Tiôtj

Tiôtj (pronounced [tjo:tʃ]) is an artificial language that user Llyn created few months ago (and he's still creating and improving it). He was inspired by another artificial language that supposed a different evolution of Anglo-Saxon, so he tried to imagine "his own" evolution of Old English. In this evolution Latin influence was scarce at all, while one can appreciate a little Scandinavian influence in the writing system and some borrowings.

The term "tiôtj" comes from Old English "þéodisc", that is an adjective that means "of our people".

Classification
Tiôtj is a Germanic language that is strongly linked to Modern English. This is due to the fact that both English (naturally) and Tiôtj (artificially and a posteriori) descend from Old English.

While English has undergone a strong Latin influence, the same influence on Tiôtj has been very very weak. It can be appreciated the influence of Scandinavian languages on the writing system and just the influence of a language as Welsh in the use of the letter  to represent the long vowel [u:].

Alphabet
Tiôtj alphabet uses letters from Latin alphabet and contains 26 characters:

Consonants
Tiôtj language has the following consonantic phonemes:

In some dialectal pronounciation, the cluster di in front of a vowel can be read as [dʒ], ex.: diôr, animal, can be read [dʒo:r], this pronounciation is considered incorrect though.

The [w] phoneme is found as a glide in words like vouen, "wolves", that is pronounced as ['vɔu̯ wɛn].

Vowels
In Tiôtj there are the following vowels: The short a is realized not precisely in the front of mouth, but in the mid between the front and centre of the mouth, wehereas the long a is realized in the mid between the back and the centre of mouth.

Diphthongs, digraphs and trigraphs
Tiôtj has got also twenty-one diphthongs, that is clusters of two vowels pronounced with a single emission of air. These diphthongs are:

All these diphthongs can have a short or a long vowel in combination with [ɪ] or [ʊ], except for the diphthong .

Some times one can find these diphthongs written with i and not with j, this depends on the way of use of the letter i (see the alphabet).

Tiôtj has got two digraphs too: , that is pronounced as [ʃ], and , that is pronounced as [tʃ]. Also a trigraph exists: that is pronounced [ʃ] (so  and have got the same pronounciation).

Even if in the alphabet scheme  and  have not been considered as distinct letters, in dictionaries they are used as out-and-out letters.

The accent
The position of the accent in this language is quite regular, because the stress falls on the root and thus there are few rules to observe:

1) In substantives (and in adjectives and adverbs) the stress falls on the first syllable, even if they are compound nouns formed by prefix + noun/adjective, ex.: lêrstôf (school) is read ['le:rsto:f], though it is formed by lêr- (prefix) + stôf (= place);

2) In verbs the stress falls on the first syllable, but if they are compund verbs formed by prefix + noun, the stress falls on the root, that is after the prefix, ex.: yvatjan (to wake up) is read [i:'vatʃan], though it is formed by y- (prefix) + vatjan (= to wake).

Nouns, gender and number
Tiôtj language has got only two genders: common gender (or uter gender) and neuter gender. The previously masculine and feminine words have merged into the uter gender, whereas neuter words have remained neuter, even if in some cases there has been a gender switch.

Nouns can be both singular (denoting just one object) and plural (denoting more than one object). The formation of plural is not always so simple, because there are four ways to form it:

1) Some uter nouns take -es suffix, the  in this suffix is generally not pronounced;

2) some uter nouns take -(e)n suffix;

3) some uter nouns take no suffix, some of these undergo a root vowel change too;

4) neuter nouns take no suffix, that is singular and plural forms are identical.

Generally uter nouns ending in -ing or consonant have the first kind of plural, whereas uter nouns ending in -e have the second kind of plural. Some monosyllabic uter nouns ending in consonant experiment a root vowel modification, but they are just few. Endly some uter words have got two kinds of plural: a regular one (in -es or -en) and an irregular one (with no ending at all or/and a root vowel change).

Some nouns with their plural form and meaning
Here is a list of nouns of both genders with their plural form, their gender and their meaning: The nouns ending in -nd are present participles and have two kinds of plural:

1) -es plural, that is quite spread;

2) zero plural, that is quite literary.

Though the nouns in -jônd have got both an -es plural and a zero plural with a vowel change from -jô- to -y-. In this case the second form is the most spread.

The nouns ending in vowel + f lose final f when forming plural form.

