Tjoc

Tjoc
Tjoc
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|'tju: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 ['tjutʃ] is a language spoken in the Ljoskjare 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 25 characters:

Letters	Pronunciation	Further informations
a	[a]	short 'a'
å	[o:]	long 'a'
b	[b]	-
c	[tʃ]	-
d	[d]	it can be realized as both a dental and an alveolar
e	[ɛ] / [e:]	it can be 'short' or 'long'; in the ending cluster -es it is not pronounced
f	[f]	-
g	[g]	it is always pronunced as in the English word "get"
h	[h]	the digraph 'hw' is read [kv]
i	[i]	short 'i'
j	[j]	it corresponds to y in English you
k	[k]	-
l	[l]	-
m	[m]	-
n	[n]	-
o	[ɔ] / [u:]	it can be 'short' or 'long'
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	[ø]	short 'u'
ů	[y:]	long 'u'
v	[v]	-
w	[v]	it was [w] in Old English, then this sound evolved into [v], but the grapheme <w> remained
y	[εi̯:]	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 [stu:], 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	i	-	y:	u:
Mid-closed	ø	-	e:	o:
Mid-open	ɛ	ɔ	-	-
Open	a	-	-	-

The 'a' is realized not precisely in the front of mouth, but in the mid between the front and centre of the mouth.

Vowel length

The short vowels 'a' [a], 'i' [i] and 'u' [ø] have got a long counterpart: 'å' [o:], 'y' [εi̯] and 'ů' [y:]. Also the vowels 'e' and 'o' can be either short or long, but they are written always in one way. Actually there are words that differ in the pronunciation of these vowels, such as vjor, that means both "far", when it is pronounced ['vjɔr], and "four", when it is pronounced ['vju:r]. It is important to know how to pronounce these two vowels, because it allows to distinguish words that are spelled the same. There isn't a law that regulates the length of 'e' and 'o', but, usually, when these two vowels are unstressed, they are always short, wheres if they are stressed, they can be either short or long. If the stressed 'e' or 'o' are followed by one consonant or none at all, then thay are usually pronounced as long, that is [e:] and [u:] respectively. Otherwise they are pronounced short, [ε] and [ɔ] respectively. Of course this doesn't happen regularly, as we have seen for the word vjor ("far"), in which the 'o' is pronounced short. There are, however, clues that can help us, for exemple the comparative of the word is vjorre, it confirms the short pronunciation of the root vowel.

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	[ai̯] - [o:i̯]
au - åu	[au̯] - [o:u̯]
ej	[ɛi̯] - [e:i̯]
eu	[ɛu̯] - [e:u̯]
ja - jå	[ja] - [jo:]
je	[jɛ] - [je:]
jo	[jɔ] - [ju]
ju - jů	[jø] - [jy:]
oj	[ɔi̯] - [u:i̯]
ou	[ɔu̯]

Also the letter 'y' is pronounced as a diphthong, as we have seen. Tjoc has got two digraphs: <hw>, that is pronounced [kv], and <hj>, that is pronounced [ʃ]. Also the only trigraph, <skj>, is pronounced as [ʃ]. The cluster <sk> maintains the sound [sk] in front of the vowels a, å, o, u and ů, but in front of the vowels e, i, j and y it behaves as a digraph and 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.: varjevels, "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 'stu(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 -e suffix; 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 -e 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	Singular	Plural	Gender	Meaning
stån	ståne	uter	stone	vot	vet	uter	foot
lond	lond	neuter	land	hjoun	hjoune	uter	sky, heaven
sko	skon	uter	shoe	ljot	ljot	neuter	light
lyf	lyen	uter	life	språc	språcen	uter	language
djor	djor	neuter	animal	bok	bek	uter	book
fryve	-	uter	love	wouf	wouen	uter	wolf
frjå	frjån	uter	lord	frjåstre	frjåstren	uter	lady
mann	menn	uter	man	wyf	wyen	uter	woman
hjort	hjort	neuter	heart	håle	hålen	uter	head
stof	sten	uter	place	tyd	tyd	neuter	time
merjen	merjen	neuter	morning	dag	dage	uter	day
åfning	åfninge	uter	afternoon	hwiltyd	hwiltyd	neuter	evening
nyt	nyten	uter	night	mone	monen	uter	moon
atelkund	atelkunde	uter	nobleman	atlestre	atlestren	uter	noblewoman
trjo	trjo	neuter	tree	hann	hannen	uter	hand
skjor	skjor	neuter	star	jav	javen	uter	eye
lerend	lerend	uter	teacher	frjond	frynd	uter	friend
vjond	vynd	uter	enemy	lind	lind	uter	lover
hůnn	hůnne	uter	dog	worull	worullen	uter	world

