Verb aspect
There are numerous aspects in spoken Nalheárlu, most of which are hardly classifiable and/or describable because of the irregularity of Nalheárlu everyday speech due to the wide use of the emoted speech. Here we provode the most used six of them that have a fixed form and are easily distinguished from the casual verb forms appearing in colloquial language.
Major aspects
Major aspects are Perfective, Imperfective, Progressive and Habitual.
Perfective
The perfective aspect expresses an action regarded by the speaker as ended in a certain moment of time.
It is formed with a prefix do-. In Present, the prefix is added to the verb. In Past and Future it is added to the auxiliary verb. In emoted speech it is added to the verb in every case. The prefix is unstressed in inemoted and stressed in emoted speech.
| present | past | future | ||||
| inemoted speech | doékihu | I have done | doreláihu eké | I have done (in past)/had done | dofuánihu kení | I'll have done |
| emoted speech | ! dóekihu !* | I have done!!! | ! reláihu dóeke ! | I had done!!! | ! fuánihu dókeni ! | I will have done!!!!! |
*The emoted speech in writing uses exclamation marks at the beginning and the end of the emoted phrase.
- Imperfective
The imperfective aspect expresses an action that is unfinished.
It is formed with a prefix epp(e)-. In Present, the prefix is added to the verb. In Past and Future it is added to the auxiliary verb. In emoted speech it is added to the verb in every case. The prefix is unstressed in inemoted and stressed in emoted speech (the stress falls on the first e).
It is hard to translate this into English. This form means an action that may or may be not in progress but it is underlined that it has or had not been finished. Therefore the translation isn't supplied here because of its unpreciseness.
| present | past | future | |
| inemoted speech | eppékihu | eppereláihu eké | eppefuánihu kení |
| emoted speech | ! éppekihu ! | ! reláihu éppeke ! | ! fuánihu éppekeni ! |
- Progressive
The progressive aspect shows an action that is in progress and is similar to English continious tense.
It is formed with a postfix -te. In Present, the postfix is added to the verb. In Past and Future it is added to the auxiliary verb. In emoted speech it transforms into -tá and is added to the verb in every case. The postfix is unstressed in inemoted and stressed in emoted speech .
| present | past | future | ||||
| inemoted speech | ékihute | I am doing | reláihute eké | I were doing | fuánihute kení | I'll be doing |
| emoted speech | ! ekihutá ! | I am doing!!! | ! reláihu eketá ! | I were doing!!! | ! fuánihu kenitá ! | I will be doing!!!!! |
- Habitual
The habitual aspect expresses an action that is usually, habitually and regularly done. It resembles the English to use to do smth.
It is formed with a postfix -ta. In Present, the postfix is added to the verb. In Past and Future it is added to the auxiliary verb. In emoted speech it transforms into -tó and is added to the verb in every case. The postfix is unstressed in inemoted and stressed in emoted speech .
| present | past | future | ||||
| inemoted speech | ékihuta | I use to do/I do (habit implied) | reláihuta eké | I used to do | fuánihuta kení | I'll always do |
| emoted speech | ! ekihutó ! | I really use to do!!! | ! reláihu eketó ! | I really used to do!!! | ! fuánihu kenitó ! | I will always do!!!!!!! |
Minor aspects
Minor aspects are Initiative, Cessative and all other casual aspect forms that we by now do not indicate in our grammar due to their colloquial, infrequent and irregular usage.
The initiative aspect indicates that the action is in the beginning stage.
It is formed with a prefix tòcko-. In Present, the prefix is added to the verb. In Past and Future it is added to the auxiliary verb. In emoted speech it is added to the verb in every case. The prefix is secondarily stressed in inemoted and stressed in emoted speech.
| present | past | future | ||||
| inemoted speech | tòckoékihu | I begin [doing] | tockoreláihu eké | I started [doing] | tockofuánihu kení | I'll begin [doing] |
| emoted speech | ! tóckoèkihu ! | I begin [doing]!!!!!! | ! reláihu tóckoèke ! | I started [doing] | ! fuánihu tóckokenì ! | I will begin [doing]!!!!!!! |
The cessative aspect indicates the final stage of an action.
It is formed with a prefix dèxa-. In Present, the prefix is added to the verb. In Past and Future it is added to the auxiliary verb. In emoted speech it is added to the verb in every case. The prefix is secondarily stressed in inemoted and stressed in emoted speech.
| present | past | future | ||||
| inemoted speech | dèxaékihu | I finish [doing] | dèxareláihu eké | I finished [doing] | dèxafuánihu kení | I'll finish [doing] |
| emoted speech | ! déxaèkihu ! | I finish [doing]!!!!!! | ! reláihu déxaekè ! | I finished [doing] | ! fuánihu déxakenì ! | I will finish [doing]!!!!!!! $%&*%@!!! |
The use of multiple aspect affixes
There are much frequent cases when multiple aspects are "applied" to the verb.
tòckoékihute I start doing a prolonged action
eppereláihu dèxaeké I have almost finished doing
and so on
When there are multiple affix suffixes, they are added both to the semantic and auxiliary verb (in emoted speech as well) consistent to what is imlied.
e.g:
doreláihu eppeké I don't do it any more, but I haven't done it completely
eppereláihu doeké I have almost done
èppedèxareláihute dotòckoekéta I have almost finished doing what I have already, as usual, begun :):):):):):):)
In all cases like these emoted speech changes only the stress.
NOTE: tòckokí is used as "to begin" and dèxakí as "to finish"