Verbal Morphology

4.1 Features

Novegradian is a highly fusional inflecting language, meaning information tends to be densely packed in a relatively small set of affixes. A single suffix -м -m, for instance, may mark a verb as being in the present tense and as having a subject that is both first person and singular.

Like other Indo-European languages, verbs are conjugated through adding various affixes to a verb stem. All stems have an inherent conjugation class, which is arbitrary, but determines the types of endings it receives (for instance, the 1st and athematic conjugations mark the 1sg Present/Future with -м -m, while the 2nd and 3rd conjugations use -ун -un). Both prefixes (added before the stem) and suffixes (added after the stem) are used. Most verbs also have a theme vowel, which is largely connected to the conjugation class and appears immediately after the root in the present/future tense.

The stem consists of a root and zero or more derivational affixes. The root is the most basic unit providing semantic meaning to the verb. For many verbs, typically termed “primitive”, the stem and root are one and the same (e.g., *рѣѕ- *rědz- “say, read aloud”). Far more, however, include a derivational affix or formative, which slightly modifies the meaning of the root and therefore the stem as a whole (e.g., *о-рѣѕ- *o-rědz- “promise”); this type of stem is known as “derived”.

Many verbs actually have two stems, one known as the “infinitive stem” and the other as the “present/future stem”, and the two may have different theme vowels. All verb forms are predictably based on one of the two stems.

The majority of the verb forms to be described in this section are finite, meaning they convey tense/aspect/modality information. Such verbs conjugate in agreement with their grammatical subject, although the features marked vary across different verb forms; some forms agree with the subject’s person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) and number (Singular, Dual, or Plural), while others agree in number and gender (Masculine, Feminine, or Neuter).

Independently of their environment, finite verbs mark two tenses (Past and a combined Present/Future), two primary aspects ¹ (Perfective and Imperfective), and three moods (Indicative, Subjunctive, and Imperative).

Non-finite verb forms lack tense and mood marking, although they maintain aspect. Two are pseudo-nominal (the Infinitive and the Supine), three are pseudo-adjectival (the three participles), and two are pseudo-adverbial (the two adverbial participles). The infinitive is considered the citation form of all Novegradian verbs; unless otherwise noted, verbs will be cited in their infinitive form throughout this text.

Stems are inherently transitive or intransitive. Change in valency typically involves a periphrastic construction, a derivational operation, or a change in voice, of which Novegradian has three: Active, Passive, and Middle. Some transitive verbs, however, allow for the direct object to simply be omitted or implied.

4.2 Verb Roots and Conjugations

Novegradian has four conjugations. Three of these are thematic—A, E, I—and one is athematic, although this last group only contains four verbs: буити buíti “be”, ѣсти iě́sti “eat”, вѣсти vě́sti “know”, and дати dáti “give”. ²

Each verb only has a present/future and past tense formed through inflection, as well as several non-finite forms (the infinitive, supine, and participles). The perfective form of an imperfective verb is generally made by adding a prefix or using a suppletive verb.

A-Class verbs (first conjugation) tend to be quite regular, while I-class (second conjugation) and E-class (third conjugation) verbs are prone to consonant mutations in some forms.

Most native verb roots consist of only one syllable, sometimes two, or sometimes less than one. Individual verb stems can be stem-stressed, ending-stressed, or mobile-stressed. Stem-stressed verbs are usually accented on the same syllable in the stem, and ending-stressed verbs on the first syllable after the stem. Mobile-stressed verbs fall into many subcategories depending on the conjugation and form involved.

While the conjugation classes no longer have well-defined meanings, there are a few tendencies that can be observed, likely carryovers from Pre-Proto-Slavic or Proto-Indo-European:

• Almost all non-derived first conjugation verbs are imperfective, and the majority of imperfective verbs are first conjugation.
• Many verbs denoting sounds or derived from onomatopoeia are second conjugation and have -ѣ- as the infinitive theme vowel (or have an affricate or palatalized fricative + -а-, which historically comes from an earlier *ě): криѕати kridzáti “shout”, храпѣти hrápěti “snore”, шумѣти śumě́ti “be noisy”.
• The vast majority of second conjugation verbs with -ѣ- as the infinitive theme vowel are intransitive. Many have transitive historical counterparts with -и-, though sound changes predating Common Slavic have since obscured these pairs: горѣти gorě́ti “burn (intr)”, жарити źáriti “make jealous” ³ ; родѣти rodě́ti “blush” ⁴ , рудити rudíti “embarrass” ⁵ .
• Third conjugation verbs that appear to have the infinitive theme vowel -ѣ- actually have the stative suffix -ѣй- -ěi-. These verbs are typically derived (fairly transparently) from nouns or adjectives and mean “be ADJ” or “have NOUN”: омѣти omě́ti “know how to” (from оме óme “intellect”). This subgroup was once far more common and productive, but it now consists only of a few relics.
• Third conjugation verbs with the suffix -н- (-на- in the infinitive) are always perfective. This suffix generally marks very abrupt actions or, when derived from adjectives, transformation. This suffix is sometimes called the “punctual”.

4.3 The Infinitive

The infinitive is formed from the verb stem using the suffix -ти -ti, or less commonly, -йкьи -ikji. This ending is never stressed.

However, there are a number of factors that make the infinitive more complex to form. Many, though not all verbs have a distinct ‘infinitive stem’, which differs slightly from the stem + thematic vowel used to form the present/future tense (the present/future stem).

4.3.1 A-Conjugation Infinitive

The A-Conjugation infinitive is extremely regular, formed with the ending -ати -ati attached to the verb stem. This theme vowel may be either stressed or unstressed. In the very frequently-seen deperfective pattern ending in -ов-ати ov-áti, the theme vowel is always stressed.

