time adverbs are:

• nů - now;
• tann - then;
• iworn - before;
• eften - after;
• ålhwon - some times;
• injaklic - usually;
• jaltyd - always;
• åfre - ever;
• nåfre - never;
• elles tyd / elstyd - another time.

Frequency can be expressed also with numerals and -nes suffix, ex.:

• ån > ånnes - once;
• twejn > twejnnes - twice;
• try > trynes - thrice;
• wjor > wjornes - four times;
• wy > wifnes (!) - five times;
• sys > sysnes - six times...

Expressions such as "Eight times a week" are translated as Jåtens an wuke.

Manner adverbs

Manner adverbs are created from adjectives with the suffix -lic. The interrogative and relative manner adverb is hů, "how". Some times manner adverbs inflect and have a higher degree comparative and a superlative, ex.:

• glåjlic - glåjlicar - glåjlicast (happily - happilier - happiliest);
• strenglic - strenglicar - strenglicast (strongly - stronglier - strongliest).

Some adverbs have an irregular comparative and superlative form:

• jarwe - beter - best;
• lyter - wyrs - wyrst;
• micel - mår - måst (much - more - most);
• (an) lit / liten - lass - last (little - less - least).

Both gryllic and micel can be used to mean "very", ex.: tů jart gryllic / micel shen - You are very beautiful.

Verbs

The verb in Tjoc has got six moods: indicative, subjunctive, conditional, imperative, infinitive and participle; various tenses, such as present, past, future, and aspects represented by "tenses" such as present perfect, past perfect and future perfect.

Tjoc verbs inflect also according to person (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and number (singular and plural, for dual pronouns they are used the plural forms).

Verbs always follow the subject, because Tjoc is a SVO language, that is the subject precedes the verb and the verb precedes the object. In questions or in special constructions, the verb can precede the subject though, and the order becomes VSO.

Present indicative

The present of regular verbs is formed with the suffixes -e for the 1st person singular, -(e)t for the 2nd and the 3rd persons singular, and -a for the three plural persons. To avoid confusion, the subject is always expressed.

Person	Lyrnan (to learn / to read)	Wennan (to live)	Lycan (to like)
y	lyrne	wenne	lyce
tů / he	ljornt	went	lycet
we / je / hy	lyrna	wenna	lyca

Present indicative is used to express actions that are happening in the moment or around the moment of speaking, to talk about actions that happen habitually, to talk about past actions when telling a story or talking about history to confere more dramatic power to what is being said, to talk about future events that are considered likely or sure, to express universal truths.

The verb lycan functions in a different way than in English, ex.:

• Tů lycet me - I like you.

The subject of this verb is the person/thing who/which is liked, whereas the person who likes is expressed in the dative case.

Here are some examples:

• Hwer wentů? - Where do you live?
• Y lyrne an bok - I study a book;
• Lycet het te? - Do you like it?
• Lyce y te? - Do you like me?
• Y wenne her - I live here;
• Hjo went jon - She lives over there.

Please note that when the verb precedes the 2nd person singular, the pronouns merges with the verb, ex.: ljornt tů > ljorntů; went tů > wentů, and so on.

Present indicative of irregular verbs

Some verbs are totally irregular, other partially: the most irregular verb of all is bjon, "to be":

Person	Bjon
y	jom
tů	jart
he	is
we / je / hy	sinn

Some examples:

• Hwå jartů? - Who are you?
• Hwå is he? - Who is he?
• Y jom an mann - I am a man;
• Tů jart an wyf - You are a woman;
• Hy sinn djor - They are animals.

Old verbs in -jan

If one observes the conjugation of the verb lyrnan, he will see that in the 2nd and the 3rd person singular the root undergoes a vowel change: -y- becomes -jo-. This irregularity is found in all the so called -jan verbs, that is verbs that had in Anglo-Saxon a conjugation with -i- in some endings and without it in others (such as the 2nd and the 3rd person singular of present indicative). This -i- has disappeared in the endings, but, before, has changed the root vowel; not all the vowels undergo this change though: only o and u / ů undergo this change and become respectively e and i / y, the diphthong jo becomes y instead.

