Part 1
The verb at rest
Three sentences, one verb:
mia theo.
1SG read.
mia to theo.
1SG PST read.
mia so theo.
1SG FUT read.
theo is identical in all three. The reading moved from now to then to later, and the verb never heard about it. Everything temporal happens in the small words standing just before it, and that is the whole architecture of this pamphlet: the verb holds the deed, and the particles hold the time.
01Two questions, two ranks
Every clause answers two separate questions, and each question has its own rank in the Slot 1 order.
Tense answers when. to places the event before the present moment, so places it after, and a clause with neither particle stands in the present. The bare verb is a real position on the timeline, not an unfinished sentence: mia theo. is a present claim, complete as it stands.
Aspect answers what view. In progress, complete, beginning, ceasing, recurring: five particles, one per view, taught in parts 4 through 6. A clause may take one view or none, and with none, the event is simply given whole, no view chosen.
The two ranks are independent. A past event can be flowing or finished; a future one can be a first note or a standing custom. Tense comes first in the stack, aspect second, and the pairing reads left to right like a hand pointing and then focusing: there, and like this.
Practicethe two questions
For each sentence, answer both questions: when, and what view.
mia theo.mia to theo.mia so si theo.misheko ro nulae.
Answers: 1 Present, no view chosen; the bare verb is a whole present claim. 2 Past, no view chosen; to moves the reading back and says nothing else about it. 3 Future, in progress: at some coming moment, the reading will be underway. 4 Present, recurring: the cat's sleeping is a standing pattern, and part 6 makes that cat famous.