• *работ- → работати rabótati “to work” (stem stressed)
• *дѣл- → дѣлати dě́lati “to make, do” (stem stressed)
• *цид- → цидати cidáti “to read” (ending stressed)
• *егр- → еграти iegráti “to play” (ending stressed)
• *по-каз-ов- → показовати pokazováti “to show, demonstrate” (deperfective)
• *со-цед-ов- → соцедовати socedováti “to consider” (deperfective)

4.3.2 I-Conjugation Infinitive

The I-Conjugation infinitive is formed fairly regularly using one of the endings -ити -iti or -ѣти -ěti. The -ити type is far more common, but any difference in meaning between the two endings was lost many centuries ago. This choice of endings can be particular confounding due to the fact that, with the exception of ending-stressed verbs, the both are pronounced identically. The ě-type is sometimes referred to as the stative pattern, although this name is purely historical.

• *мѣр- → мѣрити mě́riti “to measure” (stem stressed, i-type)
• *вар- → варити váriti “to boil” (stem stressed, i-type)
• *рѣѕ- → рѣѕити rědzíti “to say, read aloud” (ending stressed, i-type)
• *луб- → лубити lubíti “to love” (hysterodynamic, i-type)
• *вид- → видѣти víděti “to see” (stem stressed, ě-type)
• *бол- → болѣти bolě́ti “to hurt, ache” (ending stressed, ě-type)

The ě-type has a variant -ати -ati, which predictably occurs after stems ending in /sʲ zʲ ts dz j/, and unpredictably after consonants that historically were once one of these five.

• *криѕ- → криѕати kridzáti “to shout” (palatal stem, ě-type)
• *держ- → держати derźáti “hold” (palatal stem, ě-type)
• *стой- → стояти stoiáti “stand” (palatal stem, ě-type)
• *слих- → слихати slíhati “hear” (palatal stem, ě-type) ⁶

One other subtype with only a handful of verbs is known as the sonantic stem, where the stem historically ends in a sonant /r l n/. These stems historically had no theme vowel, just taking a bare suffix -ти -ti, but later this sonant underwent metathesis with the preceding vowel. These verbs thus appear to end in a variety of vowels in the infinitive, when the stem actually is consonantal.

• *пер- → прети préti “to force” (sonantic stem)
• *сни- → снити(ш) sníti(ś) “to dream” (sonantic stem)
• *довел- → довлѣти dovlě́ti “to suffice” (sonantic stem)

4.3.3 E-Conjugation Infinitive

The E-Conjugation infinitive is by far the most complex to form. It is typically formed with the suffix -ати -ati or just the themeless suffix -ти -ti, although this latter form tends to cause many stem alterations when it comes in contact with the bare stem.

When the suffix -ати is used, it is almost always stressed, no matter whether the stem is usually ending-stressed in other forms or not. This ending is predictably used whenever the stem contains the punctual suffix -н-.

• *пиз- → пизати pizáti “to write” (stem stressed)
• *еск- → ескати ieskáti “to look for” (stem stressed)
• *рѣз- → рѣзати rězáti “to cut” (stem stressed)
• *тег- → тегати tegáti “to weave” (ending stressed)
• *наш-н- → нашнати naśnáti “to begin, start” (punctual)

Dental stems are stems ending in one of the dental consonants /t d s z/, which may come in direct contact with the infinitive suffix without a theme vowel. However, stem-final *t and *d will both lenite to /s/ in this position.

• *нес- → нести nésti “to carry” (dental stem in *s)
• *гриз- → гризти grízti “to gnaw” (dental stem in *z)
• *мет- → мести mésti “to sweep” (dental stem in *t)
• *крад- → красти krásti “to steal” (dental stem in *d)

Sonantic stems, much like in the I-Conjugation, end in one of the sonants /r l n/ and undergo metathesis in the infinitive. Historically the I-Conjugation sonantic stems were also E-Conjugation, but there has been a general trend towards conversion to the I-Conjugation.

• *мол- → млети mléti “to grind” (sonantic stem)
• *про-кол- → проклати prokláti “to stab” (sonantic stem)

In velar stems, which end in /k g/, the velar consonant and infinitive ending palatalize and merge into an unanalyzable suffix -кьи -kji. In addition, the vowel immediately preceding gains a /j/ off-glide.

• *пек- → пейкьи péikji “to bake” (velar stem in *k)
• *плак- → плайкьи pláikji “to cry” (velar stem in *k)
• *мог- → мойкьи móikji “to be able” (velar stem in *g)

The three semivocalic stem subtypes, ending in *-uv, *-ij, or *-Cj (where C represents any other consonant), all vocalize when coming in contact with the infinitive ending.

• *слув- → слути slúti “to be known for” (semivocalic stem in *uv)
• *кри- → крити kríti “to cover” (semivocalic stem in *ij)
• *пй- → пити píti “to drink” (semivocalic stem in *Cj)
• *рос-вй- → росуити rosuíti “to unfurl, evolve” (semivocalic stem in *Cj)

In all other themeless verbs, collectively known as fleeting stems, the stem-final consonant is close completely when it comes in direct contact with the infinitive ending.

• *жив- → жити źíti “to live” (fleeting stem with stem stress)
• *стан- → стати státi “to become” (fleeting stem with ending stress)
• *стар-ѣй- → старѣти starě́ti “to age, grow old” (fleeting stem with ending stress)
• *жен- → жети źéti “to harvest” (fleeting stem with ending stress)

4.4 The Indicative Mood

4.4.1 The Formation of the Perfective

As in several other Slavic languages, two processes must be discussed when it comes to the formation of perfective/imperfective pairs: perfectivization and deperfectivization.

Perfectization is the process of deriving perfective verbs from primitive imperfectives. In Novegradian this is done overwhelmingly through the use of prefixes. The addition of a perfectivizing prefix may or may not change the meaning of the verb; in other words, prefixes serve both to form simple perfectives, and to derive new perfective verbs: пизати pizáti “write (impf)” → напизати napizáti “write (pf)”, опизати opizáti “describe (pf)”, препизати prepizáti “rewrite (pf)”, etc.

