Tessarion

General information
Tessarion is spoken on the world of Betriation, originating in the country of Tessan. Outside of Tessan, Tessarion is spoken in nearby countries on the continent of Aepefestia, and in countries on the continent of Lepotrisma.

Tessarion's linguistic history is a combination of Latin based vocabulary, with roots in Chinese and Pandaeic grammar, and French pronunciations. Much of the basic vocabulary is also shared with Pandaeic vocabulary. Pandaeic is also the root of other Pandaeic languages--Andeu-ol, Omnicronus, and Aekkyiangdan. From Pandaeic, many basic verbs and root words were borrowed and modified. One feature of Pandaeic that was eliminated was the system of "invisible subjects," where verbs were conjugated based on the gender of the speaker or polarity of the sentence.

Tessarion's name comes from the roots of Tessan and language. In Tessarion, "poition" means language (from "-poitiotaire" meaning to speak), and thus all languages contain the root suffix "-ion." Tessaria was the old name for Tessan, having a colloquial meaning of "little Tessian." Combining both parts bring the name Tessarion, or "language of the Tessians."

Note that on this page, all Tessarion letters will be referred to with modern romanizations with the Latin alphabet. Past writing systems have existed, but or not often used today.

Phonology
Tessarion uses a wide array of sounds, as a result of the French and Latin origins. Also from Pandaeic, there are left over sounds. There are few iotized vowels, with the exception of "eo," pronounced as an iotized "o."

Modern Alphabet
In Tessarion history, there have been two alphabets used. The modern alphabet used is the standard Latin Alphabet. Unlike in Pandaeic, glottal stops are not used. However, there are diphthongs that follow both Latin and English pronunciations. The current alphabet is currently sorted identically to the Latin alphabet:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

There are no accents used, nor are ligatures for diphthongs.

The vowels are:

A E I O U

Whereas the consonants are:

B C D F G H J K L M N P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Traditional Alphabet
The traditional alphabet mimics more of Chinese bopomofo and Korean Hangeul. There are more vowels formed into diphthongs (most notably ae, ao, ai, aire, oi, and io). Not only that, but the consonants are arranged by traditional endings.

Nouns
Nouns do not contain gender and are only inflected with plurals, in which the letter "s" is used to imply plural. In Tessarion, nouns ending in "s" can either be pluralized by adding an "s" or implied as plural. Both are acceptable. In nouns ending in "s," the second "s" when used, will not be pronunciated.

Articles
Note that in northern accents, articles, with the exception of the negative particle "na," and the partitive article "suk." is omitted. The definite article is used when the speaker knows what the noun is. The statement is referring to a specific noun or group of nouns.

I want the koala. ==> Oitevesse sel kaotara. (I want) the koala.

I want the koalas. ==> Oitevesse sel kaotaras. (I want) the koalas.

The indefinite singular article is used when the speaker only is referring to a singular noun. The statement is referring an element of the group, without being specific as to which one it is. However, since this refers to a singular item, the noun must reflect that and not be pluralized.

I want a koala. ==> Oitevesse su kaotara. (I want) a koala.

 I want a koalas. ==> Oitevesse su kaotaras. It does not make sense to have a singular article referring to more than itself.

The indefinite generalization article is used when you are talking about something, but not a specific group, but of the group as a whole. In English, this is done by omitting the article and pluralizing the noun, to imply that the speaker means the whole group. In Tessarion, this is done by use of the indefinite generalization article. The noun can be either singular or plural, however in general, when it is singular, it implies that you like the entire group, subgroups included. Often, "sul" is translated to mean "a" or "an."

I want pie. ==> Oitevesse sul tarte. (I want) a tart. ~ This means that you want pies--apple, cherry, etc.

I want koalas. ==> Oitevesse sul kaotaras. (I want) a koalas. ~ This means that you want koalas, and there are no subgroups.

The partitive article is used when only a portion of the noun is being used. When the noun is in the singular form, it means that the speaker is referring to some part that is indistinguisable from the whole (such as fluids). When the noun is in plural, the speaker is referring to a part of a group.

I want some coffee. ==> Oitevesse suk keffenar. (I want) some coffee. ~ You want some coffee from a pot.

I want some koalas. ==> Oitevesse suk kaotaras. (I want) some koalas. ~ You want some koalas from a larger group of koalas.

The negative article states that the speaker does not have any of what the article describes. It does not matter if the noun is singular or plural, since you do not have any. However, the pragmatics of the sentence for plural nouns implies that the speaker's mind could change if the number was reduced.

I want no koala. ==> Oitevesse na kaotara. (I want) no koala.

I want no koalas. ==> ''Oitevesse na kaotaras. '(I want) no koalas.''

