Mood: mood
| Values: | Imp | Ind | Sub | Cnd | Nec |
Mood is a feature that expresses modality and subclassifies finite verb forms. Some mood markers also interact with tense and aspect of the verb.
Ind: indicative
The indicative can be considered the default mood. A verb in the indicative merely states that something happens, has happened or will happen, without adding any attitude of the speaker. It exhibits several patterns of formation. In Middle Armenian, the present and imperfect indicative can be expressed both by the synthetic forms inherited from Classical Armenian and by periphrastic constructions with the auxiliary կու (կ, կոյ)/kow (k, koy). The inherited present and imperfect forms continue to be used alongside the newer periphrastic constructions with the same indicative meaning.
The present and imperfect indicative forms constructed with կու կու (կ, կոյ)/kow (k, koy) are formally identical to the corresponding conditional forms (see below). Therefore, the distinction between the indicative and conditional moods in these constructions depends on context.
The negative forms of the present and imperfect indicative (as well as conditional) mood exhibit variation in their formation. Besides the bound negative morpheme չ-/č-, negation may also be expressed by a construction consisting of a negative auxiliary followed by a verb in the infinitive, with or without the preposition ի/i (traditionally called negative participle). The infinitive may also occur with the ending -ր/-r.
Examples
- աչքն խորանայ, եւ կոպքն թուլանան/Ačk’n xoranay, ew kopk’n t’owlanan “the eyes sink in, and the eyelids droop”,
- կու հրամայէ Սահակ/kow hramayē Sahak “Sahak orders/will order”,
- խիստ կու սիրէր/xist kow sirēr “He loved/would love strongly”,
- հիւանդս աս լաւնալու է/hiwands as lawnalow ē “this patient will recover”,
- ծախելու էի/çaxelow ei “I was going to sell”,
- տուն ունիմ/town ownim “I have a house”,
- բերդ ունէին/berd ownēin “They had a fortress”,
- կապեցիր բեռինք/kapec’ir beṙink’ “You tied loads”,
- հոգւով մեռած ենք/hogwov meṙaç enk’ “we are spiritually dead”,
- մեկ էլ ի նոցա միջին էր մեռած/mek ēl i noc’a miǰin ēr meṙaç “and one among them was dead”,
- Է՞ր չես ի լալ/Ēr čes i lal “Why don’t (won’t) you cry?”,
- Ես չեմ ի տար հանց պատասխան/Es čem i tar hanc’ patasxan “I don’t (won’t) give such an answer”.
Cnd: conditional
The conditional mood is used to express actions that would have taken place under some circumstances but they actually did not / do not happen.
In Middle Armenian, the present and imperfect conditional are formed periphrastically with the auxiliary կու (կ, կոյ)/kow (k, koy). These constructions are formally identical to the corresponding present and imperfect indicative forms (see above). Therefore, the distinction between the conditional and indicative moods depends on context.
The negative forms of the present and imperfect conditional are formed periphrastically and are formally identical to the corresponding negative indicative constructions (see above). The lexical verb occurs in a form traditionally referred to as the negative participle and is annotated with Connegative=Yes (see Connegative).
Examples
- Զիրար սիրենք խօշ կու լինի/Zirar sirenkʼ xòš kow lini “Let us love one another, it will be good”,
- Այս ցաւուս թէզով ճար արա թէ չէ սքթայ կանէ/Ays cʼawows tʼēzov č̣ar ara tʼē čē skʼtʼay kanē “Find a cure for this pain [illness] quickly, lest it cause a stroke”,
- չէ ի տալ/čē i tal “he/she will not give”,
- չեմ ի տար_/čem i tar “I will not give”,
- չի տալ/či tal “he/she will not give”,
- չի տար/či tar “he/she will not give”.
Imp: imperative
The speaker uses the imperative to order or ask the addressee to do the action of the verb.
Examples
- ա՛րկ զմկնասոխն ʼի քացախն եւ թո՛ղ ժամանակ ինչ/a՛rk zmknasoxn ʼi kʼacʼaxn ew tʼo՛ġ žamanak inč “Add scilla to vinegar and leave it for a while”,
- ինձ լսեցէք/inj lsecʼēkʼ “listen to me!” (plural),
- կատարէ՛ զգործքդ/katarē՛ zgorçkʼd “do your work!”,
- խմէ՛ք/xmē՛kʼ “drink!” (plural).
Sub: subjunctive / conjunctive / optative
The subjunctive mood is used primarily in subordinate clauses, typically for actions that are subjective or otherwise uncertain. In some contexts, it also expresses a wish or desire for an action to take place; it is thus close to both optative and jussive. In Middle Armenian it combines with two different tenses (imperfect and present).
Examples
- Եւ զայս գիրքս շինեցաք, զի որք կարդան հեշտութեամբ յիմանան:/Ew zays girk’s šinec’ak’ zi ork’ kardan heštowt’eamb yimanan “And we composed this book so that those who read it may understand it with ease.”
- լուսանայր/lowsanayr “(I wish) it would dawn”,
- տուն մտնուի/town mtnowi “(I would like) to enter the house”.
Note that in Middle Armenian, conditional and necessitative meanings are expressed by means of the corresponding auxiliary verbs. For more details, see AUX.
Nec: necessitative
The necessitative mood expresses necessity and corresponds to meanings such as “must, should, have to”.
In Middle Armenian, the necessitative mood is formed periphrastically using either the auxiliary պիտի/piti (and its variants պիտ, տի/pit, ti) or the present-tense forms of the verb կամել/kamel “lit. to want”, such as կամիմ/kamim, կամիս/kamis, կամի/kami, etc. Both պիտի and the forms of կամել used in necessitative constructions are analyzed as modal auxiliaries (AUX) and receive Mood=Nec. However, they differ in the form of the lexical verb they combine with: պիտի/piti is followed by a verb in the subjunctive mood (Mood=Sub), whereas the present-tense forms of կամել/kamel are followed by an infinitive (VerbForm=Inf).
The lexical verb retains its own morphological features and is not marked as necessitative.
The auxiliary պիտի/piti is derived from the present-tense form of the verb պիտիմ/pitim (Ind, Sing, Person=3) “to be necessary, useful”. It may also inflect for Polarity (e.g. չպիտի/čpiti).
Examples
- պիտի որ ելնէ յ իրմէ զէդ կորեկի հատեր/piti or elnē y irmē zēd koreki hater “grains like millet should come out from it”,
-
հիւանդութիւնն երկար կամի քաշել/hiwandowtʼiwnn erkar kami kʼašel “the illness tends to last for a long time”.
Mood in other languages: [ab] [akk] [arr] [axm] [bej] [bg] [bm] [cs] [ctn] [cy] [el] [eme] [en] [es] [ess] [et] [fi] [fr] [ga] [gd] [gn] [gub] [ha] [hbo] [hu] [hy] [it] [jaa] [ka] [ky] [mdf] [myv] [naq] [nmf] [oge] [ota] [pal] [pcm] [ps] [qpm] [qtd] [quc] [ru] [ruc] [say] [sl] [sv] [tpn] [tr] [tt] [u] [ug] [uk] [urb] [urj] [xcl] [xmf] [yrk]