These prefixes are always derived from prepositions (although the prepositions they were derived from didn’t necessarily survive into modern Novegradian), usually ones that at one point had some sort of semantic connection with the root which has since been lost. Some of the more common prefixes include по- po- ‘confined to, along, by’, со- so- ‘with’, на- na- ‘on’, о- o- ‘at’, при- pri- ‘attached to’, за- za- ‘behind’, and про- pro- ‘through’. Examples, using some of the same roots as above:

• цидати cidáti → процидати procidáti “read”
• видѣти víděti → овидѣти ovíděti “see”
• пизати pizáti → напизати napizáti “write”

Non-native verbs almost exclusively use по- and за- to form simple perfectives:

• гымати gýmati → загымати zagýmati “shout” (←Komi гым “thunder”)
• шецинити śéciniti → пошецинити pośéciniti “surrender” (←Komi шедöдчыны “give oneself up”)
• сарнити sarníti → посарнити posarníti “ramble” (←Komi сöрны “lie”)
• бомбардовати bombardováti → побомбардовати pobombardováti “bombard”

Simple perfectivization, without change of meaning, can also be achieved by switching from the first to the second conjugation, or with the punctual suffix -н- -n-. Neither of these are productive, however.

• брозати brozáti → брошити bróśiti “throw”
• рѣжати rěźáti → рѣжити rěźíti “decide”
• кажити kaźíti → кажнати kaźnáti “distort”
• лизати lízati → лизнати liznáti “lick”

Finally, a handful of perfectives are simply irregular or suppletive:

• наценати nacenáti → нашнати naśnáti “begin, start”
• брати bráti → женти źénti “bring” (cf. Common Slavic *brati, *vъzęti)

In general, the pattern any given verb requires to form its perfective counterpart must be memorized. Even though prefixation is the most common method, it is not readily predictable which prefix is required to form the simple perfective without deriving a verb with a new meaning.

In contrast, deperfectivization is the process by which a new imperfective form is created from a prefixed perfective verb, the result of the otherwise pairless derived perfectives that perfectivization creates. The vast majority of these forms, known as derived imperfectives, are formed with the suffix -ов- -ov-, which is always first conjugation. This is the regular, productive pattern:

• тулити tulíti “put away (impf)” → затулити zatulíti “close (pf)” → затуловати zatulováti “close (impf)”
• пизати pizáti “write (impf)” → препизати prepizáti “rewrite (pf)” → преписовати prepisováti “rewrite (impf)”
• концити kónciti “end (impf)” → оконцити okónciti “graduate (pf)” → оконцовати okoncováti “graduate (impf)”
• еграти iegráti “play (impf)” → вуийграти vuijgráti “win (pf)” → вуийгровати vuijgrováti “win (impf)”
• менѣти meně́ti “seem (impf)” → соменѣти someně́ti “mention (pf)” → соменовати somenováti “mention (impf)”

A less common pattern, which unproductively applies only to some second-conjugation verbs, is to palatalize the stem-final consonant and convert the verb to the first conjugation. Nowadays this pattern is rarely seen in verbs whose stems do not end in /v/; the preservation of this pattern may be due to a desire to avoid highly repetitive forms such as *pozgodovováti.

• авити avíti “reveal (impf)” → оявити oiavíti “declare (pf)” → ояулати oiáulati “declare (impf)”
• годовити godóviti “prepare (impf)” → позгодовити pozgodóviti “train (pf)” → позгодоулати pozgodóulati “train (impf)”
• крѣпити krě́piti “make firm (impf)” → позкрѣпити pozkrě́piti “fortify (pf)” → позкрѣплати pozkrě́plati “fortify (impf)”

Finally, a small closed set of stems form the deperfective stem via ablaut. These are the verbs that show Indo-European Ø/E or Ø/O grade ablaut, with the Ø grade in the infinitive and the E/O grade in the present tense, such as брати bráti “to bring” ~ берун berún “I bring” and зуати zuáti “to call” ~ зовун zovún “I call”. In the deperfective stem, these verbs switch to the so-called neolengthened grade and acquire /i/ as the root vowel, while also switching to the first conjugation. While this is a nonproductive pattern, it is robust, with no evidence of regularization taking place even in colloquial usage.

• брати bráti “bring (impf)” → вуибрати vuibráti “pick out (pf)” → вуибирати vuibiráti “pick out (impf)”
• зуати zuáti “call (impf)” → призуати prizuáti “invite (pf)” → призивати priziváti “invite (impf)”

4.4.2 The Present-Future Tense

4.4.2.1 The Regular Present/Future Tense

The Present/Future tense inflects for person and number, with endings consisting of a theme vowel (in most cases) plus a suffix. The suffixes are broadly consistent across conjugations, with the exception of the first person singular, third person singular, and third person plural, which divide the set of endings into two broad subcategories: the M-Type (named for the 1sg ending in the first and athematic conjugations) and the UN-Type (named for the 1sg in the second and third conjugations. The table below shows the present/future endings for each conjugation:

Note that the M-type endings -ст (3sg) and -ати/-ит (3pl) are pronounced /s/ and /a/ respectively. The spellings reflect a much older pronunciation.

These endings may be attached to both perfective and imperfective verb stems. On perfective stems, they always indicate future action, while on imperfective stems they can indicate both present and future tenses depending on context; as with several other Slavic languages, aspect is a more fundamental distinction in Novegradian than tense.

