Verbs
Verbs are unchanging in Pandunia. Things like person, number, time and mood are indicated by separate words, not by changing the form of verbs as in English and other languages.
Person and number
Person and number are indicated by the subject. For example, the verb es ('to be') has the same form in all persons.
mi es doste.
– I am a friend.
tu es doste.
– You are a friend.
ho es doste.
– He/she is a friend.
mimen es doste.
– We are friends.
tumen es doste.
– You are friends.
homen es doste.
– They are friends.
Also a noun can serve as subject.
mau es hevan. – The cat is an animal.
Voice, time and mood
Verb aspects, moods and voices are expressed with auxiliary verbs, and they come first in the verb phrase. The order of the auxiliaries is aspect, mood and voice. The tense marker is first, the mood marker is next, and the aspect marker is last.
Time
Tense and aspect are grammatical systems that place and describe actions in the flow of time. Tense roughly means reference to the time at which events take place, like past, present and future. Aspect expresses how an action or event extends over time, like is it completed, ongoing or prospective (yet to begin).
Pandunia marks verbs for aspect and not for tense. Therefore a question like "how do you form the past tense in Pandunia?" is nonsensical. The real question is: "how do you refer to events in the past in Pandunia?" You do it by various time expressions, like last year, yesterday or one hour ago, or you do it through aspect.
Rather than conjugating its verbs for aspect, Pandunia uses particles to indicate how a verb works within a particular timeframe or how the verb relates to the flow of time. The particles most often used to indicate aspect in Pandunia are sta, ha, ja, and va.
Progressive (ongoing) aspect
The marker sta indicates that the action or event is on-going or in progress at the time, which the speaker is talking about.
man sta yam ban.
– The man is, was or will be eating bread.
man le sta yam ban.
– The man was eating bread.
man nun sta yam ban.
– The man is eating bread.
man fu sta yam ban.
– The man will be eating bread.
Perfective (completed) aspect
The marker ha indicates that the action or event is completed. Its results may or may not have an effect at the time, which the speaker is talking about.
man ha yam ban.
– The man ate or has eaten bread.
man le ha yam ban.
– The man had eaten bread.
man nun ha yam ban.
– The man has eaten bread.
man fu ha yam ban.
– The man will have eaten bread.
Prospective aspect
The marker va indicates that the action or even is yet to begin.
Prospective aspect
The marker va indicates that the action or even is yet to begin.
Resultative aspect
The marker ja indicates that the action or event has occurred, it has reached its intended goal or endpoint, and it has left an impact that lasts in the present time.
A past action occurs, resulting in a state that still holds at the present moment.
The resultative aspect can be used together with other aspects.
To talk about present situations, ja acts as "already", indicating that the action has reached its intended goal or endpoint.
The resultative perfective aspect is similar in meaning to the present perfect tense in English.
mi ja ha vizite London.
– I have (already) been to London.
mi ja ha yam aple.
– I have eaten an apple. (And I am still full.)
The perfective resultative aspect is similar to the experiential aspect in some languages. It signifies that a situation has been experienced at least once at an unspecified time in the past, and as a result we have an experience of it.
mi ha ja vizite London. – I have been to London (sometime before in my life).
When used in questions or to talk about experience, ja acts as "ever," referring to a previous, completed time.
tu ja ha vizite London ne? – Have you ever been to London?
Mood
The conditional mood is used for anything that could take place. It indicates that the realization of an action or event depends on another condition. The conditional mood is expressed with the auxiliary verb vud ('would'). This marker is used in both main and subordinate clauses.
mi vud voli yam.
– I would like to eat.
mi vud go do Dubai.
– I would go to Dubai.
mi vud go, if tu vud las mi.
– I would go if you would let me.
tu ne vud es suka, if mi vud go.
– You would not be happy, if I would go.
The auxiliary verb debe ('should, ought') indicates some kind of expectation like duty, obligation, requirement, desire, advisability or likelihood.
ma voka mimen. mimen debe go.
– Mother called us. We should go.
ho debe ha kom pre nun.
– He should have come by now.
evri von debe vote.
– Everyone should vote.
The imperative mood is used to form a command or request. In Pandunia, the imperative is created with the auxiliary verb shal. It can be used to give commands to any person, not just "you".
mimen shal go!
– Let us go! ~ Let's go!
homen shal kurse!
