Hiya guys...I need a bit of help. I have been told that it is weird to have auxiliary verbs in conlangs, and have even read it. But I'd really like them, but I'm not sure how to do it...

Here is what I have so far:

Verb Infinitive:
<Wó> (to be)

Examples:
Wó wági - to study
Wó puya - to run/walk
Wó chág - to hunt/fight

Wóga (present, sing & plural), examples:


Wógo (past tense, singular & plural), examples:


Does this make sense? If not, what do you guys suggest on how to do this...?

Thank you for reading,

Kaylee~

Do you remember where? There's nothing "weird" about auxiliary verbs in the least; a lot of languages make extensive use of them.


So wági, puya, and chág all represent participles of some sort or another? If so, then it all makes sense to me so far.

On an anime forum a week or so ago. There was a discussion thread for Conlangs and I brought it up to them. Two of them said it was weird to have them in Conlangs because they only exist in real languages


What do you mean?

So, according to them, the point of conlangs is to only use structures not appearing in human languages? What if you're trying to make a conlang spoken by humans?

As I see it, conlanging is art. The point is to create a language that you want to make, regardless of whether the structures you use are found in "real" languages or not. There's really nothing to say that some structure is "weird", unless you're comparing it to what happens in human language specifically. So have fun with it and don't worry.


I think a better question might be this: Is wo a direct equivalent to the English to in infinitives? The confusion stems from the fact that you define wo first as "to be", but then use it in conjunction with other verbs (?) to form infinitives. Would wo wági translate literally as wo "to" wági "study"?

If so, I understand the premise, which is basically the same as English.

Am I hitting the mark here?

A participle is a part of speech with characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. In general, they are not as fully conjugated as verbs. For instance, Latin has six tenses and two voices, but only three participles. But participles can generally do "verby" things that ordinary adjectives can't, such as take direct objects.

When you tell me that the wó in wó wági means "to be", then I assume this means that wági is participial form equivalent to English "studying". Of course, this assumes that wó is the same form of "to be" that we be used with "to be fat" or "to be hilarious", which might not be the case.

@Kietl & linguoboy:
I don't know, that's why I was confused. They seemed like they knew a lot more than me and had been doing it for a while...

Yes, you are correct Kietl. It doesn't directly translate as "to study"...but I made <wó> mean "to be".

Oh, I think I understand where I goofed up and what you guys mean.

<wó> does translate as "to be". So "wó águŋ" means "to be sleepy"
<yé> translates as "to". So "yé wági" means "to study".

Hm, okay. Now riddle me this:

If wó águŋ means "to be sleepy" ("to be in a state of sleepiness"), would wó wági mean "to be studying" ("to be in a state of studying")? If so, this would seem to suggest that words such as águŋ, wági, puya, and chág are adjectival and, in the constructions you've posted, are coupled with a stative verb wó.

Anywhere close?

Oh, no...wó wági wouldn't mean that.

I messed something up, huh?

Okay...here is what I have so far.

Please share if you think it makes sense or not.

To form Verb infinitives, it is preceded by "Yé" or "Wó". (which I think I'll change "Wó" to be "Yén"...hmm)
Yé wági = to study
Wó omgá = to be fast

To form "to be sleepy", "to be mingy", "to be jump", "to be creepy", "to be geedy" etc etc, you would do so:

Wó águŋni = to be sleepy
Wó degni = to be jumpy

Or:
Zí omgáni hera = a fast creature/monster
Zí águŋni hera = a sleepy creature/monster
Zí degni hera = a jumpy creature/monster
Zí Méŋkaháni ga’api = a marked/scarred giant

(No syntax has been applied to this; its retaining English syntax )

*I'll learn; I won't give up on my conlang *