Note that the 1sg ending in the I-Conjugation and all endings in the E-Conjugation will predictably trigger palatalization if they come in contact with certain consonants in the stem ⁷ . These changes are summarized below:

• т → кь (вратити vrátiti “return” → вракьун vrákjun)
• д → гь (видѣти víděti “see” → вигьун vígjun)
• с, з, ш, ж → хь (пизати pizáti “write” → пихьун píhjun)
• з, ж → ғь (везати vezáti “tie, connect” → веғьун véğjun)
• н → нь (хранити hraníti “keep” → храньун hranjún)
• к → ц (плайкьи pláikji → плацун plácun)
• г → ж (бѣйкьи bě́ikji “run” → бѣжун bě́źun)
• ст, ск → шкь (ескати ieskáti “search for” → ешкьун iéśkjun)
• зд, зг → жгь (ѣздити iě́zditi “go by vehicle” → ѣжгьун iě́źgjun)
• п → пл (купити kúpiti “store” → куплун kúplun)
• б → бл (лубити lubíti “love” → лублун lublún)
• в → ўл (дивити divíti “surprise” → диўлун diwlún)
• м → мл (омити omíti “teach how to” → омлун omlún)

The tables below demonstrate the regular patterns with each of the possible regular stress patterns.

In the A Conjugation, there are two regular stress patterns: stem stress and ending stress. With дѣлати dě́lati “make, do” (A Conjugation, regular stem stressed) and цидати cidáti “read” (A Conjugation, regular ending stressed):

The I Conjugation has six regular stress patterns, the most of any conjugation:

1. stem stress: stress on the stem throughout, as in знацити znáciti “mean, signify”
2. ending stress: stress on the ending throughout, as in рѣѕити rědzíti “say”
3. dynamic type 1: stem stress in the infinitive/past stem, ending stress in the present/future stem, as in муислити muísliti “think”
4. dynamic type 2: ending stress in the infinitive/past stem, stem stress in the present/future stem, as in бранити braníti “defend”
5. proterodynamic: stem stress throughout, except ending stress in the present/future first person singular, as in правити práviti “govern”
6. hysterodynamic: ending stress throughout, except stem stress in the present/future non-1sg, as in лубити lubíti “love”

As the above list suggests, in the present tense these six classes collapse to four, with dynamic type 1 merging with ending stress and dynamic type 2 merging with stem stress.

The regular E Conjugation only has two stress patterns: stem stress and ending stress. Demonstrated below with пизати pizáti “write” and медати medáti “throw, cast”:

The athematic conjugation will be discussed further down due to its highly aberrant nature.

4.4.2.2 Irregularities in the A Conjugation

The A Conjugation is for the most part extremely regular. The only irregularity in the present-future tense is the small set of so called j-stems, which end in /uj/ in the present but /ov/ in the infinitive. Such verbs were historically part of the E Conjugation, but transitioned to the A Conjugation possibly under the influence of the huge quantity of deperfectives that contain an identical (but coincidentally so) suffix /ov/. An example is ковати kóvati “forge”; the -ui- syllable is always stressed.

The above pattern applies only to cases where the -ov-/-ui- is actually a component of the root, not a derivational or deperfective suffix as in кѣловати kělováti “kiss”, which has a regular ending stress pattern in the present: кѣловам kělovám, кѣловаш kělováś, etc. In old texts or in poetry these verbs may appear in the E Conjugation with this -ui- suffix, but this is no longer valid in modern usage:

4.4.2.3 Irregularities in the I Conjugation

Despite the large number of stress patterns, the I Conjugation present-future is also quite regular. Distinctions seen in the infinitive, such as the different theme vowels i~ě~a, are neutralized, with all forms showing /i/. With криѕати kridzáti “shout”:

Sonantic stems do not display the metathesis seen in the infinitive; these forms are therefore regular, but the relationship to the infinitive may not be immediately obvious. With прети préti “force, pressure”:

Some I and E conjugation verbs with the stem vowels /e/ and /o/ in the infinitive undergo ablaut in the present tense, with these vowels becoming /æ/ and /u/ respectively. If the following consonant is /sʲ/ or /zʲ/, these will depalatalize to /s/ and /z/. This change is known as the neoacute ablaut, the result of a now-lost pitch accent that emerged in late Common Slavic due to stress shifts. In modern Novegradian it is not always possible to predict when this change will occur; however, it is almost guaranteed when the verb has a proterodynamic or hysterodynamic stress pattern (i.e., one in which the first person singular has a different stress pattern than the rest of the present-future tense). Demonstrated below with ношити nóśiti “carry”:

4.4.2.4 Irregularities in the E Conjugation

Most of the consonantal stems behave fairly regularly in the E Conjugation. Velar stems, such as плайкьи pláikji “cry”, are regular, showing palatalization throughout:

Dental stems (исти ísti “go, walk”), fleeting stems (жити źíti “live”), and sonantic stems (мерети meréti “die”) are regular except for the lack of stem palatalization throughout.

The three semivocalic stem types are regular from a phonemic perspective, though the *Cj type has some more complex spelling changes due to the different representations of consonant + yod sequences, alternating between using ю for /ju/ and ие for /je/. With плути plúti “swim” (*uv type), крити kríti “cover” (*ij type), and пити píti “drink” (*Cj type):

The ablauting stem type shows /e/ as the root vowel in the present-future, combined with ending stress. With брати bráti “bring, take”:

Neoacute patterns can also occur in the E Conjugation. In мойкьи móikji “be able to”, this causes the /g/ → /zʲ/ palatalization to then depalatalize to /z/:

Verbs containing the punctual suffix -n maintain it throughout the present-future. These verbs are almost always perfective and end-stressed, as with нашнати naśnáti “begin”:

4.4.2.5 Athematic Verbs in the Present-Future Tense

Only four verbs and their derivatives follow an athematic paradigm in modern Novegradian, continuing a general Slavic trend towards eliminating the class. For all practical purposes they may be considered to be irregular (and even show quite a bit of variability in formation across verbs), but nevertheless are grouped together due to the distinctive endings they take. Shown below are the four base verbs (unprefixed forms) in the present tense:

The full verb stem is only visible in the 3pl form of each verb. Before /t/ root-final *d weakens to /s/, and before /m s β/ it drops entirely. The root-final *s of буити has fewer problems with other consonants, and in fact in the 1dl form it remains intact before the suffixed -va (which weakens to -ua).

