Asteran Verb Morphology

Asteran verbs are usually clause-final.

Default word order:

Subject + Object + Verb

The verb carries the force of the clause. In ritual Asteran, the verb often feels like the final seal placed on the sentence.

Example:

astor malgam calei
= The cantor binds the fracture.
Literally: cantor fracture-ACC binds

Regular Verb Stems

Regular verb stems do not end in consonant clusters, r, or t.

This keeps the tense system clean, because Asteran uses -r- for the past and -t- for the future.

Regular verb stems may end in a vowel or a single consonant other than r or t.

Example stem:

cal-
= bind, constrain, impose order on

Person and Number

Asteran verbs mark three persons and two numbers.

Asteran does not mark gender in verbs.

The 3rd person singular can mean he, she, it, or singular they, depending on context.

Present Indicative Active Endings

Person	Ending	Example	Meaning
1st singular	-a	cala	I bind
2nd singular	-u	calu	you bind
3rd singular	-ei	calei	he/she/it binds
1st plural	-ain	calain	we bind
2nd plural	-ūs	calūs	you plural bind
3rd plural	-eis	caleis	they bind

Tense

The indicative mood has three basic tenses:

Present
Past
Future

The indicative itself is unmarked.

Tense Formation

Tense	Structure
Present	stem + person ending
Past	stem + r + person ending
Future	stem + t + person ending

The tense markers -r- and -t- may create medial clusters. These are allowed because they are grammatical clusters, not part of the bare stem.

Indicative Active: Full Table

Example verb:

cal-
= bind, constrain, impose order on

Person	Present	Past	Future
1st singular	cala	calra	calta
2nd singular	calu	calru	caltu
3rd singular	calei	calrei	caltei
1st plural	calain	calrain	caltain
2nd plural	calūs	calrūs	caltūs
3rd plural	caleis	calreis	calteis

Meanings:

cala = I bind
calra = I bound
calta = I will bind

calei = he/she/it binds
calrei = he/she/it bound
caltei = he/she/it will bind

caleis = they bind
calreis = they bound
calteis = they will bind

Mood

Asteran has three core moods:

Indicative
Subjunctive
Imperative

Indicative Mood

The indicative states what is true, what happened, or what will happen.

The indicative is unmarked.

Examples:

cala
= I bind

calra
= I bound

calta
= I will bind

Subjunctive Mood

The subjunctive marks wished, required, commanded, ritually imposed, or not-yet-real action.

In ordinary use, it can mean:

may...
should...
would...
let...

In Choir ritual language, it means:

let this become true
may reality accept this form
this must be made so

The subjunctive is formed with -ār-.

Subjunctive Formation

Tense	Structure
Present Subjunctive	stem + ār + person ending
Past Subjunctive	stem + r + ār + person ending
Future Subjunctive	stem + t + ār + person ending

Present Subjunctive Active

Person	Asteran	Meaning
1st singular	calāra	may I bind
2nd singular	calāru	may you bind
3rd singular	calārei	may he/she/it bind
1st plural	calārain	may we bind
2nd plural	calārūs	may you all bind
3rd plural	calāreis	may they bind

Past Subjunctive Active

Person	Asteran	Meaning
1st singular	calrāra	may I have bound
2nd singular	calrāru	may you have bound
3rd singular	calrārei	may he/she/it have bound
1st plural	calrārain	may we have bound
2nd plural	calrārūs	may you all have bound
3rd plural	calrāreis	may they have bound

Future Subjunctive Active

Person	Asteran	Meaning
1st singular	caltāra	may I come to bind
2nd singular	caltāru	may you come to bind
3rd singular	caltārei	may he/she/it come to bind
1st plural	caltārain	may we come to bind
2nd plural	caltārūs	may you all come to bind
3rd plural	caltāreis	may they come to bind

Imperative Mood

The imperative is used for direct commands.

It does not mark tense.

Form	Ending	Example	Meaning
Singular command	-ā	calā	bind!
Plural command	-ūts	calūts	bind, you all!
Hortative	-īn	calīn	let us bind!

Examples:

calā
= bind!

calūts
= bind, you all!

calīn
= let us bind!

Voice

Asteran has two voices:

Active
Passive

The active voice is unmarked.

The passive voice is formed by adding final -t to the finite verb form.

The passive means that the subject receives the action.

Example:

calei
= he/she/it binds

caleit
= he/she/it is bound

Passive Formation

Passive is formed by adding -t to the finite active form.

Some forms contract to avoid heavy final clusters.

Passive Contraction Rules

Active Ending	Passive Ending
-a	-at
-u	-ut
-ei	-eit
-ain	-ait
-ūs	-ūst
-eis	-eist

Present Indicative Passive

Person	Active	Passive	Meaning
1st singular	cala	calat	I am bound
2nd singular	calu	calut	you are bound
3rd singular	calei	caleit	he/she/it is bound
1st plural	calain	calait	we are bound
2nd plural	calūs	calūst	you plural are bound
3rd plural	caleis	caleist	they are bound

Past Indicative Passive

Person	Active	Passive	Meaning
1st singular	calra	calrat	I was bound
2nd singular	calru	calrut	you were bound
3rd singular	calrei	calreit	he/she/it was bound
1st plural	calrain	calrait	we were bound
2nd plural	calrūs	calrūst	you plural were bound
3rd plural	calreis	calreist	they were bound

Future Indicative Passive

Person	Active	Passive	Meaning
1st singular	calta	caltat	I will be bound
2nd singular	caltu	caltut	you will be bound
3rd singular	caltei	calteit	he/she/it will be bound
1st plural	caltain	caltait	we will be bound
2nd plural	caltūs	caltūst	you plural will be bound
3rd plural	calteis	calteist	they will be bound

Present Subjunctive Passive

Person	Active Subjunctive	Passive Subjunctive	Meaning
1st singular	calāra	calārat	may I be bound
2nd singular	calāru	calārut	may you be bound
3rd singular	calārei	calāreit	may he/she/it be bound
1st plural	calārain	calārait	may we be bound
2nd plural	calārūs	calārūst	may you all be bound
3rd plural	calāreis	calāreist	may they be bound

Asteran Infinitive

The infinitive is the dictionary form of a verb. It means to do something.

Asteran forms the infinitive with:

stem + -en

Example:

cal-
= bind, constrain, impose order on

calen
= to bind

This works well because -en is clean, pronounceable, not too Latin, and does not interfere with the personal endings.

Active Infinitive

Stem	Infinitive	Meaning
cal-	calen	to bind
sac-	sacen	to seal
mor-	moren	to witness
sten-	stenen	to silence

Small note: if we keep the rule that regular verb stems cannot end in r, then mor- would not be a regular stem. So maybe use mon- or mos- later for “witness.” For now, calen is the model.

Passive Infinitive

Since the passive is formed with final -t, the passive infinitive also takes final -t:

calen
= to bind

calent
= to be bound

So:

Active Infinitive	Passive Infinitive
calen	calent
to bind	to be bound

This is very elegant because it keeps the passive system consistent.

Tense-marked infinitives

We can also allow tense-marked infinitives, using the same tense markers as finite verbs:

Tense	Structure	Example	Meaning
Present / neutral	stem + en	calen	to bind
Past	stem + r + en	calren	to have bound
Future	stem + t + en	calten	to be going to bind / to bind in future

And the passive versions:

Tense	Active	Passive
Present / neutral	calen	calent
Past	calren	calrent
Future	calten	caltent