Questions tagged [verbs]
For questions dealing with verbs (a part of speach)
24
questions
5
votes
1
answer
64
views
Extending venitives/andatives
I'm in the middle of redesigning the verb paradigm for one of my languages, and I'm confronted with the dilemma of knowing that I want a prefix that looks like this, placed there for aesthetic reasons,...
- 734
6
votes
3
answers
170
views
Can a language exist without transitive verbs?
I'm developing my first conlang (no name yet) for a story and came up with an interesting idea: all verbs are intransitive, and objects are added with prepositions.
So, a sentence like "I eat ...
- 73
4
votes
0
answers
97
views
Non-decomposable TAM strategies
The agglutinative language I'm most familiar with is Hungarian, and the way Hungarian handles TAM is, I think, incredibly boring: separate T-A-M markers with no allomorphs that just get concatenated ...
- 734
1
vote
1
answer
35
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How are separable verbs / phrasal verbs avoided in languages?
Phrasal verbs are common in English. What do other languages (natural or conlang) do to avoid this feature? That is, how can they say the same things without having this feature?
- 1,738
3
votes
1
answer
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Specificities of VSO languages and common ones with SVO languages
I'm currently working on a VSO language and syntax is the next big step to tackle. However, I find it quite hard to find ressources on VSO languages and thought I could glean some informations quickly ...
2
votes
0
answers
38
views
Participles and types of verbs
I'm currently working on the verbal morphology of my language and was wondering the following :
How are action verbs differentiated from state ones ?
Is it even a necessity ?
Could a verb be both ?
...
7
votes
1
answer
109
views
How likely is it for conlangs to have verbs that have the same conjugation as another verb?
So I have been studying Spanish recently (mainly verb conjugations because I'm great at constructing sentences, but still am horrible when it comes to verb conjugations), and decided to teach myself ...
- 327
2
votes
3
answers
384
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Are there any general rules for creating verb conjugation for a conlang?
So I have been thinking a lot about trying to make my own conlang. I have attempted before to create one in the past, however, all of them have sadly been abandoned. Looking back at them (since I ...
- 327
2
votes
1
answer
84
views
How to get rid of "for" and "of" when making a conlang coming from English, aiming toward Chinese?
I have learned about serial verb constructions, and I am looking into Leonard Talmy and his theories of translating between and among Chinese/English. I have seen a few examples where "for" ...
- 1,738
2
votes
1
answer
48
views
How to structure verb phrases (as opposed to noun phrases)?
In my question about formal vs. casual noun phrases, I got to the point of distinguishing between causal and formal nouns.
Notice that the noun phrases all end with -a, the noun-creator affix. That ...
- 1,738
2
votes
2
answers
98
views
What parts of speech (nouns, adj., verbs, etc.) could be limited to make a language with fewer words?
Essentially, in the English language how many adjectives, nouns, adverbs, verbs, etc. could be combined to make the language possess a single word for a term. E.g. huge, giant, enormous, and big could ...
4
votes
3
answers
168
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Are there languages that don't prefix verbs with "to be" or "to do" in continuous or progressive aspect and the like?
I am working on a conlang and wondering how we can rework the "continuous" aspect, like present continuous, looking for how other languages implement such a grammatical verb feature. Some ...
- 1,738
2
votes
2
answers
121
views
How do you write a language without the word "to" preceding verbs?
I am working on a fantasy language and am perplexed by the true meaning of the word "to" in English, at least when it appears before a verb, as in these sentences.
I want to go somewhere.
I ...
- 1,738
4
votes
1
answer
79
views
Is it attested for noun classifiers to be coopted for directionality?
A noun classifier marks on the verb some information about the form of one of its arguments. For example, Atili has a handful of "stationary" classifiers that produce semantic distinctions:
...
3
votes
1
answer
150
views
Is it reasonable for numerals to behave like verbs?
I am aware that adjectives can pattern like verbs in some natural languages. Is it reasonable for numerals to do the same? Thus
Some balls four.
There are four balls.
Fouring the balls were orange.
...