Unlike most other Slavic languages, the 3pl form of буити is no longer completely irregular. As late as the 18th century it was still pronounced сат sát, but the prefixed ie- was added to bring it more in line with the other forms.

The spellings for a number of the athematic forms are outdated, reflecting older pronunciations. Есм iésm “I am” is usually pronounced есми [ˈjɛ.smɪ] (formally) or ем [ˈjɛm] (commonly). The forms ending in -ст are pronounced with just the /s/ (so ест iést “it is” is [ˈjɛs], etc). The athematic 3pl ending -ит is pronounced [ə], the result of есат’s ending being generalized to replace an ending that seemed too similar to third person singular of many thematic verbs: вѣдит vě́dit “they know” [ˈβæ.də].

The present tense forms of буити are infrequently used in modern Novegradian except to add emphasis or improve prosody, although in written Novegradian the third person forms ест, еста, and есат are used more frequently. These forms are also still used (in speech as well) to indicate “there is/are”. The 3sg and 3pl forms also have shortened clitic variants, е ie and су su. The only time all of the present tense forms of буити must be used is in its special negative form, with a prefixed н-: несм, неси, нет, несуа, нета, нета, несме, несте, несат nésm, nési, nét, nésua, néta, néta, nésme, néste, nésat. No other verb has such negative forms. The /s/ has been lost in the 3sg and 3dl forms (and by analogy in the 2dl, which always uses the same form as the 3dl). Historically this elision resulted in compensatory lengthening of the previous vowel, giving the third person forms нѣт ně́t and нѣта ně́ta, as well as нѣсат ně́sat by analogy; however, these forms are rarely used nowadays.

4.4.2.6 Irregular Verbs

Although most 'irregular' verbs can fit into one of the previously mentioned subclasses, there are a few that do not, displaying a pattern unique to that verb root. These verbs are simply irregular, although they are typically minor and involve only an unexpected vowel or consonant change. Shown below are the verbs with irregular forms in the present-future; note that their prefixed variants use the same paradigm.

4.4.3 The Past Tense

4.4.3.1 The Regular Past Tense

The Novegradian past tense, for both perfective and imperfective verbs, derives from the Common Slavic L-participle, which has been reanalyzed as a verbal form rather than an adjective. Due to its origins, it displays agreement for gender in place of person. It is formed from the same stem as the infinitive (not the present/future tense), plus -l-, plus an ending. As such, the past form can oftentimes be created by dropping the -ти of the infinitive and replacing with with -л-. As in the infinitive, the present/future or conjugation theme vowel is not indicated. Stress is generally on the same syllable as on the infinitive, which is not always the same as in the present/future. Generally speaking, if the sound immediately before the infinitive ending -ти is a vowel, the past tense form may be considered regular.

As can be seen above, the gender contrast is neutralized in the dual and plural, much as with adjectives. The contrast between the dual and plural is purely orthographic, since the ending is never stressed and thus /æ/ and /i/ are both pronounced [ɪ].

There are two variants of the neuter. Type I (in /o/) is the usual form. Type II (in /e/, spelled è) is a positional variant that only appears directly after neuter nouns ending in /e/ rather than the more common /o/. There is no semantic difference between the two forms; Type II seems simply to be a case of "ending spreading", where the /e/ ending of an adjacent noun spreads to the verb.

Stress for virtually all verbs in the past tense (even irregular ones) always remains on the same syllable, unless the stem is only one syllable long, in which case the stress will shift to the ending in the feminine singular form. This happens in both thematic and athematic verbs:

4.4.3.2 Irregularities in the Past Tense

Because the past tense stem is the same as the infinitive stem, the many minor verb classes mentioned earlier in the present/future tense are of almost no concern. Except for verbs whose infinitives end in -сти, -зти, or -йкьи, the past tense can be formed regularly from the infinitive.

If the infinitive stem ends in /s z k g/ (i.e., the infinitive ends in -зти, -йкьи, or occasionally -сти), the consonant is not dropped, and the past tense suffix -л- is added immediately after that consonant. The /j/ off-glide seen in the velar stems is dropped.

When the infinitive stem ends in /t/ or /d/, both of which will always appear as с s, it is converted to /k/ or /g/ and then conjugated like the verbs above. Notably, three of the four athematic verbs follow this pattern.

In speech it is common to pronounce this -г- as a fricative /ɣ/ in some or all forms. Older speakers only have this /ɣ/ when the syllable immediately before the -г- is stressed (e.g., да[ɣ]ле “I/you/he gave”, but да[g]ла “I/you/she gave”). Younger speaks frequently have /ɣ/ in all forms.

4.4.3.3 Irregular Verbs in the Past Tense

A very small set of verbs have an irregular past tense, with a pattern not shared by any other verbs except for their own derivative forms. They are исти ísti “go, walk”, пошѣсти pośě́sti “sit down”, гейкьи géikji “burn”, данти dánti “blow”, женти źénti “take”, and тайти táiti “conceal, harbor”.

The past tense of исти is suppletive, based on *ш(ед)-, a root originally meaning something along the lines of “step”. The fact that the ending is always stressed on this stem means that исти and its derivatives are the only verbs that distinguish the dual and plural forms in speech.

The vowel change in пошѣсти is likely the result of contamination (since the vowels of this verb were already irregular in Common Slavic due to an additional nasal element inherited from PIE). The exact origin is not certain.

The ғ found in the past tense of гейкьи is the result of dissimilation from the following /g/. Due to palatalization rules, however, it is actually even more irregular than it appears. Only in the feminine singular is ғ pronounced [ɣ] (i.e., [ɣɛ.ˈgla]); in all other forms it is pronounced [j]: [ˈjɛ.glɛ], [ˈjɛ.glo], etc.

