Impersonal Verbs

Impersonal Verbs use the indefinite pronominal prefix

Unaccusative and Unergative Verbs

In Siye, unaccusative verbs have the syntactic form of the reflexives, but the verb root is intransitive.

layeke isupunuma.

layeke-0 i-su-pu-nu-ma

girl-ABS 3-move.IMPFV-SG-DIR.SUB-IMPFV

The girl will go down.

layeke umhisupunuma.

layeke-0 um-i-su-pu-nu-ma

girl-ABS REFL-3-move.IMPFV-SG-DIR.SUB-IMPFV

The girl will fall.

Tom umhisupunuma.

Tom-0 um-i-su-pu-nu-ma

Tom-NOM 3-move.IMPFV-SG-DIR.SUB-IMPFV

Tom will fall.

Unergative verbs, on the other hand, invert the pronominal prefixes of the pseudo-passive by placing the indefinite pronoun in the

object slot and the relevant personal pronoun in the subject slot.

layekeya musupoputuma

layeke-ya mu-i-supo-pu-tu-ma

girl-ERG INDEF-3-move.fast-SG-DIR.ALL-IMPFV

The girl runs fast.

Tom musupoputuma

Tom-0 mu-i-supo-pu-tu-ma

Tom-NOM INDEF-3-move.fast-SG-DIR.ALL-IMPFV

Tom runs fast.