Verbs are synthetic, conjugating for subject, tense, aspect, and mood. The citation form of verbs is in the simple active infinitive, which ends in -thi. The verb stem is found by removing -thi from the infinitive. That basic stem also functions as the second person singular active imperative. There are five regular conjugations, based on final stem vowel of the verb.
Verb phrase syntax
indirect object pronoun + direct object pronoun + emphasis particle + polarity particle + modal particle + perfect + progressive + verb
Emphasis Particle
| Particle | Mood/Tense | Use |
| bang (< ban gos “it is that”) | any | emphasis |
Polarity particles
| Particle | Mood/Tense | Use |
| ve | indicative/non-finite | Realis negation |
| qa | subjunctive/optative/imperative | Irrealis negation |
| noc | any | Interrogative – can also be used for indirect questions: “I don’t know if/whether…” |
| voc | any | Negative interrogative |
Modal particles
| Particle | Mood/Tense | Use |
| do | subjunctive | Potential – likely possibilities: “probably” |
| lakh | subjunctive | Dubitative/hypothetic – unlikely/hypothetical possibilities |
| kai | subjunctive | Assumptive/Presumptive “must have/be” |
| nel | subjunctive | Reportative: “allegedly/reportedly/supposedly” |
Aspect Particles
| Particle | Aspect |
| ma | perfect |
| bo | progressive |
Finite Verb forms
Order of affixes:
STEM-tense/mood-person/voice
Tense affixes
Affixes in general form
| Tense type | tense | suffix |
Direct | Present | – |
| Past | -ufa | |
| Future | -so | |
Indirect | Present | -i |
| Past | -ufe (<ufa + i) | |
| Future | -si (<so + i) |
Affixes with verb stem per verb class
| infinitive | -athi | -ethi | -ithi | -othi | -uthi | |
Direct | Present | -a | -e | -i | -o | -u |
| Past | -ofa | -ufa | -yufa | -ufa | -aufa | |
| Future | -aso | -eso | -iso | -oso | -uso | |
Indirect | Present | -e | -i | -ai | -i | -oi |
| Past | -ofe | -ufe | -yufe | -ufe | -aufe | |
| Future | -asi | -esi | -isi | -usi | -usi |
Personal endings
Primary (indicative, subjunctive)
| person/number | Active voice | Middle voice (-em) | Passive voice (-el/r) |
| 1s | -t | -tem | -tel |
| 2s | -ch | -chem | -chel |
| 3s | -n | -nem | -nel |
| 1p | -ndo | -ndom | -ndol |
| 2p | -vo | -vom | -vol |
| 3p | -lo | -lom | -lor |
Secondary (imperative, optative)
| person/number | Active voice | Middle voice (-em) | Passive voice (-el/r) |
| 1s | -ti | -tim | -til |
| 2s | -chi* | -chim | -chil |
| 3s | -ni | -nim | -nil |
| 1p | -ndi | -ndim | -ndil |
| 2p | -vi | -vim | -vil |
| 3p | -li | -lim | -lir |
There is a bare imperative or simple imperative, which only exists in the second person singular in the active voice, and consists in the bare stem of the verb.
Synthetic Moods
The tense affixes and person endings in different combinations produce the four synthetic moods of Denkurian:
| Primary Endings | Secondary Endings | |
| Direct Tense | Indicative | Imperative |
| Indirect Tense | Subjunctive | Optative |
Negation
Verbs in the indicative mood, as well as non-finite forms, are negated by being preceded by the negative particle ve. Conversely, verbs in the subjunctive, imperative, or optative moods are negated by the preceding negative particle qa.
Conjugation of regular verbs
Regular verbs fall into one of five classes, based on their simple active infinitive ending, the citation form: -athi, -ethi, -ithi, -othi, -uthi. Note that the i-stem class can have a number of consonant stem changes in the past tenses due to palatalization.
| Class type | Class number |
| a-stem | 1 |
| e-stem | 2 |
| i-stem | 3 |
| o-stem | 4 |
| u-stem | 5 |
| bodathi | colethi | sunithi | hunothi | foduthi |
| “to love” | “to write” | “to drink” | “to eat” | “to run” |
Non-finite Forms
Summary of participle/gerund affixes
Gerund: -go (verbal noun)
Agent (animate, inanimate): -spe, -ntha
Patient (animate, inanimate): -ke, -thu/-a (e-, i-, o-, u-verbs)
The stem of each participle is based on the stem of the finite verb form in the indicative mood.
| Tense-aspect/Voice | Active | Middle | Passive |
| Present | -ste | -nte | -lte |
| Perfect | -use | -ume | -ure |
| Prospective | -soste | -sonte | -solte |
The adverbial forms of these participles end in -o.
A conditional form of each participle is made by prefixing da(h)-, da- before consonants and dah- before vowels. Of the conditional participles, only the present conditional participle is used with any regularity.
Example of participles using the stem boda- love
| Tense-aspect/Voice | Active | Middle | Passive |
| Present | bodaste | bodante | bodalte |
| Perfect | bodose | bodome | bodore |
| Prospective | bodasoste | bodasonte | bodasolte |
Summary of infinitive affixes
Active Infinitive: -thi
Middle infinitive: -thim
Passive infinitve: -thil
Example of infinitives using the stem boda- love
Future infinitives are periphrastic, using zothi with the corresponding infinitive.
| Tense-aspect/Voice | Active | Middle | Passive |
| Present | bodathi* | bodathim | bodathil |
| Perfect | ma bodathi | ma bodathim | ma bodathil |
| Prospective | zothi bodathi | zothi bodathim | zothi bodathil |
*The citation form of a verb is its present active infinitive
Irregular verbs
Bathi – “be”
| Present indicative | Past indicative | Future indicative | Present imperative | Future imperative | |
| 1sg | bat | mut | esot | bati | esoti |
| 2sg | bach | much | esoch | bachi | esochi |
| 3rd | ban | mun | eson | bani | esoni |
| 1pl | bando | mundo | esondo | bandi | esondi |
| 2pl | bavo | muvo | esovo | bavi | esovi |
| 3pl | balo | mulo | esolo | bali | esoli |
| Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive | Future subjunctive | Present optative | Past optative | Future optative | |
| 1sg | bet | mufet | esit | beti | mufeti | esiti |
| 2sg | bech | mufech | esich | bechi | mufechi | esichi |
| 3rd | ben | mufen | esin | beni | mufeni | esini |
| 1pl | bendo | mufendo | esindo | bendi | mufendi | esindi |
| 2pl | bevo | mufevo | esivo | bevi | mufevi | esivi |
| 3pl | belo | mufelo | esilo | beli | mufeli | esili |
Verb aspects
Prospective (‘to be going to do’): “go” + infinitive
zothi+ INF
Zot hunothi. I am going to eat.
Perfect prospective (‘to be going to have done’): “go” + perfect infinitive
zothi + INF.PERF
Zot ma hunothi. I am going to have eaten.
Immediate prospective/future (‘to be about to do’): locative “be” + future adverbial participle
yathi + FUT.PTCP.ADV
Yat hunososto. I am about to eat.
Retrospective/Recent perfect (‘to have just done’): “come” + “from” + infinitive
mevathi pesh + INF
Mevat pesh hunothi. I just ate
Habitual (‘to usually/normally do’): “to usually do” + infinitive
vogethi + INF
Voget hunothi. I usually eat.
Continuative (‘to keep on/continue doing’): “to follow” + present adverbial participle
Kavathi + PRS.PTCP.ADV
Kavat honosto. I keep on eating. I continue eating. I’m still eating.