Formation of feminine
Distinguishing between nouns that indicate a feminine being and those that indicate a masculine being can be very difficult in a language that has a common gender for both masculine and feminine. However distinguishing is not always so difficult as one could think, because Tiôtj language has a suffix with that the feminine form of a noun can be formed: -estre (pl. -estren).

Usually this suffix causes no changes in root, but some times it is used with a modified root:


 * friâ (lord) - friâstre (lady);
 * lêrend (teacher) - lêrendstre (female teacher);
 * friônd (friend) - fryndstre (female friend);
 * viônd (enemy) - vyndstre (female enemy);
 * lynd (lover) - lyndstre (female lover).

Articles
Two kinds of article exist in Tiôtj: indefinite and definite article.

The indefinite article has got no plural form and the singular one is the same for all the genders: ân. This article is used to talk about things, facts, beings that are introduces for the first time into the conversation, that is we use the indefinite article to talk about new and not known informations, to talk about undetermined informations.

The definite article is used to talk about well known things, facts, beings instead. These informations are familiar to the speakers, because they are already talking about them, or because they belong to the experiences baggage of the speakers, that is we use the definite article to talk about known informations, to talk about determined informations.

Even if Tiôtj has lost nouns inflection, the definite article has three cases, in addition to the plural forms: The nominative case refers to the subject of a sentence; the accusative case, that is identical to the nominative, refers to the object of a sentence or to the complements that indicate movement; the genitive case refers to possession and the dative case refers to the addressee or to the complements that indicate state. The plural forms are the same for both uter and neuter gender.

Often it is sufficient to use this inflection to express syntactic functions of the elements of a sentence or a phrase, ex.:


 * Se sprâtj tes mann - The language of the man;
 * Jef het têm friâstre - Give it to the lady.

Adjectives
The adjectives generally precede the noun to whom they refer, but in some case they follow the noun. In Tiôtj the adjectives have two different forms: one for the singular (without ending) and one for the plural (with -e ending). Moreover the form ending in -e is used for both singular and plural when the nouns to whom the adjective refers is preceded by a determiner, that is a possessive, a demonstrative or the definite article, this form of the adjective is called weak form.

If the substantive is not preceded by a determinant (remember that the indefinite article is not a determinant), than it is used the adjective without ending for the singular and that with -e ending for the plural, this form is called strong form.

Adjectives in predicative position, that is after a verb, are never inflected.

Here is a list of adjectives with the two forms:

Ex.: ân litel katt - A little cat but se lille katt - The little cat.

Formation of comparative
The higher degree comparative is formed with the suffix -ar (some irregular adjectives form it with -er). The second term of comparation is introduced by tonn and is in the same case of the first, ex.:

The same degree comparative is formed with the periphrasis sâ + adjective + tonn, ex.:
 * Ân blôsne sjênar tonn ân triô - A flower more beautiful than a tree.

The lower degree comparative is formed with the periphrasis lass + adjective + tonn, ex.:
 * Ân blôsne sâ sjên tonn ân triô - A flower as beautiful as a tree.

Adjectives with an irregular higher degree comparative
 * Ân blôsne lass sjên tonn ân triô - A flower less beautiful than a tree.

Some adjectives have got an irregular form of higher degree comparative:

Irregular higher degree comparatives are used as normal comparatives, ex.:


 * Tw jart hyr tonn y (jom) - You are taller than I (am).

Formation of superlative
The superlative degree is formed with the suffix -ast (some irregular adjectives form it with -est). The relative superlative is the same form of the absolute superlative, but it is preceded by the definite article and is generally followed by a limitation, that is expressed with in + dative case, ex.:

Adjectives with an irregular superlative
 * Se sjênast blôsne in têm vêrl - The most beautiful flower in the world.

Numerals
Numerals don't inflect. Here are the numerals from 0 to 100: Units are written linked to the tens with a hyphen, while tens and hundreds are written detached, ex.: 195 hwdre neinti-vy.

From 100 on, numerals are formed with a suffix -wd: 200 tvåwd, 300 trywd, 400 viôrwd, 500 vywd, 600 syswd, 700 sjoenwd, 800 jâtwd, 900 neinwd. This form is the evolution of a former juxtaposition, ex.: try hwd > trywd.

Please note that the numeral 200 is irregular, because an alternative form of 2, that is tvâ, is used. Also the form for hundred in compounds is irregular: hwd, this form is quite archaic nowadays.

