Part B: The
Verb
7. The Perfective Prefix - / the /
The perfective is indicated in some verbs by a prefix the,
which occurs just before the subject pronoun and replaces
the imperfective prefix,; if any.
| nágha |
'He
is going' |
| nátheya |
‘he
went' (stem change) |
or |
| hebes |
'It is boiling' |
| thebes |
'It has
boiled' |
In third person
forms when there is a direct object pronoun ye, present.,
/ the / is replaced by a high tone on the prefix that occurs
just before the subject pronoun.
| yeøbes |
'He
is boiling it' |
| yéøbes |
'He boiled
it' |
or |
| yeþáth |
'He is cutting
it’ |
| yéþath |
'He cut
it'(stem change) |
In first person
forms, when classifier ø
or no classifier is present, perfective / the / requires
the subject pronoun to be marked by i.
| yeøtsi |
'He is making
it' |
| thiøtsü |
‘I
is made it' |
| hegha |
‘He
is going' |
| náthiya |
‘I
went' (stem change) |
First and second
person dual the perfective forms require no special comment
as they form regularly in the same manner as he imperfective
forms.
| thílbes |
'We
(2) boiled it' |
| thüøbes |
'You (2)
boiled it' |
or |
| nathídlógh |
‘We
(2) laughed' |
| nathüdlógh |
‘You
(2) laughed' |
Some verbs are
defective in the perfective system. These verbs lose perfective
/ he / in the first and second persons singular,
| hikü |
'I started
off' (on water) |
| hükü |
'You started
off' |
" retain
the high tone in third person forms,
" retain
/ he / in first person dual,
| hikü |
'We
(2) started off' |
"and lose
/ he / in second person dual.
| hukü |
'You (2)
started off' |
Note that in
the first person dual form hikü
,the initial / hi / is a variation from the prefix / he
/ that would normally be expected in this position. This
change seems to be caused by the common tendency in Denes¶øiné
for one sound to fuse into another.