Nouns are definite and proper when describing a specific person, country, language, ethnicity, culture, or location. In those cases, articles are not needed to show definiteness.

I speak languages. ==> Oitepoitiotaire sul poitions.

I speak Tessarion. ==> Oitepoitiotaire tessarion.

I know people. ==> Oitesautoir sul feebilins.

<p style="text-align: center;">I know John. ==> Oitesautoir John.

<p style="text-align: center;">Here is a high school. ==> Iten yest su ecolier trespitorol.

<p style="text-align: center;">Here is Lake School. ==> Iten yest Lacnicco Ecolier.

It is important to remember that in Tessarion, articles are always needed for nondefinite nouns. Also, unlike in English, Tessarion employs less capitalization, leaving them only for names. Languages, countries, and ethnicities are not capitalized.

Pronouns
Pronouns are important in Tessarion because of their use in conjugating verbs. In Tessarion, sentences are formed by combining the subject pronoun with the verb.

Subject Pronouns
The subject pronouns are the same as personal pronouns with the subject case. Subject pronouns are divided into groups based on whether or not the verb they modify begins with a vowel. By seeing if verbs start with a vowel, pronunciation irregularities are prevented, but not entirely, due to "nostrio-" ending in two vowels. With verbs starting with vowels, the "i" serves to end the syllable.

Here are some examples:

<p style="text-align: center;">I dance. ==> Oite- (Subject Pronoun of I)+ -dansant (to dance) ==> Oitedansant.

<p style="text-align: center;">I love. ==> Oit- (Subject Pronoun of I) + -emar (to love) ==> Oitemar.

Since "-emar" started with a vowel, the final "e" in "oite-" was dropped forming "oit-."

Imperative Pronouns
Imperative pronouns are used by themselves (thus removing the terminal hyphen) in sentences with the imperative mood. They are formed by using the subject pronouns and adding a "t."

Verbs
Verbs are conjugated by attaching pronoun stems to the verb. In the case of when two vowels match, the final vowel of the pronoun is dropped and replaced by the verb. Likewise, with tense and mood endings, the suffix is dropped and replaced by the vowel of the verb.

Infinitives
In Tessarion, infinitives are the unconjugated forms of verbs. In Tessarion, infinitives without conjugations are written with initial hyphens. Hyphens are only to show that the verb can be combined with a subject. Usually, infinitives are translated in English into the verb with the preposition "to." In Tessarion, the verb "-yest," means in english "to be."

Often in English, infinitives will be used to add context to another verb, and Tessarion uses it in the same way. However, in Tessarion, the infinitive becomes inflected when used in a sentence. Each verb used is a new order. In a sentence, each added verb other than the main verb will take an ending if they are in the same phrase. Each ending is added on per verb. However, if they are in different phrases, they will not be counted. When the verb ends in a consonant, the "consonant ending" list will be used, while the "vowel ending" list is used when the verb ends in a vowel. <p style="text-align: center;">I like to eat koalas. ==> Oiteprefere maetairedon sul kaotaras. (I like) (to give second) a koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">I like to dance with koalas. ==> Oiteprefere dansantodon haibar kaotaras. (I like) (to dance second) (with the)koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">I like to eat koalas and dance with koalas. ==> Oiteprefere maetairedon sul kaotaras ael dansantotres haibar kaotaras. (I like) (to eat second) a koalas and (to dance third) with koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">I like to eat koalas and dance with koalas, but I love to see koalas. ==> Oiteprefere maetairedon ael dansantotres haibar sul kaotaras, aul oitemar seriotodon sul kaotaras. (I like) (to eat second) and (to dance third) with koalas, but (I love) (to see second) a koalas.

As you can tell, new clauses mean that the orders start anew, even if it is the same phrase separated by an apositive. Later on, when you learn tense and mood suffixes, these infinitive orders will be placed after the suffixes. Generally, this system is only used in sentences when the subject is connected to many verbs. In more complex sentences, the syntax will generally clear up the verb relations. The reason this exists, however, because in Tessarion, many words will share the same root word across different parts of speech. For example, "to dream" in Tessarion is "-deludis," while the noun form of a dream is "deludis." This could create confusion when communicating. Some grammar guides will recommend not using infintive orders unless absolutely necessary, as they could cause the sentence to appear and to sound cluttered.

<p style="text-align: center;">

Indicative Conjugations
In all sentences, verbs must be conjugated with subject pronouns, even if there is a definite subject.

<p style="text-align: center;">I eat. ==> Oitemaetaire.

<p style="text-align: center;">They eat. ==> Sairemomaetaire.