The singular and the plural forms of the nouns ending in '-nd' are generally the same, but the nouns in '-jond' undergo a vowel change from '-jo-' to '-y-'.

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 Tjoc 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;
• vjond - vyndstre;
• lind - lindstre.

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	Strong singular	Strong plurale / Weak	Meaning
go	go (!)	good	ivel	ivele	bad
glå	glå (!)	happy	sari	sari (!)	sad
hjå	hjå (!)	tall / high	skam	skame	short
sken	skene	beautiful / goodlooking	unfaur	unfaure	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
vjor	vjorre	far / distant	moj	moje	tired

As it can be seen, adjectives ending with a long vowel or '-i' 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 skenar 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 sken 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 sken 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	Positive	Strong comparative	Weak comparative
go	beter	betre	ivel	wyrs	wyrse
litel	småler	smålre	grjat	gryter	grytre
gemel	eller	elre	jong	ynger	yngre
hjå	hyr	hyrre	strong	strenger	strengre
njå	nyr	nyrre	vjor	vyr	vyrre

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 skenaste blosne i tem worull - 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	Positive	Strong superlative	Weak superlative
go	best	beste	ivel	wyst	wyste
litel	smålst	smålste	grjat	gryst	gryste
gemel	ellest	elste	jong	yngst	yngste
hjå	hyst	hyste	strong	strengst	strengste
njå	nyrst	nyrste	vjor	vyrst	vyrste

Numerals

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

Number	Cardinal	Ordinal	Number	Cardinal	Ordinal
0	naut	-	1	ån	virst
2	twejn	twejd	3	try	trid
4	vjor	vjort	5	vy	vift
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	vjortin	vjortint	15	viftin	viftint
16	systin	systint	17	sjountin	sjountint
18	jåttin	jåttint	19	nejntin	nejntint
20	twejnti	twejntit	21	twejnti-ån	twejnti-virst
22	twejnti-twejn	twejnti-twejnt	30	tryti	trytit
31	tryti-ån	tryti-virst	40	vjorti	vjortit
50	vifti	viftit	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-vy.

From 100 on, numerals are formed with a suffix '-od': 200 twåod, 300 tryod, 400 vjorod, 500 vyod, 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 vy-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	mec		ůs
Dative	me		ůs
Genitive	myn		ůr
Case	2nd person
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	tů		je
Accusative	tec		jou
Dative	te		jou
Genitive	tyn		jower
Case	3rd person
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	he	skjo [ʃu:]	het / hen	hy
Accusative	hin	hir	het / hen	hy
Dative	him	hir	him / him	hem
Genitive	his	hirs	his / 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.

In Tjoc the pronouns he and skjo are used only for living beings who are sexually male and female respectively, to talk about objects of neuter gender it is used the pronoun het, whereas to talk about objects of common gender it is used the pronoun hen. The latter is used also to refer to a living being, such as an animal, whose physical gender doesn't matter.

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
skjo	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 wyen > 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 sken 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 hwan y frjove - 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.

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

• Tjarftů hwat elles? - Do you need something else?
• Knaut skjo 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 -i is added. Some examples:

• glå > glå (!) (happy - happily);
• sari > sari (!) (sad - sadly);
• grjat > gryti (great - greatly);
• strong > strengi (strong - strongly);
• wåk > wåki (weak - weakly).

When an adjective ends with a vowel, than the adverbial ending -i isn't added. In some adjectives this suffix causes a mutation of the root vowel.