The ordinals of the numbers from 200 to 900 are obtained by substituting the final -d for -t, ex.: 200 tvâwd > 200th tvâwt.

A thousand is said twsenn and its ordinal form is twsent. The numbers from 1000 on are expressed with a hypen, ex.: 2000 tvein-twsenn, 5000 vy-twsenn, 9000 nein-twsenn and so on.

The word for a million is miclenn (< O.E. miclung, "greatness" × Ti. twsenn) and it behaves as twsenn.

A thousand million is ân twsenn miclenn. A billion (in the sense of a million million) is byclenn, from the French "bi- + million", that has been substituted for "bi- + miclenn".

Personal pronouns
In Tiôtj personal pronouns inflect according the four cases that have been seen for the definite article: nominative, genitive, dative and accusative. In a sentence the pronouns in dative case are positioned before of those in accusative case, so prepositions could be omitted, ex.:


 * Jef mê het - Give it to me.

When there are a pronoun and a noun, the pronoun always precedes the noun, ex.:


 * Jef het têm friâstre - Give it to the lady;
 * Jef hir se hwnn - Give her the dog.

Demonstratives
Demonstratives are formed with the three place adverbs hêr (here, "near to the speaker"), têr (there, but in Tiôtj meaning "near to the listener") and jon (yon, but in Tiôtj meaning "far from both speaker and listener"). These pronouns match perfectly the three persons:

If a noun is inserted between the definite article and the adverb, the demonstrative functions as an adjective, ex.: Se hêr - This one (here) but Se katt hêr - This cat (here).

As the place adverbs inflect, even the demonstratives "inflect". In fact the place adverbs take three kind of suffix to show if the indicate state, movement towards or movement from a definite place. So it is possible, with verbs denoting movement or state, to indicate this aspect with the demonstrative: This use of the demonstrative allows us not to use prepositions, ex.:


 * Y jom têm hws hêr means "I'm in this house" and there's no need to use the preposition "in";
 * Y cume têm hws têns means "I come from that house" without using "af" (= from);
 * Y gâ tat hws jonnes means "I go to that house over there" without using "tô" (= to).

But it is true that these three sentences show a particularly refined language, colloquially speaking, these sentences become respectively:


 * Y jom in têm hws hêr ;
 * Y cume af têm hws hêr;
 * Y gâ tô tat hws jon.

People tend not to inflect demonstratives (nor place adverbs).

Possessives
Possessives are the same when they're used as both adjectives and pronouns and, while possessive adjectives don't need article before, possessive pronouns need it: Possessives derive from the genitive of the personal pronouns, except for the 3rd masculine and neuter singular. Hirs and Heras only have a single form for both singular and plural. Here are some examples:

Plural forms:
 * Myn katt > Se myn - My cat > Mine
 * Tyn hwnn > Se tyn - Your dog > Yours
 * Syn vyf > Se syn - His wife > His
 * Hirs mann > Se hirs - Her man > Hers
 * Wr diôr > Tat wr - Our animal > Ours
 * Jeur friônd > Se jeur - Your friend > Yours
 * Heras hiort > Tat heras - Their heart > Theirs


 * Myne kattes > Tê myne - My cats > Mine
 * Tyne hwnnes > Tê tyne - Your dogs > Yours
 * Syne vyen > Tê syne - His wifes > His
 * Hirs menn > Tê hirs - Her men > Hers
 * Wre diôr > Tê wre - Our animals > Ours
 * Jeure frynd > Tê jeure - Your friends > Yours
 * Heras hiort > Tê heras - Their hearts > Theirs

Relatives and interrogatives
Interrogatives, that are used also to make exclamations, function also as relatives: Ex.:

Instrumental case cvy corresponds perfectly to English "why", ex.:
 * Cvâ is he? - Who is he?
 * Cvat ân sjên hwnn! - What a beautiful dog!
 * Cvas is se bôc hêr? - Whose is this book?
 * Cvam hafstw isagd het? - Whom have you said it to?
 * Se jon is se vyf cvan y friôve - That there is the woman whom I love

''Cvy hafstw iscân se mêtning têr? - Why have you made that painting? ''

Indefinite pronouns and adjectives
Indefinites give us incomplete informations, because they don't define the precise quantity or the identity: The indefinite jall and ôter have got also a plural form: jallen and ôteren / ôeren / ô'ren.

Indefinites can be formed also with the word elles: If these indefinites are used as interrogatives, than elles follows the pronouns:
 * Elles cvâ / elscvâ - Someone else;
 * Elles cvat / elscvat - Something else;
 * Tê elles - The others.
 * Tiarfstw cvat elles? - Do you need something else?
 * Cnaut hiô cvan elles? - Does she know someone else?

Adverbs
Usually adverbs in Tiôtj are formed by suffixation: many adverbs derive from adjectives, to that the suffix -litj is added. Some examples:

Some adverbs have got suppletive forms, ex.: gôj > jarve; ivel > lyter.
 * glâj > glâilitj (happy - happily);
 * sari > sarilitj (sad - sadly);
 * griat > griallitj (great - greatly);
 * strong > stronglitj (strong - strongly);
 * vâc > vâclitj (weak - weakly).

Adverbs can be positioned wherever we want, but it is necessary to remember these rules:

1) adverbs can be positioned between subject and verb, but if this verb is the verb biôn, then the adverb is positioned after the verb;

2) adverbs can be positioned between auxiliary verbs and the taken verbs.

Place adverbs
As it has been seen in the chapter about demonstratives, some place adverbs - hêr, têr and jon - inflect to indicate a state, a movement towards or a movement from. Also the adverb cvêr, "where", inflects: The adverb cvêr/cvêder/cvêns can be used also as a relative, ex.:

The adverb cvêr also has the form cverien, but it is used only in the expression elles cverien, "elsewhere".
 * Se stôf hêr is se twn, cvêns y cume - This place is the town where I come from
 * Kêrdyt vas se twn, cvêder y scolle gân - Cardiff was the town where I had to go to

When cvêder and cvêns are used as interrogative adverbs, they can be written separately, ex.:

Other place adverbs are: âlcvêr, somewhere, and nâlcvêr, nowhere.
 * Cvêns kimstw? or Cvêr kimstw hinnes? - Where do you come from?
 * Cvêder gâstw? or Cvêr gâstw hider? - Where are you going to?

Time adverbs
The adverb cvonne, "when", can be used both as interrogative and relative. Other time adverbs are:

Frequency can be expressed also with numerals and -nes suffix, ex.:
 * nw - now;
 * tann - then;
 * yvorn - before;
 * eften - after;
 * âlcvon - some times;
 * jeniaclitj - usually;
 * jaltyd - always;
 * âfre - ever;
 * nâfre - never;
 * elles tyd / elstyd - another time.

Expressions such as "Eight times a week" are translated as Jâtens 'yl ân vuke.
 * ân > ânnes - once;
 * tvein > tveinnes - twice;
 * try > trynes - thrice;
 * viôr > viôrnes - four times;
 * vy > vifnes (!) - five times;
 * sys > sysnes - six times...

Manner adverbs
Manner adverbs are created from adjectives with the suffix -litj. The interrogative and relative manner adverb is hw, "how". Some times manner adverbs inflect and have a higher degree comparative and a superlative, ex.:

Some adverbs have an irregular comparative and superlative form:
 * glâilitj - glâilitjar - glâilitjast (happily - happilier - happiliest);
 * stronglitj - stronglitjar - stronglitjast (strongly - stronglier - strongliest).

Both griallitj and mitjel can be used to mean "very", ex.: tw jart griallitj / mitjel sjên - You are very beautiful.
 * jarve - beter - best;
 * lyter - vyrs - vyrst;
 * mitjel - mâr - mâst (much - more - most);
 * (ân) lit(en) - lass - last (little - less - least).

The verb
The verb in Tiôtj language has got six moods: indicative, subjunctive, conditional, imperative, infinitive and participle; various tenses, such as present, past, future, and aspects represented by "tenses" such as present perfect, past perfect and future perfect.

Tiôtj verbs inflect also according to person (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and number (singular and plural).

Verbs always follow the subject, because Tiôtj is a SVO language, that is the subject precedes the verb and the verb precedes the object. In questions or in special constructions, the verb can precede the subject though, and the order becomes VSO.

Present indicative of the verb biôn and of other verbs
The verb biôn, "to be", is the most irregular verb of Tiôtj language. In this scheme there are also three other verbs: lyrnan, "to learn, to read", vennan, "to live, to inhabit" and lytjan, "to like". The suffixes used with regular verbs are: The plural voices have got all the same suffix, so, to avoid confusion, the subject is always expressed within the sentences.