<p style="text-align: center;">Koalas eat. ==> Kaotaras (Plural of koala) + Sairemo-(Subject Pronoun of "koalas") + -maetaire (to eat) ==> Kaotaras sairemomaetaire.

Changes in Tense
Tessarion, like English has nine tenses, however, there are a few more tenses that follow more closely upon French and Latin with imperfect and preterit tenses.

Conjugated Tenses
The conjugated tenses are suffixes appended onto verbs--thereby conjugating them. These suffixes are ending dependent, meaning that they will change if the verb ends in a vowel. Just as the subject pronouns dropped vowels when combining onto verbs, tense suffixes drop vowels when being added onto verbs, or they will add consonants. The table shows suffix endings. Auxiliary verbs will be covered in the next sections. These are the six tenses that are conjugated. They are appended onto the verb to show a change in tense. For these

The perfect tenses most often translate into English as using the auxiliary verb "to have" in various tenses. Officially, however, Tessians often use the Past Perfect Tense to represent the compound past. The present perfect past is used when more literal translation are required and because it more relates to the French passé simple.

<p style="text-align: center;">He has walked. (Normal) ==> Issonomarchantor.

<p style="text-align: center;">He has walked. (Literary) ==> Issonomarchantot

<p style="text-align: center;">She had walked. ==> Issanomarchantor.

<p style="text-align: center;">It will have walked. ==> Issoinomarchanton

Although progressive tenses are translated similarly, the existance of erris verbs (explained below) alter their use. Progressive Tense and Erris verbs show linguistic aspect.

Basic Tense
The basic tenses other than basic present tense is a misnomer, because outside of introducing people to Tessarion, Tessarion speakers themselves rarely use the tense (in favor of fewer words.) However, it is still used when referring to the very recent past and future. As you can see, the basic tense uses the auxiliary of to have and to go, respectively to change the tense. The basic present tense has special ending because it is constantly used.

Erris Verbs
Erris verbs are very diverse, in that they represent some tenses not used in English. Erris itself is not a tense, it represents a group of verbs that describe tense. In Tessarion, there are three Erris verbs, in order of historical development, they are "etor," "errer," and "enton." Unlike other verbs, Erris verbs are not hyphenated in the infinitive because they are not conjugated in the same way as normal verbs. Instead, they are conjugated by person without the use of the subject pronoun. Notice that the conjugation does not change? This is because this is the basic conjugation, where the same tense is used across all persons and numbers. To utilize it, the auxiliary verb is placed after the root verb, as a separate word.

The three tenses that each represent are the preterit, the imperfect, and the future habitual tense. The preterit is also used in English, in the way that verbs take the ending "-ed." The imperfect is more common in French and Latin and is used to show past habits and condition. The Future Habitual is used to show events and actions that are starting to occur or becoming a habit.

<p style="text-align: center;">I ate koalas. ==> Oitemaetaire errer sul kaotaras. (I eat) (preterit) a koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">I used to eat koalas. ==> Oitemaetaire etor sul kaotaras. (I eat) (used to) a koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">I start to eat koalas. ==> Oitemaetaire enton sul kaotaras. (I eat) (start to) a koalas.

In negation, the negative particle "na" is placed before the negated verb, not before the erris verb.

<p style="text-align: center;">I did not eat koalas. ==> Na oitemaetaire errer sul kaotaras. Not (I eat) (preterit) a koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">I used to not eat koalas. ==> Na oitemaetaire etor sul kaotaras. Not '(I eat) (used to) a koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">I did not start to eat koalas. ==> Na oitemaetaire enton sul kaotaras. Not '(I eat) (start to) a koalas.

The use of the imperfect is used to describe not only habits, but conditions that lack a definite time frame, such as weather, emotions, and scenery. Using the imperfect implies that the imperfect verb was a habit.

<p style="text-align: center;">I used to eat koalas. ==> Oitemaetaire etor sul kaotaras. (I eat) (used to) a koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">It was hot today. ==> Issoinochaufar etor cecalen. (It is hot) (used to) today.

<p style="text-align: center;">I felt sad without koalas. ==> Oitedepressin etor haibarexter sul kaotaras. (I feel sad) (used to) without a koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">There were koalas on the bridge. ==> Tere yest etor sul kaotaras pon pontor. There are (used to) a koalas (on the) bridge.

The future habitual tense, "enton," involves actions that the speaker will complete in the future. This is generally used to habits to be done.

<p style="text-align: center;">My child will start school this fall. ==> Oiteden fillian issonocommencer vontir sul ecolier tir effalio. My child (he starts) will a school this fall.

<p style="text-align: center;">My child is starting to go to school this fall. ==> Oiteden fillian issonovontir enton an ecolier tir effalio. My child (he goes) (starting to) (to the) school this fall.

