From Indo-European Languages

Every form of the finite verb is made up of two parts:

I. The Stem. This is either the root or a modification or development of it.

II. The Ending or desinence, consisting of:

a. the signs of Mood and Tense

b. the personal ending

Thus in the verb bher-se-ti, he will carry, the root is bher-, modified into the future verb-stem bherse/o-, which by the addition of the personal (primary) ending -ti becomes bherseti; and this ending consists of the (probably) tense-sign i and the personal ending (-t) of the third person singular.

Verbal endings can thus define the verb Stem, Tense and Mood.

The primary series indicates present and future: -mi, -si, -ti, and plural -nti are the most obvious. The secondary indicates Past: -m, -s, -t and -nt. The subjunctive and optative are usually marked with the secondary endings, but in the subjunctive the primary desinences appear sometimes. The imperative has Ø or special endings.

They can also mark the person: those above mark the first, second and third person singular and third plural. And also, with theme vowels, the voice: -ti active prim./ -toi middle prim./ -tor passive, and so on.

The Addition was used in the Southern dialects to mark the Past (or Preterite) Tense. It was placed before the Stem, and consisted generally of a stressed e-, although some variants exist, as e-. This is a southern dialectal feature (i.e., given mostly in i.-i., gr. and arm.)

NOTE. It is therefore not used in this (mainly northern-based) Europaio.

See Also

• Introduction to verbs
• Verbal stems
• Thematic vowel
• Verb creation

Reference

• Quiles Casas, Carlos, Europaio: A Brief Grammar of the European Language, Vol. 1, Dnghu, 2006, ISBN 84-689-7727-6