Béu : Chapter 3 : The Verb

..... The 5 verb forms

... The infinitive verb form

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The infinitive is called the hipe

The most common multi-syllable verbs end in "a".

The less common multi-syllable verbs end in "e" or "o".

The least common multi-syllable verbs end in "au", "oi", "eu" or "ai".

To form a negative infinitive the word jù is placed immediately in front of the verb. For example ...

doika = to walk

jù doika = to not walk

The infinitive can be regarded as a noun.

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... The imperative verb form

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The imperative is called the yeməpe

This is used for giving orders. When you utter an imperative you do not expect a discussion about the appropriateness of the action (although a discussion about the best way to perform the action is possible).

For non-monosyllabic verbs ...

1) First the final vowel of the infinitive is deleted and replaced with u.

doika = to walk

doiku = walk !

For monosyllabic verbs u is prefixed.

dó = to do

udo = do it !

The negative imperative is formed by putting the particle kyà before the infinitive.

kyà doika = Don't walk !

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... The indicative verb form

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The indicative is the most complicated verb form by far.

The indicative is called the hukəpe^*

But first we must introduce a new letter.

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This letter has not been mentioned so far because it doesn't occur in any words as such. It only occurs in the hukəpe.

So if you hear "r", you know you are hearing the main verb of a clause.

.. The doer

The first piece of information that must be given in the indicative is who does the action. To do this you first ...

1) Deleted the final vowel from the infinitive.

2) Then one of the 7 vowels below is must be added. These indicate the doer..

Notice that there are 2 entries that represent the 1st person plural subject (i.e. we). The top one represents first person inclusive and the bottom one represents first person exclusive.

Note that the ai form is used when you are talking about generalities ... the so called "impersonal form" ... English uses "you" or "one" for this function.

The above defines the "person" of the verb. Then follows an "r" which indicates the word is an verb in the indicative mood. For example ...

doika = to walk

doikar = I walk

doikir = you walk

etc. etc. etc.

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.. Tense

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In béu tense is usually shown not on the verb but is indicated by an adverb of time. This adverb can come anywhere in a clause but it has a strong tendency to come clause initial.

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kaujin = a moment ago

kaukoidi = earlier today

kaya = yesterday

kanga = the day before yesterday

kauku = the past

...

jindi = now

jondi = now

[ jìn is a noun meaning something like "moment". Obviously jindi is from jìn dí. jòn is also a moment of time. Maybe equivalent to 10 or 15 jìn ]

...

taijin = in a moment, just

taikoidi = later on today

tadi = tomorrow

tanda = the day after tomorrow

taiku = the future

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To indicate the future, if the subject is human, often the word INTEND ??? is used. For example ... ??

Actually there is one tense in béu : the present tense which is shown by adding an "a". For example ...

doikara = I am walking

This tense is only used if the act is happening at the time of speaking. In contradistinction the English "-ing" suffix can turn up in time frames other than "now".

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.. Aspect

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The perfect aspect is shown by adding an "i". For example ...

doikari = I have walked

The ending "u" can be considered the opposite of the above aspect. Lets call it the "not yet" aspect. For example ...

doikaru = I have not yet walked / I have not walked

If you have plain doikar it will often be judged to have "habitual" aspect. This of course depends a lot on the context in which doikar occurs^**.

The negative of the doikar form is doikarju

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The -ra is only used for actions happening at the time of speaking. In English, the "to be - ing" construction is used for this. However the English "to be - ing" construction is also used to fit one action inside another. For example "she came in when I was shaving" ... usually set in the past but in the future is also possible. This is called the imperfect aspect (I think). In béu you use the copula plus the infinitive with the -n pilana affixed. For example ...

por kyu tar SHAVEn ... ( Side Note ... In this example, SHAVE is in what is uaually called the "imperfective" in the Western Linguistic Tradition, a form that combines tense and aspect)

Note ... SHAVEn is similar to an adjective in that it follows the copula. However it differs from an adjective in an important way ... it can never be an attribute of a noun. The form SHAVEana is the noun attribute.

