Verbs

Verbs, like nouns, were generally stressed on the first syllable, and in consequence have lost nearly all of their former inflection. (In fact some traces of the older inflections are to be found, usually in the form of a continuous vs. punctual/inchoative pair, but these are now perceived as separate verbs.

There are two current proclitic inflections:

The verb root is reduplicated in full, to make a habitual or iterative form (e.g. nip-níp, keep asking).
The absolutive personal pronoun, if present, is adjoined to the verb (e.g. vun-nip-níp, keep asking him [here]).

These are written hyphenated to the verb, and are subject to the sound changes described under phonology.

For mood, see under syntax. Other ideas often expressed in a verb (such as tense) are optionally expressed with particles.

Arguments and Class of Verbs

Note: the information in this section is tentative; it is entirely probable that some of the following will prove to be an overgeneralisation.

All verbs require an argument in the absolutive case. Most if not all can take an argument in the ergative case (that is, there is a strong tendency for every verb to have both an intransitive and a transitve usage. Some verbs take a complement, which may be a noun phrase (in the absolutive or genitive), a postpositional phrase, an adjective phrase or a clause. (I am not yet sure whether or in what cases these complements are obligatory or obligatorily absent). It is possible that there are verbs that require other arugments (likely postpositional phrases).

There are at least three classes of verb, grouped by the semantic relations of their arguments:

Action verbs

The argument in the absolutive undergoes the action specified; the ergative argument, if present, is the agent of the action. Vunj-báz pav-vé, He sits down. Vuv vom baz pav-vé, he sets the dog down. (On pav-vé see Speech verbs, below.) They do not normally (if ever) take a complement (if they do, it would be resultative, cf. He paints the house red).

Speech verbs

Speech verbs take (optionally) a speaker in the ergative, (obligatorily) an adressee in the absolutive, and (almost always) what is said as a clausal complemement. They are the most common verbs of the language, because speech act is always overtly expressed: every sentence necesarily contains a speech verb. (Historically, this arose in compensation for loss of inflection on the verb, such that it would have otherwise been impossible to tell apart, for instance, a statement, a question or an order, positive or negative.)

In the example Vuv vom baz pav-vé;, lit. [I] tell you [that] he sets the dog down, ve is the normal verb for making a positive assertion and pav is the masculine +0 absolutive 2nd person pronoun (the addressee 'you' - this particular form is normal when addressing an unknown audience in writing). The ‘I’ (duv) is generally left understood except in the first sentence of a chapter or conversation. Vuv vom baz is the complement clause that he sets the dog down.

Perception verbs

Perception verbs take the thing perceived in the absolutive, the perceiver (optionally) in the ergative, and (usually) how the perceived is perceived as a complement: ranji duv vom han pav-vé, the dog seems immature to me; ranji vom han pav-vé, the dog seems immature; duv vom han pav-vé, I notice the dog; vom han pav-vé, the dog is apparent. When the thing perceived needs to be expressed as a clause due to complexity, a dummy pronoun (usually vuy) summarises the sense of the clause and fills the absolutive slot: yeg ven up duv vuy-hán pav-vé, I see that the conversation has ended.

To Be: Yi and Nop

The copula yi and the existential verb nop between them cover the senses of English to be and to have, as well as the comparison of adjectives.

yi

The copula may be used with various sorts of complements to convey qualities, locations, possession, etc. Normally it is used without an ergative argument:

Kav va vuv-yí pav-vé. He is in the field. (va, at)
Vombes ta vuv-yí pav-vé. He is Wolf's [underling of some sort]. (ta, of - alienable possession, used with nouns of no distinct genitive)
Gupofnjí vuv-yí pav-vé. He is lazy.

If the complement is adjectival, an ergative argument serves as a point of comparison. It may be useful to think of the copula as a perception verb: the adjective describes the absolutive argument from the viewpoint of the ergative argument. If the thing compared is a member of a group of things it is compared to, the result is a superlative.

Gupofnjí duv vuy-yí pav-vé. He is taller than me.
Gupofnjí du vuy-yí pav-vé. He is taller than us, or, He is the tallest of us.

A comparative used negatively idiomatically means equality, but the same is not true of a negative superlative.

Gupofnjí duv vuy-yí pav-múz. He is as tall as me.
Gupofnjí du vuy-yí pav-múz. He is as tall as us, or, He isn't the tallest of us.

If the complement is nominal, an ergative argument is the inalienable possessor.

Tas duv vuf-yí. She is my wife.

Contrast the alienable possession, in which the possessor is in the genitive case and modifies the possessed directly:

Do tas vuf-yí. She is my woman [lover].

nop

The verb nop is used to assert the existence of the argument in the absolutive, or its existence in a given place:

Vom sinjí nop pav-vé. There is a dog.
Kav va vom sinjí nop pav-vé. There is a dog in the field.

A noun in the absolutive, again, is an inalienable possessor; again this contrasts with alienable possession, which uses the genitive:

Duv tas sji nop pav-vé. I have a wife.
Duv kav va tas sji nop pav-vé. I have a wife in the field.
Do vom sinjí nop pav-vé. I have a dog.
Kav va do vom sinjí nop pav-vé. I have a dog in the field.

Note that the phrases of location or alienable possession are not complements: they follow the ergatives.