Breton

Conjugate Verbs

Facts

More information:

    Introduction

    Breton is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany, modern-day France.

    Breton is spoken mainly in Lower Brittany, but also in a more dispersed way in Upper Brittany (where it is spoken alongside Gallo and French), and in areas around the world that have Breton emigrants.

    Breton language speaking area
    Breton language speaking area

    The Breton Dialects

    The four traditional dialects of Breton correspond to medieval bishoprics rather than to linguistic divisions. They are leoneg (léonard, of the county of Léon), tregerieg (trégorrois, of Trégor), kerneveg (cornouaillais, of Cornouaille), and gwenedeg (vannetais, of Vannes). In addition to these, Goelo dialect is spoken in the extreme north-east.
    Source:Wikipedia
    _Leoneg
    _Tregerieg
    _Kerneveg
    _Gwenedeg
    _Goelo

    The Breton Verb

    The Breton verb conjugates for
    1. aspect: perfective, imperfective (progressive, habitual). The perfective expresses a completed action and the imperfective an habitual or ongoing action.
    2. mood: indicative, imperative, subjunctive (rare).
    3. voice: active and passive.
    4. tense: present, future, imperfect, preterite (restricted to the written language), conditional present (or potential) and conditional past (or hypothetical).
    5. person and number: 1s, 2s, 3s; 1p, 2p, 3p. There is also an impersonal or general form.

    Non-finite forms

    The verbal noun: may be identical with the root, but sometimes it carries a suffix (-añ is the commonest; others are -iñ, -et, -at, etc).

    The present participle and gerund are formed with the verbal noun plus a preceding particle (o for present participle, ur for gerunds).

    The past participle is formed by adding -et to the verbal root.

    Irregular Verbs

    Most Breton verbs are regular. The are some common verbs, however, that are irregular:
    1. mont (‘to go’),
    2. ober (‘to do’),
    3. dont (‘to come’),
    4. bezañ (‘to be’),
    5. kaout (‘to have’). Kaout combines a person marker with the tensed form, therefore it shows different forms for 3rd person singular masculine and femenine.

    Verblist

    azezañ, barn, beajiñ, bevañ, bezañ, carein, chadennañ, choaz, chom, c'hoari, dañsal, debriñ, deskein, deskiñ, deviñ, dibab, dichadennañ, digeriñ, dilenn, dilestrañ, dilivañ, dilouzañ, disaotrañ, disheñvelaat, diuz, doganiñ, donet, dont, doujañ, dua, enklask, evañ, fallaat, fellout, fiñval, freuzañ, gallout, genel, glanaat, gouzout, gwalc'hiñ, gwelet, gwelet a ran da gazh er jardin, gwelout, gwerzhañ, gwilc'hañ, gwildronañ, gwriat, hadañ, hasta, heñvelaat, kana, kanañ, kaout, kaozeal, kargañ, karout, kas, kavout, kelenn, kemmañ, kinnig, klask, klevout, komz, konikleta, korolliñ, koshaat, kousket, krediñ, kregiñ, krouiñ, lakaat, laza, lenn, lestrañ, livañ, lousaat, louzañ, maga, maha, mala, melenaat, merglañ, mervel, mond, mont, moulañ, neuñviñ, nijal, ober, ouzhpennañ, pellgomz, pennekaat, perc'hennañ, pika, pouezañ, prenañ, rakgwelet, rakwelet, reiñ, roeñvat, rosta, selled, sellet, sellout, sevel, sina, sistra, skrivañ, soñjal, spia, studiañ, taga, teurel, touellañ, treiñ.

    Verblists

    References