Here are the verbs lyrnan, behewan, "to be necessary", and kinnan, "to experience":

Person	Lyrnan	Behewan	Kinnan
y	lyrne	behewe	kinne
tů / he	ljornt	behoft	kunt
we / je / hy	lyrna	behewa	kinna

The answer to this irregularity comes from Old English:

Old English	Tjoc	Old English	Tjoc	Old English	Tjoc
leornian	lyrnan	behōfian	behewan	cunnian	kinnan
leornaþ	ljornt	behōfaþ	behoft	cunnaþ	kunt
leorniaþ	lyrna	behōfiaþ	behewa	cunniaþ	kinna

When the root vowel is an 'a', an 'e' or an 'i', this vowel doesn't experience any change, in this case the 'j' appears in the endings of the 1st person singular, of the plurals and of the infinitive, but doesn't in those of the 2nd and the 3rd person singular. An example is the verb hatjan, "to hate":

Person	Hatjan
y	hatje
tů / he	håt (< hatt)
we / je / hy	hatja

Present of "specialised verbs"

During the evolution from Anglo-Saxon, many verbs specialized their meaning, thus these verbs are called specialized verbs and they are all irregular verbs.

Here is the present indicative of the verbs knåwan and wytan, both "to know", segan and hwetan, both "to say", don and skån, both "to do":

Person	Knåwan	Wytan	Segan	Hwetan	Don	Skån
y	knåwe	wåt	sege	hwete	do	skå
tů / he	knaut	wåt	sagt / såt	hwet	det	skaft
we / je / hy	knåwa	wyton	sega	hweta	do	skå

The verb knåwan means "to know someone", whereas wytan means "to know something". The verbs segan and hwetan are almost always interchangeable and mean "to say, to tell", the second is the most used though. Hwetan means also "to assert, to argue, to allude", while segan can mean also "to pronounce". The form såt for sagt is mostly found in the spoken language.

Don and skån both mean "to do", but they are different just like to do and to make in English. The verb skån means "to create material things", it is used in such expressions as: skån tat bed, "to make the bed", skån an klåwje, "to make a sandwich", but also skån se såmwys, "to act dumb". Don refers to a mental or immaterial activity, such as don an enhwil, "to do a research", don an skrůting, "to do an exam", but also don an minid, "to make a gesture".

Other specialized verbs are:

Person	Åwan	Håban	Willan	Mawan	Kunnan	Motan
y	åg	håbe	will	mag	konn	mot
tů / he	åg	haft	wilt	mag	konn	mot
we / je / hy	åwon	håba	willa	mawon	kunnon	moton

Both åwan and håban mean "to have", but the former is used to mean "to owe" and indicates a rather material possession, even if it can be used also to indicate an immaterial possession, such as feelings, ideas, and so forth. Moreover åwan cannot ever be used as auxiliary verb. Håban indicates an immaterial possession, but it is not compulsory and it can indicate also a material possession, such as things, animals, etc. The greatest difference between åwan and håban is that the latter is the only one that can function as auxiliary.

Willan and mawan both have the meaning of "to want, to desire", but the former is more peremptory in his meaning and has a nuance of pretension. Mawan is closer to the English to wish and is considered more polite. Note the expressions y will tek, "I love you, I hanker after you" (it has a carnal nuance) and y mag tek, "I like you, I heart you".

Kunnan and motan are quite differentiated, because the former means "can, to be able to do something", and the latter means "to be allowed to do something, to have the permission to do something".

Two very important specialized verbs are gån and waran. They both mean "to go", but the first is used when the act of going is done on foot; waran is used when the act of going is done by a mean of transport, such as bike, car, train, and so forth.

Person	Gån	Waran
y	gå	ware
tů / he	gåt	wert
we / je / hy	gå	wara

Ex.:

• Y gå to se lerstof by wet - I go to school on foot;
• Tů wert to se lerstof by twihwjol - You go to school by bike.

