Mood: mood
| Values: | Cnd | Imp | Ind | Nec | Sub |
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. The imperfect tense of the indicative mood exhibits several patterns of formation. Note that in Middle Armenian the present and imperfect tenses of the indicative mood that are formed with the auxiliary կու (կ, կոյ)/kow (k, koy) have the same forms as the present and imperfect tenses of the conditional mood (see below). They cannot be distinguished without context. The negative forms of the present and imperfect tenses of the indicative (as well as the conditional) mood exhibit variation in their formation. Besides the inflectional endings, negation may also be expressed by a construction consisting of the negative particle followed by a verb in the infinitive, with or without the preposition ի.
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.”
Imp: imperative
The speaker uses 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 “Add scilla to vinegar and leave it for a while.”,
- ինձ լսեցէք “listen to me!” (plural),
- կատարէ՛ զգործքդ “do your work!”,
- խմէ՛ք “drink!” (plural)
Cnd: conditional
The conditional mood is used to express actions performed under a condition or hypothetically, but they may also express an action that is certain to occur. In Middle Armenian it combines with two different tenses (present and imperfect).
Note that In Middle Armenian the present and imperfect tenses of the conditional mood have the same form as the present and imperfect tenses of the indicative mood․ They cannot be distinguished without context.
The negation of conditional mood is formed periphrastically using the special form of the main verb (traditionally called negative participle) and the negated auxiliary չեմ “not to be”. It may also be formed with the infinitive with or without the preposition ի, as in the indicative mood. The main verb is marked as Connegative.
Examples
- կու երթանք “we will go/we go”,
- կելանեմ “I will come out/I come out”,
- կոյ մտանեմ “I will enter/I enter”,
- Որդունքն չեն ինձ ողորմիլ “The sons will not (do not) pity me”,
- նայ չէր կրկին յետս դառնալ/nay čēr krkin yets daṙnal “He would not come back again”
- նա չի այրիր/na či ayrir “he/she will not burn/does not burn”
Sub: subjunctive / conjunctive / optative
The subjunctive mood is used under certain circumstances in subordinate clauses, typically for actions that are subjective or otherwise uncertain. In some contexts the mood expresses also the desire that the action happens; it is thus close to both optative and jussive. In 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”
Nec: necessitative
The necessitative mood expresses necessity and corresponds to the modal verbs “must, should, have to”.
Middle Armenian has present and imperfect necessitative, both formed periphrastically using the mood particle պիտի/piti or its reduced forms պիտ/pit, տի/ti. The content verb expresses person, number, tense, aspect, voice and is in subjunctive mood (present/imperfect tense forms of indicative mood in Classical Armenian).
The mood particle պիտի/piti is historically present tense of the verb պիտիմ/pitim (Ind, Sing, Person=3) “to be necessary, useful”. It expresses compulsary, oblicative necessity.
The content verb is not marked as necessitative because it can also be used in present or imperfect subjunctive.
Note, that the mood particle is viewed as AUX and can inflect for Polarity (e.g. չպիտի/čpiti). It will have Mood=Nec.
Examples
- պիտի եփի/piti ep’i “it must be cooked”,
- պիտի հեռանաս/piti heṙanas “(you) have to go away”,
- տի բերէր/ti berēr “(he/she/it) had to bring”
- երդմանն չպիտի աւտալ/erdmann čpiti awtal One must not believe the oath.
Mood in other languages: [ab] [akk] [arr] [bej] [bg] [bm] [cs] [ctn] [cy] [el] [eme] [en] [es] [ess] [et] [fi] [fr] [ga] [gd] [gn] [gub] [hbo] [hu] [hy] [it] [jaa] [ka] [ky] [mdf] [myv] [naq] [nmf] [pcm] [ps] [qpm] [qtd] [quc] [ru] [say] [sl] [sv] [tpn] [tr] [tt] [u] [ug] [uk] [urb] [urj] [xcl] [xmf] [yrk]