...............XXX colour light green ................................

Note ... When you have the endings -ora, -ori and -oru they are always shortened to just -ra, -ri and -ru, provided the final consonant of the infinitive is not w y h or ʔ. For example ...

doikri = he has walked

...............XXX colour light green ................................

^*The symbol for "r" is called huka (meaning "hook"). The word hukəpe actually means "R-form" by the normal rules of word building (mepe means form/shape).

^**Different verbs have different likelihoods of being adjudged "habitual" when ending in "r". This likelihood is totally due to the internal semantics of the individual verb (which of course determine in which situations it is permissible to use the verb). ..

.. Negativeness

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The indicative mood is negativized by adding ju. For example ...

doikarju = I do not walk

The present tense is negativized as above but with addition of the word jindi ( meaning "now"). For example ...

jindi doikarju = I am not walking

Note - the "u" aspect can be considered the negative of the "i" aspect and vice versa.

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.. Probability

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There are two adverbs màs and lói.

As with all adverbs they can be placed almost anywhere in a sentence. However these two have a strong preference to be sentence initial.

màs doikori = maybe he has walked

lòi doikori = probably he has walked

You could say that the first one indicates about 50 % certainty while the second indicates around 90 % certainty.

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... The consecutive and simultaneous tenses ??

Earlier we mentioned the present tense. There are 2 further tenses in béu. However they aren't relative to NOW but relative to the last ROGER form verb.

The consecutive tense, eu, shows that the action takes place after the time of occurrence of the previous ROGER form verb. For example ...

jana doikar moʒi solbeu = Yesterday I had a walk and then drank some water

The simultaneous tense, ai, shows that the action takes place at the same time as the previous ROGER form verb. For example ...

jana doikar moʒi solbeu = Yesterday I walked about a bit while drinking water

Note ... verbs with these endings, even tho', they are in indicative mood, actually have the mood of the initial verb ???

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... The subjunctive verb form

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The subjunctive is called the sudəpe

The subjunctive verb form comprises the same person/number component as the indicative, followed by "s".

Now the main thing about the subjunctive is that it is not "asserted" ... it is not insisted upon ... there is a shadow of doubt as to whether the action will actually take place.

This is in contrast to the indicative mood. In the indicative mood things definitely happen.

[ Of course you can add some doubt to the indicative by fronting the verb with the particle màs or lói. These particles are never added to any other mood. ]

There are a few places that the subjunctive turns up. First of all there are a set of leading verbs that always change there trailing verbs to the subjunctive. For example ....

"want", "wish", "prefer", "request/ask for", "suggest", "recommend", "be afraid", "demand/command", "let/allow", "advise", "forbid" etc.

Now the trailing clause in these sentences started off by the above verbs, can either have an initial bò (equivalent to one of the uses of "that") or not have an initial bò. But this makes no difference to the trailing verbs, they must all be in the subjunctive mood.

Note ... whether the tail clause starts with a bò or not, depends upon a number of things. But basically the more complex the tail clause is, the more likely you are to have bò.

You can also see the subjunctive in clauses which stand alone. Again the key thing to remember is "non-assertion". In this case it is almost as if the clause is a question, that is how far the non-assertion goes. The speaker wants to have a discussion with the listener about the proposition. For example ...

In the first person ...

doikas = shall I walk [ suggestion or question ] can be translated variously as "maybe I should walk", "should I walk ?", "how about me walking", "may I walk"

['doikas could in some situations be translated as "if only I could walk" ... however it is best to analyse this as a sentence where "I wish" has been dropped.]

doikais = Let's walk [ suggestion or question ] ... ( urge.urge doikais = come on, lets walk )

In the second person ...

doikis = walk [ mild imperative ] can be translated variously as "maybe you should walk", "why don't you walk", "how about you walking", "may you walk"

doikes ... the same as above but talking to more than one person.