Present indicative is used to express actions that are happening in the moment or around the moment of speaking, to talk about actions that happen habitually, to talk about past actions when telling a story or talking about history to confere more dramatic power to what is being said, to talk about future events that are considered likely or sure, to express universal truths.

The verb lytjan functions in a different way than in English, ex.: Tw lytjest mê - I like you.

The subject of this verb is the person/thing who/which is liked, whereas the person who likes is expressed in the dative case.

Here are some examples:

Please note that when the verb precedes the 2nd person singular, the pronouns merges with the verb, ex.: jart tw > jartw; liornst tw > liornstw; venst tw > venstw, and so on.
 * Cvâ jartw? - Who are you?;
 * Cvâ is he? - Who is he?;
 * Cvêr venstw? - Where do you live?;
 * Y lyrne ân bôc - I read a book;
 * Lytjet het tê? - Do you like it?;
 * Lytje y tê? - Do you like me?;
 * Y jom ân mann - I am a man;
 * Tw jart ân vyf - You are a woman;
 * Hy sinn diôr - They are animals;
 * Y venne hêr - I live here;
 * Hiô vent jon - She lives over there.

-ian verbs
If it is observed the conjugation of the verb lyrnan, it will be seen that in the 2nd and the 3rd person singular the root undergoes a vowel change: -y- becomes -io-. This irregularity is found in all the so called -ian verbs, that is verbs that had in Anglo-Saxon a conjugation with -i- in some endings and without it in others (such as the 2nd and the 3rd person singular of present indicative). This -i- has disappeared in the endings, but before has changed the root vowel; not all the vowels undergo this change though: only o/ô and u/w undergo this change and become respectively e/ê and i/y, both the diphthongs io/iô become y instead.

Here are the verbs lyrnan, behêvan, "to be necessary", kinnan, "to experience": The answer to this irregularity comes from Old English: When the root vowel is an a, an e or an i, this vowel doesn't experience any change, in this case the -i- appears in the endings of the 1st person singular, of the plurals and of the infinitive, but doesn't in those of the 2nd and the 3rd person singular. An example is the verb hatian, "to hate":

The present indicative of the "specialized verbs"
During the evolution from Anglo-Saxon, many verbs specialized their meaning, thus these verbs are called specialized verbs and they are all irregular verbs.

Here is the present indicative of the verbs cnâvan and vytan, both "to know", sêgan and cvetan, both "to say", dôn and scân, both "to do":  The verb cnâvan means "to know someone", for the first time or not it's the same, whereas vytan means "to know something". The verbs sêgan and cvetan are almost always interchangeable and mean "to say, to tell", the second is the most used though. Cvetan means also "to assert, to argue, to allude", while sêgan can mean also "to pronounce".

Dôn and scân both mean "to do", but they are different just like to do and to make in English. The verb scân means "to create material things", it is used in such expressions as: scân tat bed, "to make the bed", scân ân clâvie, "to make a sandwich", but also scân se sâmvys, "to act dumb". Dôn refers to a mental or immaterial activity, such as dôn ân encvil, "to do a research", dôn ân scrwting, "to do an exam", but also dôn ân minid, "to make a gesture".

Other specialized verbs are: Both âvan and hâban mean "to have", but the former is used to mean "to owe" and indicates a rather material possession, even if it can be used also to indicate an immaterial possession, such as feelings, ideas, and so forth, moreover âvan cannot ever be used as auxiliary verb. Hâban indicates an immaterial possession, but it is not compulsory and it can indicate also a material possession, such as things, animals, etc. The greatest difference between âvan and hâban is that the latter is the only one that can function as auxiliary.

Villan and mavan both have the meaning of "to want, to desire", but the former is more peremptory in his meaning and has a nuance of pretension. Mavan is closer to the English to wish and is considered more polite. Note the expressions y vill tê, "I love you, I hanker after you" (it has a carnal nuance) and y mag tê, "I like you, I heart you".

Cunnan and môtan are quite differentiated, because the former means "can, to be able to do something", and the latter means "to be allowed to do something, to have the permission to do something".

Two very important specialized verbs are gân and varan. They both mean "to go", but the first is used when the act of going is done on foot; varan is used when the act of going is done by a mean of transport, such as bike, car, train, and so forth.

Ex.:


 * Y gâ tô se lêrstôf by vêt - I go to school on foot;
 * Tw verst tô se lêrstôf by tvicviôl - You go to school by bike.