Past indicative

This tense is used to talk about events that happened in the past and that are considered as totally concluded and irrelated to the present. Generally it is used with time adverbs that indicate this irrelation, such as jestrendag, "yesterday", se late wuke / monat / jår, "the last week / month / year", het skaft an wuke / monat / jår, "a week / month / year ago", and so on.

The past indicative of regular verbs is formed with the suffixes -de for the singular persons and -don for the plural ones:

Person	Lyrnan	Wennan	Lycan
y / tů / he	ljornde	wende	lycede
we / je / hy	ljorndon	wendon	lycedon

It is to be observed that regular verbs ending with a vowel and -c, -f, -p, -s, -t modify the desinence -de/-don into -te/-ton, ex.:

• Y brejte (= I change) > Y brejtte (= I changed).

Past indicative of irregular verbs

The verb bjon has got an irregular past:

Person	Bjon
y / tů / he	was
we / je / hy	weron

As it can be seen, the three persons singular of past tense have got the same root and the three persons plural have got another one. It is important to keep this in mind, because this is true for all the irregular verbs.

Past of -jan verbs

As for the present, the "-jan verbs" show a modified vowel root in this tense. While in the present indicative only the 2nd and the 3rd singular person show this change, in the past indicative all the verbal voices show this mutation.

Here are the verbs lyrnan, behewan and kinnan:

Person	Lyrnan	Behewan	Kinnan
y / tů / he	ljornde	behofte	kunde
we / je / hy	ljorndon	behofton	kundon

Past of specialized verbs

All the specialized verbs have an irregular past:

Person	Knåwan	Wytan	Segan	Hwetan	Don	Skån
y / tů / he	knjow	wisse	sagde / såde	hwat	dide	shof
we / je / hy	knjowon	wiston	sagdon / sådon	hwådon	didon	skowon

Person	Åwan	Håban	Willan	Mawan	Kunnan	Motan
y / tů / he	åte	hafte	wolle	myte	kůte	moste
we / je / hy	åton	hafton	wollon	myton	kůton	moston

Person	Gån	Waran
y / tů / he	jode	wor
we / je / hy	jodon	woron

Past of "strong verbs"

The specialized verbs are not the only irregular verbs, because there is another big group of verbs that have always an irregular past. This verbs are called "strong verbs" to be distinguished from the regular verbs, called also "weak verbs", and from the specialized verbs. Many strong verbs have got an irregular 2nd and 3rd person singular of present indicative.

These strong verbs can be divided into seven classes, with these root vowel changes:

Class	Infinitive	Present 2nd / 3rd p.s.	Singular past form	Plural past form
I	y	y	å	i
II	jo / ů	y / ů	jå	u
V	e	e	a	å
VI	a	e	o	o
VII	vowel	vowel	e / jo	e / jo

In the first column can be seen the root vowel used in infinitive and in present indicative (except for 2nd and 3rd person singular); the second column refers to root vowel of the 2nd and the 3rd person singular of the present indicative; the third column refers to the root vowel of the 1st and 3rd person singular of the past, the fourth to the root vowel of the 2nd person singular and of the plural forms of the past.

Here are some examples of verbs of I, II, V, VI and VII class:

• I: bytan - byt - båt - biton (to bite - you bite - I bit - we bit);
• II: bjowan - byt - bjåg - buwon (to bid - you bid - I bade - we bade);
• V: jewan - jeft - jaf - jåwon (to give - you give - I gave - we gave);
• VI: waran - wert - wor - woron (to go - you go - I went - we went);
• VII: låtan - låt - let - leton (to let - you let - I let - we let).

The situation is more complicated for verbs of III and IV class.

The IV class has got the following options:

Subclass	Infinitive	Present 2nd / 3rd p.s.	Singular past form	Plural past form
IV a	e	i	e / a	e / å
IV b	i	i	a	o

The first pattern is chosen with verbs whose root vowel is followed by an 'r' or 'l', the second one is used with verbs whose root vowel is followed by an 'm' or 'n', ex.:

• beran - birt - ber - beron (to bear - you bear - I bore - we bore);
• helan - hilt - hal - hålon (to hide - you hide - I hid - we hid);
• niman - nimt - nam - nomon (to take - you take - I took - we took).