Both данти and женти originally had nasal vowels in their infinitive and past tense stems (Common Slavic *dǫlъ, *vъzęlъ), which uncoupled into /an en/ in the infinitive but not in the past tense. Note also that these verbs, despite being one syllable long, do not display the stress shift in the feminine singular.

Тайти just sees the root-final /j/ lost in the masculine singular likely due to dialect contamination. The masculine singular ending was once very weak, and the lack of ending prompted loss of /j/ as /jl/ was illegal at the end of a word. It reappears in all other forms. This also makes it the only verb to distinguish the masculine singular from the type II neuter singular in speech: тале tále [ˈta.lɛ] vs тайлѐ táile [ˈtaj.lɛ].

4.4.4 The Analytic Future Tenses

The two analytic future tenses both require the use of the future tense of буити “be” as an auxiliary verb. Буити is the only verb in Novegradian with a true, distinct future tense. It is formed by adding the regular third conjugation present/future endings onto the stem *бад- *bad-.

The simple future, which only imperfective verbs can have, is formed using the future form of “be” followed by the infinitive. With цидати “read”:

However, the simple future of “be” is always бадун, бадеш, etc., never **бадун буити.

The future tense form of “be” combined with a past tense verb, the L-form of either a perfective or imperfective verb, forms the future hypothetical tense. With рѣѕити “say, read aloud”:

The singular forms will all conjugate to agree in gender, as in the past tense. Unlike in the simple future, the form бадун буиле is allowed.

4.4.5 Verbs of Motion

Verbs of motion form a special class in Novegradian, like in other Slavic languages, as instead of a two-way distinction of perfective-imperfective, there is a three-way distinction where the imperfective is divided into determinate and indeterminate forms. Unlike the other Slavic languages, however, the perfective of verbs of motion is falling out of use. In modern Novegradian, it is almost never used in the past tense and only finds use to indicate the future. The perfective is always formed by adding the prefix по- po- to the determinate form. The indeterminate is formed from a separate root, though usually related somehow to the determinate root.

Such triplets include (det.impf ~ pf ~ indet.impf):

• исти ísti ~ пойсти póisti ~ ходити hóditi “go, walk”
• ѣхати iě́hati ~ поѣхати poiě́hati ~ ѣздити iě́zditi “go, travel, go by vehicle”
• бѣйкьи bě́ikji ~ побѣйкьи pobě́ikji ~ бѣгати bě́gati “run”
• ледѣти ledě́ti ~ поледѣти poledě́ti ~ лидати lidáti “fly”
• плути plúti ~ поплути poplúti ~ плавити pláviti “swim, sail, float”
• нести nésti ~ понести ponésti ~ ношити nóśiti “carry”
• везти vézti ~ повезти povézti ~ вожити vóźiti “transport”
• лѣзти lě́zti ~ полѣзти polě́zti ~ лажити láźiti “climb”
• тенкьи ténkji ~ потенкьи poténkji ~ ташкьити táśkjiti “pull, haul”
• брести brésti ~ побрести pobrésti ~ бродити brodíti “walk on an unstable surface”

For conjugation and irregularity information, see the lexicon.

The last two examples, тенкьи ~ ташкьити and брести ~ бродити, were not inherited pairs, but rather ones that were reanalyzed and became ones in Novegradian (compare unpaired Russian тянуть ~ тащить, брести ~ бродить).

The use of the pairs исти ~ ходити, ѣхати ~ ѣздити, and брести ~ бродити is explained later, in Section 11.6.7.

Another interesting feature of the two imperfective forms of all verbs of motion is how easily they take locative and directional prefixes. Novegradian features a sort of ‘preposition agreement’: войсти во... “to go into...” (literally ‘in-go in’). The most common locomotive prefixes are:

4.5 The Subjunctive Mood

The Novegradian subjunctive is an analytic construction formed from the past tense L- form of a verb and a special form of буити “be”, a fossilized aorist. Only three aorist forms remain: the singular, dual, and plural. As with the past tense and future hypthetical, the L-form verb agrees in gender and number with its subject. With цидати “read” (and a masculine subject):

4.6 The Imperative Mood

There are five imperative forms (2sg, 2dl, 2pl, 1dl, 1pl) for both perfective and imperfective roots. Generally speaking, the 2sg is formed from the present/future stem by adding -ай -ái (first conjugation) or -и -í (second and third conjugations). The 2dl is formed by adding -айта -áita (first), -ита -íta (second), or -ѣта -ě́ta (third). The 2pl is the same, but with the plural -те -te instead of the dual -та.

The first person imperatives add these same endings to the 1dl or 1pl present/future forms, dropping any final vowel if there is one (except for the third conjugation, which has -ѣута/-ѣмте instead of -еута/-емте). If the root undergoes a palatalization in all forms of the present/future tense, that palatalization will also appear in the imperatives. These suffixes are always stressed.

Only third conjugation verbs show the vowel alteration /i~æ/ in their imperative forms. This predates Proto-Slavic, but has largely been levelled out in most Slavic languages other than Bulgarian and Czech.

Although the stress in the imperative form is always on the ending, even in otherwise stem-stressed verbs, this never results in the appearance of a voiced consonant that does not appear anywhere else in a particular verb’s paradigm. Thus the 2sg imperative “write!” is пихьи pihjí, not expected **пиғьи piğjí by the pretonic voicing sound law, because /ʝ/ does not appear in any other form of пизати.

The athematic verbs have irregular forms in the imperative. For ѣсти and вѣсти, these were inherited; буити acquired this pattern by analogy. Дати follows a pattern that looks much more like the A Conjugation, likely acquired due to the phonetic similarity of their respective infinitive stems.

