Page 1 of 1

First person singular imperative

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 7:55 pm
by Chengjiang
Verdurian's imperative forms for all persons and numbers are clear to me for the most part. Second person imperatives are equivalent to the imperative of English and most other Western languages, third person imperatives are jussives (e.g. "Let him come here"), and the first person plural imperative is a cohortative (e.g. "Let's do that"). But what does one actually use a first person singular imperative for? I can't think of any situations where it makes sense. The closest I can get is an expression of hope for one's future actions, or perhaps a prayer to deity to influence one's actions or their results (e.g. "Let me be victorious"). These strike me as only dubiously called imperative semantically, but are they perhaps imperative grammatically in Verdurian? Is there some other use I'm missing?

Re: First person singular imperative

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 8:05 pm
by Vijay
Chengjiang wrote:But what does one actually use a first person singular imperative for? I can't think of any situations where it makes sense. The closest I can get is an expression of hope for one's future actions, or perhaps a prayer to deity to influence one's actions or their results (e.g. "Let me be victorious"). [...] Is there some other use I'm missing?
Let me see...:D

Re: First person singular imperative

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:35 pm
by Chengjiang
Vijay wrote:Let me see...:D
Well played, although I don't think you can really call that a 1SG imperative, any more than "let me have one of those" is.

Re: First person singular imperative

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 12:11 am
by zompist
Dóbrece advečenai!

You can think of them as jussives.

You can definitely apply an exhortation, a command, or a wish to yourself! Zařezenai, I must get to work! Hipřaneru, time for me to get drunk!

English equivalents can sound awkward, of course. E.g. someone hiding could tell themselves, Řo šaleanai! You could translate this "Let me not breathe!" but the Verdurian has no hint of being a prayer.

Re: First person singular imperative

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 2:07 pm
by mèþru
I see nothing wrong with Vijay's examples. 1st person imperatives are just extremely rare in English, so they look weird and are usually also a construction for something else (as zompist said, many look like prayers).

Re: First person singular imperative

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 6:25 pm
by So Haleza Grise
I don't think they're that uncommon. "Let me think" or "let me get that for you" are pretty pragmatically useful.