3.2. FURTHER INFLECTIONS 127
For , the negative hypothetical is a bit different, since its nega-
tive uses the classical helper verb :
hypothetical negative hypothetical
+ +For verbal adjectives, the same rules apply as for verbs:adjective hypothetical negative hypothetical
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +For nouns, the hypothetical construction has three possible affirma-
tive versions, two using the for , which is , either with or
without , and a third using a slightly different copula: , of which
the part is the familiar verb.
hypothetical negative hypothetical
noun + noun + noun + +
noun + + (noun + + + )
noun + noun + + noun + ( ) +Note that the noun + + ( ) are possible due to
being a verbal adjective; while it may not be followed by , it may be
followed by. In this case, we cannot substitute for , as
this is a normal verb form, and can therefore never be (directly) followed
by any inflection of any copula. Also, while ”noun + + + ”
is technically a valid negative hypothetical, it isn’t really used, as the polite
form of + is considered not to mix with the plain form of.
So which is what? For the affirmative, in increasing order of polite-
ness: , then , and then. For the negative:
, then , then , and then finally the overly
formal and. As a word of caution, do
not use these last two unless you know why you are using them. They will
typically be considered clumsy speech.
How do we interpret the hypothetical? The simplest explanation
is that this creates an if/then construction, with as booknote that the spe-
cific type of conditional created is one that is best ”though of” as mean-