# Votian/Imperfect Tense of Indefinite Voice
## Indefinite voice

The indefinite voice describes an action without giving any information about it's agent. Hence an imperfect tense indefinite expression like püvvettī could be translated approximately as: "Somebody cought!". We don't bother ourselves clarifying, who was it.
| Mood | Negation verb | Main verb ending |
| Imperfect tense indicative | | -ttiin |
| Imperfect tense indicative negation | epi | -ttu |
* The -ttu ending is actually an indefinite voice past tense participle suffix.
* The -ttiin suffix was composed of an indefinite voice marker -tta, an imperfect tense marker -i and 3. person's singular hen.

### Morphophonology

The final -n was pronounced as a prolongation of the preceding vowel e.g. tek+tiin > tehtī ('Somebody did').
* In Votian like dialects of Estonia the long vowels without primary stress have been shortened (influenced by Mid Estonian dialect) e.g. pes+tiin > pesti ('Somebody washed.').
The first t is geminated after a short vowel only, elsewhere the suffix is degeminated e.g. ve̮te̮ttī ('Somebody took') vs. jute̮лtī ('Somebody said!') or sȫtī ('Somebody did eat!').
Indefinite voice suffixes take a consonant stem if available.
* Therefore verbal stem is always in the weak grade in front of any indefinite voice marker (except present tense indefinite voice)
** лuget̮tī ('Somebody (did) read.') X лuke̮assa ('Somebody reads.')
** vs. magattī ('Somebody slept.') X makā ('Sleep!' - singular imperative).
In front of any indefinite voice marker (except present tense indefinite voice) the stem-vowel a alternates with e̮ and ä alternates with e e.g. tširjota+ttiin > tširjote̮ttī ('Somebody wrote').

#### Dialectal alternatives

* Dialectal alternatives of the negation verb epi were described in the lesson about present tense negation e.g. ep e̮лtu vs. ei e̮lDu ('Nobody was.') .
* Dialectal alternatives of the -ttu suffix are better described in the lesson about Votian participles .
** The Eastern Votic -ttuk suffix is composed of an indefinite voice past tense participle suffix -ttu and a metanalytic negation marker -k borrowed from the present tense negation , where it is a present tense marker .
*** The final -k is pronounced as -G only in Eastern Votic dialect e.g. ep e̮лtuG ('Nobody is'). All the other dialects both in Ingria and Estonia have lost the phoneme *k in the end of words e.g. ep e̮лtu.
* Alutaguse dialects
* The suffix -ttiin has became
** -tti (after a syllable of primary or secondary stress) e.g. luke+ttiin > luetti ('Somebody (did) read' ) , kuivata+ttiin > kuivaDetti ('Somebody dried' )
** -t̆ti (after an unstressed syllable) e.g. aja+ttiin > ajat̆ti ('Somebody chased' ) - Jõhvi dialect
** -ti (after a voiceless consonant) e.g. las+ttiin > lasti ('Somebody shot' )
** -t̆i or -Di (after a voiced consonant or a vowel with primary stress) e.g. tuo+ttiin > tuoDi ('Somebody brought' ), men+ttiin > menDi ('Somebody went' )
* Alutaguse runic songs have preserved a more archaic suffix *-tta+i+hen > -tiie, -diie, -die, -tie :
** üteldie, räägitie, valetie ('Somebody said, told, poured')

### Other Finnic dialects

* Standard Finnish : lue-ttiin ('Somebody read.') / ei lue-ttu ('Nobody read.')
* Vesjegonski Karelian dialects : lugie--tti̮h ('Somebody read.') / ei lugie-ttu ('Nobody read.')
* Central Vepsian dialects : luge-tihe ('Somebody read.') / ī luge-tud ('They did not read.')
* Hevaha Ingrian dialects : lue-ttīn ('Somebody read.') / ei lue-ttu ('Nobody read.')
* Standard Estonian : loe-ti ('Somebody read.') / ei loe-tud ('Nobody read.')
* Räpina South Estonian dialects : loe-tte ('Somebody read.') / es loe-ttaʔ ~ loe-tta ̮as̀ ('Nobody read.')