There is only one third person imperative that has survived, the 3sg of буити: буди budí “let him/her/it be”. The 3dl/3pl form буден budén “let them be” is sometimes seen in older texts, though it is no longer used. Буди is generally used for third person subjects of any number and is fully productive in the literary register, though is limited to certain expressions in colloquial speech. All other third person imperatives are formed periphrastically.

A number of verb classes have irregular imperatives, particularly those where the present stem ends in /j/. E-Conjugation verbs of the *-ij (e.g., крити) and *-Cj (e.g., пити) types take the ending -ей -ei in the second person rather than -и- or -ѣ-. In the first person forms, the expected -ѣ- appears, but with a /j/ glide. Verbs with a /v ~ j/ alternation (e.g., ковати) form the imperative using the infinitive stem rather than the present-future to avoid the repetition of /j/, while verbs with the stative suffix *-ěi- (e.g., владѣти) lose it entirely in the imperative (so that, e.g., the 2sg imperative is влади! vladí “rule!” rather than **владѣи **vladějí.

4.7 The Supine

The supine is a verbal noun that behaves much like the infinitive, but is used to indicate motion. It is used exclusively after verbs of motion, and in place of the infinitive in other situations if there is a clear movement being suggested. It is formed from the same stem as the infinitive. In fact, for almost all verbs, it can be formed by dropping the final -и of the infinitive.

The only exceptions are those with a consonant before the /t/ in the infinitive, or that end in -йкьи. Most of the former end up losing the entire ending -ти. Данти and зенти, though, lose the /n/ instead. The latter group appear as a bare root, ending in a velar consonant.

The verb дати “give” has an irregular supine дас dás in place of the expected *дат. This appears to be a carryover from a now-defunct infinitive variant дасти dásti, based on the dental stem *дад and the other -сти-type athematic verbs.

Prefixed forms of исти “go” always have a full vowel /i/ present: ойсти óisti “leave” → оис ójis, отѣйсти ótěisti “go from” → отис ótis.

4.8 The Passive Voice

The morphological passive voice in Novegradian is formed by conjugating a verb normally, agreeing with the subject, and adding the passive suffix -шин -śin, in origin an old enclitic reflexive pronoun (Common Slavic *sę). The rest of the verb is not altered in any way, except that the 1sg ending -ун reduces to -у and any time the sequence -тш- would appear it is simplified to -ц-. Demonstrated with мотрѣти “watch” in the present tense only:

In constructions involving an auxiliary verb, the passive suffix goes onto the end of whichever verb comes last. Since Novegradian has free word order, бадет мотрѣтишин bádet mótrětiśin and мотрѣти бадецин mótrěti bádecin both mean the same thing, “he/she/it will be watched”.

The only irregular passive voice forms appear on the supine form of verbs. For all verbs whose infinitive ends in -ти -ti, the passive supine is formed by replacing this with -цин -cin. This applies even to irregular supines such as женти “take”: пизацин pizácin “be written” (sup пизат pizát), женцин źéncin “be taken” (sup жет źét), вѣсцин vě́scin “be known” (sup вѣс vě́s). Velar-stem verbs (those whose infinitives end in -йкьи -ikji), however, just add -цин directly to the supine form: пекцин pékcin “be baked” (sup пек pék). There are no instances of the passive clitic attatching to such a verb whose root ends in /g/; the only transitive /g/-final verb, прейкьи préikji “harness”, refuses the clitic in the supine, passing it to the other verb: прег идецин prég idécin “it is going to get harnessed”, never **идет прегцин.

The addition of the passive suffix may cause the reemergence of certain sounds lost in the standard active-voice pronunciation, though maintained in spelling. Specifically, this applies to the third person singular ending -ст in the A and athematic conjugations and the third person plural suffix -ат/-ит in the athematic conjugation: цидаст cidást [tsi.ˈdas] “(he/she/it) reads” → цидасцин cidáscin [tsi.ˈdas.tsɪn] “(it) is read”, дадит dádit [ˈda.də] “(they) give” → дадицин dádicin [ˈda.di.tsɪn] “(they) are given”.

4.9 The Middle Voice

The Novegradian middle voice is still quite productive, although it tends to be found on older verbs much more often than on more recent ones. There is a set of suffixes, also derived from Common Slavic *-sę, that are added to the end of a verb that is otherwise conjugated normally. These endings are more eroded than the passive voice ones, but at one point were one and the same.

After a consonant, the ending takes the form -ши -śi, and after a vowel, -ш -ś. The same ending and spelling reductions occur as in the passive voice. Demonstrated with вастатиш “meet (intr)”, of Karelian or Veps origin:

The rules for using the middle voice on supines are identical to those for the passive voice.

4.10 The Adverbial Participles

The adverbial participles are non-conjugated verbal forms that indicate the manner, reason, or intent of action in the main predicate verb. Since the aspectual distinction is maintained, there are two such adverbs: the perfective and imperfective.

The imperfective adverbial, derived ultimately from the Common Slavic present active participle, roughly means “while X-ing”. It is formed by taking the present/future stem and adding -аен -aien for first conjugation verbs, -ин -in for second conjugation, and an accented -и -í for the third and fourth/athematic conjugations. Any mutations that occur in all present/future forms occur here as well.

The perfective adverbial, derived from the old past active participle, means “having X-ed”. It is derived from the infinitive stem of the perfective form of the verb, where an unstressed -ве -ve is added for all verbs, or, if the stem ends in a consonant, -ове -ove.

These endings will never cause voicing that does not occur elsewhere. Even though Novegradian has a tendency to voice consonants immediately preceding the stress, the imperfective adverbial of пизати is пихьи pihjí (instead of *пиғьи) because nowhere in its conjugation does /ʝ/ occur in that position.