Some adverbs have got suppletive forms, ex.: go > jarwe; ivel > 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;
• ivorn - before;
• eften - after;
• ålhwon - some times;
• injakli - 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;
• vjor > vjornes - four times;
• vy > vifnes (!) - five times;
• sys > sysnes - six times...

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

Manner adverbs

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

• glå - glår - glåst (happily - happilier - happiliest);
• strengi - strengir - strenglist (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 gryti and micel can be used to mean "very", ex.: tů jart gryti / micel sken - 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	Lyrne (to learn / to read)	Wenne (to live)	Lyce (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 lyce 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;
• Skjo 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 bjo, "to be":

Person	Bjo
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 -je

If one observes the conjugation of the verb lyrne, 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 -je 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 lyrne, beheve, "to be necessary", and kinne, "to experience":

Person	Lyrne	Beheve	Kinne
y	lyrne	beheve	kinne
tů / he	ljornt	behoft	kunt
we / je / hy	lyrna	beheva	kinna

The answer to this irregularity comes from Old English:

Old English	Tjoc	Old English	Tjoc	Old English	Tjoc
leornian	lyrne	behōfian	beheve	cunnian	kinne
leornaþ	ljornt	behōfaþ	behoft	cunnaþ	kunt
leorniaþ	lyrna	behōfiaþ	beheva	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 hatje, "to hate":

Person	Hatje
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 knåwe and wyte, both "to know", sege and hwete, both "to say", do and skå, both "to do":

Person	Knåwe	Wyte	Sege	Hwete	Do	Skå
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 knåwe means "to know someone", whereas wyte means "to know something". The verbs sege and hwete are almost always interchangeable and mean "to say, to tell", the second is the most used though. Hwete means also "to assert, to argue, to allude", while sege can mean also "to pronounce". The form såt for sagt is mostly found in the spoken language.

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

Other specialized verbs are:

Person	Åve	Hå	Wille	Mave	Kunne	Mote
y	åg	hå	will	mag	konn	mot
tů / he	åg	haft	wilt	mag	konn	mot
we / je / hy	åvon	hå	willa	mavon	kunnon	moton

Both åve and hå 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. Hå 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 åve and hå is that the latter is the only one that can function as auxiliary.

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

Kunne and mote 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 gå and vare. They both mean "to go", but the first is used when the act of going is done on foot; vare is used when the act of going is done by a mean of transport, such as bike, car, train, and so forth.

Person	Gå	Vare
y	gå	vare
tů / he	gåt	vert
we / je / hy	gå	vara

Ex.:

• Y gå to se lerstof by vet - I go to school on foot;
• Tů vert 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	Lyrne	Wenne	Lyce
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 -f, -k, -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 bjo has got an irregular past:

Person	Bjo
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 -je verbs

As for the present, the "-je 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 lyrne, beheve and kinne:

Person	Lyrne	Beheve	Kinne
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	Knåwe	Wyte	Sege	Hwete	Do	Skå
y / tů / he	knjow	wisse	sagde / såde	hwat	dide	skjof
we / je / hy	knjowon	wiston	sagdon / sådon	hwådon	didon	skowon

Person	Åve	Hå	Wille	Mave	Kunne	Mote
y / tů / he	åte	hafte	wolle	myte	kůte	moste
we / je / hy	åton	hafton	wollon	myton	kůton	moston

Person	Gå	Vare
y / tů / he	jode	vor
we / je / hy	jodon	voron

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: byte - byt - båt - biton (to bite - you bite - I bit - we bit);
• II: bjove - byt - bjåg - buvon (to bid - you bid - I bade - we bade);
• V: jeve - jeft - jaf - jåvon (to give - you give - I gave - we gave);
• VI: vare - vert - vor - voron (to go - you go - I went - we went);
• VII: låte - 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.:

• bere - birt - ber - beron (to bear - you bear - I bore - we bore);
• hele - hilt - hal - hålon (to hide - you hide - I hid - we hid);
• nime - 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.:

• wjorte - wyrt - wjart - wurron (to become - you become - I became - we became);
• helpe - hilpt - skjalp (!) - hulpon (to help - you help - I helped - we helped);
• drinke - 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 bjove is y bjåg (and NOT **y bjåf), whereas the same person of the same tense of the verb jeve is y jaf (and NOT **y jag). This is the particularity of the so called "v-verbs", that is verbs whose roots ends in '-v' in the infinitive form. If that 'v' 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 bjove, jeve and syve, "to fall down, to descend":