The III class is the most complicated, because there are many patterns and these verbs have to be learnt by heart. However, the most spread patterns are:

Subclass	Infinitive	Present 2nd / 3rd p.s.	Singular past form	Plural past form
III a	jo	y	ja	u
III b	e	i	ja	u
III c	i	i	o	u

Ex.:

• wjortan - wyrt - wjart - wurron (to become - you become - I became - we became);
• helpan - hilpt - hjalp - hulpon (to help - you help - I helped - we helped);
• drinkan - drinkt - dronk - drunkon (to drink - you drink - I drank - we drank).

The "w-verbs"

As it has been seen, the 1st person singular of the past indicative of the verb bjowan is y bjåg (and NOT **y bjåf), whereas the same person of the same tense of the verb jewan is y jaf (and NOT **y jag). This is the particularity of the so called "w-verbs", that is verbs whose roots ends in '-w' in the infinitive form. If that 'w' will turn into an 'f' or into a 'g' depends on the verb itself. This particularity is found not only in the past tense, but also in the 2nd and 3rd persons singular of the present tense. The following example shows the present of the verbs bjowan, jewan and sywan, "to fall down, to descend":

Person	Bjowan	Jewan	Sywan
y	bjowe	jewe	sywe
tů / he	byt (!)	jeft (!)	sygt (!)
we / je / hy	bjowa	jewa	sywa

These verbs show different mutations of 'w': it can disappear (bjowan), it can be replaced with 'f' (jewan) or it can be replaced with 'g' (sywan). The answer to these phenomenon is once again the Old English:

Old English	Tjoc	Old English	Tjoc	Old English	Tjoc
bēode	bjowe	giefe	jewe	sīge	sywe
bīett	byt	gieft	jeft	sīgt	sygt
bēodaþ	bjowa	giefaþ	jewa	sīgaþ	sywa

As it has been shown, three letters - 'd', 'f', and 'g' - merged into Toc 'w' in intervocalic position, when the conjugation of the verb change this parameter, the letters evolve differently: the 'd' disappears in front of '-t' of the 2nd and the 3rd person singular; the 'f' remains 'f', and the 'g' remains 'g'. Things change again in the past tense:

Old English	Tjoc	Old English	Tjoc	Old English	Tjoc
bēad	bjåg	geaf	jaf	sāg	såg
budon	buwon	gēafon	jåwon	sigon	siwon

While the change 'w' > 'f' has been preserved, the changes 'w' > 'd' and 'w' > 'g' have merged into the only change 'w' > 'g'. Probably this is due to misinterpretation.

Present perfect and participle II

To express an action that has happened in a period of time that is not completely finished, such as hjowag, today, se wuke her, this week, se mont her, this month, tat jår her, this year, and so on, Tjoc uses the present perfect of indicative mood. This tense is used also to talk about happenings that haven't got a precise temporal localization.

The present perfect is formed with the present of either the verb bjon or håban and the participle II - that corresponds to the past participle - of the main verb. Usually the verb bjon is used with verbs that indicate movement or change, such as wjassan, to grow up, shorwan, to die, wjortan, to become, brejtan, to change, to turn oneself into, and so forth. The verb håban is used with other verbs instead.

Here is the present perfect of the verbs bjon, lyrnan, wennan and lycan:

Person	Bjon	Lyrnan	Wennan	Lycan
y	jom ibjon	håbe iljornd	håbe iwend	håbe ilyced
tů	jart ibjon	haft iljornd	haft iwend	haft ilyced
he	is ibjon	haft iljornd	haft iwend	haft ilyced
we / je / hy	sinn ibjon	håba iljornd	håba iwend	håba ilyced

In colloquial speaking, the present tense of the auxiliary is often omitted, ex.:

• Hy håba ifrjod ůs or Hy ifrjod ůs - They have loved us.

This omission cannot be used with other compound tenses such as past perfect or future perfect.

The past participle, called participle II, is formed with a circumfix i--(e)d for the regular verbs. The participle II of the -jan verbs is formed with the same root vowel of the past indicative.

