High Valyrian Verb Tenses: Best Guide to All 7 Tenses
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High Valyrian verbs do an enormous amount of work. A single word like ipradas (“he eats”) packs in the action, the person, the number, and the tense — which is why High Valyrian can drop subject pronouns and still be perfectly clear. Created by linguist David J. Peterson for HBO’s Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, the verb system has seven tenses, two voices, and several moods, all built from regular endings on the verb stem. Mastering high valyrian verb tenses unlocks the language’s expressive power.
The dictionary form is the present active infinitive, ending in -agon: dohaeragon (“to serve”), ipradagon (“to eat”), morghūljagon (“to die”), sagon (“to be”). Strip the -agon and you have the stem; everything else is endings. All endings in this article are documented on the public High Valyrian wiki (wiki.dothraki.org) — where forms are generated by rule rather than directly attested, they are labeled as such. Studying high valyrian verb tenses alongside the wiki’s tables is the fastest path to fluency.
Quick Answer
High Valyrian verbs conjugate for seven tenses — present, aorist, future, imperfect (nonperfective), perfect, pluperfect, and past habitual — plus person, number, voice, and mood. The infinitive ends in -agon and gives the stem (e.g. ipradagon → iprad-); endings like -an (“I,” present) or -is (“he/she,” aorist) attach to it. The aorist expresses timeless, general truths, which is why the famous phrases valar morghulis and valar dohaeris use it.
High Valyrian Verb Tenses: The Seven Tenses
| Tense | What it expresses | Attested example |
|---|---|---|
| Present | Actions happening now | ipradas — “he/she eats” |
| Aorist | Timeless, habitual, or general truths | dohaeris in valar dohaeris — “all men must serve” |
| Future | Actions that will happen | endings documented; e.g. -ilza 3rd singular |
| Imperfect (nonperfective) | Ongoing or repeated past action | endings documented on the wiki |
| Perfect | Completed action with present relevance | built on the perfect stem |
| Pluperfect | Action completed before another past action | only 1st singular forms attested |
| Past habitual | “Used to” do something | iprattus daor — “didn’t used to eat meat” |
The pluperfect is the least documented tense — nearly everything beyond the first singular is scholarly reconstruction — while the present, aorist, and future are thoroughly attested. Beginners should master those three first when learning high valyrian verb tenses. The High Valyrian grammar guide puts the whole system in context if you need the bigger picture first.
Present Tense Endings
The present tense uses the verb stem directly. Understanding high valyrian verb tenses begins with the present. Here is the documented active indicative paradigm, shown with the stem iprad- (“eat”). Two forms, ipradas (“he/she eats”) and ipradis (“they eat”), are directly attested in Peterson’s documented materials; the rest are regular forms produced by the same documented endings.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ipradan — “I eat” | ipradi — “we eat” |
| 2nd | ipradā — “you eat” | ipradāt — “you (all) eat” |
| 3rd | ipradas — “he/she eats” | ipradis — “they eat” |
The Aorist: Timeless Truths
The aorist is the tense English speakers notice first, because it carries the show’s most famous lines. The aorist is central to high valyrian verb tenses. It expresses what is generally, habitually, or timelessly true rather than what is happening at a particular moment. Valar morghulis (“all men must die”) and valar dohaeris (“all men must serve”) are aorist because they state universal facts, not current events. In proverbs and ritual phrases, the aorist gives the sense of “this is simply how things are.”
The documented aorist active indicative endings for consonant-stem verbs are:
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | -in (e.g. dohaerin — “I serve,” attested) | -iti |
| 2nd | -ia | -iat |
| 3rd | -is (e.g. morghulis — “must die”) | -isi |
The aorist infinitive ends in -igon (as opposed to present -agon), and it carries a timeless sense too: jemigon in the documented sentence mirrossa drīvessē va vēdrot jemigon avy sytilībos daor (“things and truths should not usually lead to anger”) is an aorist infinitive precisely because “leading” is meant as a timeless concept.
Future Tense
The future is built with an -il- infix before the personal endings: -inna, -ilā, -ilza, -ili, -ilāt, -ilzi. In high valyrian verb tenses, the future is marked by this infix. The third singular -ilza pattern is visible in forms documented from Peterson’s reference grammar, such as dohaerilza (“he/she will serve”). If you are drafting future-tense sentences with the English to Valyrian translator, remember that -il- marks the future on any regular verb stem.
