The conjunction paz (if) introduces a conditional. The conditional clause has a verb in the indicative mood, plus an epistemic particle (one of taw, sez or ra).

Unlike English, which indicates the truth value of the conditionals by changing tense (e.g., if he did vs if he had done), the verb tense in Akath always refer to the time frame of the action; its truth value is indicated by the epistemic particle.

Hypothetical Conditionals

If we don't know if the condition is true or not, we use the particle ra.

\num 1
#\ex Paz Nuthros ra koppopoy kaufe, kleferecoy kerkli.
\gla Paz Nuthros ra  kopp-op-oy   kauf-e,    klefer-ec-oy  kerkli
\glb if  Nuthros UNK leave-PST-AN house-ACC, arrive-FUT-AN soon
\ft If Nuthros left the house, he will arrive soon.

Counterfactuals

A counterfactual has the same structure as the plain hypothetical, but use the particle taw instead (compare the usage of taw in reported speech to signal the utterance as false).

Verb tense has no impact on its truth value, unlike English, but only affects the time frame of the action. Also, English changes both the tense of the antecedent and consequent; in Akath the latter remains unchanged.

\num 2
#\ex Paz Nuthros taw  koppopoy   kaufe,    kleferecoy  kerkli
\gla Paz Nuthros taw  kopp-op-oy   kauf-e,    klefer-ec-oy  kerkli
\glb if  Nuthros IRR leave-PST-AN house-ACC, arrive-FUT-AN soon
\ft If Nuthros had left the house, he would arrive soon.

\num 3
#\ex Paz Nuthros taw  koppoy   kaufe,    kleferecoy  kerkli
\gla Paz Nuthros taw  kopp-oy   kauf-e,    klefer-ec-oy  kerkli
\glb if  Nuthros IRR leave-AN house-ACC, arrive-FUT-AN soon
\ft If Nuthros were leaving the house, he would arrive soon.

Sequence of Tenses

Akath does not have a pluperfect tense, but the antecedent logically happened before the consequent. The same is valid with both clauses in the future.

\num 4
\gla Paz Nuthros ra kopp-op-oy kauf-e, klefer-p-oy kerkli
\glb if  Nuthros UNK leave-PST-AN house-ACC, arrive-PST-AN soon
\ft If Nuthros left the house, he arrived shortly after.

\num 5
\gla Paz Nuthros taw kopp-op-oy kauf-e, klefer-p-oy kerkli
\glb if  Nuthros IRR leave-PST-AN house-ACC, arrive-PST-AN soon
\ft If Nuthros had left the house, he would have arrived shortly after.

Present and Future Antecedents

Note the distinction between present and future antecedents, which relies on aspect change in English, and is easily expressed in Akath:

\num 6
\gla Paz Nuthros ra kopp-ec-oy kauf-e, klefer-ec-oy kerkli.
\glb if Nuthros UNK leave-FUT-AN house-ACC, arrive-FUT-AN soon
\ft If Nuthros leaves the house, he will arrive shorty after.

\num 7
\gla Paz Nuthros ra kopp-oy kauf-e, klefer-ec-oy kerkli.
\glb if Nuthros UNK leave-AN house-ACC, arrive-FUT-AN soon
\ft If Nuthros is leaving the house now, he will arrive soon.

Factual Conditionals

Finally, conditionals which are known to be true, expressed mostly for rhetorical reasons, use the particle sez (compare its usage with reported speech to confirm the truth of the utterance).

\num 8
\gla Paz Nuthros sez  kopp-op-oy   kauf-e,    klefer-ec-oy  kerkli
\glb if  Nuthros UNK leave-PST-AN house-ACC, arrive-FUT-AN soon
\ft If Nuthros left the house (and he did), he will arrive soon.

Key Takeaways

• Truth value is determined by the epistemic particle, not verb tense or aspect.
• No need for a "past of the past" (pluperfect) tense in conditionals.
• Future tense can be freely expressed in the antecedents, also with no need for a "future of the future".

Example: