auxiliary verb
Noun
Meaning
a verb that combines with another verb in a verb phrase to help form tense, mood, voice, or condition of the verb it combines with
Source: WordNetSynonyms
Antonyms
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
Examples
At one time, Hungarian used six verb tenses ; today, only two are commonly used (present and past; future is formed with an auxiliary verb and is usually not counted as a separate tense).
An additional nonstandard but widespread use of a singular participle combined with a plural auxiliary verb (known as polvikanje) signals a somewhat more friendly and less formal attitude while maintaining politeness: * Vi ga niste videli.
For example, in the Basque phrase ikusi nauzu, or "you saw me", the past tense auxiliary verb n-au-zu (similar to English "do") agrees with both the subject (you) expressed by the n- prefix, and with the object (me) expressed by the -zu suffix.
Broderick 1993, 276 However, as noted above, most finite verbs are formed periphrastically, using an auxiliary verb in conjunction with the verbal noun.
In the passive voice, the perfect passive participle is used with the auxiliary verb esse.
Examples: When the auxiliary verb is a form of jannoo main ("do"), the direct object precedes the verbal noun and is connected to it with the particle y main: As in Irish (cf.