However in the participle II of the compound verbs, the i- prefix is not used, ex.: ůtgån, to go out > ůtgån; onhipan, to come back > onhuped (it is a -jan verb).

The participle II can be used also as adjective, in this case it inflects and has got both weak and strong declension. Moreover when it is used as adjective, it loses its i- and takes a be- prefix, ex.:

• An befrjod wyf - A beloved woman;
• Se beknåwene mann - The known man.

Participle II of irregular verbs

The irregular verbs form the participle II with the circumfix i--(e)n - as we have just seen for the verb bjon - and undergo a root vowel change. This vowel is almost always different than the one of the past indicative. Once again it can be distinguished among seven classes. Here is a table with the vowel of the infinitive, that of the 2nd / 3rd person singular of present tense, those of the first past form and the second past form, and that of the participle II:

Class	Infinitive	Present 2nd / 3rd p.s.	Singular past form	Plural past form	Participle II
I	y	y	å	i	i
II	jo / ů	y / ů	jå	u	o
V	e	e	a	å	e
VI	a	e	o	o	a
VII	vowel	vowel	e / jo	e / jo	vowel

The voices that have been analyzed in this scheme form the so called 'paradigm. The paradigm is a list of specific verbal voices that together allow to identify every verb and to form all the other voices of it, it is formed by:

• 1st voice: the infinitive voice;
• 2nd voice: the 2nd and 3rd persons singular of the present indicative;
• 3rd voice: the three persons singular of the past indicative;
• 4th voice: the three persons plural of the past indicative;
• 5th voice: the participle II.

It follows a list of the paradigms of verbs of I, II, V, VI, and VII class:

Class	1st voice	2nd voice	3rd voice	4th voice	5th voice
I	bytan	byt	båt	biton	ibiten
II	bjowan	byt	bjåg	buwon	ibowen
V	jewan	jeft	jaf	jåwon	ijewen
VI	waran	wert	wor	woron	iwarn
VII	låtan	låt	let	leton	ilåten

Please note that the verbs bytan and bjowan have got the same 2nd person singular form in the present of indicative (byt).

The IV class has got two different options:

Subclass	1st voice	2nd voice	3rd voice	4th voice	5th voice
IV a	e	i	e / a	e / å	o
IV b	i	i	a	o	u

Some paradigms of verbs of the IV class:

• beran - birt - ber - beron - iborn;
• helan - hilt - hal - hålon - iholn;
• niman - nimt - nam - nomon - inumn.

The III class is once again the most complicated to schematize, because there are too many subclasses. Here are the most spread:

Subclass	1st voice	2nd voice	3rd voice	4th voice	5th voice
III a	jo	y	ja	u	o
III b	e	i	ja	u	o
III c	i	i	o	u	u

Some examples:

• wjortan - wyrt - wjart - wurron - iworren;
• helpan - hilpt - hjalp - hulpon - iholpen;
• drinkan - drinkt - dronk - drunkon - idrunken.

Some paradigms

Here are some paradigms of very important verbs, their auxiliary verb for compound tenses and their meaning:

1st voice	2nd voice	3rd voice	4th voice	5th voice	Auxiliary	Meaning
håban	haft	hafte	hafton	ihaft	håban	to have
bjon	jart	was	weron	ibjon	bjon	to be
don	det	dide	didon	idon	håban	to do
gån	gåt	jode	jodon	igån	bjon	to go
waran	wert	wor	woron	iwarn	bjon	to go
frjowan	frjot	frjode	frjodon	ifrjod	håban	to love
sjon	set	sjå	såwon	isewen	håban	to see
legan	lekt	lekte	lekton	ilegen	bjon	to lay
motan	mot	moste	moston	imoten	håban	to be allowed to
kuman	kimt	kom	komon	ikumn	bjon	to come
kunnan	konn	kůte	kůton	ikunnen	håban	can
segan	sagt	sagde / såde	sagdon / sådon	isagd	håban	to say
hwetan	hwet	hwat	hwådon	ihwen	håban	to tell
wytan	wåt	wisse	wiston	iwiten	håban	to know
knåwan	knaut	knjow	knjowon	iknåwen	håban	to know
willan	wilt	wolle	wollon	iwiln	håban	to want to
skulan	shal	skolle	skollon	iskuln	håban	must; to have to
shorwan	shyrft	sharf	shurwon	ishorwen	bjon	to die
skån	skaft	shof	skowon	iskån	håban	to make
etan	et	at	åton	ieten	håban	to eat
mawan	mag	myte	myton	imawen	håban	to wish

