THE DESIGN OF INTERGLOSSA

(perfected action or state), we use pre before the key verboid in addition to the other temporal qualifier, e.g.:

Mi no pre acte re pre-di = I had not done so yesterday

(iv) If we want to indicate action or state completed before some future date, we put pre in front of the qualifier:

Mi non acte re pre post-di = I shall not have done so to-morrow
(i.e. I do not do so before to-morrow)

Thus post (72) before the key verboid does the work of shall, will, be going to. Pre (73) does the work of have or did (or of the simple past flexion) when the sentence contains no other qualifier to date the occurrence as past. If such a qualifier is present, it has the force of had. Either way, its presence in front of the key verboid makes the action or state antecedent to the implicit present or explicit past.

Constructions Equivalent to the Infinitive

Since all verboids of Interglossa are also abstract nouns, all infinitive constructions other than those which involve an auxiliary (e.g. shall, will, should, would, let, may, must can) are nominal constructions, and the accompanying article labels them as such. Three situations arise:

(i) The simple gerund or verb-noun is straightforward because the infinitive (or the -ing derivative) of the English verb is always a homoseme of the corresponding noun-abstract. Accordingly its equivalent has the article u(n) or the empty associative particle de as signpost of sentence-landscape:

U facte u satio eu inter-natio glossa non habe facilo
It is not easy to construct a satisfactory international language

Mi esthe espero de vise tu
I hope to see you

(ii) The purposive infinitive, i.e. when to signifies in order to, involves tendo u(n) (with a view to a), for to in this context, e.g.:

Mi pre kine topo tendo un acte re
I went there in order to do so

(iii) Either tendo u(n) alone or (u methodo) de (a method for) may mean the same as how to, and we have the analogous constructions chron u when to, and loco u or topo u where to:

An dicte a mi u methodo de facte re
He told me how to make it

An dicte a mi chron u facte re
He told me when to make it