Verbs
This is probably my favourite topic of language. Verbs! Bravalic verbs are a little more complicated than those of English and other languages. They have a closer relationship in their structure with Arabic than other languages.
The Three Part Stem
All verbs have three consonant stems that are constant throughout all forms of the verb. After each of the consonants, a vowel is placed to indicates tense, mood, and person.
Person
Person is basically the person speaking. There are three: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and the first vowel changes to suit which person is being used:
The Three Part Stem
All verbs have three consonant stems that are constant throughout all forms of the verb. After each of the consonants, a vowel is placed to indicates tense, mood, and person.
Person
Person is basically the person speaking. There are three: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and the first vowel changes to suit which person is being used:
The Present Tense
The present tense is formed by changing the last letter at the end of the word to -í:
Example:
Betálí bravalica
I speak/am speaking Bravalic
The Imperfect Tense
The Imperfect tense is use to indicate events that happened in the past that are still on going or not not completed; it’s indicated by -ay:
Example:
Betálay bravalica
I used to speak/was speaking Bravalic
The Perfect Tense
Different from the Imperfect tense, the Perfect tense is used for events that have been completed in the past:
Example:
Betáley bravalica
I spoke Bravalic
The Future Tense
The Future tense obviously is for future events and it is translated as “will verb”. It’s form by adding the ending -u to the verb:
Example:
Betálu bravalica
I will/shall speak Bravalic
Mood
Mood is common throughout all languages; they are really just different versions of the tenses which are used in different situations. In Bravalic, there are three moods: Indicative, Subjunctive, and Interrogative that are represented by the middle vowel in the verb:
The Indicative is shown by -á- in the middle of the verb. This is used for factual circumstances (the normal form):
Example:
Cuvásí cethudhá jaregom
The cat loves the mouse
Now the Subjunctive mood is almost the opposite of the Indicative as it portrays non-factual event and is used to express wishes and emotions and also, in Bravalic, relative clauses; the subjunctive is shown by -i-:
Examples:
Chelábí guhithí
I hope he comes
Jecásí do biatilí bravalica lom
I know that you speak Bravalic
Beságí serúdhá do cuvisí seregom iqa cethá.
The woman, who loves the man, has a cat
Next, the Interrogative mood, we have seen already. This is used for asking questions and as you have seen, questions have a different word order to the usual word order. This middle of the verb changes to -oy-:
Example:
Bravalica biatoylí?
Do you speak Bravalic?
The present tense is formed by changing the last letter at the end of the word to -í:
Example:
Betálí bravalica
I speak/am speaking Bravalic
The Imperfect Tense
The Imperfect tense is use to indicate events that happened in the past that are still on going or not not completed; it’s indicated by -ay:
Example:
Betálay bravalica
I used to speak/was speaking Bravalic
The Perfect Tense
Different from the Imperfect tense, the Perfect tense is used for events that have been completed in the past:
Example:
Betáley bravalica
I spoke Bravalic
The Future Tense
The Future tense obviously is for future events and it is translated as “will verb”. It’s form by adding the ending -u to the verb:
Example:
Betálu bravalica
I will/shall speak Bravalic
Mood
Mood is common throughout all languages; they are really just different versions of the tenses which are used in different situations. In Bravalic, there are three moods: Indicative, Subjunctive, and Interrogative that are represented by the middle vowel in the verb:
The Indicative is shown by -á- in the middle of the verb. This is used for factual circumstances (the normal form):
Example:
Cuvásí cethudhá jaregom
The cat loves the mouse
Now the Subjunctive mood is almost the opposite of the Indicative as it portrays non-factual event and is used to express wishes and emotions and also, in Bravalic, relative clauses; the subjunctive is shown by -i-:
Examples:
Chelábí guhithí
I hope he comes
Jecásí do biatilí bravalica lom
I know that you speak Bravalic
Beságí serúdhá do cuvisí seregom iqa cethá.
The woman, who loves the man, has a cat
Next, the Interrogative mood, we have seen already. This is used for asking questions and as you have seen, questions have a different word order to the usual word order. This middle of the verb changes to -oy-:
Example:
Bravalica biatoylí?
Do you speak Bravalic?
Conjugation is basically the verb version of Declensions. In Bravalic, there are also a few other verb forms that have to be learnt as well:
The infinitive verb is basically “to verb”. To create this in Bravalic, all the vowels become -a-:
Examples:
batala - to speak
cavasa - to love
basaga - to have
The gerund is basically a verbal noun which is used for words like “speaking, eating”. Sometimes in Bravalic, the gerund can be ambiguous and the same word can have multiple meanings. All the gerunds go into the third declension (-í) so they are all neuter:
Examples:
batalí - speaking; language
cavasí - loving; love
The participle is basically a verbal adjective; there are two types: present and past.
