Timucua verbs are very complex. They contain a great deal of information and we are still trying to understand how all the pieces fit together. In this lesson we will discuss some of the suffixes that help mark verb tenses.
There are three main verb tenses in Timucua. They are called true verb tenses because they contain only temporal information about an event, not information about its reality, veracity, or relationship to the speaker’s intentions. The true tenses in Timucua are: the default, the past, and the remote past. Note that there is no future tense. Timucua thus has a two-way contrast between past and non-past, as opposed to a three-way contrast among past, present, and future, as is common in other languages, and can be observed in Japanese, Arabic, and Choctaw.
In this lesson, we will first look at the suffixes that represent the default tense, the past tense, and the remote past. Then we will look at some mood suffixes.
Default Tense
The default tense in Timucua is marked by the suffix -te. Default means that it can be either present or past, depending on the context. The -te suffix appears after the stem of the verb, but before the declarative -la or question marker. In the following examples, -te is interpreted like the English present tense.
Caqi hachipile niocotela
Caqi hachipile nioco-te-la
This animal run-tns-dec
This animal runs.
Ine hapu nahitela
Ine hapu nahi -te -la
Thing three exist-tns-dec
There are three things.
Hachibueno motecho?
Hachibueno mo-te-ch-o?
What say-tns-2sg-q?
What do you say?
Chitaconte?
Chitaco -ine –te?
Who -be -tns?
Who is she/he?
No Tense Markers
Not all verbs must have a tense marker. In sentences with more than one verb, it is the final verb that usually contains the tense marker; the other verbs will have a marker like -ta, connecting them to the verb with the tense marker. This mode of conjugating and uniting verbs can be observed in the following sentence:
Inemi Adam hebaquasinoma hebaquasimota utitatileta quosomohabentela
Inemi Adam hebaqua-si-no-ma hebaqua-si-mo-ta utitatile-ta quoso-mo-habe (i)n-te-la
All Adam obey-ben-nmlz-def obey-ben-3:pl-part serve-part do-3:pl-irr be-tns-la
All of them obeyed and served Adam.
In the previous example, only the verb ini has the suffix -te. In this case, the -te is interpreted as the past tense. The other verbs hebaqua (obey) and utitatile (serve) do not have a tense marker and are connected to the verb ini with the suffix -ta.
Additional notes on -te
- The default tense marker -te and the participial suffix -ta look very similar, but they do different things.
- Tense marking with -te is not obligatory, and the sentences without tense marking tend to be intransitive.
Past tense
In Timucua, the past tense is marked by the -bi suffix. Like the default tense, the past tense appears after the verb stem, but before the declarative or question marker.
Mobila
Mo-bi-la
Say-past-dec
He/She said
Nihimobitila
Nihi-mo-bi-ti-la
Die-3pl-past-neg-dec
They did not die.
Acu hebuano ninahiabobila
Acu hebuano ni-nahiabo-bi-la
This word 1st-know-past-dec
I knew this word.
Remote Past
There are also the suffixes -bile and -chule that describe a remote past, or something that happened long before the actions being described. These remote past suffixes are not very common. Nearly all instances of -bile appear in narratives where events are described in temporal sequence. -bile appears on verbs that describe events prior to other past events.
Ulemichu narecabiletequa…
Ule-michu na-areca-bile-tequa
child: (said:by:female) prev:mention ins-make-rem-and:so
The previously mentioned child had made it and so…
Hitimano heca irimile acochule
Hiti-mano heca iri-mile aco-chule
Devil we enemy-1pl:poss very-rem:pst
The devil was [in a time long before] our great enemy
Irrealis Mood
Timucua, like all languages, has grammatical ways of expressing events that have not yet happened or are unreal. Linguists call the particular suffixes and morphological markers that indicate this uncertainty “irrealis.” Timucua has an “irrealis” mood marked by -haue, also spelled -habe or -habue. These suffixes indicate an action that is possible or potential, but is not (yet) real. -haue/-habe/-habue can be thought of as the verb “may” or “will” in English.
Acu nia tocohanima chito chinaipelohabele
Acu nia toco-hanima chito chi-na-ipelo-habe-le
This woman come:out-although head 2sg-ins-step:on-irr-dec
But when this woman comes, she will step on your head.
Iquenibomohaue
Iqueni-bo-mo-haue
Kill- pl- 3:pl-irr
They may kill them…
Chiquosobohauela
Chi-quoso-bo-haue-la
2- make- pl-irr-dec
You all may make
Additional notes on the irrealis
- Sometimes shortened forms -ha or -he appear.
- Most of the time -haue/-habe/-habue is attached to the verb. But sometimes it can appear on its own. It is important to note that this is a spelling difference, not a difference in meaning, which can be seen in the following example:
- Caqi Diosi manta cumeleta hebuanima tumamate sancta Iglesia isomile, noma nisisobotanima inemi yaleta haue intema yalehala motecho/ Do you say that you will keep the commandments of the Law of God, and those of our Mother the Holy Church and the others? (1612 Baptism, pg. 030-031)
Unmarked Tense
Timucua also has tenseless sentences. The verbs nahi (exist) and quoso (to do) in the following sentence have no tense marker:
Yanquamano inihimi nahita acu qiemi marecosota quosola.
Yanqua-mano inihi-mi nahi-ta acu qie-mi mareco-so-ta quoso-la
One-top spouse: 3sg exists-part these son-3sig six-caus-part do-dec
Literally “As for one (man), his spouse existed and she caused his sons to be six.”
One was married and had six children
This sentence is interpreted in the past tense due to context.
Conclusion
- The suffix -te is the default tense marker.
- The suffix -bi is the past tense marker.
- The suffixes -bile and -chule indicate the remote past.
- There are verbs that do not have tense markers.
- The irrealis -haue marks future or hypothetical events.