Parseltongue: A Guide
The youngest of an ancient and powerful bloodline rumored to be descended from Slytherin himself, Alessandra Slytherie records her findings on her journey to revive the dying language of her ancestors. *This is an unfinished work which is being constantly updated with new information. Last update: 4/18/14
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
6
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19,586
Subjects, Verbs, & Verb Conjugation
Chapter 5
In Parseltongue, every subject is addressed specifically,
and the speaker even refers to oneself in the third person. Therefore, “I eat,” would be “Alessandra eats” or "Alessandra Hsshse." (Of course, my name would need to be adjusted to a different form in Parseltongue if a snake were to speak it, due to the lack of the letter "D" in Parseltongue.)
There are three verb tenses: past, present, and future. The present tense of a verb is simply its infinitive form, whereas the past and future tenses must be modified to indicate their verb tense. To adjust a verb to the past tense, one must –sse to the end of the infinitive. To adjust a verb to the future tense, one must –ssa to the end of the infinitive.
To negate a verb, add Sra- to the beginning of the infinitive.
There are no verb conjugations as in human languages; as a
result, all verbs stay in the same form despite the subject they are attached
to. Listed below are some common verbs utilized in Parseltongue.
To be | Hsshhie* |
To think | Hsnsha |
To speak | Hsnshi |
To know | Hsnshe |
To feed (Eat) | Hsshse* |
To drink | Hsshsa* |
To sleep | Ssnhha |
To go | Ssshsie* |
To love | Ssashe |
To read | Hsnsst |
To hear | Ssessa |
To look | Ssessn |
To find | Shashu |
To breathe | Hhashn |
To study | Ssiihsu |
To join | Shlshashii |
| To stop | Hhiehsn |
*Be careful not to mispronounce. The “sh” sound (as in shy,
shush, shoot) only exists in Parseltongue when formed in a single letter (Sha,
Shu, Shie, Shii, She, Sht, Shn, Shl, Shr, Shz, Shh, Shj, Shk, Shs). When “sh”
occurs as a result of the juxtaposition of two different letters (such as in Hsshhie)
the “sh” sound does not occur. Therefore, Hsshhie would be pronounced as “Hss –
high”, Hsshse as "Hss - hsay", Hsshsa as "Hss - hsaw", and Ssshie as "Sss - hsigh".