If the imperfective form of a verb is derived from a perfective form by means of the suffix -ова-, this suffix is first dropped before forming the imperfective adverbials. That is, the same base will be used for both imperfective and perfective adverbials. For a verb pair such as сорѣзовати ~ сорѣзати (sorězováti ~ sorězáti) “cut off”, the adverbials are сорѣзаен and сорѣзаве. If the suffix -ова- is an integral part of the verb, however, it is not dropped: кѣловати ~ покѣловати (kělováti ~ pokělováti) become кѣловаен and покѣловаве.

The passive and middle voice suffixes may also be added to these participles. This will cause the loss of final /n/ in the imperfective adverbials that have it: цидаешин cidáieśin “while being read”.

There are two verbs with irregular adverbial participles worth noting:

4.11 Participles

Modern Novegradian has three verbal participles: active imperfective, passive perfective, and passive imperfective. With a verb such as “write”, these are roughly equivalent to English “writing”, “written”, and “being written”, respectively. However, it is important to note that these participles are organized by aspect, not by tense.

The active imperfective participle is formed from the present/future stem. First and third conjugation verbs then add -акь- -akj-, while second conjugation verbs add -екь- -ekj-. If there is a palatalization in all forms of the present tense that originates in Common Slavic, it is also seen in the participle: пизати pizáti “write” → pres *пихь- *pihj- → пихьакье pihjákje “writing”. However, if there is a palatalization that did not arise predictably from Common Slavic but by later analogy, it is not seen in the participle: мойкьи móikji “be able” → pres *муз- *muz- → могакье mogákje “able”. Palatalizations only in the 1sg form are not extended to the participle: лубити lubíti “love” → pres *луб(л)- *lub(l)- → лубекье lubékje “loving”.

The passive imperfective participle is formed from the present/future stem just as the active imperfective, with the same rules regarding palatalizations. First conjugation verbs then add -ам- -am-, second conjugation verbs add -им- -im-, and third conjugation verbs -ем- -em-. However, if the verb is third conjugation but there is no theme vowel in the infinitive (e.g., цисти císti “count”, pres *цед- ced-), the ending used is instead an unstressed -ом- -om-: цедоме cédome “being counted”.

The passive perfective participle is the most complicated to form. There are four possible suffixes. Regularly, it is formed from the perfective infinitive stem according to the following rule:

• -ен- -en- if the verb is second conjugation or third conjugation with no thematic vowel in the infinitive (e.g., цисти again). If the latter, final stem consonants are preserved intact, never dropped: поцидене pocídene “counted”. If the stem ends in a labial consonant, it will palatalize: лубити lubíti “love” → лублене lubléne “loved”.
• -овин- -ovin- if the verb contains the punctual suffix -на- in the infinitive. The /n/ is kept: нашнати naśnáti “begin” → нашновине naśnóvine “begun”.
• -т- -t- if the infinitive stem ends in /j/: оскрити oskríti “open” (stem *oskrij-) → оскрите oskríte “opened”. There are, however, a few second conjugation verbs that have irregularly adopted this ending, most notably затулити zatulíti “close” → затулите zatulíte “closed”.
• -н- -n- for first conjugation verbs or third conjugation verbs with a thematic vowel: напизати napizáti “write” → напизане napizáne.

Like in the adverbial participles, if the imperfective form of a verb is formed from the perfective with the suffix -(o)va-, this suffix is dropped.

The following table demonstrates the three participles for a number of different types of verbs. The first infinitive given is the imperfective form, while the infinitive in parentheses is the perfective. The verb лубити “love”, being a stative verb, lacks a true perfective form, but nevertheless has a “perfective” participle functioning more like a past participle.

The athematic verbs have irregular participles:

Due to Russian influence, the passive perfective form of дати may sometimes appear as дане dáne in older texts (since дать is considered perfective in Russian). This is rare in modern speech.

Passive and middle voice suffixes may be added regularly to the active voice participles.

4.12 Slavic Ablaut

The functional load of Proto-Indo-European ablaut has largely been eliminated, with only traces visible in opaque cognates such as горѣти gorě́ti “burn” and жарити źáriti “embitter” (from PIE *gor- and *gēr- respectively) or данти dánti “blow” and диме díme “smoke” (PIE *dum- and *dūm-). Only a few verbs still show productive use of ablaut: собрати sobráti “gather”, соберун soberún “I will gather”, соборе sobóre “cathedral” (from PIE *br-, *ber-, and *bor- respectively).

However, Proto-Slavic developed a new, albeit rather limited, system of ablaut that remains visible in Novegradian and most other Slavic languages. This so-called “Slavic ablaut” affects the derivation of imperfective verbs from perfective verbs.

When any prefix is added to a “basic” (unprefixed) verb such as пизати pizáti “write (impf)” or зуати zuáti “call (impf)”, the resulting verb is perfective. One prefix for every verb loses it semantic component and becomes the perfective counterpart to the unprefixed verb: напизати napizáti “write (pf)” (originally “write down”), позуати pozuáti “call (pf)” (originally something along the lines of “call at”). All other prefixes have derivational functions: позпизати pozpizáti “describe (pf)”, назуати nazuáti “name (pf)”. These derivatives, however, now lack an imperfective counterpart. These must be back-formed from the perfective using a suffix, most commonly -ова-, and a shift to the first conjugation: позпизовати pozpizováti “sign (impf)”. However, a small set of verbs instead form the new imperfective by ablaut: називати naziváti “call (impf)”.

This ablaut only takes place if the perfective base is second or third conjugation, and only affects the last vowel of the root. There are three types of ablaut seen:

• Ø → i: собрати sobráti “gather (pf)” → собирати sobiráti “gather (impf)”
• o → a: помойкьи pomóikji “help (pf)” → помагати pomagáti “help (impf)”
• e → ě: остейкьи ostéikji “be supplied (pf)” → остѣгати ostěgáti “be supplied (impf)”

-зуати → -зивати falls into the first category, though it has been obscured by subsequent sound changes in Novegradian. The source of this change is more obvious in Medieval Novegradian, where the perfective base was -звати -zvati.