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Verbs

A type of word that represents an action. Each sentence will always have a verb phrase. Verbs are considered a "semi-preposition" because when not proceded by certain particles, they act just like a preposition introducing a noun phrase (the direct object of the verb). If you supply the verb before the subject, nothing changes about the verb phrase (although the subject now must be introduced with either û or ôlê).

noyo mokon kûôxi. "I ate a fruit."

mokon kûôxi û noyo. "A fruit was eaten by me."

Passivity

Hîsyêô doesn't actually have any form of passivity like in the second English sentence above. Verbs always introduce their object arguments. To simulate passivity you can:

  • place the verb phrase before the subject phrase,
  • use a relative clause on an object in a subject complement phrase, or
  • use the causative verb particle on a subject complement phrase.

The order of topicality is determined by the order that constituents are introduced into the sentence.

Prepositions​

Realis​

The most basic form of verbal preposition is the realis form. There is no prepositional particle when this form is used. When there is no particle attached to the verb, it means that it is a true (or believed to be true) statement of an action or state that is occurring or is being experienced in reality. These predicates can be in the past, present or future tense but they are usually considered to be imperfective and not perfect (since there is a particle that can specify that the action is perfect).

hoî wokût zik û nûs mokon hoî bitûn cokyen ôfo. What time are we eating this evening?

fonolon lunsol îbûwê mût noyo. The monkey is throwing rocks at me.

Irrealis​

There are a few different irrealis verb markers that allow for a variety of different moods indicating that the predicate has not occurred (or isn't known to have). They precede the verb and are considered prepositions.

Epistemic (what could be)​

This irrealis verb marker (kôî) indicates that the predicate can, could, may, or might happen. This marker tells you that the speaker/writer either believes or has knowledge that the predicate may occur but isn't confident that this future reality is assured or that the possibility of it occurring doesn't necessitate that it will be. It can also be used in past tense to mean that the possibility of it occurring in the past was likely or that there is knowledge that the subject was definitely capable of completing the action. When used to frame the predicate of a question, it has the effect of asking for permission.

hoî ilik fos noyo li dês dêko, û noyo kôî dêko bi xôn êto. Before I was blind, I could see very well.

noyo gonîso fos nîo kôî tûu ni hôn fos nîo fôlun bi hokîkî. I think he could do it if he really wanted to.

noyo xîwon xe kôî li xîkô ze. I wish I could fly!

noyo kôî yôn ôntôn tetêk mulô bi îlxîzuk ko. Could I borrow your coat?

noyo kôî sityo hoî ulyô ko. May I sit there?

mocko yê umo Xilôdingu kôî li gô yodo kôî li yôk gô hoî dibo dîncî. Schrôdinger's cat may or may not be in the box

nîmû kôî kôto sî bi sêlôhô yê bôkbûn You might have warned me about the thunderstorm.

noyo kôî li nô mût kôndodû onô lêkin noyo gôcîdon sî yôk bi ôhêl. I might go to the party, but I haven't decided yet.

noyo kôî li gô hoî sityo kûldû lêkin noyo bi môcîbo fôlun fos wêîlun mût noyo misli umo wohî. I might be in a wheelchair, but I still want to be treated as a lady.

noyo kôî gomî bîek botuk sûît fêlcîn. Might I take the last biscuit?

nûs kôî buswen fin xe li len eswen yoûtî cî. Yeah, I think we might need something a bit sturdier.

nîmû kôî tenkîn ulyô ko. Can you hear that?

nîo kôî kôto tô hîskûnco Ingulic, Vulonsê, ûn Dôic. She can speak English, French, and German.

Conditional (what would be)​

The conditional verb marker (bît) indicates that the predicate occurring is dependent on some other circumstance that is either explicitly described or implied.

hôn fos noyo bît li bîlûs hoî xe kôntêsto oxon yokûntîk, û noyo bît cûdo fun dûî munî mût kûngîyo yôûlî. If I won the lottery, I would give half the money to charity.

noyo bît yûbik xe li nô monodo. I would love to come and visit.

kûu dêko bîek sûît yê sobôlê xôn êto ze. noyo bît mokon môî ulyô bi mûlû ze. Look at that yummy cake! I would eat that all up!

noyo mût nîmû bît sôlû xe sityo bi koli. I would ask you all to sit down.

noyo mût gonîso fos nîo li sî cok bi ilik. I would imagine that they have already left.

hôn fos nîo li kôxentê yê mefûs û nîo bît bunyentoc sî xe besol zinkon onô. He's very security-conscious, so he would have remembered to lock the door.

nîo bît li gô hoî sinsî Lundun bi îbûdû cokyen. They would be arriving in London round about now.

