Swabian

Introduction

Swabian is one of the dialect groups of Alemannic German that belong to the High German dialect continuum. It is mainly spoken in Swabia which is located in central and southeastern Baden-Württemberg and the southwest of Bavaria. Furthermore, Swabian German dialects are spoken by Caucasus Germans in Transcaucasia. The dialects of the Danube Swabian population of Hungary, the former Yugoslavia and Romania are only nominally Swabian and can be traced back not only to Swabian but also to Frankonian, Bavarian and Hessian German dialects, with locally varying degrees of influence of the initial dialects.

The verb

The Swabian basically uses only four tenses when conjugating:

1. Present: i mach (I do / I make)
2. Perfect: i hann gmachd (I have done)
3. Pluperfect: i hann gmachd khedd (I had done)
4. Future: i mach or even better: jeddz fang i glei zom macha o. (now I’ll start doing it right away)

The imperfect tense almost completely disappears and is replaced by the perfect. In doing so, the Swabian quite ingeniously skips over the long-winded Standard German narrative forms, as for example in the following sentence:

sein, haben, tun

Verb	Person	Present	Past	Perfect
sein	Sg.1	i benn	i war	i be gwä
	Sg.2	du bisch	du warsch	du bis gwä
	Sg.3	er;sui isch	er;sui war	er;sui isch gwä
	Pl.1	mir senn	mir warad	mir send gwä
	Pl.2	ihr senn	ihr warad	ihr send gwä
	Pl.3	dia senn	dia warad	dia send gwä
haben	Sg.1	i hann	(Like Perfect)	i hann ghedd
	Sg.2	du hosch		du hosch ghedd
	Sg.3	er;sui hodd		er;sui hodd ghedd
	Pl.1	mir henn		mir henn ghedd
	Pl.2	ihr henn		ihr henn ghedd
	Pl.3	dia henn		dia henn ghedd
tun	Sg.1	i dua	(Like Perfect)	i hann do
	Sg.2	du duasch		du hosch do
	Sg.3	er;sui duad		er;sui hodd do
	Pl.1	mir deand		mir henn do
	Pl.2	ihr deand		ihr henn do
	Pl.3	dia deand		dia henn do

Other Verbs

 due? vb. do; 
1. 1. sg. ind. pres. due; 
2. 2. sg. ind. pres. duesch; 
3. 3. sg. ind. pres. duet; 
4. 1. pl. ind. pres. dent; 
5. 2., 3. pl. ind. pres dent; 
6. cj. pres. dädsch; 
7. imp. sg. dues; 
8. pret. cj. (cond.) däd; 
9.  part. pret. dao . 
 
gange? vb. walk slowly; 
1. 1. sg. ind. pres. gang; 
2. 2. sg. ind. pres. gôsch; 
3. 3. sg. ind. pres. gôht; 
4. 1. pl. ind. pres. ganget; 
5. 2., 3. pl. ind. pres ganget; 
6. cj. pres. gange; 
7. imp. sg. gang; 
8. pret. cj. (cond.) gange; 
9.  part. pret. gange . 
 
han? vb. have; 
1. 1. sg. ind. pres. han (ha); 
2. 2. sg. ind. pres. hôsch; 
3. 3. sg. ind. pres. hôt; 
4. 1. pl. ind. pres. hend; 
5. 2., 3. pl. ind. pres hen; 
6. cj. pres. han; 
7. imp. sg. hab; 
8. pret. cj. (cond.) häb; 
9.  part. pret. ghet . 
 
kenne? vb. can 
1. 1. sg. ind. pres. kã; 
2. 2. sg. ind. pres. kãsch; 
3. 3. sg. ind. pres. kã; 
4. 1. pl. ind. pres. kennt; 
5. 2., 3. pl. ind. pres kennet; 
6. imp. sg. kennt; 
7. pret. cj. (cond.) kennt; 
8.  part. pret. konnt . 
 
kenne? vb. know; recognize; 
1. 1. sg. ind. pres. kenn; 
2. 2. sg. ind. pres. kennsch; 
3. 3. sg. ind. pres. kennt;; 
4. 1. pl. ind. pres. kennet; 
5. 2., 3. pl. ind. pres kennet; 
6. imp. sg. kenn; 
7. pret. cj. (cond.) kennt; 
8.  part. pret. kannt . 
 
laufe? vb. go; 
1. 1. sg. ind. pres. lauf; 
2. 2. sg. ind. pres. laufsch; 
3. 3. sg. ind. pres. lauft; 
4. 1. pl. ind. pres. laufet; 
5. 2., 3. pl. ind. pres laufet; 
6. cj. pres. laufe; 
7. imp. sg. lauf; 
8.  part. pret. gloffe; 
. 
 
sae? vb. be; exist; 
1. 1. sg. ind. pres. bi; 
2. 2. sg. ind. pres. bisch; 
3. 3. sg. ind. pres. isch; 
4. 1. pl. ind. pres. send; 
5. 2., 3. pl. ind. pres sen; 
6. cj. pres. wäsch; 
7. imp. sg. sae; 
8. pret. cj. (cond.) wär; 
9.  part. pret. gwä . 
 
sage? vb. say; 
1. 1. sg. ind. pres. sag; 
2. 2. sg. ind. pres. sechsch; 
3. 3. sg. ind. pres. secht; 
4. 1. pl. ind. pres. sage; 
5. 2., 3. pl. ind. pres saget; 
6. cj. pres. dädsch sage; 
7. imp. sg. sag; 
8. pret. cj. (cond.) sechsch; 
9.  part. pret. gsait . 
 
saue? vb. run; 
1. 1. sg. ind. pres. sau; 
2. 2. sg. ind. pres. sausch 
3. 3. sg. ind. pres. saut 
4. 1. pl. ind. pres. sauet; 
5. 2., 3. pl. ind. pres sauet; 
6. cj. pres. gsaut; 
7. imp. sg. sau; 
8. pret. cj. (cond.) gsaut; 
9.  part. pret. gsaut . 
 
solle? vb. shall; 
1. 1. sg. ind. pres. sott; 
2. 2. sg. ind. pres. sottsch; 
3. 3. sg. ind. pres. sott; 
4. 1. pl. ind. pres. sottet; 
5. 2., 3. pl. ind. pres sottet; 
6. cj. pres. dädsch solle; 
7. pret. cj. (cond.) sottsch.  
 
welle? vb. want. 
1. 1. sg. ind. pres. will; 
2. 2. sg. ind. pres. willsch; 
3. 3. sg. ind. pres. will; 
4. 1. pl. ind. pres. wellet; 
5. 2., 3. pl. ind. pres wellet; 
6. cj. pres. welle; 
7. imp. sg. welle; 
8. pret. cj. (cond.) wollt; 
9.  part. pret. gwollt . 
 
wisse? vb. know; 
1. 1. sg. ind. pres. woes; 
2. 2. sg. ind. pres. woesch; 
3. 3. sg. ind. pres. woes; 
4. 1. pl. ind. pres. wisset; 
5. 2., 3. pl. ind. pres wisset; 
6. cj. pres. wisse; 
7. imp. sg. wisse; 
8. pret. cj. (cond.) wüssd; 
9.  part. pret. gwisst.  

Verblist

• bären