Verbs
Words that express any sort of action, state, or occurrence are called “verbs”, and there’s usually at least one in any complete sentence:
Ecuista brecelos fiçan mi siter! | These pretzels are making me thirsty! |
Mi no habin sexiisca relationos cum ecuila muliero! | I did not have sexual relations with that woman! |
Cuo vos façun sine liberitio? | What will you do without freedom? |
Mi drapereban mi per viluto se lo eseban sociische acceptébila. | I would drape myself in velvet if it were socially acceptable. |
Deprendes ecuila beb-tuco de vua cápito, ripones li sur vua sororo! | You take that diaper off your head, you put it back on your sister! |
Past, Present, and Future Action
There are three basic “tenses” available to Romániço verbs — past, present, and future — each expressing action happening at different times relative to the speaker:
The Present Tense
Verbs that express action that one has begun but not yet completed (those in the present tense) are marked by the suffix -an:
Ci no existan coclearo. | There is no spoon. |
La Congreso impédican la presidento (nun). | Congress is impeaching the president (right now). |
Mi lecturan La nesubtenébila legeritio di eser. | I’m reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being (right now, or these days). |
Note that the form of the verb does not change depending on who is performing it, as it does in English:
Mi bothechejan, dunche mi esan. | I shop, therefore I am. |
Vi bothechejan, dunche vi esan. | You shop, therefore you are. |
Il bothechejan, dunche il esan. | He shops, therefore he is. |
Esan “is/am/are” can be contracted to es: Mi bothechejan, dunche mi es.
The Past Tense
Verbs that express something that happened prior to the moment one is speaking (those in the past tense) are marked by the suffix -in:
Ci no existin coclearo. | There was no spoon. |
Here la Congreso impédichin la presidento. | Yesterday Congress impeached the president. |
The Future Tense
Verbs that express something that will happen after the moment one is speaking (those in the future tense) are marked by the suffix -un:
Ci no existun coclearo. | There will be no spoon. |
Demane la Congreso impédicun la presidento. | Tomorrow Congress will impeach the president. |
Hypothetical Action
The past, present, and future tenses all express actions that actually did, do, or will take place, and collectively make up what grammarians call the “indicative mood”. But there’s also a way to express hypothetical action that probably won’t take place, called the “conditional mood”, which in Romániço is expressed by -eb-:
Clare, se ci no existeban coclearos, ci anche no existeban “sporks”. | Obviously, if there were no spoons, there would be no sporks, either. |
Mi certe comprebun ecuilo por una dólaro! | I’d buy that for a dollar! |
la Congreso impedichebin la presidento se la presidento jam no dismisionebin. | Congress would have impeached the president if the president hadn’t already resigned. |
Desired Action
Verbs expressing something requested are marked by the suffix -es:
Abases vua fétida patos de mi, maledictita spurca simiono! | Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape! |
No reguardes mi! | Don’t look at me! |
Vi no reguardes mi! | Don’t you look at me! |
Vi no reguardan mi! | You’re not looking at me! |
Los manges brioċo! | Let them eat cake! |
Los manġan brioċo! | They’re eating cake! |
Álicu mortes por che la cétera nos plu multe apreties le vivo. | Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more. |
Tenseless Action
Some people prefer to indicate tense through context rather than inflection. In Romániço, this can be rendered by the suffix -en (which simply indicates verbalness) and, if necessary, an adverb of time:
Senioros, vos ja haben mea curiositio. Mas vos nun haben mea atentiono. | Gentlemen, you had my curiosity. But now you have my attention. |
Nos vai imaginationen che mi ja explosifen la scolo ... omna la scolos. Nun che vi es mortinta, cuo vi va facen sopre vua vivo? | Let’s pretend I blew up the school ... all the schools. Now that you’re dead, what are you gonna do with your life? |
Se mi vol es no pluse on politiano, mi incore vol partien cum on focilo et disparen ad personos. | If I wasn't a cop anymore, I would still go out with a gun and shoot people. |
Resten unésim-clasa, San Diego! | Stay classy, San Diego! |
Reported Action: The Sequence of Tenses
In English, when one reports what someone else says or feels, the tense of the quoted action changes depending on the tense of the main verb:
Direct quote: | He said, “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for”. |
Indirect quote: | He said that these weren’t the droids we were looking for. |
Indirect quote: | He’ll say that these aren’t the droids we’re looking for. |
In Romániço, the tense of the quoted material stays the same as if it were quoted directly:
Direct quote: | Il dicin, “Ecuistos no es la droidos cua vos cercan”. |
Indirect quote: | Il dicin che ecuistos no es la droidos cua nos cercan. |
Indirect quote: | Il diçun che ecuistos no es la droidos cua nos cercan. |
Infinitives