Past indicative
This tense is used to talk about events that happened in the past and that are considered as totally concluded and irrelated to the present. Generally it is used with time adverbs that indicate this irrelation, such as jestrendag, yesterday, se late vuke / mônt / jâr, the last week / month / year, het scaft ân vuke / mônt / jâr, a week / month / year ago, and so on.

The past indicative of regular verbs is formed with the suffixes -de for the singular persons and -don for the plural ones: The verb biôn is irregular in its past tense, the verb lyrnan shows its real root instead. As it can be seen in the verb biôn, the 2nd person singular of past tense has got the root of the plural forms, but ends in -e and not in -on. It is important to keep this in mind, because this is true for all the irregular verbs.

It is to be observed that regular verbs ending with a vowel and -c, -f, -p, -s, -t modify the desinence -de/-don into -te/-ton, ex.: Y  breite (= I change) > Y breitte (= I changed).

-ian verbs
As for the present, the -ian verbs show a modified vowel root in this tense. While in the present indicative only the 2nd and the 3rd singular person show this change, in the past indicative all the verbal voices show this mutation.

Here are the verbs lyrnan, behêvan and kinnan:

The past indicative of the "specialized verbs"
All the specialized verbs have an irregular past indicative:

The past indicative of the "strong verbs"
The specialized verbs are not the only irregular verbs, because there is another big group of verbs that can have or not an irregular 2nd and 3rd person singular of present indicative, however they always have an irregular past indicative. This verbs are called strong verbs to be distinguished from the regular verbs, called also weak verbs, and from the specialized verbs.

These strong verbs can be divided into seven classes, with these properties: In the first column can be seen the normal root vowel, used in infinitive and in present indicative (except for 2nd and 3rd person singular); the second column refers to root vowel the 2nd and the 3rd person singular of the present indicative; the third column refers to the root vowel of the 1st and 3rd person singular of the past, the fourth to the root vowel of the 2nd person singular and of the plural forms of the past.

Here are some examples of verbs of I, II, V, VI and VII class:


 * I: bytan - byst - bât - bite (to bite - you bite - I bit - you bit);
 * II: biôvan - byst - biâg - buve (to bid - you bid - I bade - you bade);
 * V: jevan - jefst - jaf - jâve (to give - you give - I gave - you gave);
 * VI: varan - verst - vôr - vôre (to go - you go - I went - you went);
 * VII: lâtan - lâst - lêt - lête (to let - you let - I let - you let).

The situation is more complicated for verbs of III and IV class.

The IV class has got the following options: The 1st option is chosen with verbs whose root vowel is followed by an r or l, the 2nd one is used with verbs whose root vowel is followed by an m or n, ex.:

The III class is the most complicated, because there are many options and they cannot be described all here, the most spread are: Ex.:
 * beran - birst - ber - bêre (to bear - you bear - I bore - you bore);
 * helan - hilst - hal - hâle (to hide - you hide - I hid - you hid);
 * niman - nimst - nam - nôme (to take - you take - I took - you took).


 * viortan - vyrst - viart - vurre (to become - you become - I became - you became);
 * helpan - hilpst - hialp - hulpe (to help - you help - I helped - you helped);
 * drincan - drincst - dronc - drunke (to drink - you drink - I drank - you drank).

The particularity of the "v-verbs"
As it has been seen, the 1st person singolar of the past indicative of the verb biôvan is y biâg (and NOT **y biâf), whereas the same person of the same tense of the verb jevan is y jaf (and NOT **y jag). This is the particularity of the so called v-verbs, that is verbs whose roots ends in -v in the infinitive form. If that v will turn into an f or into a g depends on the verb itself. This particularity is found not only in the past tense, but also in the 2nd and 3rd person of the present tense. The following example shows the verbs biôvan, jevan and syvan (to fall down, to descend) These verbs show different mutations of v: it can disappear (biôvan), it can be replaced with f or it can be replaced with g. Why does the v undergo these changes? Is there a rule to understand it? The answer to these questions is once again the Old English: As it has been shown, three letters - d, f, and g - merged into Tiôtj "v" in intervocalic position, when the conjugation of the verb change this parameter, the letters evolve differently: the d disappears in front of -st and -t of the 2nd and the 3rd person singular; the f remains f, and the g remains g. Things change again in the past tense: While the change v > f has been preserved, the changes v > d and v > g have merged into the only change v > g. Probably this is due to misinterpretation.