The different conditional classifications of English

In English, conditionals are broken down into four types. These different types are created with different tenses and auxiliaries in English and a similar differentiation of syntax occurs in what markers you use in Hîsyêô. Regardless of what marker is on the consequent clause, the antecedent clause always uses a conditional verb marker (bît).

Implicative (Zero Conditional)​

These conditionals are sentences that express a factual implication instead of a hypothetical or potential future circumstance. This type of conditional does not use the conditional verb marker in the consequent clause and utilizes one of the thematic role markers to mark the antecedent clause. As stated above, the conditional verb marker is present in the antecedent verb phrase.

hôn fos gongoxî onô bît ôîtun, li môtô hoî boxô yê lîmîen îlê onô. If the alarm goes off, there's a fire somewhere in the building.

hoî fos bît li xômûtlô bôkbûn, û noô onô li cên. When the sea is stormy, the waves are high.

Predictive (First Conditional)​

These conditionals are sentences that regard the consequences of a probable future event. Like the Zero Conditional, they also do not use the conditional verb marker in the consequent clause and utilizes one of the thematic role markers to mark the antecedent clause. The difference from an First Conditional is the use of future tense in the consequent clause. Instead of the future tense marker, you can also use the deontic/imperative marker due to the added future meaning that is present there as well. When using the future tense marker on the consuquent clause, you can also use the perfective marker because it's still in the future just the event has ended or the state has been surpassed.

hôn fos nîo bît sôlû mût noyo, û noyo ke fohoso bêsnêhot nîo bi dîyondê êto. If he asks me, I will consider his proposal carefully.

hôn fos nîmû bît li êo foût, umo ke fisun êo ôlê nîmû. If you make a mistake, someone will let you know.

hôn fos bît li hûzon cihoû lono mutyu ôfo, kûu li nô mût boxô noyo. If it rains this afternoon, come round to my place!

hôn fos nîmû bît li cok hoî îbûdû, û nîmû ke doîcêl oûtô kîskô nîmû lôîcôk. If you leave now, you will still catch your train.

Hypothetical (Second Conditional)​

These conditionals are sentences used to describe hypothetical, and typically counterfactual, situations in the present or future tense. These sentences do use the conditional verb marker (bît) on the consequent clause. To encode a future tense on the consequent clause, you can either just drop to the First Conditional or use an adverb phrase with mîle. Unlike in English, there's no need to encode the past tense (subjunctive) on the antecedent clause.

hôn fos noyo bît sûko kôndodû, û noyo bît li gô hoî eswen nîo. If I liked parties, I would attend more of them.

hôn fos bît li hûzon hoî lono uklo, û umo bît li cifulo hoî tîton onô. If it rained tomorrow, people would dance in the street.

hôn fos nîmû bît li cok bi îbûdû, û nîmû bît doîcêl oûtô kîskô nîmû lôîcôk. If you left now, you would still catch your train.

Past Hypothetical (Third Conditional)​

These conditionals are sentences used to describe hypothetical, and typically counterfactual, situations in the past tense. Like the Second Conditional, the consequent clause is using the conditional verb marker (bît) but in addition to that, it is also using either the perfective marker or another thematic constituent is indicating that this clause is in the past tense.

hôn fos nîmû bît xokûlû sî noyo, û noyo bît li sî nô. If you had called me, I would have come.

nîo bît li sî bîlûs hôn fos noyo bît li sî yôûlî mût nîo ko. Would he have succeeded if I had helped him?

Mixed Conditional​

These conditionals are a mixture of the second and third classifications. Either the antecedent or the consequent clause, but not both, has a past time reference. When the antecedent clause refers to the past, but the consequent clause to the present, the condition clause is in the like that of the Third conditional, while the main clause is like that of the Second conditional. When the consequent clause refers to the past, but the antecedent clause is not expressed as being limited to the past, the antecedent clause is expressed as in the Second Conditional, while the main clause is like the Third Conditional.

hôn fos nîmû bît tûu sî wêloi bi dûndon, nûs bît yûnyoû yôk îxôlô ôfo bi îbûdû. If you had done your job properly, we wouldn't be in this mess now.

hôn fos noyo bît li sî êo hûnsûon ôlê umo Keli, noyo bît niwos yôk hoî kûôcyo Elvu bi îbûdû. If I hadn't married Kelly, I wouldn't be living in Scotland now.

hôn fos nûs bît li umo gûexo bi ôhêl, nûs bît tûu sî yôk ni misli ulyô. If we were soldiers, we wouldn't have done it like that.

