Verbs
There are two classes of verbs in Kryptonian. Class 1 verbs are all regular and conjugate with verb suffixes for tense and aspect (fig. 2). Class 2 verbs, on the other hand, are irregular; they have a simple future, present, and past tense only, and do not take the tense/aspect verb suffixes.
Class 1 Verbs
The vowel chart forms a basis for understanding the verb suffixes for class one verbs. Compare the vowels on the chart (fig. 1) with the vowels found in the verb suffixes (fig. 2).
The Vowel Chart
|
i
/i/
|
O
/ao/
|
u
/u/
|
|
E
/e/
|
e
/eh/
|
o
/o/
|
|
A
/a/
|
U
/uh/
|
a
/ah/
|
fig. 1
Verb Suffixes
| Progressive | Perfective | Simple | |
| Future |
!
/i/
|
@
/ao/
|
#
/u/
|
| Present |
$
/es/
|
%
/ehth/
|
^
/odh/
|
| Past |
&
/as/
|
*
/uhsh/
|
(
/ahzh/
|
fig. 2
The root of a class 1 verb without a verb suffix creates the potential form of the verb - "able to." With that in mind, we can see how a class 1 verb conjugates with the following example in figure 3.
Conjugation Example
|
ewö
/ehwor + Ø/
able to speak
|
||
|
ewö!
/ehwor + i/
will be speaking
|
ewö@
/ehwor + ao/
will have spoken
|
ewö#
/ehwor + u/
will speak
|
|
ewö$
/ehwor + es/
am/are speaking*
|
ewö%
/ehwor + ehth/
have spoken
|
ewö^
/ehwor + odh/
speak*
|
|
ewö&
/ehwor + as/
was speaking
|
ewö*
/ehwor + uhsh/
had spoken
|
ewö(
/ehwor + ahzh/
spoke
|
fig. 3