Literary Forms
So far, we have been using the basic forms of erris verbs, however in official documents, older works of literature (hence the name), the literary forms of erris verbs will be used. Whereas in the basic conjugations, the spelling of the infinitive is used throughout, in the literary form, this will change. If you notice, all the erris verbs are conjugated in a similar pattern of "o" for singular persons, "u" for plural persons, dropped terminal consonant for first person, "n" for second person, and "r" for third person. However, since enton is the newer of the erris verbs, it does not follow the double consonant pattern illustrated by etor and errer because it was developped and standardized with the adoption of the Latin alphabet, so it did not carry the double vowel. Not only that, but with double vowels, it is harder to tell if someone is using etor or enton, since they only differ by a few letters.

Syntax
The most basic word order is SVO, and this basic word order is relatively standard across most moods, since mood is modified by verb endings and conjugations. The most simplest of sentences contain a pronoun bounded to the verb as what is called a subject-verb-conjugation (SVC). Negation is controlled by use of the particle "na." Note that the italicized sentences after the Tessarion examples are the literal English translation, words in parenthesis mean that multiple English words are being represented by a singular Tessarion word.

Definite Subjects
If there is a definite subject, then it is added before the SVC. In a negative statement, the negative particle is placed directly infront the SVC that is being negated.

<p style="text-align: center;">Affirmative Statement: John eats. ==> John issonomaetaire. John (he eats).

<p style="text-align: center;">Negative Statement: He does not eat. ==> John na issonomaetaire. John not (he eats).

Negative versus Affirmative Syntax
Negation is controlled by adding the negative particle (na) before the verb.

<p style="text-align: center;">Affirmative Statement: He eats. ==> Issonomaetaire. (It eats).

<p style="text-align: center;">Negative Statement: He does not eat. ==> Na issonomaetaire. Not (it eats).

Question Syntax
Questions are written by the addition of question words to the beginning of the affirmative sentence of the question. Also put, questions are formed by adding the question word before the basic sentence. Note that "son" is the question particle for a "yes or no" question. For negative questions, the negative particle is still placed directly before the root verb.

<p style="text-align: center;">Affirmative Statement: He eats koalas. ==> Issonomaetaire sul kaotaras. (It eats) a koala.

<p style="text-align: center;">Affirmative Question: Does he eat koalas? ==> Son issonomaetaire sul kaotaras. Can (it eats) a koala?

<p style="text-align: center;">Negative Question: Does he not eat koalas? ==> Son na issonomaetaire sul kaotara? Can not (it eats) a koala?

Moods
In Tessarion, there are 4 moods: indicative mood, used for statements of fact; imperative mood, used for commands and necessities; conditional mood, used for statements of possibility; and desiderative mood, used for statements of desires.

Indicative Mood
Indicative is the most basic of all tenses and is implied when no mood endings are added to the verb. Indicative mood is used to represent facts and pose statements. Questions formed in the indicative mood have answers as indicative statements.Generally, sentences with the indicative mood will follow the SVO order. Objects are placed after the SVC. Articles must be placed with basic nouns.

<p style="text-align: center;">Affirmative Statement: John eats koalas. ==> John issonomaetaire sul kaotaras. John (he eats) a koala.

<p style="text-align: center;">Negative Statement: He does not eat koalas. ==> John na issonomaetaire sul kaotaras. John not (he eats) a koala.

Tenses are controlled by conjugations of the verb or by the use of auxiliary verbs. In the case of clashing vowels between the root verb the tense suffix, the vowel off of the tense suffix is dropped, not the root verb. This is because in Pandaeic, verbs could change with singular letter changes. Dropping vowels off of the verb could result in ambiguity. Note that in the following example, the articles are dropped because a preposition is used.

<p style="text-align: center;">Non-Verb Terminal Vowel Drop: John has danced with koalas. ==> John issonodansantor haibar kaotaras. John (he has danced) with koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">Verb Terminal Vowel Drop: John has eaten with koalas. ==> John issonomaetairer haibar kaotaras. John (he has eaten) with koalas.

Imperative Mood
Imperative mood is used when offering commands. With imperative mood, imperative pronoun subjects must be used to convey the speaker. Imperative mood is separated into two classes. Basic Imperative and the Subjunctive. Basic imperative is the statement of commands and is limited to the second person and the first person plural subjects. The objects can be of any person or number. In indicative, the syntax of the sentence changes from SVO to VSO. Negative commands are formed by the addition of the negative particle before the main verb.

<p style="text-align: center;">Affirmative Command: Eat the koala. ==> Maetaire tunit sul kaotara. Eat you a koala.

<p style="text-align: center;">Negative Command: Do not eat the koala. ==> Na maetaire tunit sul kaotara. Not eat you a koala.

