Admirative

The admirative is a mood that English does not have. It expresses reality together with the speaker's surprise: something unexpected has turned out to be the case, or the speaker has just learned it, or does not quite believe it. In English you can only render it with extra words such as "really", "apparently", "it turns out", "so you are...".

How it is formed

The admirative is built from the short form of the participle and a short, unstressed form of kam "have" attached after it. It has a present and an imperfect, and two compound tenses made with the admirative of kam or jam.

Present

	kam	jam	laj	hap	vë
unë	paskam	qenkam	lakam	hapkam	vënkam
ti	paske	qenke	lake	hapke	vënke
ai, ajo	paska	qenka	laka	hapka	vënka
ne	paskemi	qenkemi	lakemi	hapkemi	vënkemi
ju	paskeni	qenkeni	lakeni	hapkeni	vënkeni
ata, ato	paskan	qenkan	lakan	hapkan	vënkan

Imperfect

The same construction, with a reduced imperfect of kam:

	kam	jam	laj	hap	vë
unë	paskësha	qenkësha	lakësha	hapkësha	vënkësha
ti	paskëshe	qenkëshe	lakëshe	hapkëshe	vënkëshe
ai, ajo	paskësh (paskej)	qenkësh (qenkej)	lakësh (lakej)	hapkësh (hapkej)	vënkësh (vënkej)
ne	paskëshim	qenkëshim	lakëshim	hapkëshim	vënkëshim
ju	paskëshit	qenkëshit	lakëshit	hapkëshit	vënkëshit
ata, ato	paskëshin	qenkëshin	lakëshin	hapkëshin	vënkëshin

Perfect and past perfect

These are the admirative of kam (or jam) followed by the participle:

Perfect: paskam larë, paske larë, paska larë, paskemi larë, paskeni larë, paskan larë "I have actually washed".
Past perfect: paskësha larë, paskëshe larë, paskësh larë, paskëshim larë, paskëshit larë, paskëshin larë "I had actually washed".

Grammars normally show the compound admirative with verbs that take kam. For verbs that take jam the same pattern is built with the admirative of jam (qenkam larë "I have actually been washed").

What the base is

The base is the participle in a short form, which is not always the same as the full participle: laj (participle larë) gives lakam, hap (participle hapur) gives hapkam, vë (participle vënë) gives vënkam. It is learned with each verb rather than by class.

For Class 6 verbs, the clitic u goes in front of the active admirative: u lakam "I actually wash myself".

When to use it

1. Surprise at something unexpected

The speaker has just noticed or realised something that is true, and reacts to it:

Qenke i lodhur! "So you are tired!"
Paskam harruar librin! "I have forgotten the book, I see!"
Ai paska ardhur! "So he has come!"

The present admirative can be used with po when the surprising action is going on right now. Without po it describes a repeated or general action.

2. Surprise at something that was happening, or had happened

Imperfect admirative: an action that was going on at a past moment, seen with surprise: paskësha, qenkësha and the other forms of the table above.
Perfect admirative: an action whose time includes both the past and the present moment: Paska ardhur! "He has come, I see!"
Past perfect admirative: something done before a past moment: paskësh ardhur "he had come, it turned out".

3. Doubt, irony, dissent

Beyond surprise, the admirative can express the speaker's doubt or disagreement with what someone else says, or irony. Used with nuk or s', it expresses surprise that an action did not take place.

4. A comment on what one has been told

The admirative can also react to what one has only been told, rather than seen.

5. In the future

The admirative can also appear in a future construction, do të + the present admirative, to express surprise about what is going to be.

Watch out: the admirative is not simply "the perfect with a different ending". It is the speaker's attitude that makes it admirative; whether the sentence uses the present, the imperfect or a compound tense follows the time of the action, as in the indicative.