Hey, it's been a while. Let's celebrate the comeback of this thread with something deeply boring: irregular verbs!
We've covered several of these already. But the bad news is, Voigari has lots of irregular verbs... This post aims to make some sense of them.
(Oh, by the way, I made some changes in earlier posts. Verb forms have changed a little. More importantly, the language is now Voigari, not Voigare)
Conjugation class
1st and 4th conjugation verbs are all regular. That leaves us with second and third conjugation verb. That's good news: both (relatively) restriced and (mostly) unproductive classes.
We'll go through the different irregularity patterns..;
2nd conjugation with root alternation.
Here, the stem simply alternate between two variants. For instance,
bebba, 'to drink' alternates between
bebb- and
bev- (and otherwise uses regular second conjugation endings.)
| Present | Remote past | Imperfect | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive | Imperative | |
jo | bebbo | bebbì | bevèo | bebbo | bevesso | | |
tu | bebbi | bevesti | bevèi | bebbe | bevessi | bebbe | |
elle, ella | bebbe | bebbìo | bevèa | bebba | bevesse | bebba | |
noi | bevemo | bevimu | beviamu | bevamu | bevessimu | bevamu | |
voi | bevedi | bevesti | beviadi | bevadi | bevessidi | bevede | |
elli | bebbon | bevero | bevian | bebban | bevessen | bebban | |
| Participle | | |
Past | bevidu | | |
Present | beveddu | | |
The alternate stem in
bev- is seen in the first and second person plural in the present, the second person singular and the plural in the remote past, all persons of the imperfect, the subjunctive present plurals and the subjunctive past.
Third conjugation irregular verbs
Some of these follow the same pattern as above, for instance:
jo temmio, noi temimu
But often, root alternation is caused by palatization triggered by the stem vowel
-i-
For instance, with
oggia,'to hear'
| Present | Remote past | Imperfect | Subjunctive | Past subjunctive | Imperative | |
jo | oggio | odì | oggèo | oggio | odisso | | |
tu | udi | odisti | oggèi | oggie | odussi | udi | |
elle, ella | ode | odìo | oggèa | oggia | odisse | oggia | |
noi | odimu | odimu | oggiamu | oggiamu | odissiemu | oggiamu | |
voi | odidi | odisti | oggiadi | oggiadi | odissiedi | odide | |
elli | oggion | odiero | oggèan | oggian | odissen | oggian | |
| Participle | | |
Past | odidu | | |
Present | oggiedu | | |
The palatal stem (here
oggi-) is seen in the first person singular and third person plural, the imperfect, the subjunctive present and the second person imperatives. Everything else uses the
odi- stem.
Another type of irregularity is found in the third conjugation, combining, root alternation and palatization. As with, for instance,
sabbia, 'to know'
| Present | Remote past | Imperfect | Subjunctive | Past subjunctive | Imperative | |
jo | sajo | sabì | sajèo | sajo | sabisso | | |
tu | saji | sabisti | sajèi | saje | sabissi | sappe | |
elle, ella | saje | sabìo | sajèa | saja | sabisse | saja | |
noi | sabimu | sabimu | sajamu | sajamu | sabissiemu | sajamu | |
voi | sabidi | sabidi | sajadi | sajadi | sabissiedi | sappede | |
elli | sajon | sabiero | sajan | sajan | sabissen | sajan | |
| Participle | | |
Past | sabudu | | |
Present | sajeddu | | |
We see the same alternation between palatized stem saj- and non-palatized sabi; except that the second and third person singular, in the present, use the palatized stem saj-
Metaphony.
Oh, final -i may trigger a vowel change in the second person singular present and imperative:
udi, you hear,
siedi, you sit;
Irregular perfect stem
This may appear in both second and third different verbs, using a different stem for the perfect. (If you're familiar with Romance or Latin, this won't be much of a surprise)
As an example, let's review
quera, to ask for, to look for.
| Present | Remote past | Imperfect | Present subjunctive | Pas subjunctive | Imperative | |
jo | quero | quesì | queréo | quero | quesisso | | |
tu | queri | quesisti | queré | quere | quesissi | quere | |
ella, elle | quere | quesìo | queréa | quera | quesisse | quera | |
noi | querimu | quesemmu | quereamu | queramu | quesissimu | queramu | |
voi | queridi | quesesti | quereadi | queradi | quesissidi | querede | |
elli | queron | quesiro | queréan | queran | quesissen | queran | |
| Participle | | |
Present | quereddu | | |
Past | quesidu | | |
The indicative remote past, the past subjunctive and the past participle all use an alternate stem ques-, everything else uses quer-
The past participle may be irregular as well, cf.
codduga, to lead
| Present | Remote past | Imperfect | Present subjunctive | Pas subjunctive | Imperative | |
jo | coddugo | coddussì | coddugéo | coddugo | coddussisso | | |
tu | coddugi | coddussisti | coddugé | codduge | coddussissi | codduge | |
ella, elle | coddugge | coddussÌo | coddugéa | codduga | coddussisse | codduga | |
noi | coddugimu | coddussemmu | coddugiamu | coddugamu | coddusissimu | queramu | |
voi | coddugedi | codussesti | coddugiadi | coddugadi | codusissidi | coddugadi | |
elli | coddugon | codussero | coddugéan | coddugan | coddussissen | coddugan | |
| Participle | | |
Present | coddugeddu | | |
Past | coddottu | | |
The stems
coddug-,
codduss- alternate, but the past participle is an unexpected
coddottu.
