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Verbs

Verbs are unchanging in Panglobish. They don't change in person, number and time like in English. Verbs are not conjugated at all.

Person and number

Person and number are indicated by a personal pronoun or a noun.

mi love tu. – I love you.
wi love yu. – We love you.
he love tu. – He or she loves you.

There is normally a particle of time before the verb, when the subject is a noun (instead of a pronoun).

Jorje is love Mari. – George loves Mary.
tri siste is love un man. – Three sisters love one man.

Time

Panglobish does not have grammatical markers for tense i.e. a verb's position in time (past, present, or future). Ordinary expressions of time, such as laste dei (yesterday), neste dei (tomorrow), and nau (now), can be used for telling when exactly something happened.

Panglobish does have grammatical words for expressing temporal aspects. Aspects describe how an event can be viewed in relation to other events in time.

  • The progressive aspect (is) indicates an event that is ongoing.
  • The perfect aspects
    • The resultative aspect (haf) indicates a completed event whose results have an effect on the present situation.
    • The experiential aspect (was) indicates a completed event that has no connection to the present situation.
  • The future aspect (wil) indicates a situation that hasn't taken place yet.

The figure below illustrates how the different aspects relate to the time under discussion i.e. the "present time" in the narrative.

Figure. The aspects in relation to the narrative present.

     ┌─────────┐       │
     │   was   │  ···  │
     └─────────┘       │
     ┌─────────┐       │
     │   haf   ├───────┤
     └─────────┘       │
                  ┌────┴────┐
                  │   is    │
                  └────┬────┘
                       │       ┌─────────┐   
                       │       │   wil   │
                       │       └─────────┘
◀──────────────────────┼──────────────────────▶
earlier          at present               later

Progressive aspect

The progressive aspect indicates that an event is ongoing ("in progress") and incomplete at the time under consideration. It is marked with is before the verb.

Sara is vide da TV. – Sara is watching the TV.
wi is vizite yu's lande. – We are visiting your land.

Note: Normally is can be used instead of is bi.

Sara is mi's frende. – Sarah is my friend.
wi is in London. – We are in London.

Experiential aspect

The experiential aspect describes a completed past situation that is not linked to a later time. It is marked with was before the verb.

mi's mama was vizite da Kanada tri ves. – My mother visited Canada three times (but she won't go there anymore).
mi was luze mi's chabi laste dei – I lost my keys yesterday (but I found them).
Juli was bi mi's frende fo ten yer. – Julie was my friend for ten years. (She's not anymore my friend.)

Resultative aspect

The resultative aspect describes a completed past situation whose consequences are relevant to the time under discussion. It is marked with haf before the verb.

mi haf nou Juli fo ten yer. – I have known Julie for ten years. (I still know her.)
he haf safare do Kanada. – He has traveled to Canada. (And he still is there.)
mi haf luze mi's chabi! – I have lost my keys! (They are still missing.)
Juli haf bi mi's frende fo ten yer. – Julie has been my friend for ten years. (And she still is.)

Future aspect

The future aspect describes that the situation will probably take place after the time under consideration. It is marked with wil before the verb.

wi wil toke da Panglobish. – We will speak Panglobish.
mi wil bi yu's frende. – I will be your friend.

To be

The verb bi (to be) is used for indicating identity or sameness (ex. "She is Maria"), membership of a class (ex. "The cat is an animal"), and properties (ex. "The sky is blue").

In Panglobish, bi is a normal, unchanging verb. The aspect markers can be used together with bi.

mi is bi hapi. – I am happy. / I am being happy.
mi haf bi hapi. – I have been happy.
mi was bi hapi. – I was happy.
mi wil bi hapi. – I will be happy.

It is common to leave bi out in the progressive and experiential aspects. So is is normally used instead of is bi and was instead of was bi.

mi is hapi. – I am happy.
mi was hapi. – I was happy.

The form of bi doesn't change in persons. Only one form is used in all persons.

mi is (bi) hapi. – I am happy.
wi is (bi) hapi. – We are happy.
tu is (bi) hapi. – You are happy. (singular)
yu is (bi) hapi. – You are happy. (plural)
he is (bi) hapi. – He or she is happy.
de is (bi) hapi. – They are happy.

Infinitive

An infinitive verb is a verb that can function as a noun. The helping verb du marks the following verb as an infinitive.

du bi – to be
du now – to know
du love – to love


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An infinitive verb can function as a subject or object.

mi love du yam. – I love to eat.
du yam is gude. – To eat is good.
du yam is du joy. – To eat is to enjoy.

An infinitive verb can take a noun complement.

du yam un apel – to eat an apple
du love da live – to love the life
is gude du love da live. – It is good to love the life.

The infinitive marker is not used with helping verbs.

mi wan gow. – I want to go.
mi kan gow. – I can go.
wi mus gow. – We have to go. / We must go.
yu mey gow. – You may go.

Sometimes there are alternatives for using the infinitive. For example, adjectives that involve a verb can be formed with a plain verb or with an infinitive verb.

un pley izi gitare – an easy playing guitar
un izi du pley gitare – an easy to play guitar

Verbs in series

There can be two, three or even more verbs in a series, and all of them are about the same subject.

mi yam un pay. – I eat a pay.
mi gow yam un pay. – I go to eat a pie.
mi kan gow yam un pay. – I can go to eat a pie.
mi wan kan gow yam un pay. – I want to can go to eat a pie.