The present perfect and the past participle
To express an action that has happened in a period of time that is not completely finished, such as hiôde, today, se vuke hêr, this week, se mônt hêr, this month, tat jâr hêr, this year, Tiôtj uses another tense of indicative: the present perfect. This tense is used also to talk about happenings that haven't got a precise temporal localization or that have had a quantifiable effect on the present reality.

The present perfect is formed with the present of either the verb biôn or hâban and the past participle of the verb that you need to conjugate. Usually the verb biôn is used with verbs that indicate movement or change, such as viassan, "to grow up", stiorvan, "to die", viortan, "to become", breitan, "to change, to turn oneself into", and so forth. The verb hâban is used with other verbs instead:

In colloquial speaking, the present tense of the auxiliary is often omitted, ex.: Hy hâbat ifriôd ws and Hy ifriôd ws both mean "They have loved us". This omission cannot be used with other compound tenses such as past perfect or future perfect.

As it can be seen, the past participle of the verbs is formed with a circumfix i--(e)d for the regular verbs, in this case, in spite of the vocalic change, the -ian verbs are considered to be weak, and the past participle has got the same vowel of the past indicative.

However in the past participle of the compound verbs, the i- prefix is not used, ex.: wtgân, go out > wtgân; onhipan > onhuped (it is a -ian verb).

The past participle can be used also as adjective, in this case it inflects and has got both weak and strong declension. Moreover when the past participle is used as adjective, it loses its i- and takes a be- prefix, ex.:


 * Ân befriôd vyf - A beloved woman;
 * Se becnâvene mann - The known man.

The past participle of irregular verbs
The irregular verbs form the past participle with the circumfix i--(e)n and undergo a root vowel change, but this vowel is almost always different than the one of the past indicative. Once again it can be distinguished among seven classes. Here is a table with the vowel of the infinitive, that of the 2nd person singular of present tense, those of the first past form and the second past form, and that of the past participle: The voices that have been analyzed in this scheme together form the so called paradigm. The paradigm is a list of specific verbal voices that together allow to identify every verb and to form all the other voices of it, it is formed by:

It follows a list of the paradigms of verbs of I, II, V, VI, and VII class: The IV class has got two different options: Some paradigms of verbs of the IV class:
 * 1st voice: the infinitive voice;
 * 2nd voice: the 2nd person singular of the present indicative;
 * 3rd voice: the 1st person singular of the past indicative;
 * 4th voice: the 2nd person singular of the past indicative;
 * 5th voice: the past participle.

The III class is once again the most complicated to schematize, because there are too many options. Here are the most spread: Some examples:
 * beran - birst - ber - bêre - iboren;
 * helan - hilst - hal - hâle - iholen;
 * niman - nimst - nam - nôme - inumen.


 * viortan - vyrst - viart - vurre - ivorren;
 * helpan - hilpst - hialp - hulpe - iholpen;
 * drincan - drincst - dronc - drunke - idrunken.

Some paradigms
Here are some paradigms of very important verbs, their auxiliary verb for compound tenses and their meaning:

Present participle
There is also a present participle form. This tense indicates a subject that does usually the action expressed by the verb or that is doing this action just now. Often with this tense the "agentive" is expressed, so, for example, the English singer corresponds to both singer and singend, but the latter is the most spread, because the former is considered as archaic.

This verbal form can be used as a substantive or an adjective, but, as for the past participle used in this way, it inflects like substantives and adjectives.

The suffix of present participle is -(e)nd and it can have a plural form (-end / -endes and some irregular with a vowel change + -nd). Here are some participles: Some verbs had an older and archaic participle that has become a noun, and these verbs have developed later another form for the participle, ex.: friôvan > friônd (friend, noun) > friôvend (lover, participle).

There are also substantives that are a present participle of an obsolete and no more used verb, ex.: viônd, enemy, is a participle of the archaic verb viôvan, to hate, that has been substituted with hatian; lynd, lover, is a participle of the archaic verb lyan (that corresponds to English to love), to "carnally" desire.

Participles can add -es or zero suffix to form the plural form, however the participles that end in -iônd can add the suffix -es or change -iô- with -y-, ex.: lêrend > lêrend/es; siônd > siôndes/synd.