Questions are formed just as in the indicative mood, placed before the verb. In negative questions, the question word is placed before the negative particle.

<p style="text-align: center;">Affirmative Command Statement: Eat the koala. ==> Maetaire tunit sul kaotara. Eat you the koala.

<p style="text-align: center;">Affirmative Command Question: Can you eat the koala? ==> Son maetaire tunit sul kaotara? (Yes or no) eat you the koala?

<p style="text-align: center;">Negative Command Question: Can you not eat the koala? ==> Son na maetaire tunit sul kaotara? (Yes or no) not eat you the koala?

In the basic imperative mood, verbs cannot take tense, and thus are limited to the present tense (it is logically impossible to give commands before they happen or after they happen.)

In the subjunctive mood, the statements made are not exactly commands, but more of necessity. Thus, the most important verb in the subjunctive mood is, aptly named, the subjunctive verb "-necessen" translated as "to be necessary." "-necessen" is a limited verb because it's conjugations are only limited to the third person. All subjunctive sentences will contain some form of the verb necessen. Often, conjugations of "-necessen" will be abbreviated. In most cases, the abbreviated form will be used for its simplicity. The unabbreviated form would be used in official documents, as well as in newspapers and official print. The use of -necessen allows for the imperative mood, as a whole, to be used across various tenses--increasing its use. With subjunctive, the basic form syntax is the necessity statement (often using, but not limited to, the verb -necessen) along with the conjunction "that" or "tar", followed by the syntax for the basic imperative statement, or the action phrase. Negation can placed on either the root verb or on the subjunctive verb "-necessen." However, the meaning of the sentence is slightly changed where the negation is placed. Also, with the subjunctive mood, double-negatives are permitted, as they have a change in the sentence's pragmatics.

<p style="text-align: center;">Affirmative Subjunctive Statement: It is necessary that it eats koalas. ==> Issoinonecessen tar maetaire issonot sul kaotaras. (It is necessary) that eats it a koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">Root Verb Negative Subjunctive Statement: It is necessary that it does not eat koalas. ==> Issoinonecessen tar na maetaire issonot sul kaotaras. (It is necessary) that not eats it a koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">Subjunctive Phrase Negative Subjunctive Statement: It is not necessary that it eats koalas. ==> Na issoinonecessen tar maetaire issonot sul kaotaras. Not (it is necessary) that eats it a koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">Subjunctive Phrase and Root Verb Negative Subjunctive Statement: It is not necessary that it does not eat koalas. ==> Na issoinonecessen tar na maetaire issonot sul kaotaras. Not (it is necessary) that not eats it a koalas.

With negative subjunctive phrases, the implied meaning is that the action, if done, would be in excess. Had it eaten koala, it would have been too much. Looking at the double-negative example, the meaning of the sentence would be assumed that in not eating koalas, it was too much.

<p style="text-align: center;">Subjunctive Statement: It is necessary that it eats koalas. ==> Issoinonecessen tar maetaire issonot sul kaotaras. (It is necessary) that eats it a koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">Subjunctive Statement with Definite Subject: It is necessary that John eats koalas. ==> Issoinonecessen tar John maetaire issonot sul kaotaras. (It is necessary) that John eats it a koalas.

Definite Subjects are placed before the root verb, creating a subject-sandwich. DVSO is the approximation of the basic syntax. Note that negation will be placed after the definite subject, as in the indicative tense.

Questions written in the subjunctive mood are similar to the syntax of questions in the basic imperative mood, however, the question word is placed before the subjunctive phrase, since the question ask about the necessity of the action.

<p style="text-align: center;">Subjunctive Statement: It is necessary that it eats koalas. ==> Issoinonecessen tar maetaire issonot sul kaotaras. (It is necessary) that eats it a koalas.

<p style="text-align: center;">Subjunctive Question: Is it necessary that he eats koalas? ==> Son issoinonecessen tar maetaire issonot sul kaotaras. (Yes or no) (it is necessary) that eats it a koalas?

With subjunctive mood, tense is not limited to the present tense. However, the subtlety of tenses can make the subjunctive mood much more difficult than other tenses. First off, "-necessen" has two conjugations--the past perfect and future perfect. The abbreviated verb is conjugated the same way. It is important to note that although the chart above appears complicated, it is actually the same tense conjugation all the way down and is conjugated regularly.

With the tense change placed on the subjunctive phrase, the sentence implies that the action of the imperative portion was or will be necessary at a different time, and that at that time, the action of will be necessary. This is an implied imperfect tense.

<p style="text-align: center;">It was necessary that they eat koalas. ==> Issoinonecessenor tar maetaire sairemot sul kaotaras. (It had been necessary) that eat they a koalas.