Person	Bjove	Jeve	Syve
y	bjove	jeve	syve
tů / he	byt (!)	jeft (!)	sygt (!)
we / je / hy	bjova	jeva	syva

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

Old English	Tjoc	Old English	Tjoc	Old English	Tjoc
bēode	bjove	giefe	jeve	sīge	syve
bīett	byt	gieft	jeft	sīgt	sygt
bēodaþ	bjova	giefaþ	jeva	sīgaþ	syva

As it has been shown, three letters - 'd', 'f', and 'g' - merged into Toc 'v' 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	buvon	gēafon	jåvon	sigon	sivon

While the change 'v' > 'f' has been preserved, the changes 'v' > 'd' and 'v' > 'g' have merged into the only change 'v' > '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 hjoe, today, se wuke her, this week, se monat 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 bjo or hå and the participle II - that corresponds to the past participle - of the main verb. Usually the verb bjo is used with verbs that indicate movement or change, such as vjasse, to grow up, skjorwe, to die, wjorte, to become, brejte, to change, to turn oneself into, and so forth. The verb hå is used with other verbs instead.

Here is the present perfect of the verbs bjo, lyrne, wenne and lyce:

Person	Bjo	Lyrne	Wenne	Lyce
y	jom ibjon	hå iljornd	hå iwend	hå ilyced
tů	jart ibjon	haft iljornd	haft iwend	haft ilyced
he	is ibjon	haft iljornd	haft iwend	haft ilyced
we / je / hy	sinn ibjon	hå iljornd	hå iwend	hå ilyced

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

• Hy hå 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.: ůtgå, to go out > ůtgå; onhipa, to come back > onhuped (it is a -je 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 bjo - 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	byte	byt	båt	biton	ibiten
II	bjove	byt	bjåg	buvon	iboven
V	jeve	jeft	jaf	jåvon	ijeven
VI	vare	vert	vor	voron	ivarn
VII	låte	låt	let	leton	ilåten

Please note that the verbs byte and bjove 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:

• bere - birt - ber - beron - iborn;
• hele - hilt - hal - hålon - iholn;
• nime - 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:

• wjorte - wyrt - wjart - wurron - iworren;
• helpe - hilpt - hjalp - hulpon - iholpen;
• drinke - 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
hå	haft	hafte	hafton	ihaft	hå	to have
bjo	jart	was	weron	ibjon	bjo	to be
do	det	dide	didon	idon	hå	to do
gå	gåt	jode	jodon	igån	bjo	to go
vare	vert	vor	voron	ivarn	bjo	to go
frjove	frjot	frjode	frjodon	ifrjod	hå	to love
sjo	set	sjå	såvon	iseven	hå	to see
lege	legt	legde	legdon	ilegen	bjo	to lay
mote	mot	moste	moston	imoten	hå	to be allowed to
kume	kimt	kom	komon	ikumn	bjo	to come
kunne	konn	kůte	kůton	ikunnen	hå	can
sege	sagt	sagde / såde	sagdon / sådon	isagd	hå	to say
hwete	hwet	hwat	hwådon	ihwen	hå	to tell
wyte	wåt	wisse	wiston	iwiten	hå	to know
knåwe	knaut	knjow	knjowon	iknåwen	hå	to know
wille	wilt	wolle	wollon	iwiln	hå	to want to
skule	skal	skolle	skollon	iskuln	hå	must; to have to
skjorve	skyrft	skjarf	skjurvon	iskjorven	bjo	to die
skå	skaft	skof	skovon	iskån	hå	to make
ete	et	at	åton	ieten	hå	to eat
mave	mag	myte	myton	imaven	hå	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
hå	hånd	owner, one who has
bjo	bjond	one who is
do	dond	doer
gå	gånd	goer
vare	varend	goer
frjove	frjovend	lover, one who loves
sjo	sjond	seer, one who sees
lege	legend	one who lays
lyrne	lyrnend	learner, reader
mote	motend	one who is allowed to
kume	kumend	one who comes
kunne	kunnend	one who can
sege	segend	one who says
hwete	hwetend	one who tells
wyte	wytend	one who knows
skå	skånd	maker, one who makes
lere	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.: frjove > frjond (friend); frjovend (lover, participle). There are also substantives that are a present participle of an obsolete and no more used verb, ex.: vjond, enemy, is a participle of the archaic verb vjove, to hate, that has been substituted with hatje; lind, lover, is a participle of the archaic verb lie (that corresponds to English "to love" and is used only in poetry), to desire "carnally". Participles have usually a zero suffix plural form, however the participles that end in -jond change -jo- with -y-, ex.: lerend > lerend; sjond > synd.