The preterite-present verbs
Some irregular verbs, such as vytan, belong to the group of the so called preterite-present verbs: these verbs behave in the present like they inflect to express past tense, but they have a present meaning though. The particularity of these verbs is that the 2nd person singular has retained the vocalism of the singular forms (whereas in the past of the irregular verbs, the 2nd person singular has the same vocalism of the plural form) and the ending -st. This is true for all the preterite-present verbs.

Here is the present indicative of some useful preterite-present verbs: The past indicative of these verbs: The past participle is:

The future
In Tiôtj the future is a perifrastic form that is formed with the present of the verb sculan and the infinitive of the verb: The future of the verb sculan is formed with the perifrastic construction: sculan + biôn inyved tô + infinitive, ex.: Tw sjalt inyved tô dôn het - You will have to do it. Very often this construction is avoided and sculan is simply used in its present tense: Yw sjalt dôn het - You have to do it.

The construction of the future can be used also with an imperative meaning, in this case the verb precedes the subject, ex.: ''Sjaltw dôn het! - Do it! (Yes, you will do it!)''.

The past perfect and the future perfect
If the same construction of the present perfect is used with the auxiliary inflected to past or future, then two new tenses are formed: the past perfect and the future perfect. The former is used to talk about past happenings that ended before another past happening; the latter is used to talk about future happenings that will end before another future happening still going, ex.:


 * Y hafte ieten ond y jôde wt - I had eaten and [then] I went out;
 * Cvonne tw sjalt onhipan, y sjal hâban ijonded - As you'll return, I will have finished.

Present subjunctive
Unlike English, present subjunctive is regularly used in Tiôtj. Even if this tense is present, it is used to report words said by others or ideas and quotations that aren't of the one who speaks, not only if the principal verb is in the present, but also if the principal verb is in the past.

Moreover this tense is used to express exhortation with the 1st person plural and the 3rd person singular and plural (that haven't got an imperative form).

Here is the present subjunctive of some verbs: So in regular verbs this tense is formed with the infinitive form + the endings: -e, -est, -e, -en, that is the 1st and the 3rd person singular are identical.

Is has already been said that the present subjunctive is used to report words said by others, even if this words were said in the past, ex.:

Irregular verbs have got a regular present subjunctive, except for the irregular verbs with a root vowel u, in this case the u becomes i:
 * He says that Mary loves him - He cvêt (at) Mary friôve hin.
 * He said that Mary loved him - He cvat (at) Mary friôve hin.

Past subjunctive
The past tense of subjunctive is used also to quote words, ideas, and so forth, but only if the verb of the subordinate is not in the same tense of the principal verb, and exactly if the action of the verb of the subordinate has happened before of the action expressed by the principal verb, ex.:

This tense is used also to express the verb of the subordinate clause in the conditional clause (protasis).
 * He says that Mary loved him - He cvêt (at) Mary friôde hin.
 * He said that Mary had loved him - He cvat (at) Mary friôde hin.

Here is the past subjunctive of some verbs:

The form of the past subjunctive is the same of the 2nd person singular of the past indicative, the singular forms are identical, the plural forms add an -n. If the root vowel of the past indicative is iô/io, ô/o or w/u, this changes and these vowels become respectively y, ê/e and y/i.

The imperative and the exhortation form
The imperative mood has got only the present tense and the 2nd person (both singular and plural), the other persons use the subjunctive forms instead.

The 2nd person singular has got the same form of the present of indicative, but without the ending -st, moreover the verbs with root vowel change a > e, have got the a in the root of the imperative form.

The 2nd person plural is the same of the present of indicative, but without the ending -a, when it can be dropped down without pronunciation problems.

Some verbs as biôn have got an irregular imperative form.

It can be used also the future of indicative to emphasize orders, compare:
 * Dô (tw) het! - Do it!

In this case the future is used with the inversion of verb and subject: tw sjalt > sjalt tw > sjaltw.
 * Sjaltw dôn het! - You will do it!

To be more polite it can be used the construction of the verb sculan or of the verb turvan. Usually this pattern is used with the 2nd person plural to underline the politeness, but it is often used with the 2nd person singular too:
 * Tw sjalt dôn het. / Tw tiarfst dôn het. - You have to do it. / You need to do it.

The use of the future of indicative and of the present of subjunctive with the other persons are called exhortation form. Some examples with other persons:
 * Je sjolon dôn het. / Je turvon dôn het. - You should do it.
 * Gân ve tô se lêrstôf. - Let's go to the school.

In both these constructions the verb precedes the subject.
 * Ete hiô ân clâvie. - She eat a sandwich.