There are four tenses in Qtwyqp Qly: present, past, future, and future perfect. The verb is inflected for each of these tenses by changing the initial vowel of the word: none for present, y for past, r for future, and w for future perfect. Note that the verb is the last word in the following sentences.
Qtympp ṅlay ayqt. Qtympp ṅlay yayqt. Qtympp ṅlay rayqt. Qtympp ṅlay wayqt.
"I study philosophy. I studied philosophy. I will study philosophy. I will have studied philosophy."
Verbs in Qtwyqp Qly must agree in person and number with the subject. The middle vowel (the first one in the present case) indicates the person: a for first person, e for second person, and o for third person. The final vowel indicates the number: y for singular and r for plural. Please note as above, that the verb is the last word in the following sentences. Also note that the last two vowels of the subject pronouns coincide exactly with the last two vowels of the verb.
Qtympp ṅlay ayqt. Qtympp ṅlar arqt. Qtympp ṅley eyqt. Qtympp ṅler erqt. Qtympp nloy oyqt. Qtympp ṅlor orqt.
"I study philosophy. We study philosophy. You (singular) study philosophy. You (plural) study philosophy. He studies philosophy. They study philosophy."
There are four "moods" in Qtwyqp Qly: indicative, subjunctive, imperative, infinitive. The nasal preceding the vowels indicates which mood the verb is in: none for indicative, m for subjunctive, n for imperative, and ṅ for infinitive.
Qtympp ṅley eyqt. Qtympp ṅley meyqt. Qtympp ṅley neyqt! Qtympp ṅleym ṅeyqt ṅley byey.
"You study philosophy. You might study philosophy. Study philosopy! You started studying philosohpy."
Each verb in Qtwyqp Qly may be either passive or active. This is called the voice. If the verb is active, then the subject is the agent (the doer). If the verb is passive then the subject has the verb done to him.
Each verb in Qtwyqp Qly may be affirmative or negative. Affirmative is the usual state of the verb. Making a verb negative in Qtwyqp Qly is like putting a "don't" or "doesn't" in front of it in English.
Although these two properties of the verb have nothing to do with each other conceptually, they are taught together here because the verb uses the same nasal to reflect them. The nasal following the vowels will be: none for active and affirmative, m for passive and affirmative, n for active and negative, and ṅ for passive and negative.
Qtympp ṅlay ayqt. Qtympp ṅlay aynqt. Qtypp oymqt. Qtypp oyṅqt.
"I study philosophy. I don't study philosophy. Philosophy is being studied. Philosophy isn't being studied."
All verbs in Qtwyqp Qly are transitive. This is why each of them may be either passive or active, because all verbs have an object. One cannot say simply that "fire burns", but say instead that "fire burns something". Nor can one say that "he shivers" but rather that "he shivers himself."
Om gdyg gdoyg. Nloym nloy spoybh.
"Fire burns. He shivers."
Even the verb "to be" takes an object, that is even the verb "to be" takes a predicate accusative, as where "to be" takes a predicate nominative in other languages with case. For more about case, see Nouns.
Ṅlaym ṅlay zzay.
"I am I."
In Qtwyqp Qly, the verb always follows the subject and the object giving the order: Object Subject Verb. In this active sentence model, the object has the verb done to it by the subject.
Ṅlaym ṅlay zzay.
"I am I."
Now, the object, or even the subject, may be an infinite clause (a sentence with an infinitive instead of a conjugated verb). In this case both the subject and the object of the infinitive clause are given in the objective case; we distinguish the subject from the object by it's position after the object.
Qtympp ṅleym ṅeyqt ṅley byey.
Literally:
"You started you to study philosophy."
Last Updated: 2009-05-02
The author, Marq Thompson, wished the content of this website to be uncopyrighted after his death.