When the tense change is applied to the action, the meaning changes to imply that the action phrase is currently necessary, but when done at a different time.

<p style="text-align: center;">It is necessary that they had eaten koalas. ==> Issoinonecessen tar maetairer sairemot sul kaotaras. (It is necessary) that (had eaten) they a koalas.

When the tense change is applied to both sides the subjunctive phrase and the action phrase, the sentence comes to mean that an action was or will be necessary at a different time, and that at that time, an action should have taken place or will be taking place.

<p style="text-align: center;">It will be necessary that they will eat koalas. ==> Issoinonecessenon tar maetairen sairemot sul kaotaras. (It will be necessary) that (will eat) they a koalas.

In this example, the best translation is that in the future, they will have to eat koalas even further in the future. Thus, by use of tense changes in the subjunctive mood, tenses can be modified to very precise amounts.

Conditional Mood
Conditional mood is designed to state if and when actions are possible. The syntax of conditional mood is much more similar to that of indicative, following a SVO order. Thus, to differentiate between the different moods, a suffix is added to the root verb. The conditional suffix (also called conditional ending) is "-ti." Unlike in the imperative mood, there are no limitations in person or number in the use of the ending. The "-ti" ending originates from Pandaeic, and was the standard ending across all subjects, persons, and numbers. Note that even if a verb ends in a consonant, there are no dropped letters. Negation in the conditional mood still follows the basic rules as in the indicative mood, in that the negative particle must be placed before the subject-verb-conjugation (SVC). Likewise, the question word is used in the same way as in the indicative mood. A common word that is used in the conditional mood is the word "sen," meaning "if." By using "sen," the sentence automatically becomes a conditional statement, since it states a possibility. The most basic conditional statements will only state a condition, i.e.: "I would be a koala." Often, a conditional statement will contain the possibility statement, which contains the "sen," and a result statement. It Is important to note that in the result statement, the main verb will be of a different tense from verb in the possibility statement, using the erris tense. Also, the conditional suffix is placed on both verbs in the sentence to show that they are correlated.

<p style="text-align: center;">If I eat koalas, then I will gain weight. ==> Sen oitemaetaireti sul kaotaras, ten oitepluspondti ento. If (I eat possibly) a koalas, then (I gain weight possibly) (start to).

<p style="text-align: center;">When I had eaten koalas, I had gained weight. ==> Quol oitemaetairerti sul kaotaras, oitepluspondti eto. When (I eaten had possibility) a koalas, (I gain weight possibility) (used to).

<p style="text-align: center;">When I ate koalas, I gained weight. ==> Quol oitemaetaireti errer sul kaotaras, oitepluspondti errer. When (I eat possibility) (in the past) a koalas, (I gain weight possibility) (in the past).

In the third example, both tenses were the same. This is because both events happen in the past. Using "when" instead of "if" in conditional statements allows for past tense statements, but it is important to know that the result statement cannot be of a tense  before the possibility statement--only at the same time or after the possibility statement. It is also important to note that in the examples, the literary forms of enton and etor, respectively, were used. In normal conversation, it is still proper grammar to use the basic forms. The literary forms were used to convey full clarity in the subject. Remember that in conjugation the order goes:

<p style="text-align: center;">Subject Pronoun --> Root Verb --> Tense Suffix --> Mood Suffix

In this case, the mood suffix is the conditional suffix, "-ti." However, in the case of using Erris verbs, the erris verb always is placed as an auxiliary verb after the root verb and whatever mood suffixes are being used.

Desiderative Mood
Desiderative mood is used for the statement of wants and desires. However, it especially emphasizes the desire to perform an action, over a material desire. Otherwise, the basic verb for "to want," "-vesse," can be used. It too originates from the Pandaeic desiderative mood, therefore, its ending and use is much the same. In the desiderative mood, the desiderative suffix "-al" is used. As with other tenses, in verbs that end in vowels will cause the "a" from "-al" to be dropped. As with the indicative and conditional mood, the syntax is still SVO. Also like conditional, tenses are placed before the desiderative suffix, with the exception of erris verbs, which always are placed by themselves.

<p style="text-align: center;">I want to eat a koala. ==> Oitemaetairel su kaotara. (I eat want) a koala.

<p style="text-align: center;">I had wanted to eat a koala. ==> Oitemaetairerel su kaotara. (I eat had wanted) a koala.

<p style="text-align: center;">I will start to want to eat a koala. ==> Oitemaetairel ento su kaotara. (I eat want) (starting to) a koala.

Note that in the third example, the literary form of enton is used for clarity of subject. Desiderative mood is the most modern of all the moods, therefore it is much simpler and regular, it is important to mention again that desiderative mood is used for actions that the subject wants to do, or wishes it could do, rather than for objects that are wanted by the subject.

