conlang 001 - Kjamir

syntax ; mood and modality

For the life of me, I cannot explain mood or modality with words, so I'll let this chapter explain it for me. If by the end you still don't get it, Google is a very useful resource.

Brace yourself. It's a loooong one.

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Verbal Mood

There are four verbal moods: the Indicative, the Subjunctive, the Imperative and the Negative. Once more, there are two classes: one where the verb ends in a consonant and where the verb ends in a vowel. For all four moods, it is shown through a suffix which is fused onto the conjugated verb.

Indicative Mood
This mood is used to express definitive and factual actions such as in the statement I am breathing. This mood is only used for emphasising a point, [in an argument] when one is sure of their facts or in conjunction with another mood. To form the indicative mood for a verb, you conjugate tense and aspect for said verb then add one of two suffixes:

-yang - if the conjugated verb ends in a consonant
-myang - if the conjugated verb ends in a vowel

Example - ma vemyang means I am going as a definite fact.

Imperative Mood
This mood is used to give commands such as in the statement Leave this place. To form the imperative mood, one of two suffixes need to be used:

-êv - if the conjugated verb ends in a consonant
-mêv - if the conjugated verb ends in a vowel

Example - ormika omêv means Be a man as a command.

★this mood is only used in the second person singular, dual, trial and plural forms. If needed, the Obligative Deontic Modality is used.

Negative Mood (?)
This mood is used to indicate that the action is not, or is negative. To form this mood, one of two suffixes must be used:

-auv - if the conjugated verb ends in a consonant
-mauv - if the conjugated verb ends in a vowel

Example - vemauv means is / am / are not going.

These moods can be combined to for various types of sentences. Here are some examples in English [according to how my lang applies them]:

• You are most certainly not going out makes use of the Indicative, Imperative and Negative moods. Vemyangêvauv means certainly not going as a command.

• You are most certainly going out makes use of the Indicative and Imperative moods. Vemyangêv means certainly going.

• I am most certainly not going out makes use of the Indicative and Negative moods. Vemyangauv means certainly not going.

• You are not going out makes use of the Imperative and Negative moods. Vemêvauv means not going as a command.

Modality

In this lang, modality is used to express the Subjunctive Mood. There are three main categories of modality: Deontic, Epistemic and Conditional. As with declension, conjugation and moods, there are two classes - one for words that end in a consonant and another for words that end in a vowel.