Here's how verbs work in Wenja:
In many languages, verbs have
conjugations that indicate who the subject is. We also have
grammatical person which describes the different kinds of subjects as first person (I, we), second person (you, y’all), and third person (he, she, it, they, the dog, horses, traveling salesmen, beer). When we put all the different conjugations of verbs for each person together in a table so we can compare them, we call it a
paradigm.
Wenja is a language which marks its verbs in different ways depending on the subject in question. We do this somewhat in English:
1st person singular: | I kill.
| 1st person plural:
| We kill. |
2nd person singular:
| You kill. | 2nd person plural:
| Y’all kill. |
3rd person singular: | He kills.
| 3rd person plural:
| They kill. |
However, in Wenja, there are different markers for each verb AND Wenja sentences don’t use the pronoun like we do in English. Compare the above table with the ones below.
1st person singular: | Gwanam. ‘I kill’
| 1st person plural:
| Gwanmas. ‘We kill’ |
2nd person singular:
| Gwanta. ‘You kill’ | 2nd person plural:
| Gwantan. ‘Y’all kill’ |
3rd person singular: | Gwana. ‘He kills’
| 3rd person plural:
| Gwanarsh. ‘They kill’ |
1st person singular: | Sasam. ‘I sleep’
| 1st person plural:
| Sasmas. ‘We sleep’ |
2nd person singular:
| Sasta. ‘You sleep’ | 2nd person plural:
| Sastan. ‘Y’all sleep’ |
3rd person singular: | Sasa. ‘He sleeps’
| 3rd person plural:
| Sasarsh. ‘They sleep’ |
1st person singular: | Sakwim. ‘I help’
| 1st person plural:
| Sakwimas. ‘We help’ |
2nd person singular:
| Sakwita. ‘You help’ | 2nd person plural:
| Sakwitan. ‘Y’all help’ |
3rd person singular: | Sakwi. ‘He helps’
| 3rd person plural:
| Sakwirsh. ‘They help’ |
You’ll notice that there is only one word in Wenja for the corresponding two words in English. The ending on the verb functions the same as a pronoun by indicating who is doing the action, so a separate pronoun is not needed.
In the above tables, you can see that each verb has a root form that has endings added to it. The root forms of the above verbs are: gwana- 'to kill'; sasa- ‘to sleep’; sakwi- ‘to help’. So the ending in the 3rd person singular is not a vowel - it is
nothing (which we write as -
ø).
The basic verb endings are:
| singular | plural |
1st person | -m | -mas |
2nd person | -ta | -tan |
3rd person | -ø | -rsh |
Sometimes the final vowel in the root is deleted before the verb ending. Don’t worry about why the vowels disappear sometimes. Usually in Wenja, if a vowel can be deleted, it is.
Of course, this was a very important word in Oros. It was for the Wenja, who simply want to survive in a world that brings not only disease (swargati) and predators (gwaryatar), but also outsiders (akistar) capturing them for either food (hatra) or to become slaves (kwal). It was also an important word for the Udam, whose debilitating "skull-fire" (kapalpur) brings their tribe near extinction.
