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Lesson 7
Topic Started: Nov 30 2009, 05:07 PM (283 Views)
pirmas
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Prussian Lesson 7
Imperfect Past Tense


lábdien klasá!
ká bást ju? kát háso ju liestæ nedælás nogál gemachan?

This lesson we are going to finish working on conjugation for a while with the imperfect or literary past. Imperfect past is used mostly in the north and in the Kiev and Chernigov urban centers. This is because imperfect past is "faster" than perfect past. In literature (both fiction and non-fiction) imperfect past is used to give a sense of action, lacking the helping verb means characters are acting as compared to constantly being broken from their actions. The sentence structure remains fluid, though the preferred is SVO.

Here is the conjugation table:
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Your best source of examples comes from Sviendorog's poem, which I will repost here:

Quote:
 
ien dien bráuláfáth een dalish mietena wis se wolgá.
tór kræsáláfáth win ien vienæ wulf sedáfást ám se upa.
"mietena," áizliktáfást se wulf "kápesh sie tháó talus no cot vienægá?"
"æthel kung wulf, min inhird vajádzáf ódæn."
"háp tháó kien bralisæs?"
"næ abæs he sa ár se árma gebráulæn."
"slims. kát cannáj æs in the machæt?"
se mas mietena dómásáfáth un áizliktáfáth
"infind min bralis un átæll him ka we gáslissæt him."
se wulf gálvásmajáfást un átælláfást vim uz se Wolgá náko full-liefæt átgrienáfáth.
se mietena ieránáfáth án cot ár vins spans ódæn.
wán vin bráuláfáth tór vins mátæ wor grim un vins tevá theostor.
"mátæ? tevá? kát ist he?"
"tavs bralis sa án chiná gedeadæn. tu klumáfáth se kurjer."
un se mietena ráudefáth abæs áizmirzáfáth næ vins solit ár se wulf.
durch se náko full-liefæt átgrienáfáth vin uz se tráps kór vins se wulf sástadáfáth.
se wulf wor tór in vim gádisáfást. en hims mut wor vims brailisus swærd.
"hvæt æthel wulf, tu atnæstáp pierádjim uv min brailisus náve?"
"raze næt, vel tavs brailis ist ár æmi sefs."
"kápesh aizliktáp tu swilch letás?"
"raze næt, vel tavs timá ist næ nó.
abæs tu sa gezinon ka se wolgá durch se full-liefæt márá tán ódæn tvernisáf."
un lajá se liefætus kvala se wolgá wor mistæn zilá un ien zemæn mæn kámáfást wis.
shkersám se strámæ stáváfan ien árma uf záudæn kalpæs kercháfan uv cot.
ámang hiem wor se mietenas bralis un he skátiesáfást seriga ad vina no áfer.
se mietena bevæláfáth un ieránáfáth bæk cot uz vins mátæ un tevá átællát.
abæs hie ticáfan næ vim kamer vin se swærd átcertáfáth.
hvæt se swærd wor naletá un vim hiem næ parádæt cánnáfáth.
atcertæt se liefæt vin gádisáfth kamer se full-liefæt un uz se wolgá átgrienáfást.
tór sedáfást ogæn se wulf lepns un æthel.
un en se liefætus kvala turnáfást se wolgá mistæn zilá.
"tu belángás næ hór, he ist næ tavs timá" se wulf áizliktáfást.
"æs zinátáj kán tu bist un kámáj æs uz the izacinájut in min bralis!"
se wulf gálvásmajáfást un smieláfást.
"lá he ist æs, se seglær on se wolgá, se reopær, se sith!"
un thon se wulf párveráfást ánuz ien gárs, lang kalp kán ien sith iznesáfást.
"abæs min deore, tháó cannáp naletá machæt, in tea kán in próshjó dæduth
wuldáp ogæn lebæt uz próshjá strádáp durch vins deocish ór!"
un se lavinek segláfást vina shkersám uz vins bralis.
abæs he cánnáfást wisletá machæt.
he cánnáfást næ runæt.
he cánnáfást næ kustibæt.
he cánnáfást næ mirogæt.
abæs wán dagáz kámáfást párveráfan se kárávursæs ánuz butorfleogæs.
un hie pludináfan dun unlang se wolgá.
"un tór, min deore, hie wuldáp Walhala ræcæt."
se mietena izbrástáfáth bædzot kápesh se wolgá próshjádus áustrumæn vánt wor.
un uz shis dien zoildáso ju næ ien wulf vai ien butprfleog unlang se wolgá láthæt.
hvæt dathær ist se shæhierd se kárávursæsus.
un próshjádus árma uf se braf gadisáf in se dien hie sind ogæn inkállát.


The hardest part for you now should be vocabulary, so let us break it down a bit, shall we?

Quote:
 
ien dien bráuláfáth een dalish mietena wis se wolgá.

The first word to stand out might be bráuláfáth:
βράyλάфάθ
-'áfáth is the feminine imperfect past conjugation meaning the verb is bráulæt. In this case the extra ' is ignored, but from a novice's perspective another good guess would be braulæt or even braulát. Bráulæt means "to go", in the imperfect past "went".

Ien and een are both "a" or "one". Ien is neuter and een is feminine.

Dien is "day" so that means thus far we have "A/One day went a/one".

Dalish is an adjective and means "beautiful" so thus far: "A/One day went a/one beautiful".

Mietena means "girl" so that means: "A/One day went a/one beautiful girl". From here we can stop and correct the ien/een to: "One day went a beautiful girl". This is not actually an issue, as in essence it means the same thing no matter if you pick "a" or "one".

Lastly is "wis se wolgá". Se is an article, it means "the". Wolgá is obvious to its meaning, it is the Volga River. Wis is a locative and roughly translates to "up to" or more properly "up to the edge of". Anglo-Baltic is very fond of locatives, so it might be confusing for a while. But for now, "wis" means "up to".

So this sentence boils down to "One day went a beautiful girl up to the Volga" or in a more proper English: "One day a beautiful girl went to the Volga".


Quote:
 
tór kræsáláfáth win ien vienæ wulf sedáfást ám se upa.

For those paying attention, you will notice that two imperfect conjugations appear here and one is feminine and the other neuter. The first is kræsáláfáth, and breaking it down we find that it is "kræsálæt" in its infinitive form. This means "to see" so in the imperfect past it is "saw". The second, sedáfást, is "sedæt" in the infinitive and means "to sit".

Tór is another locative meaning "there" or more specifically, "in the previously defined location".

Win (also spelled vin due to the Prussian merger of w and v) is the pronoun "she".

Ien is the same as above.

Vienæ means "lonely".

Wulf translates as expected into "wolf". So far the sentence reads: "There saw she a/one lonely wolf sat". Some will notice that the wolf's action is also in imperfect past. In English "sat" would be "sitting", but in Anglo-Baltic it is in the imperfect past to maintain the tense within the sentence.

The phrace "ám se upa" means "by the riverbank". Ám is another locative meaning "within the vicinity of". So finishing the sentence and making it more readable: "There she saw a lonely wolf sitting on the banks". Notice the use of "on" verses "by", this is mostly semantics. The Anglo-Baltic word for "on" is "on" and means "supported from under by".

This is all for now. If you have questions feel free to ask.
Edited by pirmas, Nov 30 2009, 09:36 PM.
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