When expressing the basic idea of an action without binding it to any particular tense or subject, English either uses the word to followed by the simple form of the verb or attaches -ing to it, as in “I like to dance” or “I like dancing”. In Romániço, the same idea is expressed by adding -er to the root of the verb:
Vider es creder. | Seeing is believing. |
No fumejer. | No smoking. |
Lo pareçan che mi selectin la nejusta septimano por cesationer snifer glútino. | Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue. |
Ovucios! Placeban ad mi ... fracaser los! | Eggiwegs! I would like ... to smash them! |
Tank, mi aprenses piloter on FireFox T-1000. | Tank, I need to learn how to fly a T-1000 FireFox. |
Una Anelo por guberner los omna, Una Anelo por trover los, Una Anelo por venifer los omna et en la ténebro ligher los! | One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them! |
Mi reguardin il morter | I watched him die |
While there’s nothing technically wrong with using infinitives after prepositions, it may be less jarring for some to express the same idea as an adverb instead:
Nulu éxites ecuista loco sine canter la blues. | Nobody leaves this place without singing the blues. |
Nulu éxites ecuista loco necantinte la blues. |
Impersonal Action
English often uses the pronoun it when there’s no obvious subject for a sentence, as in “It is freezing in here” and “It would be great if you could come in on Saturday”. If there is no infinitive verb to take the place of “it”, Romániço expresses the same idea with the pronoun lo:
Deo dicin “Pluves!”, et lo pluvin. | God said, “Rain!”, and it rained. |
Lo es bona eser la reġo. | It’s good to be the king. |
Se Deo no existeban, lo eseban necesa inventer li. | If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him. |
English “there is”, “there are”, “here is”, etc., is rendered by ci followed by eser or exister in Romániço:
Ci no existun on Provincio, Pippin. | There won’t be a Shire, Pippin. |
Ci es nula gubernerío cuom nula gubernerío. | There’s no government like no government. |
except when one wants to call attention to the subject, in which case Romániço uses ecce:
Ben, ecce la única perfecta coso cua mi trovin: acuo mineralosa. | Alright, now here’s the one perfecto thing I picked up: mineral water. |
Ecce mi. | Here I am. |
Ecce vua reġo! | Behold your king! |
Participles
Adjectives created from verbs are called “participles”. Most modern European languages, including English, recognize two kinds of participle — those expressing action currently being performed by the nouns they modify, and those expressing completed action, whether being performed by or on the nouns they modify:
In Progress | Completed |
---|---|
a revealing dress | a revealed truth |
living relatives | dearly departed |
a winning smile | a defeated sigh |
a rising star | a fallen star |
In Romániço, too, there are two basic types of participle: “active” (those being performed by the nouns they modify) and “passive” (those being performed on the nouns they modify by someone or something else). However, both types come in four distinct forms — one to express completed action, one for action in progress, one for action yet to come, and one for action regardless of time:
Active | Passive |
---|---|
on impedichinta congreso a congress that has impeached |
on impedichita presidento a president who was impeached |
on impedicanta congreso a congress currently impeaching |
on impedicata presidento a president being impeached |
on impedicunta congreso a congress about to impeach |
on impedicuta presidento a president about to be impeached |
on vincedora numbro a winning number |
on manu-teneda aparato a handheld device |
Participles as Adverbs
A participle can also be used as an adverb by changing the final -a to -e. In this form it tells when or why something happens:
Reguardante la Congreso votationer, la presidento tremulecin. | Watching Congress vote, the president began to tremble. |
Impedichinte la presidento, la Congreso decisin destituter li. | Having impeached the president, Congress decided to remove him/her from office. |
When adverbial participles have their own subjects, they form a “nominative absolute”, that is, an independent part of a sentence that describes the main subject and verb:
La presidento impedichite, iluya partito cominitiin prohiber atestivos. | The president impeached, his party set about blocking witnesses. |
La senato votationinte por no convicter, la presidento nun esin líbera cominitier reprisalios. | The senate voting not to convict, the president was now free to begin retaliations. |
Participles as Nouns
By changing the final -a to -o, a participle can be used as a noun. In this form it expresses a person or thing that performs an action, or on whom it is performed:
El vivin timante la riveno da la vivanta mortintos. | She lived in fear of the return of the living dead. |
Nos mortuntos salutan vi! | We who are about to die salute you! |
La caciantos et la caciatos | The hunters and the hunted |
Compound Verbs
Simple verbs in English and Romániço show not only when the action took place (tense), but the degree of the action’s completion (aspect). For example, the simple past tense generally shows completed action (mi scribin on létero), the present tense action in progress (mi scriban on létero), and the future tense action that will be completed later on (mi scribun on létero). With compound verbs, one can express any degree of completion in any tense:
