-Lesson III.  Verbs:  Infinitives and Present Tense-

 

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Because this is an invented language, we will assume that all verbs are regular.  Therefore, all infinitives end in –at:  for example, durbat = to rule, gimbat = to find, krimpat = to bind, and thrakat = to bring.  The BS dictionary gives only the verb stem (for example, durb-, gimb-, krimp- etc.) to which you will add the various endings, like –at, -ut, -ub, -uz, etc.
 

Find several other verbs in the dictionary and give the infinitive form for each.
 

Please note:  According to some of the contributors to Tolklang, third person plural takes the ending “ut.”  I have added the ending “at” to the third person singular, even though I realize this may be a little confusing.  I have done this for two reasons:  first, because some of the posters on the LOS board were already using the infinitive form as the third person singular, and second, it made sense to be able to indicate the difference between a command (gimb! = you find, and gimbat = he finds.)  Using the -at ending for the third person singular and for the infinitive should not be too problematic.  After all, the English language uses the same ending for almost all verb endings.

 
In Black Speech, we assume that all verbs are regular and are conjugated in the following way:

 
Gimbat, to find:

gimb                 I find                                      gimb                 we find

gimb                 you (sing) find                         gimb                 you (plural) find

gimbat              he, she, it finds                        gimbut              they find

 

Thrakat, to bring:

thrak                I bring                          thrak                we bring

thrak                you (sing) bring            thrak                you (plural) bring

thrakat              he, she, it brings            thrakut              they bring

 
Vocabulary
Some new verbs:

 

azat                  to kill

bugdat              to call

durbat              to rule

dûmpat             to doom

fauthat              to hide, to lie hidden

srinkhat            to gather

prakhat             to lure
 

Exercise

Translate the following:

 

he rules                                     we find                         she devours

 

 

they bind                                  it brings                        you (plural) bind

 

 

I devour                                   you (sing.) lure             they gather

 

 

I find                                        you (plural) gather            I lure

 

 

They hide                                 she devours*                      we bring

 

 

I hide                                        it kills                            they rule

 

 

you (singular) doom                 he calls                           it hides

 

 

I call                                     they devour*                        we kill

 

*note that the verb stem "throqu-" ends in a "u," so you will have to add another "u" to form the future tense:  throqu, I devour, throquub, I will devour (pronounced "throw-kwoob.")  In many European languages, it is customary to add a "u" after the "q" to indicate the "kw" sound.  In Middle Earth, of course, Black Speech would be written in tengwar or runes, not in English letters, so the extra "u" would not be an issue.  In other words, the fact that you happen to have two "u's" together here doesn't mean you should pronounce them as a long "uu."