Simple Past, Simple Present and Simple Future verbs construction
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**********************************NOTE THAT THIS PAGE ONLY APPLIES TO SIMPLE VERBS******************************************
Unlike in most languages, Xedavian doesn't have pronoun-specific verbs. We say "I eat" "You eat" "He eat" "She eat" etc. instead of changing the verbs.
For simple verbs, there are 3 verb prefixes. ge-, ne-. and ñe-. ge- is used for positive verbs, ne- is used to negate verbs, and ñe is used to make interrogative verbs used for yes/no questions.
A simple way to memorize, is putting the 3 letters of g, ñ and n in a spectrum in that order. As you can see, it seems like g is shifting into n, as the ñ letter makes the same sound the n makes in "jungle". It's not a hard N like "JuNgle", rather it's pronounced more back onto the roof of the mouth with the back of the tongue. Think of it as a soft g sound that sounds similar to n.
<--------G --------Ñ--------N-------->
The suffixes also determine the time, being either past, present or future. A "-t" suffix indicates the past, no suffix indicates the present, and an "-ef" suffix indicates the future. Moreover, the "-va" or "-a" suffix turns the verb into an imperative verb.
Each verb has a root. The root for the verb "go" or "move" is "Śax" (pronounced "shakh")
To go = Śax'n
From here, we can derive 11 verbs:
Went = Geśaxt Didn't go = Neśaxt Did [pronoun] go? = Ñeśaxt ?
Go (not imperative) = Geśax Don't go (not imperative) = Neśax Do /does [pronoun] go? = Ñeśax?
Will go = Geśaxef Won't go = Neśaxef Will [pronoun] go? = Ñeśaxef?
Go (imperative) = Geśaxva/Geśaxa Don't go (imperative) = Neśaxva/Neśaxa ----------------------------
For the verb "To be", the root verb is simply just "b" with "to be" meaning "ba'n"
we then get the verbs:
Gebt = was Nebt = wasn't Ñebt? = Was ... ?
Geb = is Neb = isn't Ñeb? = Is ... ?
Gebef = will be Nebef = won't be Ñebef? = Will ... be?
Gebva = Be (imperative) Nebva = Don't be ------------------
(for Gebef, Nebef and Ñebef, it is recommended to stress the b)