Carpathian verbs

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Carpathian verbs reflect a complex system of morphology, more complicated than the nominals, with verbs categorized according to their conjugation class. Each finite verb is conjugated for person, number, tense, aspect, and mood, the last three usually being combined into a single category, called TAM. In addition to finite verbs, non-finite forms such as participles, infinitive and supine are also extensively used. Transitive verbs agree with two or more of its arguments, which is called polypersonal agreement, while intransitive verbs only agree with one argument — its subject. An extreme example of the agreement complexity can be seen in the following sentence: ei-ta-dōdah-ā-mi “He/she made me give it to them” ("to.them-that-made.give-he/she-me").

Most Carpathian verbs have three or four distinct basic stems, i.e. the stems of the imperfective, the aorist, the perfect and the infinitive. All forms of the verb were based on those stems: “sit” — sēdē- (infinitive and aorist), sēdi- (imperfective) and sōd- (perfect); “remain” — lik- (infinitive), leik- (present), likā- (aorist) laik- (perfect).

Personal Endings

Carpathian has two different categories of verbs, based on their present tense personal endings: athematic and thematic, the latter category being much larger and still productive, consisting of every class of verbs but one. The subject endings of the two categories (for the M-type accent paradigm) are:

Athematic Thematic Athematic Thematic Athematic Thematic
Present Aorist Perfect
Singular 1st -mi -ùn -ùn -ai -a
2nd -si -ei -s -is -tai -ta
3rd -ti -e -∅/-a -e -ei -e
Dual 1st -wḗ -(e)wā́ -awḗ -(a)wā́ -wḗ -wā́
2nd -tā́ -(e)tā́ -atā́ -(a)tā́ -tā́ -tā́
3rd -tìs -(e)tìs -atìs -(a)tìs -tìs -tìs
Plural 1st -mès -(e)mùn/-mà -amè -(a)mè -mè -mè
2nd -tè -(e)tè -atè -(a)tè -tè -tè
3rd -eñti -añti -iñ -añ -ínti -ín
  • In Western Carpathian the 1st plural present thematic ending is -mun, while in Eastern Carpathian it is -ma.

Conjugation

The following conjugations of verbs exist in the present tense: athematic, simple thematic ("e"-stem verbs) and suffix-thematic ("ī"-stem, "ē"-stem, and "ā"-stem verbs, as well as derived "jā"-stem, "au"-stem, "nō"-stem among others). The future tense is formed using the si- suffix attached to the infinitive stem. The aorist tense has "ā"- and "ē"-stems. With a few exceptions, all verb endings were at some point of Carpathian history influenced by the ending of the present tense.

Present
Athematic verbs e-stem verbs ē/ī-stem verbs ā-stem verbs
skeistéi “to read” stèrhetei “to extend” turḗtei “to hold” gidā́tei “to wait”
Singular 1st sg skeĩmi stèrhū turiū́ gidā́hū
2nd sg skeĩsti stèrhei turiéi gidā́hei
3rd sg skeĩsti stèrhe tùrie gidā́
Dual 1st du skeitwḗ sterhewā́ turiewā́ gidewā́
2nd du skeistā́ sterhetā́ turietā́ gidetā́
3rd du}} skeistìs sterhetìs turietìs gidetìs
Plural 1st pl skeimès sterhemà turiemà gidemà
2nd pl skeistè sterhetè turietè gidetè
3rd pl skeiteñti sterhañti turiañti gidañti