Wants and plans

On this page

• The gap
• The forms
• Examples
• Practice

The gap

I want to visit in March and I'm visiting in March come out sounding like the same promise, so a wish said out loud quietly starts owing somebody something. I will hides the opposite question: whether you have the backups, the steps, or only a direction. Agazan keeps the wish and the intention in separate words, and the ending on each one says how much weight it carries.

The forms

Drop-in	Meaning
thohul / thohum / thohur	has wanted this for a long time / wants to / feels like it right now
thamal / thamam / thamar	planned with backups ready / the steps laid out / only the direction

The drop-in goes where an English adverb or tag would go, and it covers the clause it sits in.

The endings are the settled-to-passing scale again: -l lasting, -m the default, -r right now. On a want word that is how long the wanting lasts. On a plan word it is how much of the route is drawn, and no level is better than another: a sketch is often all a small or early plan needs, and saying so out loud keeps the planning from becoming the reason not to start.

Leave both words off when you are only saying what happens. I'm visiting in March with nothing added is a plain report, not a promise and not a wish.

A want word does not say you mean to act, and a plan word is not a forecast: it says what someone means to do, not what the world will do. Neither one claims the thing happened.

Examples

I'm taking a sabbatical thohum.
I'm going back to school thohul.
I'm calling in sick thohur.
I'm moving in the spring thamal.
We're redoing the kitchen thamar.

I'm going back to school thohul is a want that keeps coming back, and still nothing you owe anyone; I'm calling in sick thohur is the same shape for a wish that will have passed by lunchtime. I'm moving in the spring thamal says the plan already covers what happens if the lease falls through, while we're redoing the kitchen thamar admits that nothing past the idea is settled.

Practice

Add the drop-in that fits the note.

1. I'm switching teams. (you mean to, and you've worked out what to do if it falls through)

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I'm switching teams thamal.

2. I'm writing a novel. (a wish that keeps coming back; you aren't saying you mean to)

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I'm writing a novel thohul.

3. We're spending August in Lisbon. (you have the direction; nothing is booked)

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We're spending August in Lisbon thamar.

4. I'm trading my shift away. (you mean to, and you have the steps)

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I'm trading my shift away thamam.