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Grammatical aspect
Aspect is a grammatical category that denotes how action or state, expressed by verb, extends over time. While many languages do not distinguish aspect from tense (as in German) or aspect can be separated but this term is not used (English subtypes of 3 basic tenses), in Nûrlâm they are strictly different grammatical categories.
In Nûrlâm aspect is expressed by short adverbs that became clitic through their frequent use. There are other adverbs that can join verbs, but they are not listed here because they do not have equivalents in other languages. Aspect marking is not obligatory when it's clear from context or not important, so a verb without clitic adverb may mean perfect, non-perfect or continuous action.
| Clitic adverb | Name1) | Literal meaning | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| -âzh | “Partial/Fragmental” | slightly, partially | incomplete action, action done not with a full force, also may denote irregular action in contrast to suffix -ok. English sentence “Open the gate just a little” may be translated into a rather short phrase in Nûrlâm (“Badzâzh hûm”) |
| -îs | Inchoative/“Initial” | recently/just started | To mark action that started before the moment of speaking or described event, and continued after it. Translated as “start” + verb in infinitive. Used only with Past and Future tense in Nûrlâm, but may be translated into English as Present Perfect in simple phrase “Dabuluzîs” = “I've just started to work” |
| -ok | Habitual/Iterative | always, usually, regularly | equivalent of stereotypical English Simple tenses: “The Great Eye always watches from the Barad-dûr” = “Bhahontum honokâ Lugbûrzbo”. Together with Past tense may translate phrase “used to (do something)” (with meaning of some regular action in the past, not familiarity with): “Tafauthuzok bathor” = “He usually hid in the shadows” / “He used to hide in the shadows” |
| -rad | Continuous/Progressive | now, still | equivalent of English Continuous tenses: “I'm still hating you” = “Damokamrad” |
| -ad | the same as -rad but used when verb's root ends with r or many consonants: “I'm drinking now” = “Da akrad” | ||
| -ûk | Perfective/“Final” | completely, fully, finally, all | equivalent of English Perfect tenses. Used to denote that action is finished by the moment of speaking or described event: “The dragon completely destroyed the dwarven city” = “Lûgum shaduzâtûk goi gazatob” |
| may mean that action was done (being done/will be done) for all objects mentioned in the sentence, like in Ring Inscription | |||
| -ûn | Cessative/Terminative/“Final” | newly, freshly, recently, just (happened) | similar to English Present Perfect tense: “The bells have just stopped ringing” ⇒ “Bon puzguzûtûn nôlut” |
| -uth | Prospective/“Intentional” | be going to, be about to, will do smth. soon | To mark action that is only intended at the moment of speaking or described event (usually in the Past tense): “I was about to kill him” = “Dadoguzanuth”. May be replaced with: a) verb “pant-” + main verb in infinitive, especially in combination with Perfective aspect and expressions like “going to finish (smth.)” (pant + INF + perfective aspect) and in Modern analytical language: “Dragon is going to completely destroy this city” = “Lûgum pantâ shadutûk goiza”. b) gerundive in dependent clause with additional clarification that action will happen in near future: “I was going to kill him” = “Dakuz dogatan” Unlike other languages that have Prospective aspect (probably Persian), in Nûrlâm it usually carry a tone of intention. |
Suffixes of aspect may also modify the meaning of the verb when translating into other languages, like “thak-” (look like), “thak-âzh-” (seem), “thak-ûk-” (appear). Thus they resemble English phrasal verbs.
Aspect clitics are always the last in verb's suffix chain.
Some prefixes may also carry similar functions of detailing a time of an action.
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