Preterite-present verbs

Some irregular verbs, such as wyte, 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	Duve (to succeed)	Mune (to remember)	Turve (to need)	Skule (must)	Durre (to dare)
y / tů / he	djåg	mon	tjarf	skal	djarr
we / je / hy	duvon	munon	turvon	skolon	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
duve	djåg	dote	doton	iduven
mune	mon	munde	mundon	imunen
turve	tjarf	torfte	torfton	iturven
skule	skal	skolle	skollon	iskuln
durre	djarr	dorste	dorston	idurn

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

Future

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

Person	Bjo	Lyrne	Wenne	Lyce
y / tů / he	skal bjo	skal lyrne	skal wenne	skal lyce
we / je / hy	skolon bjo	skolon lyrne	skolon wenne	skolon lyce

The future of the verb skule is formed with the perifrastic construction: skule + bjo injeved to + infinitive, ex.:

• Tů skal injeved to do het - You will have to do it.

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

• Tů skal do 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.:

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

Past perfect and future perfect

If the same construction of the present perfect is used with the auxiliary inflected to past or future, then two new tenses are formed: the past perfect and the future perfect. The former is used to talk about past happenings that ended before another past happening; the latter is used to talk about future happenings that will end before another future happening, ex.:

• Y hafte ieten ond y jode ůt - I had eaten and [then] I went out;
• Hwonne tů skal onhipe, y skal hå ijonded - As you'll return, I will have finished.

Present subjunctive

The present subjunctive is regularly used in Tjoc. Even if this tense is present, it is used to report words said by others or ideas and quotations that aren't of the one who speaks, not only if the principal verb is in the present, but also if the principal verb is in the past. Moreover this tense is used to express exhortation with the 1st person plural and the 3rd person singular and plural (that haven't got an imperative form). Here is the present subjunctive of some verbs:

Person	Bjo	Lyrne	Wenne	Lyce
y / tů / he	sy	lyrne	wenne	lyce
we / je / hy	synne(n)	lyrnen	wennen	lycen

So in regular verbs this tense is formed with the infinitive form + the endings: -e, -en. It has already been said that the present subjunctive is used to report words said by others, even if this words were said in the past, ex.:

• He says that Mary loves him - He hwet (at) Mary frjove hin.
• He said that Mary loved him - He hwat (at) Mary frjove hin.

Irregular verbs have got a regular present subjunctive, except for the irregular verbs with a root vowel u: in this case the u becomes i:

Person	Do	Kunne	Skule	Hå
y / tů / he	do	kinne	skile	håbe
we / je / hy	don	kinnen	skilen	håben

Past subjunctive

The past tense of subjunctive is used also to quote words, ideas, and so forth, but only if the verb of the subordinate is not in the same tense of the principal verb, and exactly if the action of the verb of the subordinate has happened before of the action expressed by the principal verb, ex.:

• He says that Mary loved him - He hwet (at) Mary frjode hin.
• He said that Mary had loved him - He hwat (at) Mary frjode hin.

This tense is used also to express the verb of the subordinate clause in the conditional clause (protasis).

Here is the past subjunctive of some verbs:

Person	Bjo	Do	Skule	Hå
y / tů / he	were	dide	skolle	hafte
we / je / hy	weren	diden	skollen	haften

The form of the past subjunctive is the same of three persons plural of the past indicative, the singular forms are identical, the plural forms add an -n.