– Let them run!
shal can be used to give commands also to the second person, but it is common to drop both the personal pronoun and the auxiliary verb in order to give the command more force.
tu shal kom! = kom!
– Come!
tumen shal kom! = kom!
– Come (you all)!
Passive clause
The passive clause expresses that the subject undergoes the action or has its state changed. In other words, the subject has a passive role. This contrasts with the active clause where the subject is the agent or the doer of the action. In Pandunia, the passive clause is constructed with the help of the auxiliary verb bi.
Active:
homen yam piza.
– They eat pizza.
Passive:
piza bi yam.
– Pizza is eaten.
The agent of the action can be expressed also in passive clauses by using the preposition da.
mi su gar le bi bate da tren. – My car was hit by a train.
The equivalent of passive (past) participle is built by using the prefix bi- and the suffix -(t)ik.
biyamik piza
– eaten pizza (pizza that was or is eaten)
bilogutik lexe
– spoken word (word that was or is spoken)
Summary of verb forms
Active
| Past | Present | Future | Conditional | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple |
ho le yam 'he ate ~ did eat' |
ho yam 'he eats' |
ho fu yam 'he will eat' |
ho vud yam 'he would eat' |
| Perfect |
ho le ha yam 'he had eaten' |
ho ha yam 'he has eaten' |
ho fu ha yam 'he will have eaten' |
ho vud ha yam 'he would have eaten' |
| Progressive |
ho le sta yam 'he was eating' |
ho sta yam 'he is eating' |
ho fu sta yam 'he will be eating' |
ho vud sta yam 'he would be eating' |
| Perfect progressive |
ho le ha sta yam 'he had been eating' |
ho ha sta yam 'he has been eating' |
ho fu ha sta yam 'he will have been eating' |
ho vud ha sta yam 'he would have been eating' |
| Imperative |
yam! 'Eat!' |
Note! In the above table, ho is translated only 'he' instead of the usual 'he or she' in order to save space.
Passive
| Past | Present | Future | Conditional | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple |
ho le bi yam 'it was eaten' |
ho bi yam 'it is eaten' |
ho fu bi yam 'it will be eaten' |
ho vud bi yam 'it would be eaten' |
| Perfect |
ho le ha bi yam 'it had been eaten' |
ho ha bi yam 'it has been eaten' |
ho fu ha bi yam 'I will have been eaten' |
ho vud ha bi yam 'it would have been eaten' |
| Progressive |
ho le sta bi yam 'it was being eaten' |
ho sta bi yam 'it is being eaten' |
ho fu sta bi yam 'it will be being eaten' |
ho vud sta bi yam 'it would be being eaten' |
| Perfect progressive |
ho le ha sta bi yam 'it had been being eaten' |
ho ha sta bi yam 'it has been being eaten' |
ho fu ha sta bi yam 'it will have be being eaten' |
ho vud ha sta bi yam 'it would have been being eaten' |
| Imperative |
bi yam! 'Be eaten!' |
Transitivity
In general, there are three types of verbs.
- Transitive verbs need a direct object, which is the target of the action.
- Intransitive verbs don't accept an object. Then the action is directed to the subject.
- Ambitransitive verbs can be both transitive and intransitive.
Pandunia verbs are typically ambitransitive i.e. they may or may not require an object depending on the sentence structure. When there is an object, the verb is transtive, and when there isn't an object, the verb is intransitive.
mi bule sui.
– I boil water. (transitive sentence)
sui bule.
– Water boils. (intransitive sentence)
baker bake ban.
– The baker bakes bread. (transitive sentence)
ban bake in tanur.
– Bread bakes in the oven. (intransitive sentence)
Serial verb construction
Serial verb construction is a string of verbs that share the same subject, which is before the verbs. In serial verb constructions the verbs are interpreted so that the first verb (an auxiliary verb) is something that the subject possesses and the second verb is something that the subject does (when there is an object in the end) or experiences (when there is no object).
mi pote kitab el javab.
≈ I have the ability to write the answer.
– I can write the answer.
mi halal kitab el javab.
≈ I have the permission to write the answer.
– I may write the answer.
mi mus kitab el javab.
≈ I have the compulsion to write the answer.
– I must write the answer.
Note that the same auxiliary verbs can be used alone as transitive verbs in the pivot construction.
guru halal mi kitab el javab.
– The teacher permits me to write the answer.
guru mus mi kitab el javab.
– The teacher compels me to write the answer.