o yis     Verb tense

There are several ways in which the time of an action can be indicated. These include:

• using a past or non-past auxillary verb stem
• the choice of auxillary verb suffix
• using an appropriate verb article
• modifying the verb with a time-related noun

Timing events can be divided into three groups: those that place the time of a clause's action relative to the action of the previous clause; those that place the time of an event in relation to a pre-established reference point in the temporal flow; and those that supply information about how the speaker views those actions.

Time-related noun phrases

O Yis verbs are regularly modified by time-related nouns, with the temporal noun acting just as if it was modifying a head noun. These modifying nouns are used to establish a reference point in the temporal flow - the contemporary now of the events being related by the speaker, as opposed to the current now of the speaker uttering the words and the audience hearing them.

The basic unit of time for Istran speakers is the half-day, or period, which can be either daytime or night-time. Periods before the contemporary 'now', and those after, have different words:

• an/rent pyrk - the period before now
• an/a roxo - the now
• an/rent rean - the period after now

Other time-related nouns will use temporal quantifiers to indicate the time of action:

t'doc som	this moment	g'doc som	a moment ago	e doc som	in a moment
t'doc trop	this while	g'doc trop	a while ago	e doc trop	in a while
t'doc kreac	this week	g'doc kreac	last week	e doc kreac	next week
t'doc dzaloq	this month	g'doc dzaloq	last month	e doc dzaloq	next month
t'doc ynner	this season	g'doc ynner	last season	e doc ynner	next season
t'doc tavver	this year	g'doc tavver	last year	e doc tavver	next year

Quantifiers are used to indicate how many periods before or after roxo, the contemporary 'now', took/will take place. The translations for pyrk and rean depend on whether roxo is in a daytime or night-time period:

Phrase	Translation
	'roxo' = daytime	'roxo' = night-time
rec pyrk, rec bo pyrk	tonight	tomorrow
rec to pyrk	tomorrow	tomorrow night
rec vyl pyrk	tomorrow night	the day after tomorrow
rec rean, rec bo rean	last night	earlier today
rec to rean	yesterday	last night
rec vyl rean	the night before last	yesterday

• Xhauk vollo ze ru in harf
• hauk vollo ze ru in harf
• hæuk wɔlːɔ ʒə ɾu in hæɾf
• the boy [sees|saw|will see] the dog
• (tense determined by reference to a contemporary now previously established)

• Xhauk vollo g'doc kreac ze ru in harf
• hauk vollo g'doc kreac ze ru in harf
• hæuk wɔlːɔ g'ðɔs kɾəæs ʒə ɾu in hæɾf
• the boy saw the dog last week
• (the contemporary now is set to 'last week')

• Xhauk vollo e doc som ze ru in harf
• hauk vollo e doc som ze ru in harf
• hæuk wɔlːɔ ə ðɔs ʦɔm ʒə ɾu in hæɾf
• the boy is about to see the dog
• (the contemporary now has been set to a point in the immediate future)

Past and non-past auxillary verb stems

The evidential auxillary verbs are used to establish whether the speaker's views of the events being discussed are current and valid, or whether they were valid only for the past but may not be valid now.

• The non-past know stems are used when the speaker is talking about verifiable facts: the evidence is in front of their eyes - the present (current) tense is implied and the clause tense needs to reflect this
• The past know stems are used when the speaker knows the facts, and has absolute confidence in them, but the evidence is not within verifiable sight - the action itself can be in any tense
• The non-past believe stems are used when talking about assumed or implied information in which the speaker has some confidence
• The past believe stems are used for assumed or applied information whose veracity the speaker is unsure about, or doubts
• The non-past tell stems are the default stems, and thus carry no weight or relevance - it's up to the listeners to draw their own conclusions
• The past tell stems are used for reported speech

• Xseba labu ac roxo ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• seba labu ac roxo ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• ʦəbæ læbu æs ɾɔxɔ ʒə ɾu ɐ pwæɾʒ ipjæmið
• the boy is going to the market (now)
• (speaker is watching the boy as he heads towards the market)

• Xsemba labu ac roxo ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• semba labu ac roxo ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• ʦəmbæ læbu æs ɾɔxɔ ʒə ɾu ɐ pwæɾʒ ipjæmið
• the boy is going to the market (now)
• (speaker cannot see the boy)

• Xsevauk labu g'doc trop ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• sevauk labu g'doc trop ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• ʦəwæuk læbu g'ðɔs tɾɔp ʒə ɾu ɐ pwæɾʒ ipjæmið
• the boy went to the market (a while ago)
• (speaker is confident that the information is probably true)

• XseNvauk labu g'doc trop ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• seŋvauk labu g'doc trop ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• ʦəŋwæuk læbu g'ðɔs tɾɔp ʒə ɾu ɐ pwæɾʒ ipjæmið
• (I believe) the boy went to the market (a while ago)
• (speaker is unsure of the information's veracity)

• Xhauk labu g'doc trop ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• hauk labu g'doc trop ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• hæuk læbu g'ðɔs tɾɔp ʒə ɾu ɐ pwæɾʒ ipjæmið
• the boy went to the market (a while ago)

• Xelle hauk labu g'doc trop ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• elle hauk labu g'doc trop ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• əlːə hæuk læbu g'ðɔs tɾɔp ʒə ɾu ɐ pwæɾʒ ipjæmið
• the boy went to the market (a while ago, and is probably still there)

• Xhimbe labu t'doc trop ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• himbe labu t'doc trop ze ru y pvarz ipjamid
• himbə læbu t'ðɔs tɾɔp ʒə ɾu ɐ pwæɾʒ ipjæmið
• (someone says/said) the boy will go to the market soon

Tense-related auxillary verb suffixes

The auxillary verb suffixes are used to establish the state of an action - whether it is completed, ongoing or not yet started - with reference to the contemporary now established through the use of temporal nouns.

