Kala Verbs

• A typical verb denotes the occurrence or abandonment of an action (run, stop), a relationship (have, lose), or a state (stand, melt). Most verbs can be reused without change as a noun.

tense

tense	suffix	gloss	example
remote past	-yai	REM	nam inayai We ate a long while ago.
recent past	-yao	REC	nam inayao We just ate.
past	-ye	PST	nam inaye We ate.
present	not marked		nam ina We eat. / We are eating. / We do eat.
future	-tli	FUT	nam inatli We will eat.
immediate future	-tlao	IMM	nam inatlao We will eat soon/now.
distant future	-tlai	DIS	nam inatlai We will eat a long while from now.

• The remote and recent pasts, as well as the immediate and distant futures are negated by the preceding negative nke rather than the negative suffix -k.
• Kala does not distinguish perfect and imperfect aspects of the verb (e.g. "I ate", "I used to eat", "I have eaten", "I had eaten").
• If a temporal adverb is used, the tense suffix may be omitted.

Example: We ate yesterday.

yomaye	nam	ina
day-pst	1pl	eat

modifiers

usage	suffix	from	example
ability, can	-pa	pala to be able, can	na yalapa I am able to go.
attempt, try	-pya	upya to attempt; to try	na yalapya I am trying to leave.
negation	-k	nke no, not; negative	na yalak I am not going.
beginning, initiate	-mu	mula start; begin	na yalamu I begin to go. / I'm starting to leave.
permission; allow	-myo	myonta to allow; permit	na yalamyo I am allowed to go.
should, ought to	-ne	neya should, to ought to	na yalane I should go.
need, necessity	-he	heya to need; require	na yalahe I need to go.
deintensify	-hi	ahi small; little	na inahi I am snacking.
appear, seem	-tse	tse'e to seem; appearance	ha yalatse He seems to be going.
want, desire	-ue	ueha to want; desire	na yalaue I want to go.
intention, volition	-ue	ueyo to intend to	na yalaue I intend to go.

conditional

• they would be happy if the sun were shining
• we doubted he would go
• she would have been a good musician

Index

grammar outline | sentences | questions | lexicon | thematic lexicon | writing