Verbs

Verbs are unchanging in Pandunia. Things like person, number, time and mood are indicated by separate words, not by changing the form of verbs as in English and other languages.

Person and number

Person and number are indicated by the subject. For example, the verb es ('to be') has the same form in all persons.

mi es doste. – I am a friend.
tu es doste. – You are a friend.
ho es doste. – He/she is a friend.
mimen es doste. – We are friends.
tumen es doste. – You are friends.
homen es doste. – They are friends.

Also a noun can serve as subject.

mau es hevan. – The cat is an animal.

Voice, time and mood

Verb tenses, moods and voices are expressed with auxiliary verbs, which come first in the verb phrase. The order of the auxiliaries is tense, mood and aspect. The tense marker is first, the mood marker is next, and the aspect marker is last.

Tense

Tense is a property that expresses time reference. The main tenses are the past, present, and future. The marker le indicates the past tense, nun indicates the present tense, and fu indicates the future tense. More specific time references are expressed with various time expressions, like yesterday, tomorrow or one hour ago.

man le yam ban. – The man ate (or did eat) bread.
man nun yam ban. – The man eats bread (now).
man fu yam ban. – The man will eat bread.

It is also possible to express the future in the past with a combination of two tense markers.

man le fu yam ban. – The man was going to eat bread.

Aspect

Aspect expresses how an action or event extends over time. There are two aspect markers in Pandunia, sta and ha.

The marker sta indicates that the action or event is on-going or in progress at the time, which the speaker is talking about. The time can be indicated with a tense marker.

man sta yam ban. – The man is, was or will be eating bread.
man le sta yam ban. – The man was eating bread.
man nun sta yam ban. – The man is eating bread.
man fu sta yam ban. – The man will be eating bread.

The marker ha indicates that the action or event is completed and its results still has an effect at the time, which the speaker is talking about. The time can be indicated with a tense markers.

man ha yam ban. – The man had, has or will have eaten bread.
man le ha yam ban. – The man had eaten bread.
man nun ha yam ban. – The man has eaten bread.
man fu ha yam ban. – The man will have eaten bread.

Mood

The conditional mood is used for anything that could take place. It indicates that the realization of an action or event depends on another condition. The conditional mood is expressed with the auxiliary verb vud ('would'). This marker is used in both main and subordinate clauses.

mi vud voli yam. – I would like to eat.
mi vud go do Dubai. – I would go to Dubai.
mi vud go, if tu vud las mi. – I would go if you would let me.
tu no vud es suka, if mi vud go. – You would not be happy, if I would go.

The auxiliary verb debe ('should, ought') indicates some kind of expectation like duty, obligation, requirement, desire, advisability or likelihood.

ma voka mimen. mimen debe go. – Mother called us. We should go.
ho debe ha kom pre nun. – He should have come by now.
evri von debe vote. – Everyone should vote.

The imperative mood is used to form a command or request. In Pandunia, the imperative is created with the auxiliary verb shal. It can be used to give commands to any person, not just "you".

mimen shal go! – Let us go! ~ Let's go!
homen shal kurse! – Let them run!

shal can be used to give commands also to the second person, but it is common to drop both the personal pronoun and the auxiliary verb in order to give the command more force.

tu shal kom! = kom! – Come!
tumen shal kom! = kom! – Come (you all)!

Passive clause

The passive clause expresses that the subject undergoes the action or has its state changed. In other words, the subject has a passive role. This contrasts with the active clause where the subject is the agent or the doer of the action. In Pandunia, the passive clause is constructed with the help of the auxiliary verb sta.

Active: homen yam piza. – They eat pizza.
Passive: piza bi yam. – Pizza is eaten.

The agent of the action can be expressed also in passive clauses by using the preposition da.

mi di gar le bi bate da tren. – My car was hit by a train.

The equivalent of passive (past) participle is built by using the prefix bi- and the suffix -(t)ik.

biyamik piza – eaten pizza (pizza that was or is eaten)
bilogutik lexe – spoken word (word that was or is spoken)

Summary of verb forms

Active

	Past	Present	Future	Conditional
Simple	ho le yam 'he ate ~ did eat'	ho yam 'he eats'	ho fu yam 'he will eat'	ho vud yam 'he would eat'
Perfect	ho le ha yam 'he had eaten'	ho ha yam 'he has eaten'	ho fu ha yam 'he will have eaten'	ho vud ha yam 'he would have eaten'
Progressive	ho le sta yam 'he was eating'	ho sta yam 'he is eating'	ho fu sta yam 'he will be eating'	ho vud sta yam 'he would be eating'
Perfect progressive	ho le ha sta yam 'he had been eating'	ho ha sta yam 'he has been eating'	ho fu ha sta yam 'he will have been eating'	ho vud ha sta yam 'he would have been eating'
Imperative		yam! 'Eat!'

Note! In the above table, ho is translated only 'he' instead of the usual 'he or she' in order to save space.

Passive

	Past	Present	Future	Conditional
Simple	ho le bi yam 'it was eaten'	ho bi yam 'it is eaten'	ho fu bi yam 'it will be eaten'	ho vud bi yam 'it would be eaten'
Perfect	ho le ha bi yam 'it had been eaten'	ho ha bi yam 'it has been eaten'	ho fu ha bi yam 'I will have been eaten'	ho vud ha bi yam 'it would have been eaten'
Progressive	ho le sta bi yam 'it was being eaten'	ho sta bi yam 'it is being eaten'	ho fu sta bi yam 'it will be being eaten'	ho vud sta bi yam 'it would be being eaten'
Perfect progressive	ho le ha sta bi yam 'it had been being eaten'	ho ha sta bi yam 'it has been being eaten'	ho fu ha sta bi yam 'it will have be being eaten'	ho vud ha sta bi yam 'it would have been being eaten'
Imperative		bi yam! 'Be eaten!'

Transitivity

In general, there are three types of verbs.

1. Transitive verbs need a direct object, which is the target of the action.
2. Intransitive verbs don't accept an object. Then the action is directed to the subject.
3. Ambitransitive verbs can be both transitive and intransitive.

Pandunia verbs are typically ambitransitive i.e. they may or may not require an object depending on the sentence structure. When there is an object, the verb is transtive, and when there isn't an object, the verb is intransitive.

mi bule sui. – I boil water. (transitive sentence)
sui bule. – Water boils. (intransitive sentence)
baker bake ban. – The baker bakes bread. (transitive sentence)
ban bake in tanur. – Bread bakes in the oven. (intransitive sentence)

Serial verb construction

Serial verb construction is a string of verbs that share the same subject, which is before the verbs. In serial verb constructions the verbs are interpreted so that the first verb (an auxiliary verb) is something that the subject possesses and the second verb is something that the subject does (when there is an object in the end) or experiences (when there is no object).

mi pote kitab el javab.
≈ I have the ability to write the answer.
– I can write the answer.
mi halal kitab el javab.
≈ I have the permission to write the answer.
– I may write the answer.
mi mus kitab el javab.
≈ I have the compulsion to write the answer.
– I must write the answer.

Note that the same auxiliary verbs can be used alone as transitive verbs in the pivot construction.

guru halal mi kitab el javab. – The teacher permits me to write the answer.
guru mus mi kitab el javab. – The teacher compels me to write the answer.