Principal parts
In effect, what do we need to predict all forms of an irregular verbs?
Conventionally, the following principal parts are used:
- Third person subjunctive. (Serves as an infinitve, predicts conjugation, also exhibits palatal alternation, if any)
- First person singular present.
- Second person singular present. (These two cover metaphony and palatal alternation)
- First person plural present. (For root alternation)
- First person singular, remote past. (When past tenses use a different stem)
- ]Past participle (Well, heck. Sometimes, it's just not predictable)
The easy way out
As I said earlier, there are a lot of irregular verbs, and as we've seen, the irregularities are sort of confusing. But the patterns sort of grow on you after a while. The easy way out, really, is to memorize the most common irregular verbs, of which I listed a selection below (plus the examples above!)
The great thing is, verbs that are related conjugate in the same way. So basically, if you're confronted with the unfamiliar verb
resorga, you can confidently state that its past participle is
resorrettu , because you already know
sorga. Or that 'I maintained' is
mandenni, (cf.
tenni, I held)
chioda, to close:
chiodo, chiudi, chiodimu, chiosi, chiusu
conceda, to grant:
concedo, concedi, concedimu, concessi, concessu
codduga, to lead:
coddugo, coddugi, coddugimu, coddussi, coddottu
cresca, to grow:
cresco, cresci, crescimu, crei, criedu
cocca, to cook:
cocco, cocci, cogimu, cossi, cottu
diga, to say:
digo, digi, digimu, dissi, dittu
dirga, to lead, to direct:
dirgo, dirgi, dirgimmu, diressi, direttu
discuda, to discuss:
discudo, discudi, discudimu, discussi, discussu
dojja, to suffer:
dojjo, dolli, dolemu, dolli, doludu
debia, to have to, to owe:
debio, dievi, devimu, debbv, dettu
exiga to demand:
exigo, exigi, exigimu, exigi, exattu or
exigudu
expella, to expel:
expello, expelli, expelliarmus... OK, just kidding!
expellimu, expulli, expulsu
exprema, to express:
expremo, expremi, expremimu, expressi, expressu
sprema, to squeeze:
spremo, soremi, spremimu, spressi, spressu
fodda, to melt:
foddo, foddi, foddimu, fudi, fusu
gogio, to enjoy:
gogio, gudi, godimu, godì, godudu
legga, to read:
leggo, leghi, leghimu, liegì, lettu
metta, to put:
metto, metti, mettimu, misì, messu
morria, to die:
morrio, morri, morimu, morì, mortu
mobbia, to move:
mobbio, mobbi, movimu, muovì, muodu
nasca, to be born
nasco, nasci, nascimu, nascì, nadu
noccia, to do harm
noccio, nocci, nocimu, occì, nottu
offria, to offer
offrio, offri, offrimu, offersì, offertu
paria, to seem, to appear
pario, pari, parimu, parvì, parudu
piaggia to please
piaggio, piaggi, piagimu, piacquì,, piaggiudu
piagga to bemoan
piaggo, piaggi, piaggimu, piansì, piantu
porga to extend
porgo, porgi, porgimu, poriessì, portu
pona to put
pono, puoni, ponimu, possì, postu
preddoto take
preddo, preddi, preddimu, priesì, priesu
redda, to pay back
reddo, reddi, reddimu, riesì, riesu
remagna, to stay, to remain
remagno, remanni, remanimu, remassì, remassu
resoiva, to solve, to resolve
resoivo, resoivi,resoivimu, resoivì, resoludu
romba, to break
rombo, rombi, rombimu, rubì, rottu
sajja, to jump
sajjo, sali, salimu, sallì, saidu
scinda, to divide {b]sceddo, sceddi, sceddimu, sceddì, scessu[/b]
scriva, to write
scrivo, scrivi, screvimu, scrissì, scrittu
sorga, to rise, to appear suddenly,
sorgo, sorgi, sorgimu, sorriesì, sorettu
tegna, to hold:
tegno, tenni, tenimu, tenì, tenudu
tragga, to draw:
traggo, traggi, tragimu, trassì, trattu
veggia, to see:
veggio, veddi, vedimu, viedì, visu
viva, to live:
vivo,vivi, vivimu, vissì, vissudu
voiva, to change:
voivo, voivi, voivimu, voivì, voludu