Aspect: aspect
| Values: | Dur | Imp | Iter | Perf | Prog | Prosp |
Aspect is a feature that specifies the temporal structure of an action, such as its duration or whether it is completed. In Armenian, some tenses are combinations of tense and aspect.
Note that some aspectual meanings in (secondary) compound tenses may be expressed at participles.
Imp: imperfect aspect
The action took, takes, or will take place over a period of time, without specifying whether or when it was, is, or will be completed.
Examples
- վազում եմ տուն/vazowm em town “I run / am running home”,
- վազում էի տուն/vazowm ēi town “I was running home”
Perf: perfect aspect
The action is presented as completed. Since this aspect focuses on the point of completion, it does not work well with the present tense.
Forms with resultative participles might better be defined as ‘perfect stative’.
Examples
- վազեցի տուն/vazec’i town “I ran home”,
- վազել եմ տուն/vazel em town “I have run home”,
- վազել էի տուն/vazel ēi town “I had run home”,
- նստած եմ տանը/nstaç em tanë “I am sitting at home”,
- նստած էի տանը/nstaç ēi tanë “I was sitting at home”
Prosp: prospective aspect
In general, prospective aspect can be described as relative future: the action is/was/will be expected to take place at a moment that follows the reference point; the reference point itself can be in past, present or future.
In some contexts, subjunctive and conditional forms may also indicate prospective aspect and signal an event that is expected to take place. The prospective meaning is especially common in conditional imperfect forms.
The future-II participle also indicates prospective aspect.
Examples
- վազելու եմ տուն/vazelow em town “I shall run home”,
- վազելու էի տուն/vazelow ēi town “I should run home”,
- վազեմ տուն/vazem town “(I’d better) run home”,
- վազեի տուն/vazei town “If only I ran home”
- կվազեմ տուն/kvazem town “I will run home”,
- կվազեի տուն/kvazei town “I would run home”
- վազի՛ր/vazir “run!”
- կառուցվելիք շենք/kaṙowc’velik’ šenk’ “a house that will be built”
- հնչելիք զանգ/hnčelik’ zang “a bell that will ring”
Prog: progressive aspect
The action is in progress with respect to the current or a reference time. The converb expresses progressive aspect.
Examples
- վազելիս ընկա/vazelis ënka “I fell while running”
- վազելիս ընկնում եմ/vazelis ënknowm em “I fall while running”
- վազելիս ընկնեի/vazelis ënknei “(If) I would have fallen while running”
Dur: durative aspect
The situation extends over a period of time without reference to its endpoint.
The subject participle expresses durative aspect.
Examples
- կառուցվող շենք/kaṙowc’voġ šenk’ “a house, that is being built”
- հնչող զանգ/hnčoġ zang “a ringing bell”
Iter: iterative
Denotes repeated action, with multiplicative or distributive meanings. Armenian has three main iterative markers -ատ/-at, -ոտ/-ot, -տ/-t or root reduplication.
Note that in Armenian iterative is considered as a lexical feature of verbs, thus they have morphologically related non-iterative counterparts, but it is not a regular system and the two verbs are represented by different lemmas. We mark them as biaspectual.
Examples
- ցատկել/c’atkel “jump”, ցատկոտել/c’atkotel “jump several times”,
- կտրել/ktrel “cut”, կտրատել/ktratel “chop, cut in pieces”,
- փնտրել/p’ntrel “search”, փնտրտել “search several times”,
- վազել “to run”, վազվզել “to run around, to run often”
Aspect in other languages: [arr] [axm] [bej] [bg] [bm] [bor] [cs] [ctn] [egy] [el] [eme] [ga] [gn] [gub] [ha] [hu] [hy] [hyw] [jaa] [ka] [ky] [la] [mdf] [myu] [myv] [naq] [nci] [nmf] [oge] [pcm] [ps] [qpm] [ru] [ruc] [say] [sl] [tpn] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urb] [urj] [xcl] [xmf] [yrl]