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Verbs

Verbs are words that express actions, existence, or occurrences.

Verbs are categorized according to person (first, second, or third), number (singular or plural), tense (present, past, past narrative, future, perfect, or pluperfect), aspect (perfective or imperfective), mood (indicative, subjunctive, imperative, suppositional, or conditional desirable), and voice (active or passive).

The category of tense denotes the relationship of the action either to the moment of speaking or to some definite moment in the past or future.

The category of aspect shows the way in which the action develops, whether it is in progress or completed.

Mood is a grammatical category which indicates the attitude of the speaker towards the action expressed by the verb from the point of view of its reality.

Voice is a category of the verb which indicates the relationship of the predicate to the subject and the object.

Verbs can be transitive (their action is aimed at a direct object) or intransitive (their action is not aimed at the direct object) in a sentence. Transitive verbs in past tense forms are used in ergative constructions. (See Syntax and Ergative Constructions.)

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