Adverbs
Adverbs follow the verbs they modify. This position is called adverbial
position. Some adjectives, such as tsat (“fast”),
can be placed in adverbial position to give them an adverbial meaning.
(You) go quickly to the chief!
The old woman spoke slowly.
Some postpositions can also be put in adverbial position
to modify the verb:
Temporal Adverbs
Temporal adverbs indicate the time in which an event occurs, functioning as
tense markers.
Present Tense
The adverb kana means “now”
or “immediately”:
Go to the house immediately!
It can also function as a present or present continuous tense marker:
I am walking to the village.
Past Tense
The temporal adverb nara marks past tense:
I walked from the village.
Note that nara is usually only used to emphasize the past
tense; normally it is not used when the past tense is already understood from
context. Also, it is often used for events at least a day past, as it also
means “yesterday”:
Yesterday I saw a monkey.
Literally, mubun nara means “last night”, but it is
used to refer to the past day as well.
Future Tense
The temporal adverb hara marks future tense:
I will speak to the chief.
As with nara, hara is usually used only to emphasize the
future tense, and is omitted when the future tense is already understood from
context. It is also normally used only for events at least a day in the
future, as it has the literal meaning of “tomorrow”:
The young man will search for the chanterelles tomorrow.
Literally, baran hara means “tomorrow morning”, but it
idiomatically also refers to the next day.
Adverbs of Manner
Adverbs are often used where the English would employ auxilliary verbs.
For example, the English verb “to try” is translated not
by a verb, but by an adverb:
The girl tries to pick up the large rock.
The main verb in this sentence is not “to try”, as the English
would seem to indicate; rather, the main verb is arap, “to pick
up”, modified by the adverb pera, which is the equivalent of
the English “to try”.
Marking Aspect
Adverbs are employed in this manner to describe such verbal aspects as
starting, stopping, or continuing. The adverbs ha (to begin),
irei (to continue), and bat (to stop), are used instead of
an auxilliary verb construction as in English:
The girl begins to pick up rocks.
The girl continues to pick up rocks.
The girl stops picking up rocks.
Imperatives may also employ these adverbs:
Start walking!
Stop talking!
Keep searching!
Notice that the English translations use an auxilliary verb with a
participle, but the Tatari Faran uses a verb with an adverb of manner.
Marking Modality
Possibility or impossibility is indicated by the adverbs of manner
epan or beman, respectively:
I can push the cart.
I cannot push the carriage.
To Like
The English verb to like
is translated into Tatari Faran in at least
three different ways: tsinai aman is used to express liking a person,
whereas uenai ia is used express liking an object. Liking an action is
expressed with the adverb of manner ein:
The old lady likes to gossip.
I like to drink milk.
Similarly, to hate doing something is expressed with the adverb of manner
ues:
I don't like to eat dried fruit.
ues is also an adjective meaning tired
. Used as an adverb,
it conveys the thought of being tired of doing something, feeling bothersome
or inconvenient to do something, or doing something with tired reluctance.
Last updated 24 Mar 2023.