Imperative and exhortation form

The imperative mood has got only the present tense and the 2nd person (both singular and plural), the other persons use the present subjunctive forms instead. The 2nd person singular has got the same form of the present of indicative, but without the ending -t, moreover the verbs with root vowel change a > e, have got the a in the root of the imperative form. The 2nd person plural is the same of the present of indicative, but substitutes the ending 'a' for '(e)t'. Some verbs as bjo have got an irregular imperative form:

Person	Bjo	Lyrne	Wenne	Lyce	Knåwe	Wyte	Sege	Hwete	Do	Skå	Åve	Hå	Wille	Mave
tů	wes	ljorn	wenn	lyc	knåf	wit	sag	hwet	do	skå	åg	haf	will	mag
je	west	lyrnt	went	lycet	knåft	witet	segt	hwetet	dot	skåt	ågt	håbt	wilt	magt

Person	Kunne	Mote	Duve	Mune	Turve	Skule	Durre
tů	kunn	mot	dug	mun	turf	skul	durr
je	kunt	motet	dugt	munt	tuft	skult	durt

It can be used also the future of indicative to emphasize orders, compare:

• Do (tů) het! - Do it!
• Skaltů don het! - You will do it!

In this case the future is used with the inversion of verb and subject. To be more polite it can be used the construction of the verb skule or of the verb turve. Usually this pattern is used with the 2nd person plural to underline the politeness, but it is often used with the 2nd person singular too:

• Tů skal do het. / Tů tjarf do het. - You have to do it. / You need to do it.
• Je skolon do het. / Je turvon do het. - You should do it.

The use of the future of indicative and of the present of subjunctive with the other persons are called exhortation form. Some examples with other persons:

• Gå we to se lerstof. - Let's go to the school.
• Ete skjo an klåvje. - She eat a sandwich.

In both these constructions the verb precedes the subject.

Conditional

Even the conditional uses a perifrastic form in Tjoc, it is obtained with the past of the verb skule and the infinitive of the verb:

Person	Bjo	Lyrne	Wenne	Lyce
y / tů / he	skolle bjo	skolle lyrne	skolle wenne	skolle lyce
we / je / hy	skollon bjo	skollon lyrne	skollon wenne	skollon lyce

The conditional of the verb skule is formed with the perifrastic construction: skule + bjo injeved to + infinitive, ex.:

• Tů skolle injeved to do het - You should do it.

To give a suggestion this construction can be avoided and substituted for skule + infinitive, in this case the verb precedes the subject:

• Skolle tů do het! - You should do it!
• Skollon je do het! - You (pl.) should do it!

Greetings

Here are the main greetings:

• Hejl's - Hello, it's informal;
• Go symt / Varjarv - Goodbye, the former is used in formal speech, the latter in informal relations;
• Go merjen - Good morning, it's used more or less till 10 a.m.;
• Go dag - Good morning, it's used between 10 a.m. and 02 p.m.;
• Go åfning - Good afternoon, it's used more or less from 02 p.m. till 06 p.m.;
• Go hwiltyd - Good evening, it's used between 06 p.m. and 10 p.m.;
• Go nyt - Good night, it's used after 10 p.m. or in the evening to say goodbye.

Calendar and holidays

Angelkinn is a pagan country, that has developed a synchretic religion with Celtic and Anglo-Saxon elements, even if the Celtic elements are prominent. Tjoc calendar is organised depending on religious beliefs. The year is splitted into 13 monates (= months), each one of 28 days, except the last one, that has got one day more:

Tjoc calendar	Our calendar
Blommond	1-28 Nov.
Jola	29 Nov. - 26 Dec.
Snågmond	27 Dec. - 23 Jan.
Solmond	24 Jan. - 20 Feb.
Kremmond	21 Feb. - 20 Mar.
Jormond	21 Mar. - 17 Apr.
Trilkmond	18 Apr. - 15 May
Hågmond	16 May - 12 Jun.
Lyta	13 Jun. - 10 Jul.
Hjemond	11 Jul. - 07 Aug.
Wjogmond	08 Aug. - 04 Sep.
Hålimond	05 Sep. - 02 Oct.
Wintervild	03 Oct. - 31 Oct.

