The SFGPL has words that modify verbs, such as tense, aspect and auxiliary verbs. These words are mainly attached directly to the verb and modify it, while others modify the whole sentence.
Verb tenses exist in the SFGPL as shown in the figure below.
Thus, there are three tenses in the SFGPL: ① past tense, ② present tense, and ③ future tense. These tenses are fundamental to verb conjugation and serve as reference points for sentence time. Example sentences using the tenses are shown in the following table.
| Tense | English | SFGPL |
|---|---|---|
| ①Past Tense | I lived in Tokyo. | di ta ga na sa 'live' li pun fa 'Tokyo' |
| ②Present Tense | I live in Tokyo. | ta ga na sa 'live' li pun fa 'Tokyo' |
| ③Future Tense | I will live in Tokyo. | du ta ga na sa 'live' li pun fa 'Tokyo' |
In particular, di and du are attached to the sentence itself.
The present tense in ②, with nothing attached, usually denotes the present. However, it is essentially an indefinite tense and is also used when no particular tense is required.
The verbs described in the previous section are the most basic way of expressing verb tenses. However, in the SFGPL, there are words that are mainly used to combine tenses, depending on the DetermineV class. The extended tense by the DeterminerV class has a lower priority than the base tense by the Phrase class, and the base tense basically represents the tense of the entire sentence. The following table shows the words that represent the extended tense.
| Tense | Word |
|---|---|
| ①Past Tense | bak |
| ②Present Tense | bik |
| ③Future Tense | bok |
These tenses can be combined to form compound tenses such as future past tense and past future tense. The following is an example of the future past tense, which expresses the past at a future point in time.
du ta ga na bak sa 'live' li pun fa 'Tokyo'
In summary, the tenses in the SFGPL are as shown in the table below.
The column names in the table below indicate the types of the base tense by Phrase, and the row names indicate the types of the extended tense by DeterminerV.
In A/B, A denotes the base tense and B the extended tense.
| Past Tense | - | Future Tense | |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | di/- | -/- | du/- |
| Past Tense | di/bak | -/bak | du/bak |
| Present Tense | di/bik | -/bik | du/bik |
| Future Tense | di/bok | -/bok | du/bok |
In SFGPL, there are six aspects as shown in the figure below: ①start aspect, ②transitional aspect, ③completion aspect, ④continuation aspect, ⑤finish aspect, and ⑥progression aspect.
The following table shows example sentences in each aspect for te ga sa 'wear' fa 'dress' meaning "I wear dress".
| Aspect | Word | English | SFGPL |
|---|---|---|---|
| ①Start Aspect | tak | I begin wear a dress. | te ga tak sa 'wear' fa 'dress' |
| ②Transitional Aspect | tek | I am (in the process of) wearing a dress. | te ga tek sa 'wear' fa 'dress' |
| ③Completion Aspect | tik | I wear a dress. (I just finished wearing it.) | te ga tik sa 'wear' fa 'dress' |
| ④Continuation Aspect | tuk | I am wearing a dress. (The state in which it is worn.) | te ga tuk sa 'wear' fa 'dress' |
| ⑤Finish Aspect | tok | I finish wear a dress. (I stopped wearing it.) | te ga tok sa 'wear' fa 'dress' |
| ⑥Progression Aspect | ni | I am wearing a dress. | te ga ni sa 'wear' fa 'dress' |
The ① start aspect, ③ completion aspect and ⑤ finish aspect represent only one point in time for a certain action.
The ② transitional aspect, ④ continuation aspect and ⑥ progression aspect represent a period of time for a certain action. ⑥ Progression aspect represents an indistinct period that includes ② transitional aspect and ④ continuation aspect. For some verbs, the interval between aspect with each may be momentary and almost indistinguishable.
These aspects can be in the past or future tense in addition to the present tense. "I begin wear a dress." in the past and future tenses is as follows.
di te ga tak sa 'wear' fa 'dress'
du te ga tak sa 'wear' fa 'dress'
As a rule, these aspects by themselves express an action focused on a certain point in time. In particular, in order to emphasise cases where the action has continued past the point in time, the perfect tense is used in addition to these aspects. The progressive form plus the perfect form to express "I have been wearing a dress.".
te ga nu ni sa 'wear' fa 'dress'
In SFGPL, we can make a simple progressive form as in ⑥ without considering the aspects ① to ⑤ in the previous section. The SFGPL can be expressed in the progressive form meaning "I am wearing the dress." as follows.
te ga ni sa 'wear' fa 'dress'
Progressive forms ni are attached to verbs.
They can be past or future tense as well as present tense.
"I am wearing the dress." in the past and future tenses is as follows.
di te ga ni sa 'wear' fa 'dress'
du te ga ni sa 'wear' fa 'dress'
In the SFGPL, there is a perfect tense equivalent to English, as shown in the figure below.
This perfect tense is used to indicate that something that has happened in the past is continuing. Examples of the perfect tense for the three tenses are as follows.
| Tense | English | SFGPL |
|---|---|---|
| ①Past Perfect Tense | I had lived in Tokyo. | di ta ga nu na sa 'live' li pun fa 'Tokyo' |
| ②Present Perfect Tense | I have lived in Tokyo. | ta ga nu na sa 'live' li pun fa 'Tokyo' |
| ③Future Perfect Tense | I will have lived in Tokyo. | du ta ga nu na sa 'live' li pun fa 'Tokyo' |
In nu, the perfective form is attached to and modifies the verb itself.
The following table exists with regard to the time expressions of the SFGPL.
| Base tense | Extended tense | Perfect tense | Progressive form |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | - |
| di | bak | nu | tak |
| du | bik | tek | |
| bok | tik | ||
| tuk | |||
| tok | |||
| ni |
このように，SFGPLでは3×4×2×7=168通りの時間表現が存在し，あらゆる場面に対して表現することが可能である．
SFGPL can express the passive voice with the meaning "The dress is worn.".
ta fa 'dress' ne sa 'wear'
The ne, which indicates the passive form, is attached to the verb.
These can be in the past or future tense as well as the present tense.
"The dress is worn." in the past and future tenses is as follows.
di ta fa 'dress' ne sa 'wear'
du ta fa 'dress' ne sa 'wear'
Functions in the DeterminerV class can modify other verbs. They are similar to English auxiliary verbs.
| English | SFGPL |
|---|---|
| I | ga |
| live | sa 'live' |
| in Tokyo | li pun fa 'Tokyo' |
| wear | sa 'wear' |
| dress | fa 'dress' |