participle: -и (ути 'which can go') The suffix -и may be added to participles to form a verbal noun: ҫыр-нӑ ;'written' > ҫыр-н-и 'writing'. II. Adverbial participles (converbs) -са (default: doing, having done, while about to do') (-сар after a negative suffix) -а 'doing Y' (the verb form is usually reduplicated) -нӑҫем(-ен) 'the more the subject does Y': -уҫӑн 'while doing Y' -сан 'having done Y', 'if the subject does Y' -нӑранпа 'after/since having done Y' -массерен 'whenever the subject does Y' -иччен 'before/until doing Y' III. Infinitives The suffixes -ма and -машкӑн form infinitives. There are many verbal periphrastic constructions using the non-finite forms, including: a habitual past using the present participle and expressing periodicity (эпĕ вулакан-ччĕ, lit. 'I was [a] reading [one]'); an alternative pluperfect using the past participle (эпĕ чĕннĕ-ччĕ, lit. 'I [was] one that had called'; negated by using the negatively conjugated participle эпĕ чĕнмен-ччĕ); a general present equal to the present participle (эпĕ ҫыракан, lit. 'I [am a] writing [one]'; negated with the enclitic мар), an alternative future expressing certainty and equal to the future participle (эпĕ илес 'I [am] one who will get'; negated with an encliticised ҫук), a necessitative future using the necessitative participle (ман/эпĕ тарант(ар)малла 'I [am] one who must feed'; negated with мар), a second desiderative future expressing a wish and using the converb in -сан (эпĕ ҫĕнтерсен-ччĕ, 'I wish I'd win'), another desiderative form expressing a wish for the future and using the future participle followed by -чĕ (эпĕ пĕлес-чĕ 'I wish/hope I know', negated by мар with an encliticised -ччĕ). Word order Word order in Chuvash is generally subject–object–verb. Modifiers (adjectives and genitives) precede their heads in nominal phrases, too. The language uses postpositions, often originating from case-declined nouns, but the governed noun is usually in the nominative, e.g. тĕп çи-не 'onto (the surface of) the ground' (even though a governed pronoun tends to be in the genitive). Yes/no-questions are formed with an encliticised interrogative particle -и. The language often uses verb phrases that are formed by combining the adverbial participle in -са and certain common verbs such as пыр 'go', çӳре 'be going', кай 'go (away from the speaker)', кил 'go (towards the speaker)', ил 'take', кала 'say', тăр 'stand', юл 'stay', яр 'let go'; e.g. кĕрсe кай 'go entering > enter', тухса кай 'go exiting > leave'. Numerals The number system is decimal. The numbers from one