• -ic, the possible or conditional state - future tense
• -e, -mbe, the intended state - future tense
• -a, the incomplete or imperfective state - present tense
• -uk, the complete or perfective state - past tense
• -an, -tan, the satisfactory or telic state - past tense

• Xhiic cnake rec rean Tim Daan ni gael ze maa ucem igly
• híc cnake rec rean tzim dzán ni gael ze má ucem igly
• hiˑs snækə ɾəs ɾəæn ʧim ʤæˑn ni gæəl ʒə mæˑ usəm iglɐ
• (cousin) Jane could have written a note to her mother

• Xhimbe cnake rec rean Tim Daan ni gael ze maa ucem igly
• himbe cnake rec rean tzim dzán ni gael ze má ucem igly
• himbə snækə ɾəs ɾəæn ʧim ʤæˑn ni gæəl ʒə mæˑ usəm iglɐ
• (cousin) Jane was going to write a note to her mother

• Xhia cnake rec rean Tim Daan ni gael ze maa ucem igly
• hia cnake rec rean tzim dzán ni gael ze má ucem igly
• hiæ snækə ɾəs ɾəæn ʧim ʤæˑn ni gæəl ʒə mæˑ usəm iglɐ
• (cousin) Jane was writing a note to her mother

• Xhiuk cnake rec rean Tim Daan ni gael ze maa ucem igly
• hiuk cnake rec rean tzim dzán ni gael ze má ucem igly
• hiuk snækə ɾəs ɾəæn ʧim ʤæˑn ni gæəl ʒə mæˑ usəm iglɐ
• (cousin) Jane wrote a note to her mother

• Xhitan cnake rec rean Tim Daan ni gael ze maa ucem igly
• hitan cnake rec rean tzim dzán ni gael ze má ucem igly
• hitæn snækə ɾəs ɾəæn ʧim ʤæˑn ni gæəl ʒə mæˑ usəm iglɐ
• (cousin) Jane wrote a note to her mother (and the outcome was satisfactory)

Tense-related verb articles

Five of the six verb article cases carry tense information. Four of them - the base, prior, concurrent and post cases - supply information on whether the current clause takes place before, at the same time as, or after the action in the preceding clause

• The prior case is used where the action in the previous clause takes place before the action in the current clause
• The concurrent case indicates that the action in the clause occurs at the same time as the action in the previous clause
• The base case is used for sequential actions - the action in the current clause follows the action in the previous clause; this is the default case and, as such, the articles are routinely dropped.
• The post case also indicates that the previous action takes place after the action in the current clause.

The perfect case explicitly marks the action as being in the past (with reference to the contemporary now established through the use of temporal nouns), but also indicates that the action still has relevance to current or future actions. Where the contemporary now has been established as being in the future (eg tomorrow, next year) then the perfect case articles indicate that the speaker is convinced that the action will be relevant to that point of time even if it has not yet taken place.

• Xhia zvatta Tim Daan by jan kolla, Tim fez klambe xleyr e doc trop Deo petyr
• hia zvatta tzim dzán by jan kolla, tzim fez klambe xleyr e doc trop dzeo petyr
• hiæ ʒwæ?tæ ʧim ʤæˑn bɐ jæn kɔlːæ, ʧim fəʒ klæmbə xləɐɾ ə ðɔs tɾɔp ʤəɔ pətɐɾ
• Jane wants to buy some cabbages before she meets Peter

• Xhia zvatta Tim Daan by jan kolla, Tim fet klambe xleyr e doc trop Deo petyr
• hia zvatta tzim dzán by jan kolla, tzim fet klambe xleyr e doc trop dzeo petyr
• hiæ ʒwæ?tæ ʧim ʤæˑn bɐ jæn kɔlːæ, ʧim fət klæmbə xləɐɾ ə ðɔs tɾɔp ʤəɔ pətɐɾ
• Jane wants to buy some cabbages when she meets Peter

• Xhia zvatta Tim Daan by jan kolla, Tim e klambe xleyr e doc trop Deo petyr
• hia zvatta tzim dzán by jan kolla, tzim e klambe xleyr e doc trop dzeo petyr
• hiæ ʒwæ?tæ ʧim ʤæˑn bɐ jæn kɔlːæ, ʧim ə klæmbə xləɐɾ ə ðɔs tɾɔp ʤəɔ pətɐɾ
• Jane wants to buy some cabbages, then she will meet Peter

• Xhia zvatta Tim Daan by jan kolla, Tim fes klambe xleyr e doc trop Deo petyr
• hia zvatta tzim dzán by jan kolla, tzim fes klambe xleyr e doc trop dzeo petyr
• hiæ ʒwæ?tæ ʧim ʤæˑn bɐ jæn kɔlːæ, ʧim fəʦ klæmbə xləɐɾ ə ðɔs tɾɔp ʤəɔ pətɐɾ
• Jane will buy some cabbages after she meets Peter