Tenses
Arcadia distinguishes between five verb tenses:
- Two timeless tenses (not bound by chronological time)
- Three timed tenses (anchored in past, present, or future)
Tense indicates the temporal framework of a verb's action or state. Aspect, however, is handled separately via aspectual modifiers and is not embedded in the tense suffix.
Tense is marked by vowel-based suffixes, which are appended to the verb stem after the -ir infinitive ending is dropped, and before the person-number suffix.
Timeless Tenses
Arcadia has two timeless tenses, veritas and aorist, that capture states that aren't bound by time. The difference between them is that veritas
| Tense | Suffix | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Veritas | -uv |
eternal statements, unaffected by time |
| Aorist | -ev |
a statement that the temporal frame is irrelevant |
As such veritas is a tense used to describe universal truths and scientific facts. On the other hand, aorist is used to describe a typical day or spatially bound events.
Timed Tenses
Timed tenses are tied to a specific temporal frame.
| Tense | Suffix | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Present | -av |
current action/state |
| Past | -iv |
completed or prior action |
| Future | -ov |
anticipated or projected action |
These suffixes are placed after the stem and before the person-number suffix.
Examples
save→ it issive→ it wassove→ it will beseve→ it is, but the timing is irrelevantsuve→ it was, it is, and it will be