Part B: The
Verb
1. First Person Subject Pronouns
So far all of the verbs we have studied have been seen only
in third person; that is, they have had 'he, she, it' as
their subject.
| nádher |
'He is
staying' |
| shétü |
'He is
eating |
| nedáth |
'He is heavy' |
| eghálana |
'He is working' |
When we want
to say 'I am staying', 'I am eating', etc., we do not introduce
a new word, as in English, but a prefix "s" is
placed within the verb, just before the classifier and stem.
| nádher |
'He is staying' |
| násdher |
‘I
am staying' |
or |
| shétü |
'He is
eating |
| shéstü |
‘I
am eating |
or |
| nedáth |
'He is heavy' |
| nesdáth |
‘I
am heavy' |
When the subject
pronoun prefix "s" is added to verbs with the
direct object pronoun, the object pronoun is dropped.
| yeneø¿ü |
‘He is looking at it' |
| nes¿ü |
‘I
am looking at it' |
or |
| yeríttvagh |
'He hears
it' |
| désttvagh |
' I hear
it' |
| yedq |
'He is drinking
it' |
| hesdq |
'I am drinking
it' |
or |
| yeøtsi |
'He is making
it' |
| hestsi |
‘I
am making it' |
Note: The direct
object pronoun 'it' is understood to be present even though
there is nothing to mark it in the verb.
When the prefix
"s" is introduced into a word, certain phonetic
changes take place in the word. If there is a classifier
I or 1 in the verb just previous to the stem, the I or 1
is dropped.
| yeøtsi |
'He
is making it' |
| hesti |
‘I
a m making it' |
or |
| yálgus |
'He is jumping' |
| yásgus |
'I am jumping' |
If the syllable
that occurs just ahead of the classifier and stem ends in
/ i /, it will change to / e /.
| yeríttvagh |
'He hears
it' |
| désttvagh |
'I hear
it' |
or |
| nánedher |
'He is thinking' |
| nánesdher |
‘I
am thinking' |
If the stem begins
with / dh / or / 1 /, these sounds change to / th / or /
ø /.
| nüdhen |
'He
is thinking' |
| nesdhen |
'I am thinking' |
or |
| neyeríle |
'He is
picking them up' |
| nerísøe |
'I am picking
them up' |
If the stem begins with gh or / g / in a verb of travel,
gh or / g / disappears.
| hegha |
'He
is going' |
| hesa |
‘I
am going' |
or |
| ghegal |
'He is walking' |
| ghesal |
'I am walking' |
When verbs with
first person subject pronoun 'I' are used with noun objects,
the noun is placed ahead of the verb. There is no change
in the verb itself. This is the same for all first and second
person verb forms.
| hesdq |
'I am drinking
it' |
| tu hesdq |
'I am drinking
the water' |
or |
| désttvagh |
'I hear
it' |
| ¿asié désttvagh |
'I hear
something' |
Another method
of adding first person subject 'I' to a verb is to add prefix
"i" just after the classifier and before stem.
This is usually used with verbs that have a perfective meaning,
a type we have not yet studied. There are a few verbs with
imperfective meanings that use the prefix "i".
| theda |
'He
is sitting' |
| thida |
'I am sitting'
|
| thetü |
'He is sleeping' |
| thitü |
‘I
am sleeping' |
or |
| theyúü |
'He is.
standing' |
| thiyü |
'I am standing' |
Note that when
the subject pronoun "i" is preceded by the vowel
/ e /, / e / is dropped. That is, the fused with "i"
becomes thi.