Deontic (what should be)​

To indicate that something should be or ought to be, you would use the deontic verb marker (kûu). It indicates that the true state of things (realis) doesn't match what the speaker expects, believes or desires. A sentence with the deontic verb marker generally indicates what action should be taken to rectify the state of things.

noyo kûu li yôûlî mût nîmû. I ought to help you.

nûs kûu li nô ze. Let's go!

kûu gomî oksûn ulyô. Don't take that meat.

û yûbik noyo kûu li gô ofek nîmû lôtfen. May my love be with you.

Future​

There is a form of verbal preposition that is on a slightly different dimension from the realis/irrealis verb markers above. Instead of delineating the mood of the sentence, this marker indicates that the predicate will occur in the future. This marker (ke) indicates what linguists call the future tense.

umo Zon ke li cok hoî bitûn ôfo. John is going to leave tonight.

noyo ke golo tômôs onô. I will/shall read the book

nûs kûu fohoso ulyô, nûs ke tûu ko.  Let us examine that, shall we?

kut yê umo kôlmûdul ke monodo nîmû hoî lono uklo. One of our salesmen will visit you tomorrow.

From...​

Converting from the other content types into verbs isn't possible.

Nouns​

A noun cannot act as a verb, it must be provided with the subject complement marker (li). This is called a noun complement. The subject is being described as being some noun. This has the effect of meaning "is a [noun]" in English.

Modifiers​

A modifier cannot act as a verb, it must be provided with the subject complement marker (li). This is called an adjective complement. The subject is being described as being some adjective (in some state). This has the effect of meaning "is [adjective]" in English.

Verb Modifiers​

There are three verb modifiers that can be mixed-and-matched in a verb phrase. They always follow the verb itself (not the verb marker) and they precede the direct object. The verb marker and the set of verb modifiers circumfix the verb.

Negatitive​

The negatitive verb modifier (yôk) turns the verb phrase into the negated version of itself. In English, this is the "not" adverb.

hôn xe yôk zûyi ozûul yonlûs, noyo li sî nô bi fôhon. Not knowing any better, I went ahead.

nîmû buswen yôk xe xontûn cizî. You don’t need to trouble yourself.

môtîfô yôcno li yôk xe funsût. The objective is not to lose.

kûu tûu yôk ulyô. Don't do that.

Causative​

The causative verb modifier (êo) turns the verb phrase into the causative version of itself. In English, this is often accomplished using the "to have" or "to make" helper verb but sometimes there is a completely separate verb for the causative version of an action.

noyo ôlê niwos zonwul li êo môtô mût xûnyu. I had the barn burned down.

nîmû ôlê nîo boîfôn êo nonto. You're making them cry.

umo Zon ke wêko êo sî fecko longi hoî niwos nîo. John will have his house painted.

ônî bêûdo fohoso êo sî dênêmêk kon cukto nîo. The students get their essays checked.

ônî cûdo yê cîgîlsu ôlê ônî dîyondê ke xokûlû êo ônî cîgîlsu. The doctor will have the nurse call the patients.

Perfective​

The perfective verb modifier (sî) turns the verb phrase into the perfective version of itself. This describes the action as being a complete whole in contrast to the imperfective aspect (the default) of verbs which is describes the event from a moment adjacent or within the whole action's duration, a perspective from a single point along the entire occurrence. There is no equivalent helper verb in English, sometimes the verb used to describe a whole action is completely different from the verb used to describe the action in the imperfective aspect.

noyo xûsten oûtô. I wash the car.

noyo bi ôhêl xûstên oûtô. I was washing the car.

noyo xûstên sî oûtô. I washed the car.

noyo bi ôhêl xûstên sî oûtô. I had washed the car.

noyo ke xûstên oûtô. I shall wash the car.

noyo ke xûstên sî oûtô. I will have washed the car.