Arêndron Syntax
6: Conditionals and adverbial clauses

Conditionals

Potential conditionals

The potential conditional is the simplest form of conditional (if-then) statement in Arêndron, formed by placing the conditional particle shê before the “if” clause. Conditionals of this type express what will happen if a given condition is fulfilled.

Shê deroŋ, bai zansa
If you come, I will be happy

Note that the future auxiliary kux- is not used; Arêndron's non-past tense can refer either to present or future time, and since the form of the conditional makes it clear that future time is referred to, this does not need to be explicitly stated.

The order of the clauses can be reversed: Bai zansa, shê deroŋ means exactly the same thing. There is, however, a slight difference in focus, in that there is more emphasis on whichever clause comes first. Shê deroŋ, bai zansa could be taken to imply that I will be happy only if you come; whereas the reversed sentence, Bai zansa, shê deroŋ, implies that I will definitely be happy if you come, but does not carry any implication either way about what will happen if you do not come.

Counterfactual conditionals

A counterfactual conditional states what would happen or what would have happened, given a condition contrary to known fact. In Arêndron, such conditionals use the same shê particle, but the verbs of both the condition and the consequence are cast in the dubitative mood.

Shê kharyê klêchen, baiê zaien
If I were not here, I would be elsewhere

If just the verb of the consequence is put into the dubitative, this instead gives a type of potential conditional, with the added meaning that the consequence might, but will not necessarily, follow if the condition is met:

Kœlyû cûshen, shê moŋkê Endros
We might meet again some day, if I visit Endros

Counterfactual conditionals can refer to the past, in one or both clauses:

Shê derenhoŋ, baiê zansa
If you had come, I would (now) be happy

Shê derenhoŋ, banhê zansa
If you had come, I would have been happy

Just as with potential conditionals, the order of the clauses in a counterfactual conditional can be reversed, although with counterfactual conditionals there is not much difference in meaning. (If I'm saying that I would be happy if you'd come, then it's probably the case that I'm not happy – otherwise why would I feel the need to say it?)

Sometimes there is a choice between casting a sentence as a potential or a counterfactual conditional; in this case, choosing the counterfactual is a way of expressing the opinion that the condition will not be fulfilled.

Kœlyû cûshen, shê moŋcê Endros
We might meet again some day, if I were to visit Endros (implied: I won't)

General conditionals

The general conditional expresses that if (whenever) one thing happens, a second thing will happen as a natural consequence; there is no doubt about the sequence of events. A general conditional is expressed with the shê particle before the “if” clause and a second particle, il, before the “then” clause.

Shê au klet Braxinash, il au gend Mœzadash
If this is Braxinash (a day of the week), then tomorrow is Mœzadash

(When shê occurs before au, as in this example, the ê may be elided in colloquial speech, but this is not done in writing.)

General conditionals do not have to refer to a particular time. As with all “timeless” statements, timeless general conditionals use the non-past tense.

Shê urnoŋ klêtu, il deraithoŋ Shôrai
If you go west from here (at any time), you will get to Shôra

General conditionals can take the past tense, if the speaker is uncertain about whether a past event did take place or not, but wants to express that a certain consequence would definitely follow if it did:

Shê beŋœren lêsâshen, il dereithnoŋ klêti
If he set off yesterday, he will have arrived by now

As with the other forms of conditional, the order of the clauses of a general conditional can be reversed. Putting the il clause first emphasises the consequence, suggesting that the speaker is anxious either to convey or to enquire about the truth of the consequence, with the shê clause being a supporting reason:

Il au gend Mœzadash, shê au klet Braxinash
Tomorrow must be Mœzadash, if this is Braxinash

Il dereithnoŋ klêti, shê beŋœren lêsâshen
He must have arrived by now, if he set off yesterday

Other conditionals

For conditionals that are the objects of intensional clauses, the particle zar is used:

Zeŋoŋte, zar au Marot klêchen?
Do you know whether Marot is here?

There is no distinct word for unless; Arêndron uses shê and a negative construction:

Bai zansa, shê khâŋ derat
I will be happy unless you come
(literally, “I will be happy if you do not come”)

There are in fact two negative conditionals, one corresponding to the potential conditional and one to the general conditional with il; the difference between the two is the same as the difference between the positive forms. The rules about reversing the order of the clauses and not using the future auxiliary kux- are the same for the negative conditional as well.

Adverbial clauses

An adverbial clause is a clause that modifies a verb, in order to specify the time, purpose or cause of an action. In Arêndron, adverbial clauses are formed with the gerund of the verb of the subclause, put into the correct case to distinguish the different types of adverbial clause. (Note that all gerunds inflect like fourth-declension nouns.)

