Conjugations Overview

Conjugations are the way that Oscan verbs are distinguished between tense, number, mood, voice, and function. All languages have conjugations, and Oscan conjugation is similar to other ancient languages such as Latin and Greek.

In Oscan, a verb’s conjugation is how the endings change. Oscan has four conjugations, two voices (active and passive), five tenses (present, imperfect, future, future perfect, perfect), and three moods (indicative, subjunctive, imperative).

Five tenses may seem complicated as English only has three main tenses: present, past, and future. In Oscan, the present tense denotes an action happening in the present, the imperfect denotes an action that began in the past but continues to the present, the perfect denotes an action that happened in the past and is now completed, the future denotes an action that will happen in the future, and the future perfect denotes an action that will be completed in the future. Here are some examples:

Present: I speak; Imperfect: I was speaking; Perfect: I spoke; Future: I will speak; Future Perfect: I will have spoken.

Moreover, Oscan has three moods. The indicative is used for simple statements. The imperative is used for commands. The subjunctive is used in a clear variety of ways such as to express purpose.

Along with these divisions, Oscan also has sequences. The primary sequence contains the present tense, the future tense, and future perfect indicative. The secondary sequence contains the imperfect tense, the perfect tense, and all the tenses of the subjunctive. Verb endings will change depending on the sequence of the verb.