<p style="text-align: center;">I want a koala. ==> Oitevesse su kaotara. (I want) a koala.

<p style="text-align: center;">I want to want a koala. ==> Oitevessel su kaotara. (I want want) a koala.

<p style="text-align: center;">I want to be a koala. ==> Oiteyestal su kaotara. (I be want) a koala.

In the first example, the mean shows that the subject wants to have a koala. The second shows that the subjects desires the emotion of wanting a koala, and the third shows that the subject wishes it were a koala. Improper use of the desiderative can create miscommunications between people.

Passive Voice
The passive voice is controlled in Tessarion by use of the auxiliary verbs collectively known as Pern. Pern verbs are used according to the grammatical mood. Pern verbs are very different from normal verbs in that tense is changed by the addition of tense 'prefixes, as opposed to tense suffixes. This is used to discern very clearly at what time an action is taking place. However, as opposed to the nine standard tenses applied to regular verbs, pern verbs only show that the action is taking place in the past, present, or future, also known as the passive past, passive present, or passive future. Pern verbs, like erris verbs are also conjugated by person and number of the passive object, and also do not require a subject pronoun.

Passive voice is much the same as in English, when the subject of the sentence is not the one performing the action. Usually this is signified by using the auxiliary (also known as "helping verbs") to be.

<p style="text-align: center;">Someone throws a rock. ~ This is active because the subject, someone, is throwing a rock.

<p style="text-align: center;">A rock is thrown. ~ This sentence is passive because the rock is the subject of the sentence, however it cannot be the one who throws itself. (Since rocks can't throw themselves.)

Pern verbs, unlike regular verbs are not conjugated based on the subject of the passive sentence, but based on the passive subject. Looking at the passive example above, the verb "per" would be conjugated using the third person neuter, since the person who threw the rock is unknown. Meanwhile, the sentence would be written as normal.

Pern Verbs
There are four verbs under the class of "pern verbs:" par, for indicative mood; per, for conditional mood; pir, for desiderative mood; and por, for imperative mood, (specifically subjunctive mood.) Pern verbs are all conjugated in the same way, with only the final letter that is changed. Note that for the third person, it does not matter about the gender. Semantically, Pern comes from the Pandaeic word "par," meaning by. This is an allusion to the common passive construction, "... been by..." Therefore, pern verbs are a shortening of "to be done by." As you can see, all pern verbs take the same basic conjugations in the present tense. Specifically, "s" is added to plural persons to show plurality. Here is the passive past tense for pern verbs. Passive past tense is used when the passive action has been done at a time before the current time. Although the root verb of the sentence may not be of basic past, the fundamental idea is that the action has already occured, thereby using the passive past tense. Likewise with the passive future, the passive future tense will always be used when the passive action is being done at a time after the present time, implying that it hasn't happened yet, or will happen in the future. Again, the root verb of the sentence does not have to be basic future. It only has to be in the future tense.

In translating passive statements from English to Tessarion, the best indicator of tense is to look at the verb "to be" and to look at its tense, instead of what would become the root verb. Since "to be" is the auxiliary verb that states the time the passive action took place, it will tell the time.

<p style="text-align: center;">A rock is thrown. ~ Passive Present and Root Verb Present Tense ("to be" is in the present tense.)

<p style="text-align: center;">A rock is being thrown. ~ Passive Present and Root Verb Present Progressive Tense

<p style="text-align: center;">A rock has been thrown. ~ Passive Past and Root Verb in Past Perfect Tense

<p style="text-align: center;">A rock will have been thrown. ~ Passive Future and Root Verb in Future Perfect Tense

<p style="text-align: center;">A rock used to be thrown. ~ Passive Past and Root Verb in Etor (Etor is for habits.)

<p style="text-align: center;">A rock was thrown. ~ Passive Past and Root Verb in Errer (Errer is for preterit verbs.)

<p style="text-align: center;">A rock is starting to be thrown. ~ Passive Future and Root Verb in Enton (Enton is a future tense verb.)

There are a lot of examples of tense in passive voice above. They are all also in indicative mood, therefore, the one would use the tenses of the verb "par."

