10.18. Tense negation

Any bridi which involves tenses of selma'o PU, FAhA, or ZAhO can be contradicted by a -nai suffixed to the tense cmavo. Some examples:

Example 10.129.

mi	punai	klama	le	zarci
I	[past-not]	go-to	the	market.

I didn't go to the market.

As a contradictory negation, Example 10.129 implies that the bridi as a whole is false without saying anything about what is true. When the negated tense is a sumti tcita, -nai negation indicates that the stated relationship does not hold:

Example 10.130.

mi	klama	le	zarci	ca	nai
I	go-to	the	market	[present]	[not]

le	nu	do	klama	le	zdani
the	event-of	you	go-to	the	house.

It is not true that I went to the market at the same time that you went to the house.

Example 10.131.

le	nanmu	cu	batci	le	gerku	ne'inai	le	kumfa
The	man		bites	the	dog	[within-not]	the	room.

The man didn't bite the dog inside the room.

Example 10.132.

mi	morsi	ca'onai	le	nu	mi	jmive
I	am-dead	[continuitive-negated]	the	event-of	I	live.

It is false that I am dead during my life.

It is also possible to perform scalar negation of whole tense constructs by placing a member of NAhE before them. Unlike contradictory negation, scalar negation asserts a truth: that the bridi is true with some tense other than that specified. The following examples are scalar negation analogues of Example 10.129 to Example 10.131:

Example 10.133.

mi	na'e	pu	klama	le	zarci
I	[non-]	[past]	go-to	the	market.

I go to the market other than in the past.

Example 10.134.

le	nanmu	cu	batci	le	gerku	to'e	ne'i	le	kumfa
The	man		bites	the	dog	[opposite-of]	[within]	the	room.

The man bites the dog outside the room.

Example 10.135.

mi	klama	le	zarci	na'e	ca	le	nu
I	go-to	the	market	[non-]	[present]	the	event-of

do	klama	le	zdani
you	go-to	the	house.

I went to the market at a time other than the time at which you went to the house.

Example 10.136.

mi	morsi	na'e	ca'o	le	nu	mi	jmive
I	am-dead	[non-]	[continuitive]	the	event-of	I	live.

I am dead other than during my life.

Unlike -nai contradictory negation, scalar negation of tenses is not limited to PU and FAhA:

Example 10.137.

le	verba	na'e	ri'u	cadzu	le	bisli
The	child	[non-]	[right]	walks-on	the	ice

The child walks on the ice other than to my right.

The use of -nai on cmavo of TAhE and ROI has already been discussed in Section 10.9; this use is also a scalar negation.