Snat Sajem Tan/Word Order and the Perfective and Continuous Aspects

We are now at a stage whereat we can begin to form sentences. In order to form sentences, you need to know about Sajem Tan word order and how verbs work. In this lesson, you will get an introduction to both.

Word order
Sentences in Sajem Tan are typically OVS—in other words, object-verb-subject. Let's look at some examples.


 * Tan||kygykšo||dê.
 * honey||eating||I
 * colspan=3|"I am eating honey."
 * }
 * colspan=3|"I am eating honey."
 * }

As you learned in lesson 3, adverbs go right before the verb.
 * Vazöt||zanum||du.
 * cat||is||it
 * colspan=3|"It is a cat."
 * }
 * colspan=3|"It is a cat."
 * }

Some verbs are intransitive, meaning they have no object. In these cases, sentences are VS (verb-subject).
 * Našët||vyn||kexekêt||dê.
 * love||still||feel||I
 * colspan=4|"I'm still in love." (literally: "I still feel love.")
 * }
 * colspan=4|"I'm still in love." (literally: "I still feel love.")
 * }

In later lessons, you will learn about experiencer verbs and the passive voice and how they alter sentence structure, but this is not that lesson.
 * Vinfê||dê.
 * leave||I
 * "I am leaving."
 * }
 * "I am leaving."
 * }

Gnomic aspect
In some languages you may have studied, verbs conjugate (that is, their forms change slightly) to indicate who is performing the action (known as person, such as first, second, or third person), when the action was or will be performed (known as tense, such as past or future), how the speaker feels about the action (known as mood, such as subjunctive or imperative), etc. In Sajem Tan, verbs are marked for aspect. Aspect refers to how an action extends over time. (This is different from tense, because tense expresses where in time an action occurred.)

In this lesson, we are learning about the gnomic aspect. The gnomic aspect has two uses: to express truths that are aphoristic or unchanging, or as a "default" aspect for when you don't feel like marking aspect. It is marked by putting the suffix -um on the end of a verb. Here are some examples of the former:


 * Žǔžǔmum||viţitâ.
 * fly-GNOMIC||birds
 * colspan=2|"Birds fly."
 * }
 * colspan=2|"Birds fly."
 * }


 * Gafün||zanum||žasik.
 * blue||to be-GNOMIC||sky
 * colspan=3|"The sky is blue."
 * }
 * colspan=3|"The sky is blue."
 * }

States of being are often expressed by simply putting the gnomic suffix on the end of the predicate; in other words, the word zan "to be" is dropped:


 * Tišnimum||dê.
 * tired-GNOMIC||I
 * colspan=2|"I'm tired."
 * }
 * colspan=2|"I'm tired."
 * }