Using the Passive Voice
Passive construction is very similar to the syntax of the active voice, with the exception that a pern is placed before the root verb, and conjugated relative to the passive subject. In cases where the passive subject is unknown, the third person singular is used, as it is the neuter person. The passive subject is the object of the sentence. If the subject is a definite noun, then the preposition "bin" for "by" followed by the definite noun to show that it is the object of the normal sentence.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Indicative: The koala is fed by him. ==> Sel kaotara part issoinonutrient issonort. The koala (is by him) (it feeds) him.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Conditional: The koala would be fed by John. ==> Sel kaotara pert issoinonutrient bin John. The koala (would be by him) (it feeds) by John.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Desiderative: The koala wants to be fed by them. ==> Sel kaotara pirts issoinonutrient sairemort. The koala (wants to be by them) (it feeds) them.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Basic Imperative: Be fed by John. ==> Port nutrient tunit bin John. (Be by him) feed you by John.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Subjunctive: It is necessary that the koala is fed by John and Sally. ==> Issoinonecessen tar sel kaotara ports nutrient issoinot bin John ael Sally. (It is necessary) that the koala (be by them) feed it by John and Sally.

To form the negative construction, the negative particle "na" is placed directly before the root verb, as that is what is being negated. Here, we will take the above examples and negate them.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Indicative: The koala is not fed by him. ==> Sel kaotara part na issoinonutrient issonort. The koala (is by him) not (it feeds) him.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Conditional: The koala would not be fed by John. ==> Sel kaotara pert na issoinonutrient bin John. The koala (would be by him) not (it feeds) by John.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Desiderative: The koala does not want to be fed by them. ==> Sel kaotara pirts na issoinonutrient sairemort. The koala (wants to be by them) not (it feeds) them.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Basic Imperative: Do not be fed by John. ==> Port na nutrient tunit bin John. (Be by him) not feed you by John.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Subjunctive: It is necessary that the koala is not fed by John and Sally. ==> Issoinonecessen tar sel kaotara ports na nutrient issoinot bin John ael Sally. (It is necessary) that the koala (be by them) not feed it by John and Sally.

Now, for changes in tense, both the root verb and the verb pern must agree in timeframe (i.e. both be in past, present, or future.)

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Indicative: The koala has been fed by him. ==> Sel kaotara depart issoinonutrientor issonort. The koala (was by him) (it has fed) him.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Conditional: The koala would be being fed by John. ==> Sel kaotara anpert issoinonutrientant bin John. The koala (will be by him possibility) (it is feeding) by John.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Desiderative: The koala used to want to be fed by them. ==> Sel kaotara depirts issoinonutrient etorre sairemort. The koala (wants to be by them) (it feed) (used to) them.

<p style="text-align: center;">Passive-Subjunctive: It was necessary that the koala was fed by John and Sally. ==> Issoinonecessenon tar sel kaotara deports nutrient errorre issoinot bin John ael Sally. (It was necessary) that the koala (been by them) feed was it by John and Sally.

Remember that since the Basic Imperative Mood does not have tense, it was not included in the examples.

Rhetorical Statements and Questions
Rhetorical statements are an interesting part of Tessarion, in that they can be written without using standard rhetorical construction, however in using rhetorical construction, it becomes more clear that the statement is a rhetorical question instead of a true question. To form rhetorical statements, the verb "palloir" is used. Palloir is similar to erris verbs in that conjugation is based on the subject of the sentence. However, rhetorical questions are placed under the passive voice because they have a similar construction. Also shown are the different tenses of palloir. Like other verbs, the third person singular conjugation is the same across all genders. The conjugation for palloir is very similar to the Latin conjugation for esse (to be). The tense of palloir is changed like other verbs of the perfect tense, however in this case, the test does not have a connection to the perfect tenses.

The rhetorical syntax follows as the subject [palloir] (question word) [infinitive] object.

<p style="text-align: center;">Do you know what a rhetorical question is? ==> Tuni pumus son sautoir questionnaire rhetoric quel issoinoyest? You (rhetorically) (yes or no) (to know) question rhetorical what it is?

<p style="text-align: center;">If practice makes perfect, and no one's perfect, then why practice? ==> Sen practice issoinofainti perfection, ael nasukepel yest perfection, ten pest quon practice? If practice (it makes possibility) perfect, and (no one) is perfect, then (rhetorically) why (to practice)?

<p style="text-align: center;">Why did we do that? ==> Nostrio pumusor quon fain errer tar? We (past rhetorically) why (to do) (did) that?

<p style="text-align: center;">How will you guys feed the koalas? ==> Uru paestason contor nutrient sel kaotaras? (You (pl.)) (future rhetorically) how (to feed) the koalas?

Notice that in the second example, when there is no known subject to receive the verb palloir, it is defected towards the third person singular. Also, it will seem tempting to make the infinitive agree on tense, but in Tessarion, INFINITIVES CANNOT TAKE TENSE. So, only the tense on palloir will change. It is okay tense meaning will be lost in a rhetorical question.

Generic Phrases
Under literal translations, phrases surrounded by parenthesis means that the phrase in Tessarion is represented by one singular word.