Wintervild is the only month that has got 29 days and, when the year is an oerjår (= leap year), it receives one day more. The year is divided into two jårtyd (= seasons) - Winter, winter, and Sumor, summer. In the past Herfst (= autumn) and Lent (= spring) were considered to be the half of the true season, whose name could indicate both the entire season and the first half of it:

Seasons
Winter	Winter (1st half)	Lent (2nd half)
Sumor	Sumor (1st half)	Herfst (2nd half)

Nowadays it is commoner and commoner to consider the year as divided into four seasons with the same relevance.

Even the wuke, the week of Tjoc calendar, contains seven days. The nouns of these days are, obviously, different than those of our week. The Tjoch wuke begins with Monsdag, Monday:

Tjoc wuke	Our week	Meaning
Monsdag	Monday	Day of Mone (god of the moon)
Tyfsdag	Tuesday	Day of Tyv (god of war)
Wojnsdag	Wednesday	Day of Wojn (god of magic, divination and music)
Tůrsdag	Thursday	Day of Tůr (god of thunder)
Frysdag	Friday	Day of Fryo (goddess of love and sex)
Helsdag	Saturday	Day of Hell (goddess of death and underworld)
Bjårsdag	Sunday	Day of Bjaller (god of daylight)

In Tjoc calendar there are ten important holidays, that come from the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon pagan festivals (the main ones are in bold):

• 1st Blommond - Winteråvilm (or Jåranginn) = Winter begin / New Year's day (1st winter festival);
• 23th or 24th Jola - Wintersoljet = Winter solstice (2nd winter festival);
• 9th Solmond - Lentåvilm (or Imbell) = Spring begin (1st spring festival);
• 28th Kremmond or 1st Jormond - Lentsevennyt = Spring Equinox (2nd spring festival);
• 13th Trilkmond - Sumoråvilmsåven = Summer begin's eve;
• 14th Trilkmond - Sumoråvilm (or Jårhjalv) = Summer begin (1st summer festival);
• 8th or 9th Lyta - Sumorsoljet = Summer solstice (2nd summer festival);
• 22th Hjemond - Herfståvilm (or Wojenskelldag) = Autumn begin (1st autumn festival);
• 18th or 19th Hålimond - Herfstsevennyt = Autumn Equinox (2nd autumn festival);
• 29th or 30th Wintervild - Winteråvilmsåven (or Jårjondning) = New Year's eve.

Samples

One of the most famous festive song in Tjoc, is O håli nyt, that corresponds to the English Oh holy night. The Ljoskjare af Angelkinn, however, is a pagan country, as it has been written, so the lyrics of the song don't talk about Jesus, but about Wintersoljet.

O håli nyt, Te skjor skyna så hådri: Hen is se nyt hwonn’ se Sunne is iborn. Lengi svaf tat lond i tem calle Winter, Hen kimt se Sunne ond kljoft njon se Jort. An hopsem killning gåt tur se moje worull: Ur tem dyrkn kimt ut se nywe dag. KOR: Singt nů mig glåels O singt ond west jall’n mirje O godsem nyt, o nyt af håli bir O godsem nyt, o nyt, o godsem nyt We wåta ůs i mones sjolvor ljot Ond åbyva vor se Sun af Ljot kimt. Tů, Måer, hall ůs i Tyn klippning, Senn ůs Tyn Birt, hwå kljoft ůre sål’n. Se Winter is call, te nyten sinn long ond djork, We måtja se Lent, an nyw hådri anginn. KOR (x 2)

Oh holy night, The stars shine so brightly: It is the night when the Sun is born. Long slept the land in the cold winter, It comes the Sun and warms again the Earth. A thrill of hope goes through the tired world: From the darkness comes out the new day. CHORUS: Sing now with joy O sing and be all joyful O night divine, o night of holy birth O night divine, o night, o night divine We get wet in the silver light of the moon And wait for the Son of Light coming. You, Mother, hold us in Your embrace, Send us Your Child, who warms our souls. The winter is cold, the nights are long and dark, We dream the spring, a new bright beginning. CHORUS (x 2)