The conjugation of Sardinian verbs are mainly divided according to infinitives into -are, -ere, and -ire verbs in north-central dialects (including the Limba Sarda Comuna) for regular verbs, similar to the tripartite systems of Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian (all involve infinitives with thematic vowels -a-, -e-, and -i-). In southern dialects (including Campidanese dialect), these infinitives above change to -ai, -i, and -iri, respectively. Irregular verbs also exist as well. Many Sardinian conjugated forms were similar and conservative phonologically to Classical Latin, although the number of tenses were greatly reduced and the remaining tenses rely on periphrasis.
The conjugation of Sardinian verbs split into its own article due to possible diversity. The conjugations here are currently based on Limba Sarda Comuna, Logudorese dialect,Grammatica sardo-campidaneseGrammatica (Sardo-Italiano) and Campidanese dialect.
Overview Like other Romance languages, Sardinian verbs have a high degree of inflection. However, Sardinian conjugation is rather diverse, but less diverse compared to that of Occitan. Additionally, the indicative and subjunctive imperfect tenses of Campidanese come from Latin indicative perfect and subjunctive pluperfect, respectively. Also, the Latin indicative perfect evolved to poetic preterite in Logudorese dialect, the endings are (from > > > > > ) -esi, -esti, -esit, -èsimus/-emus, -ezis, and -èsint. Sardinian once also preserved the Latin conjugation of the indicative pluperfect (e.g. sc. derat from lat. dederat, sc. fekerat / fecherat from Lat. fecerat, sc. furarat from VL. *furaverat, etc.), but has long fallen out of use. The tenses include (periphrases are in green):
Infinitive (infinitivu) Participle (partitzípiu) Past participle Gerund (gerùndiu) Indicative (indicativu) Present (presentu) Past present (passadu pròssimu): by adding indicative present forms of auxiliary verbs (either àere or essere) with past participle Imperfect (imperfetu) Past imperfect (passadu pròssimu): by adding indicative imperfect forms of auxiliary verbs with past participle Future (fùturu): by adding indicative present forms of àere plus a and the infinitive Future anterior (fùturu anteriore): by adding present forms of àere a with the infinitives of auxiliary verbs and past participle Conditional (conditzionale): by adding indicative imperfect forms of dèpere (in Logudorese and LSC) or ái(ri) plus a (in the transitional dialects and Campidanese), both with the infinitive Conditional past: by adding imperfect forms of dèpere with the infinitives of auxiliary verbs and past participle Subjunctive (congiuntivu) Present Past (passadu): by adding subjunctive present forms of auxiliary verbs with past participle Imperfect Pluperfect (trapassadu): by adding subjunctive imperfect forms of auxiliary verbs with past participle Imperative (imperativu) Negative imperative (forma negativa): by adding no with the subjunctive present forms
Similar to Portuguese and Spanish, imperative forms can only exist in and , but other forms (except ) are supplied by present subjunctive forms.
The forms are mostly pronounced as they written, with the exception of forms ending in consonants are pronounced with an epenthetic vowel same as the last vowel next to the consonant (echo vowel), with the final unvoiced consonant being voiced intervocalically and voiced stops were further lenited also intervocalically to fricatives (cantas → càntasa , cantet → càntede ). Therefore, it is normally not reflected in the orthography, although the forms cantan, càntana, cantant, or càntanta of the ending in Logudorese are all acceptable (forms in -nt is used here).
Example of pronunciations of forms Logudorese Infinitive tènnere Gerund tenende Past participle tentu Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present tèngiotenestenettenimustenidestenent tèngiatèngiastèngiattengiamustengiaistèngiant tenetengiais Imperfect teniateniasteniattenìamusteniaisteniant tenneretennerestennerettenneremustennereistennerent
Nuorese Infinitive appèrrere Gerund apperende Past participle appértu / apperta / Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present apperjoappérisappéritapperimusapperìesappérin apperjaapperjasapperjatapperjamusapperjazesapperjan appériapperìe Imperfect apperìoapperìasapperìatapperiabamusapperiabazesapperìan apperrère(po)apperreresapperreretapperrerémusapperrerezesapperreren
Auxiliary verbs: èssere and àere Both verbs are highly irregular, they contain subjunctive forms in the imperative forms (in Campidanese, the verb ai is missing the past participle and imperative forms). Like other descendants of Latin verb sum (see also Romance copula), the verb èssere is suppletive, consisting of Latin verbs of (already suppletive) sum "I am" in remaining forms, and stō "I stand" in the past participle. The verb àere is only used as an auxiliary verb, the meaning of "to have" otherwise is by the verb tènnere, in central-southern dialects (see § Irregular verbs). In Logudorese dialect, the preterite (see § Overview) forms of èssere is fui, fusti/fisti/fis, fuit/fit, fimus/fimis, fustis/fizis, and fuint/fint, similarly, the preterite stem of àere is app-.