La Congreso esin impedichinta la presidento cuande mi envadin. | Congress had (already) impeached the president when I went in. |
La Congreso esin impedicanta la presidento cuande mi envadin. | Congress was impeaching the president when I went in. |
La Congreso esin impedicunta la presidento cuande mi envadin. | Congress was about to impeach the president when I went in. |
Etc. | |
La presidento esun impedichita cuande mi envadun. | The president will have been impeached when I go in. |
La presidento esun impedicata cuande mi envadun. | The president will be being impeached when I go in. |
La presidento esun impedicuta cuande mi envadun. | The president will be about to be impeached when I go in. |
Etc. |
Note that eser followed by a participle expresses a pre-existing state in Romániço, just as it would if followed by any other adjective. To say, for example, la Congreso esin impedichinta ye 3:00 means that Congress had finished impeaching at or before 3:00. To indicate that Congress finished at 3:00 and not before, use esecer (“to become”) instead of eser:
La Congreso esecin impedichinta la presidento cuande mi envadin. | Congress finished impeaching the president when I went in. |
Compound tenses are much more common in English than in Romániço, which generally uses them only to underscore the time and completeness of one action in relation to another (impedicher and envader in the previous example) or to emphasize the agent of a passive action (Congreso in impedicata da la Congreso). Otherwise, where English uses a compound verb, Romániço uses a simple one.
La Congreso impédichin la presidento ante che mi envadin. | Congress had impeached the president before I went in. |
La Congreso jam impédichin la presidento cuande mi envadin. | Congress had already impeached the president when I went in. |
Mi sapan che vi et Frank projectin desconecter mi... |
I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me... (action in the past) |
Vi et Frank esin projectanta desconecter mi cuande on grandaza feto súbite aparin de nulube. |
You and Frank were planning to disconnect me when, suddenly, a giant fetus appeared out of nowhere. (action in the past occuring during an action in progress) |
Hic supre, mi jam partiin. | Up here, I’m already gone. |
VI interferin en la fundamenta fortios di NATURO! | YOU have meddled with the primal forces of NATURE! |
Hiberno venan. | Winter is coming. |
Mi prendun ecuista Huggies, et cuanta cunche pecunio cua vi haban. | I’ll be taking these Huggies, and whatever cash you got. |
Mi diçan ecuila merdo dex anuos ántee. Et se homi audin li, lo signífichin homuya morto. | I’ve been saying that shit for years. And if you heard it, it meant your ass. |
Note that when action in the past continues into the present, the simple present can be used if a start time is given. Alternatively, one can use fue to indicate continuous action.
Mi hábitan on prisiono ec pavoro dex ecuila dio. | I have been living in a prison of fear since that day. |
Cady, omno cuo mi fue manġan es ecuista tabuletos da Kälteen. Los putan. | Cady, all I’ve been eating are these Kälteen bars. They suck. |
Transitive and Intransitive Action
When a person or thing directs action toward another person or thing, the action is said to be “transitive” (i.e., it transits its action onto something else). For example, pay (a fee), watch (a movie), say (the truth). The person or thing being acted on (in the previous examples, fee, movie, and truth) is called the “direct object”.
When the action is not directed toward something else, like be, sit, and recline, it is said to be “intransitive”.
In English, many verbs are both transitive and intransitive, depending on the context:
Intransitive | Transitive |
---|---|
The ball rolled into the street. | The boy rolled the ball into the street. |
The water is boiling. | The cook is boiling the water. |
The snow will melt. | The sun will melt the snow. |
In Romániço, a verb is either transitive or intransitive, never both. To make an intransitive verb transitive, one can add -if- to the root; to make a transitive verb intransitive, one can add -ez- to the root:
Intransitive | Transitive |
---|---|
La bulo rotulezin ad en la strado. | La pueraso rótulin la bulo ad en la strado. |
La acuo bulitionan. | La cocinisto bulitionifan la acuo. |
La nivajo fusionezun. | La solelo fusionun la nivajo. |
However, some intransitive verbs can have an object if that object is a noun version of the verb:
dancer la danço prohibata | to dance the forbidden dance |
viver la dulça vivo | to live the good life |
parauler la paraulo di la Italianos | to speak the speech of the Italians |
or a specific example of the same:
dancer la Lambada | to dance the Lambada |
parauler Italienso | to speak Italian |
Note, too, that one can use a transitive verb without an object, so as to emphasize only the idea of the action itself:
Here mi lecturin on libro. | Yesterday I read a book. |
Here mi lecturin dum la tota dio. | Yesterday I read all day. |