Past Habitual: “Used To”
The past habitual describes what someone used to do — former habits and states. It is built on the perfect stem with aorist-style endings. The wiki’s negation tutorial gives the classic contrast: ziry parklon ipradus daor (aorist) means “she generally doesn’t eat meat” — she is a vegetarian — while ziry parklon iprattus daor (past habitual) means “she didn’t used to eat meat,” said of someone now caught eating it at a banquet. Same negation, different tense, completely different implication. This interplay is explored fully in our High Valyrian negation guide.
Voice and Mood
Beyond the active voice, High Valyrian has a passive: present passive endings look like -aks, -āks, -aksi (“I am / you are / we are X-ed”). The subjunctive mood expresses wishes, possibilities, and indirect statements, with its own set of endings (present subjunctive 1st singular -on, 3rd singular -os). Commands use the imperative: present imperative -ās (singular) and -ātās (plural) — as in ossēnātās, “slay!” (plural), from Daenerys’s command āeksia ossēnātās, menti ossēnātās! Note that negative second-person commands use the infinitive form instead, a quirk worth knowing before you translate orders. Browse the High Valyrian phrases collection to see imperatives in real dialogue.
How Tense Changes Meaning: Three Negated Examples
Peterson’s documented negation examples are the clearest demonstration of why tense choice matters:
- Aorist: ziry parklon ipradus daor — “she generally doesn’t eat meat” (she is a vegetarian; a general truth).
- Present: the same idea in the present would mean only “she is not currently eating meat” — perhaps she is simply not hungry.
- Aorist, proverbial: kōrior gierion ērinus daor — “evil people never win” (a philosophical never, not a report on today’s events).
This is why learners should never translate tense mechanically. Pick the tense that matches the meaning — the aorist for general truths, the present for right-now statements, the past habitual for former habits — and let the Valyrian to English translator help you identify which tense a sentence you encounter is using.
Common Learner Mistakes
- Using the present for general truths: “dragons fly” as a timeless fact wants the aorist, not the present.
- Forgetting vowel-final verbs conjugate differently: the five vowel-final verb classes keep their theme vowel and add -ss- in the aorist (e.g. -ssin, -ssia, -ssis).
- Treating morghūljagon like a regular stem: the palatals lj and ñ depalatalize before endings starting with i — morghūljagon gives aorist morghulis, not *morghūljis.
- Assuming the translator is always right: automated tools do not produce perfect native-level grammar, so verify tense and endings against the paradigms above.
Related Valyrian Tools
- Valyrian to English translator — identify the tense of verbs you encounter
- English to Valyrian translator — draft sentences, then conjugate by hand
- High Valyrian dictionary — find the infinitive (dictionary form) of any verb
- High Valyrian phrases — study verbs in attested dialogue
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the High Valyrian aorist tense?
The aorist expresses timeless, habitual, or general truths rather than actions at a specific time. Valar morghulis (“all men must die”) uses the aorist because dying is a universal fact, not an event happening now. In negations it gives a philosophical “never,” as in kōrior gierion ērinus daor (“evil people never win”).
How do I conjugate a regular High Valyrian verb in the present tense?
Take the stem (infinitive minus -agon) and add -an, -ā, -as, -i, -āt, -is for 1st/2nd/3rd singular and plural. From ipradagon (“to eat”): ipradan (“I eat”), ipradā (“you eat”), ipradas (“he/she eats”), ipradi (“we eat”), ipradāt (“you all eat”), ipradis (“they eat”).
What is the difference between the aorist and the past habitual?
The aorist states timeless general truths (“she generally doesn’t eat meat” — she is a vegetarian), while the past habitual describes former habits (“she didn’t used to eat meat” — implying she does now). Peterson’s documented examples use the negated pair ipradus daor versus iprattus daor to show the contrast.
Does High Valyrian have a future tense?
Yes. The future is formed with an -il- infix before the personal endings: -inna, -ilā, -ilza, -ili, -ilāt, -ilzi. Forms like dohaerilza (“he/she will serve”) are documented in Peterson’s reference grammar.
How are commands formed?
With the imperative: present imperative -ās (singular) and -ātās (plural), as in ossēnātās (“slay!”, plural). Third-person commands (“let him/her/them…”) use special constructions, and negative second-person commands use the infinitive form.
Why can High Valyrian drop “I” and “you”?
Because verb endings already mark person and number — ipradan can only mean “I eat.” Subject pronouns like nyke (“I”) are added only for emphasis, as in nyke Daenerys Jelmāzmo (“I am Daenerys Stormborn”).
Mastering high valyrian verb tenses may sound like a lot, but the system is regular: learn the present and aorist endings first, add the future -il- infix, and treat the past habitual as the “used to” tense. Always check new verbs against documented sources — the High Valyrian dictionary gives you the infinitive, and these paradigms give you everything after it.