Èssere "to be" + Limba Sarda Comuna Infinitive èssere Gerund essende Past participle istadu Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present sosesestsemusseissunt siasiassiatsiamussiaissiant siassiais Imperfect fiafiasfiatfiamusfiaisfiant essereesseresesseretesseremusessereisesserent
+ Nuorese Infinitive èssere Gerund essende Past participle istàu / istada Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present soesesestsemussezissun sìasìassìatsiamussiazessìan Replacedby istare:ista,istàe Imperfect fippofisfitfimusfizisfin essere(po)esseresesseretesseremusesserezesesseren
+ Logudorese Infinitive essere Gerund essende, sende Past participle istadu Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present sosesestsemusseissunt sia, siesias, siessiat, sietsiamus, siemussiades, siedas, siezis, siezassiant, sient sias, siessiazes, siezes Imperfect fia, fiofias, fistfiat, fitfimusfizisfin essére esséresesséretesséremusessérezis, essérezezessérent
+ Campidanese Infinitive essi Gerund sendi Past participle stètiu, stau Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present seusesestseusseissunt, funt siasiassiastsiaussiaissiant siastsiais Imperfect fia, femufiastfiat, futfiaus, femusfiais, festisfiant fessifessisfessitfèssimusfèssidisfessint
Àere "to have" + Limba Sarda Comuna Infinitive àere Gerund aende Past participle àpidu Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present apoasatamusaisant apaapasapatapamusapaisapant apasapais Imperfect aiaaiasaiataìamusaiaisaiant aereaeresaeretaeremusaereisaerent
+ Nuorese Infinitive àere Gerund aènde Past participle àppiu/àppia Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present appoasatamusazesan appaappasappatappamusappazesappan Imperfect aìo, aìaaìasaìatabamus, ajabamusabazes, ajabazesaìan aere(po)aeresaeretaeremusaerezes, aerezisaeren
+ Logudorese Infinitive àere Gerund a(pp)ende Past participle appidu Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present appoasatamusaisant appaappasappatappamusappades, appazesappant aappades Imperfect aia, aioaiasaiataì(a)musai(a)zisaiant a(pp)erea(pp)eresa(pp)ereta(pp)eremusa(pp)erezesa(pp)erent
+ Campidanese Infinitive ai Gerund endi Past participle tentu Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present apuasateuseisant apaapasapatapausapaisapant (missing) Imperfect ia, emuiastiatiaus, emusiais, estisiant essiessisessitèssimusèssidisessint
For verbs with the auxiliary verb èssere, the past participle agrees with gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) of the subject, for example (in and ) apo àpidu; amus àpidu; but so istadu, -a; semus istados, -as.Propostas isperimentales de unos cantos liniamentos grammaticales comunes de sa limba sarda The verbs èssere and àere always use auxiliary verbs same as themselves.
Verbs in -are: cantare Verbs under this group are verbs whose the infinitive ends in -are, or -ai in southern dialects (incl. Campidanese). This group is derived from the Latin first conjugation infinitive, -āre. + Limba Sarda Comuna Infinitive cantare "to sing" Gerund cantende Past participle cantadu Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present cantocantascantatcantamuscantadescantant cantecantescantetcantemuscanteiscantent cantacantade Imperfect cantaiacantaiascantaiatcantaìamuscantaiaiscantaiant cantarecantarescantaretcantaremuscantareiscantarent
+ Nuorese Infinitive domare "to tame" Gerund domande Past participle domàu / domada Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present domodomasdomatdomamusdomàesdoman domedomesdometdomémusdomedasdomen domadomàe Imperfect domabodomabasdomabatdomabamusdomabazesdomaban domàre(po)domaresdomaretdomarémusdomarezesdomaren
+ Logudorese Infinitive cantare "to sing" Gerund cantande Past participle cantadu Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present cantocantascantatcantamuscantadescantant cantecantescantetcantemuscantedescantent cantacantade Imperfect cantaìacantaìascantaìatcantaiamuscantaiaziscantaiant canterecanterescanteretcanteremuscantereziscantèrent
+ Campidanese Infinitive cantai "to sing" Gerund cantendi Past participle cantau Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present cantucantascantatcantauscantaiscantant canticantiscantitcanteuscanteiscantint cantacantai Imperfect cantamucantàstcantàtcantamuscantastiscantànt cantessicantessiscantessitcantèssimuscantèssidiscantessint Past
Verbs in -ere: tìmere Verbs under this group are verbs whose the infinitive ends in -ere, or -i in southern dialects. There are slight orthographic irregularity due to being accented in the infinitive and past participle (tìmere, tìmidu) but unaccented elsewhere due to default penultimate syllable stress (timo, times). This group is derived by the merger of the Latin second and third conjugation infinitives, (a)-ḗre and (á)-ere, respective, with the infinitive form favored the third one. Similar mergers also occurred in many Romance languages.
+ Limba Sarda Comuna Infinitive tìmere "to fear" Gerund timende Past participle tìmidu Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present timotimestimettimimustimidestiment timatimastimattimamustimaistimant timetimide Imperfect timiatimiastimiattimìamustimiaistimiant timeretimerestimerettimeremustimereistimerent
+ Nuorese Infinitive fàchere "to do" Gerund fachende Past participle fattu / fatta Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present facofachesfachetfachimusfachìesfachen facafacasfacatfacamusfacadesfacan fachefachìe Imperfect fachìo, fachìafachìasfachìatfachiabamusfachiabazesfachìan fachère(po)facheresfacheretfacherémusfacherezesfacheren
+ Logudorese Infinitive tìmere "to fear" Gerund timende Past participle tìmidu Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present timotimestimettimimustimidestìment timatimastimattimamustimadestìmant timetimide Imperfect timiatimiastimiattimiamustimiazistimiant timeretimerestimerettimeremustimerezistimèrent
+ Campidanese Infinitive prandi "to have lunch" Gerund prandendi Past participle pràndiu Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present pranduprandispranditprandeusprandeisprandint prandaprandasprandatprandausprandaisprandant prandiprandei Imperfect prandemuprandiastprandiatprandemusprandestisprandiant prandessiprandessisprandessitprandèssimusprendèssidisprendessint
Verbs in -ire: finire Verbs under this group are verbs whose the infinitive ends in -ire, or -iri in southern dialects. This group is derived from the Latin fourth conjugation infinitive, -īre. Unlike French (all pure -ir verbs are now irregular), Catalan, Romanian, or Italian; Sardinian does not make distinctions between verbs in pure -ire and inchoative -ire (whose some forms infixed with Latin once-inchoative infix -ēscō).