When the verb of the adverbial clause becomes a gerund, its subject must be put into the genitive; however, if the subject is the same as the subject of the main clause, it is normal to omit it in the subclause (even if it is present in the main clause only in the form of person marking on the verb).

Adverbials of time

Adverbials of time are shown by putting the gerund into one of the three spatiotemporal cases: allative to place the main verb in time before an event, locative to refer to time simultaneous with an event, and ablative to refer to time after an event.

Teiren Zaural Thûtra, tilatu hâghon
Zaural saw Thûtra before she saw him

Teiren Zaural Thûtra, tilatain hâghon
Zaural saw Thûtra as she saw him

Teiren Zaural Thûtra, tilati hâghon
Zaural saw Thûtra after she saw him

(Note that because of the use of the gerund, there is no tense marking in the subclause.)

The allative can be used either to mean “before” or “until”; to distinguish between these, the verb is put into the protractive when it means that one thing kept happening until the named event:

Baghêsnê proth, deraithatu ŋôn
I read a book until you arrived
(literally, “I continued reading a book before you arrived”)

The protractive is similarly used in the locative, to mean “while” or “during” as opposed to just “at the same time as”; and in the ablative, to mean “since” as opposed to just “after”.

Zadêsnê ŋoi, baghatain ŋôn proth
I sat with you while you read a book
(literally, “I continued sitting with you as you read a book”)

Baghêsnê proth, isŋœrati ŋôn
I've been reading a book since you left
(literally, “I continued reading a book after you left”)

English allows a distinction to be made here that is lost in Arêndron, in that “I've been reading a book since you left” implies that the speaker continued reading up to the time of the utterance; “I continued reading a book after you left” makes no implication about whether the speaker later stopped reading. In Arêndron, both of these are possible meanings of a protractive main verb with an ablative gerund, but the ambiguity can often be resolved by context. (If necessary, wêru “up to now” can be added to give the “since” meaning.)

The copula bar- does not inflect for aspect, but there is a separate protractive copula bâs- that can be used to give the same range of meanings:

Bâsnê zansa, isŋœratu ŋôn
I was happy until you left

If the adverbial clause does not refer to a single action but to repeated occurrences of an action, this can be shown by using the habitual aspect on the main verb. This can be combined with any of the allative, locative or ablative gerunds:

Sherdôla sluth, moŋkatain
He brings wine whenever he visits

Grukôlê grœn sluth, isŋœrati
I always drink that wine after he leaves

There is, however, no way to make the copula habitual, so the plain copula bar- can be used with a habitual meaning:

Bai zansa, moŋkatain ŋô
I am happy when(ever) you visit

Other adverbials

Purpose (that is, saying that an action was done in order to achieve a certain result) is expressed with the dative gerund:

Ŋœrenê Velêrau, moŋkatith ŋô
I went to Velêra in order to visit you

(Note that, just as in the English, the subject, which should be “I”, is omitted from the subclause as it is the same as the subject of the main clause.) Also as in English, sentences of this type carry no implication one way or the other as to whether the desired result actually took place.

Conversely, the instrumental expresses cause, that one event took place because of another:

Ŋœrenê Velêrau, bâsatus ŋôn ghaulyen
I went to Velêra because you were there

The instrumental gerund can also express means, that an action was done by means of another. Arêndron relies on context to distinguish this from the causative meaning.

Ŋœrenê Velêrau, teŋkatus
I went to Velêra by walking

An adverbial with an associative gerund is used to say that one thing happened together with the happening of another. This corresponds to the construction with a participle in English:

Isŋœren, tuŋgata culta
He left, shutting the door

As in English, this construction can be given a subject different from the subject of the main clause. In Arêndron, this is done by putting the subject of the gerund in the genitive:

Isŋœren, tuŋgata zultau culta
He left, his hand shutting the door

Arêndron has no other types of adverbial clause; in particular, there is no adverbial of place. To say that one thing happened in the same place as another (or to describe motion towards or away from where something happened), the noun enla “place” is used with a relative clause:

Ŋœrê ra enlau, doien kœlnê ŋô
I am going to the place where I met you

Placement of adverbial clauses

Adverbial clauses behave like single-word adverbials in terms of their ordering and placement. By default, purpose clauses come first, followed by manner (or cause) and finally time. However, this default order can be overridden in order to emphasise any one adverbial, by moving it either to the beginning of the sentence or to the end. As with single-word adverbials, adverbial clauses can be placed at the beginning in order to modify both of a conjoined pair of verbs.