Verbs
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Verbs
1. Infinitive
The infinitive is the lexical form of a verb.
Puchepaic has three infinitive classes:
-ăn
-ŏn
-ĕn / -ēn
Examples:
ĕdăn — to eat
sĭkvŏn — to see
gnosĕn — to know
svālimēn — to live
The infinitive ending is removed before personal endings are added.
2. Person and Number
Puchepaic distinguishes eight person-number categories.
Singular
1st person — I
2nd person — you
3rd person — he / she / it
The third-person singular additionally distinguishes grammatical gender:
masculine
feminine
neuter
Dual
1st person — we two
2nd person — you two
Plural
1st person — we
2nd person — you
3rd person — they
The dual is grammatically marked on the verb.
3. Present-Tense Personal Endings
Person | Ending |
|---|---|
1st singular | -ŏ |
2nd singular | -cĭ |
3rd singular masculine | -ĕ |
3rd singular feminine | -ă |
3rd singular neuter | -ĕs |
1st dual | -ŏð |
2nd dual | -cĭð |
1st plural | -ĭ |
2nd plural | -ĭs |
3rd plural | -ĕr |
The infinitive ending is removed before the personal ending is attached.
For example:
ĕdăn → ĕdŏ
to eat → I eat
sĭkvŏn → sĭkvŏ
to see → I see
4. Connecting Vowel
A connecting vowel -ĕ- is inserted when the combination of the verb stem and a personal ending would create an impermissible consonant cluster.
The structure is:
C + C → C-ĕ-C
For example:
sĭkv- + -cĭth → sĭkvĕcĭð
The connecting vowel is phonological and does not constitute a separate grammatical morpheme.
5. Tense
Puchepaic has three grammatical tenses:
Present — present time
Preterite — past time
Future — future time
Tense is expressed morphologically on the verb.
6. Aspect
Puchepaic distinguishes two grammatical aspects:
Imperfective — an ongoing, habitual, repeated, or incomplete action
Perfective — a completed or bounded action
Aspect is expressed through a single aspect marker and can therefore combine freely with the different tenses.
7. Moods
Puchepaic has three grammatical moods:
Indicative
Imperative
Subjunctive
Mood is expressed through a mood marker rather than through a separate conjugation class.
8. Negation
Negation is marked on the verb.
9. Verb Structure
Puchepaic is predominantly agglutinative. Grammatical information is expressed through distinct morphological markers.
The general verb structure is:
VERB STEM – ASPECT – TENSE – MOOD – PERSON/NUMBER
The aspect, tense, and mood markers are independent grammatical morphemes. Personal endings mark the person and number of the subject.
The exact markers are specified in their respective sections of the grammar.