Present: batalo
Past: bataloro
The participles are used to denote Grammatical Voice. This quite difficult to understand; compare these sentences:
The cat caught the mouse
The mouse was caught
The first sentence is in the active voice, the second is in the passive. Notice that in the passive, the subject (cat) has been removed leaving only the object (mouse). The passive essentially makes the action inflicted by the verb on the subject.
In English, the passive voice is form by using the past participle and the verb “to be”. Bravalic, helpfully, forms the passive in the exact same way:
Examples:
Juváney cethudhá jaregom
The cat caught the mouse
Jaregom sutiney javanoron
The mouse was caught
The participles must agree with the noun, like adjectives.
The active participle is used in the exact same way as a normal adjective:
Example:
Jarego cavaso
The loving mouse
Examples:
batala - to speak
cavasa - to love
basaga - to have
The gerund is basically a verbal noun which is used for words like “speaking, eating”. Sometimes in Bravalic, the gerund can be ambiguous and the same word can have multiple meanings. All the gerunds go into the third declension (-í) so they are all neuter:
Examples:
batalí - speaking; language
cavasí - loving; love
The participle is basically a verbal adjective; there are two types: present and past.
Present: batalo
Past: bataloro
The participles are used to denote Grammatical Voice. This quite difficult to understand; compare these sentences:
The cat caught the mouse
The mouse was caught
The first sentence is in the active voice, the second is in the passive. Notice that in the passive, the subject (cat) has been removed leaving only the object (mouse). The passive essentially makes the action inflicted by the verb on the subject.
In English, the passive voice is form by using the past participle and the verb “to be”. Bravalic, helpfully, forms the passive in the exact same way:
Examples:
Juváney cethudhá jaregom
The cat caught the mouse
Jaregom sutiney javanoron
The mouse was caught
The participles must agree with the noun, like adjectives.
The active participle is used in the exact same way as a normal adjective:
Example:
Jarego cavaso
The loving mouse
Conditional Sentences
Conditional sentences in Bravalic are for sentences that express “what ifs”. Unlike English (where the modal verb would is used), Bravalic uses the different grammatical moods are used to express the different forms of conditional sentences. Two particles are required for creating these sentences: nu at the beginning to introduce the conditional sentence (this translates to if); and the particle va which is put in the middle of the sentence between each part (this can translate to then):
Logical Implications
These sentences are for factual implication of events; these are essentially logical. These sentences follow this pattern: if (present indicative), (present indicative).
Example:
nu jecásí va cuvásíne
if I know, he loves me
Predictive
These sentences express the outcome of an event, e.g. if you do that, that will happen. The pattern for this is: if (present indicative), (present subjunctive).
Example:
nu jecásí va cuvisíne
if I know, he will love me
Hypothetical
These sentences are for expressing hypothetical event and their outcomes e.g. if I spoke Bravalic, I would understand you. Hypothetical sentences follows the pattern: if (present subjunctive), (present subjunctive).
Example:
nu jecisí va cuvisíne
If I knew, he would love me
Counterfactual
These sentences express if something had happened, this would had happened e.g. if you had done that, that would have happened. The pattern for this is: if (imperfect subjunctive), (imperfect subjunctive).
nu jecisay va cuvisayne
If I had known, he would have loved me
Conditional sentences in Bravalic are for sentences that express “what ifs”. Unlike English (where the modal verb would is used), Bravalic uses the different grammatical moods are used to express the different forms of conditional sentences. Two particles are required for creating these sentences: nu at the beginning to introduce the conditional sentence (this translates to if); and the particle va which is put in the middle of the sentence between each part (this can translate to then):
Logical Implications
These sentences are for factual implication of events; these are essentially logical. These sentences follow this pattern: if (present indicative), (present indicative).
Example:
nu jecásí va cuvásíne
if I know, he loves me
Predictive
These sentences express the outcome of an event, e.g. if you do that, that will happen. The pattern for this is: if (present indicative), (present subjunctive).
Example:
nu jecásí va cuvisíne
if I know, he will love me
Hypothetical
These sentences are for expressing hypothetical event and their outcomes e.g. if I spoke Bravalic, I would understand you. Hypothetical sentences follows the pattern: if (present subjunctive), (present subjunctive).
Example:
nu jecisí va cuvisíne
If I knew, he would love me
Counterfactual
These sentences express if something had happened, this would had happened e.g. if you had done that, that would have happened. The pattern for this is: if (imperfect subjunctive), (imperfect subjunctive).
nu jecisay va cuvisayne
If I had known, he would have loved me