Appendix:Volapük verbs

Volapük verb infinitives end in -ön appended to the root. To form simple present, replace this suffix with the pronoun doing the action. Thus löfön (to love) becomes löfob, (I love), löfol (you love), löfoms (they love), et cetera.

You would not repeat the "ob" as an individual word before the verb, as we do in English, except to stress the pronoun. Thus, Ob logob ofi, no ol = It is I who sees her, not you.

Other tenses are formed by appending a vowel to the start of the root:


 * Ä- forms the imperfect. Äbinof = she was being.
 * E- forms the perfect. Enefölob = I have neglected.
 * I- forms the pluperfect/past perfect. Icöpom = he had chopped.
 * O- forms the future tense. Omüfon = it will move.
 * Ö- forms the future imperfect. Öspikol = you were going to have spoken.
 * U- forms the future perfect. Uspaloms = they were going to save.
 * Ü- forms the future in the past perfect. Üfidobs = we were going to eat.

The passive voice is appended by adding pa- the very beginning of a verb in present tense, and just p- for one of the other tenses. Thus, pälöfols = you were being loved.

The conditional mood is formed by adding -öv to the existing, fully conjugated noun.

There are two imperative moods; the first, which is formed by replacing the infinitive ending with -öd, is more forceful, whereas the second, formed with -ös, is more gentle and polite (sometimes called the "optative mood"). Binöd takedik! = Be quiet! Binös takedik = Please, be quiet.

The subjunctive uses the particle -la appended to the end of the word. It is only used for improbable or unlikely situations.

Questions are formed by adding the particle -li to the end of the word. Efidol-li? = have you eaten?

Differences between pre- and post- reform Volapük
In pre-reform Volapük there was also a third imperative mood ending in -öz, much stronger than the other two, almost to the point of rudeness (Binöz takedik! = Shut up!). However, after de Jong's reforms of the 1930s it fell out of favour and is no longer used.