Verbs
High Valyrian 1
Course 1 · Chapter 6 · Verbs 1: The Basics
High Valyrian verbs change their endings for person, number, tense, voice and mood. That sounds like a lot, so this chapter takes just one corner of the system: the infinitive and the present tense, in the active voice. The past, the future and the commands come in Chapter 7.
The tables in this chapter come from David J. Peterson's own verb sheet, High Valyrian Reference Grammar and Lexicon, which is an eight-page working draft. It models the verb dohaeragon "to serve" (the same dohaer- as valar dohaeris, "all men must serve").
The Infinitive
A verb is listed in its infinitive. For the verb on Peterson's sheet that ends in a consonant, the infinitive is the stem plus -agon:
Other infinitives end in different shapes. The aorist (Chapter 7) has dohaerigon, and Chapter 1's māzigon "to come" ends in -igon. Peterson's sheet lists the irregular verb "to be" as sagon.
The Present Active Indicative
The present tense says what is happening now: "I serve" or "I am serving". The verb shows the person, so a pronoun is not needed (Chapter 5 explained that High Valyrian drops it unless it is emphasised).
| Person | Ending | dohaer- "serve" | ulz- |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | -an | dohaeran | ulzan |
| you (sg.) | -ā | dohaerā | ulzā |
| he / she / it | -za or -sa | dohaerza | ussa |
| we | -i | dohaeri | ulzi |
| you (pl.) | -āt | dohaerāt | ulzāt |
| they | -zi or -si | dohaerzi | ussi |
- Singular and plural. The plural is shown by the vowel ending: -an → -i and -ā → -āt.
- The third person changes with the stem. After r or l it is -za / -zi (dohaerza). After z the sound merges, so ulz- gives ussa and ussi, not *ulzza. A Linguifex dictionary entry gives tepsa for the stem tep- (a stop consonant), so a stop plus -sa is also a pattern.
- A word you already know. In the sentence on the Cases page, Kesȳ tubī jemot dāervī tepan, the verb tepan is the first-person present of tepagon "to give": "I give you freedom on this day".
The Irregular Verb "to be"
The sheet gives "to be" as an irregular verb. Its present forms are:
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| first | iksan | iksi |
| second | iksā | iksāt |
| third | issa | issi |
- The endings are the regular ones. Only the stem is odd: iks- in most forms and iss- in the third person.
- Sentences you have seen. The sample sentence Ābre ūndas lua vala raqiros issa from Chapter 1 ends in issa, "is". The sentence Zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor from Chapter 4 uses iksos, which is a different (subjunctive) form on the sheet.
- No "a" or "the". High Valyrian has no articles, so issa alone links the two parts of "the man is a friend".
A Look Ahead
The same sheet shows that nearly every other form is built by adding something to this stem: a passive voice marked with -ks, a subjunctive in -on/-os, and a separate imperative in -ās. Chapter 7 returns to these.
Hands-On Exercises
Write the six present forms of dohaeragon "to serve" without looking at the table: I, you (singular), he/she/it, we, you (plural), they.
📄 View solutionFind the stem of ulzagon and write its present forms. Which two forms differ from the pattern of dohaeragon, and why?
📄 View solutionWrite the six present forms of "to be", then say which is the verb in Ābre ūndas lua vala raqiros issa and which person it is.
📄 View solutionChapter 6 Quick Reference
- Infinitive: stem + -agon (dohaeragon); "to be" is sagon
- Present endings: -an, -ā, -za/-sa, -i, -āt, -zi/-si
- Model: dohaeran, dohaerā, dohaerza, dohaeri, dohaerāt, dohaerzi
- To be: iksan, iksā, issa, iksi, iksāt, issi
- Limits: consonant-stem verbs only; the source is a draft