Novial/AIL Future and Conditional

Future and Conditional

For the future and conditional the Romanic languages have forms originally composed of the infinitive (containing an r) and two tenses of L habere; some constructed languages take these forms as a basis, but have some difficulty in choosing the ending that is to follow the r. It will therefore be better here to use auxiliaries followed by the stem, but what auxiliaries to select?

For the future I prefer sal, which is suggested by E shall, Dutch zal, Sc skal, all of them often used with the infinitive to express the future. The worst thing is that to a German it suggests too strongly soll with its meaning of obligation, which is much less present in E shall. Occ has taken va from F; this seems a little strange to express a very remote future as in "the earth will cool down in a few million years"; in N it would also be liable to be misheard for ha (see below), and combinations like la va ja ha fa `she will already have done' are not particularly pleasing. Nor would a form like vil be perfectly adequate, for though it is true that E will and Sc vil are often used to express mere futurity, and though we have voli for `will,' where volition is meant, vil would too easily be taken in many countries to imply volition. So on the whole sal, though not entirely satisfactory, seems the best auxiliary, the more so as we thus avoid having two forms of the same stem for the future and the conditional: two ideas which have nothing to do with one another. Very often the simple present may be used to express futurity, if there if some time-indication like to-morrow in the sentence.

An infinitive of the future is easily formed: me joya tu sal visita vus I am looking forward to. But generally the simple stem suffices, thus after desira, expekta, the proposition por, etc.

For the `conditional' Novial uses the auxiliary vud from E would. It serves to express unreality in conditioned and conditional clauses alike: si lo vud veni, me vud rida if he came (should come) I should laugh.

A synthetic form with the same ending is very handy with the auxiliary verbs povud, volud, esud, devud, where its special sphere of utility is to express the "subjunctive of repression" in modest requests etc. Ob vu povud montra a me la vie a N? Could you show me the way to N? Si vu volud repeti... If you would kindly repeat... Me esud felisi si me povud. Me devud ha dikte I ought to have said. Me volud questiona I should like to ask, etc. But I should not advise the use of this ending with full verbs.