Verb Moods
Lesson Vocab
| English | Part of speech | IPA | Lugso | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| song | N | vθuʒ | vtu3 | |
| voice | VB | juð | yud | |
| grant | VB | fun | fun | allow, permit, accept |
| we_exc | 1PL.EX | vʌ | vo | |
| we_inc | 1PL.INC | vu | vu |
Verb Moods
| English | Part of speech | IPA | Lugso | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FORM | VB suffix | jʌ | yo | formal mood |
| IMP | VB suffix | ɣi | gi | imperative mood (a command) |
| IND | VB suffix | θʌj | toy | indicative mood - (optional except where ambiguous) |
| INT | VB suffix | ʌχ | oh | interrogative mood - is …? did X …? |
| MOD | VB suffix | z | z | modal mood “must/have to” |
| PREC | VB suffix | xnuz | xnuz | precative mood (please …) |
| PROH | VB suffix | jʌzβ | yozb | prohibitive mood (do not …) |
| PROL | N suffix | ɸzuvʒ | pzuv3 | prolative case (by way of N, via N, through N) |
Verb moods indicate the way in which a certain action is performed. Think of, “Please would you do this?” versus “Do this!” versus “Are you doing this?” versus “You must do this.”
IMP imperative -gi
gu5hgi -ir ivih xtulhulul
surrender-IMP victim-ACC DET.PROX Cthulhu-BEN
Offer this victim to Cthulhu!
IMP is the “command mood” used when giving orders.
IND indicative* -toy
“There is/are”
Indicative is normally used to state existential clauses.
toy it turso itid fhtogiso
IND aeon birth-GEN aeon-CONJ.N sleep-GEN
[There is] A time to be born and a time to die.
While usually unnecessary to mark indicative mood (i.e. in almost all “basic” sentences), there are cases where it is important to distinguish which verb is indicative, and which verb isn’t.
Redundant indicative
funtoy -ir ivih xtulhu
allow-IND victim-ACC DET.PROX Cthulhu
[It is so that] Cthulhu accepts this victim.
Necessary indicative
The indicative is necessary when a copula forms an ambiguous sentence.
vtu3u pus’so noso toy fhtogn yud noso
song-VOC soul-GEN 1SG-GEN IND dead voice 1SG-GEN
Song of my soul, my voice is dead.
WRONG
vtu3u pus’so noso fhtogn yud noso
song-VOC soul-GEN 1SG-GEN dead voice 1SG-GEN
O Song of my dead soul, [you are] my voice.
The fact that Lugso’s copula is implicit means that the sentence is interpreted as (vtu3u pus’so noso fhtogn) (yud noso), since the adjective fhtogn follows the noun pus’so noso. Hence, the indicative “attaches” to the implicit copula, making its position explicit: (vtu3u pus’so noso) toy (fhtogn (yud noso)).
You’ll notice indicative is almost always needed where the Vocative Noun Case is used in combination with a copula. O English, when using you, we insert a comma to separate the addressee of the sentence; but Lugso does not have commas.
More about Vocative
The above examples are ambiguous because of the implicit copula combined with an addressee at the beginning of the utterance. This is standard practice for the vocative case, because just like in most languages, you want to say the name of the one you are addressing first. If you prefer, you can move the addressee to the end of the utterance to eliminate the ambiguity, since Lugso word order is often (but not always) malleable, but this does sound slightly weird.
fhtogn yud noso vtu3u pus’so noso
dead voice 1SG-GEN song-VOC soul-GEN 1SG-GEN
My voice is dead, O song of my soul.
FORM formal: -yo
xtulhu’u pinyo sup5ix blolgd doso
Cthulhu-VOC flail-FORM eternity-LOC flagellum-PL 2SG-GEN
Thy tentacles writhe forever, O Cthulhu!
INT Interrogative: -oh
fhtogi’oh xtulhu
sleep-INT Cthulhu
Does Cthulhu sleep?
MOD modal: -z
h3unbz xtulhu’ir vu
gorge-MOD Cthulhu-ACC 1PL.INC
We must satisfy Cthulhu!
PREC precative: -xnuz
xtulhu’u hufxnuz - ivih
Cthulhu-VOC consume-PREC victim DET.PROX
O Cthulhu, (will you) please accept this victim!
-xnuz signifies the utterance is a request.
PROH prohibitive: -yozb
zbostyozb zuyn-pus xtulhuso yug
blaspheme-PROH name Cthulhu-GEN great
Do not blaspheme the name of Great Cthulhu!
PROL prolative: -pzuv3
lni 5xidpzuv3 yols-yols-lihd oldri5
revolve sky-PL-PROL child--child--star-PL beautiful
Strange moons circle through the skies.