Participle I

The participle I corresponds to the present participle. This form, that is often represented with the -ing form in today English, indicates a subject that does usually the action expressed by the verb or that is doing this action just now. Often with this tense the "agentive" is expressed, so, for example, the English "singer" corresponds to both singer and singend, but the latter is more spread, because the former is considered archaic. This verbal form can be used as a substantive or an adjective, but, as for the participle II used in this way, it inflects like substantives and adjectives. The suffix of present participle is -(e)nd and it can have a plural form (-end / -endes and some irregular with a vowel change + -nd). Here are some:

Infinitive	Participle I	Meaning
håban	håbend	owner, one who has
bjon	bjond	one who is
don	dond	doer
gån	gånd	goer
waran	warand	goer
frjowan	frjowend	lover, one who loves
sjon	sjond	seer, one who sees
legan	legend	one who lays
lyrnan	lyrnend	learner, reader
motan	motend	one who is allowed to
kuman	kumend	one who comes
kunnan	kunnend	one who can
segan	segand	one who says
hwetan	hwetend	one who tells
wytan	wytend	one who knows
skån	skånd	maker, one who makes
leran	lerend	teacher, one who teaches

Some verbs had an older and archaic participle that has become a noun, and these verbs have developed later a regular form for the participle, ex.: frjowan > frjond (friend); frjowend (lover, participle). There are also substantives that are a present participle of an obsolete and no more used verb, ex.: wjond, enemy, is a participle of the archaic verb wjowan, to hate, that has been substituted with hatjan; lind, lover, is a participle of the archaic verb lian (that corresponds to English "to love" and is used only in poetry), to desire "carnally". Participles can add -es or zero suffix to form the plural form, however the participles that end in -jond can add the suffix -es or change -jo- with -y-, ex.: lerend > lerend/es; sjond > sjondes/synd.

Preterite-present verbs

Some irregular verbs, such as wytan, belong to the group of the so called "preterite-present verbs": these verbs inflect in the present like they would have to to express past tense, still having a present meaning.

Here is the present indicative of some useful preterite-present verbs:

Person	Duwan (to succeed)	Munan (to remember)	Turwan (to need)	Skulan (must)	Durran (to dare)
y / tů / he	djåg	mon	tjarf	shal	djarr
we / je / hy	duwon	munon	turwon	sholon	durron

The past indicative of these verbs was formed in a regular way (with -de / -te endings), but the evolution of the language has made this regularity difficult to be seen. The paradigms of these verbs:

1st voice	2nd voice	3rd voice	4th voice	5th voice
duwan	djåg	dote	doton	iduwen
munan	mon	munde	mundon	imunen
turwan	tjarf	torfte	torfton	iturwen
skulan	shal	skolle	skollon	iskuln
durran	djarr	dorste	dorston	idurn

The auxiliary of the preterite-present verbs is always håban.

Future

In Tjoc the future is a perifrastic form that is obtained with the present of the verb skulan and the infinitive of the verb:

Person	Bjon	Lyrnan	Wennan	Lycan
y / tů / he	shal bjon	shal lyrnan	shal wennan	shal lycan
we / je / hy	sholon bjon	sholon lyrnan	sholon wennan	sholon lycan

The future of the verb skulan is formed with the perifrastic construction: skulan + bjon injewed to + infinitive, ex.:

• Tů shal injewed to don het - You will have to do it.

Very often this construction is avoided and skulan is simply used in its present tense:

• Tů shal don het - You have to do it.

The construction of the future can be used also with an imperative meaning, in this case the verb precedes the subject, ex.:

• Shaltů don het! - Do it! (Yes, you will do it!).