And occasions it can have an optative meaning ... i.e. have a good holiday

In the third person ...

doikos = may he walk [ optative ... that is it conveys the wishes of the speaker ], and can also be translated as a mild imperative, i.e. "let him walk",

[ For the second and third person ... depending upon the verb ... it can have an optative meaning. For example ...

May she live 100 years.

May the devil take him ]

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The negative subjunctive is formed by adding ka. For example ...

doikoska = best not to let him walk. ( lest he walk ??? is this right ?? ... we gave him money lest he starve to death ))

(I gave him money to buy food .... I gave him money lest he be hungry)

A third place where the subjunctive can turn up is in conditional sentences. Both verbs in a conditional sentence are in the subjunctive mood.

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... The subjunctive 2 verb form

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he subjunctive 2 verb form comprises the same person/number component as the indicative, followed by "si".

Now the main thing about the subjunctive 2 verb is that the action did not take place. However even tho' the action never happened, we still want to talk about the contingency ... we want to talk about "what might have been".

The subjunctive 2 verb form is made negative by the same method as the infinitive is made negative.

This is a different mood ( I guess ) needs a different name ??? How about calling them the "base form", "command form", "tell form", "do-able form" and the "non-do-able form". ..

..... Short verb

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In a previous lesson we saw that the first step for making an indicative, subjunctive or imperative verb form is to delete the final vowel from the infinitive. However this is only applicable for multi-syllabe words.

With monosyllabic verbs the rules are different.

For a monosyllabic verbs the indicative endings and subjunctive suffixes are simply added on at the end of the infinitive. For example ...

swó = to fear ... swo.ar = I fear ... swo.ir = you fear ... swo.or = she fears ... swo.uske = lest they fear ...... etc.

For a monosyllabic verb ending in ai or oi, the final i => y for the indicative and subjunctive. For example ...

gái = to ache, to be in pain ... gayar = I am in pain ... gayir = you are in pain ... etc. etc.

For a monosyllabic verb ending in au or eu, the final u => w for the indicative and subjunctive. For example ...

ʔáu = to take, to pick up ... ʔawar = I take ... etc. etc.

dàu = to arrive

cái = to depart

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The above is the general rules for short verbs, however the 37 short verbs below the rules are different.

Their vowels of the infinitive are completely deleted for the indicative and subjunctive verb forms. For example ...

myàr gì = I love you ........................ not * mye.ar gì

pòr nambo = he enters the house ... not *poi.or nambo

ʔái = to want
mài = to get	myè = to like, to love
yái = to have
jòi = to go			jwèu = to undergo, to bear, to endure, to stand
fà = to know	fyá = to tell	flò = to eat
bái = to ascend	byó = ???	blèu = to hold	bwá = to exit
gàu = to descend		glà = to store	gwói = to pass
dó = to do			dwé = to come
lái = to change
cài = to use			cwá = to cross
sàu = to be		slè = ???	swé = to speak, to say
kó = to see	kyò = to show	klói = to think	kwèu = to turn
pòi = to enter	pyói = ???	plèu = to follow
tèu = to put			twé = to meet
wàu = to own
náu = to give	nyáu = to return
háu = to be good

The imperative suffix is -ya for singular and plural for all short verbs. For example ...

nyauya nambo = go home !

swoya = fear !

gaiya = be in pain !

ʔauya ʃì = take it !

Some nouns related to the above ... yaivan = possessions, property, flovan = food, dovan = products, nauvan = tax, tribute, glavan = reserves, dó = things that must be done, dwái = deeds, acts, actions, behaviour.

A particle related to the above ... yú ... a particle that indicates possession, occurs after the "possessed" and before the "possessor.

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..... The copula

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There is one copula in beuba.

Its infinitive is sàu. Following the method of other verbs, its negative is jù sàu.

The indicative mood is derived from the infinitive in the usual method. So ...

sàr = I am

ʃìr = you are

sòr = he/she/it is

... and so on

In fact, the sàu copula is completely regular over all 5 verb moods, apart from one thing ... the indicative negative is formed by suffixing -ke instead of -ju. For example ...

sorke = he/she/it is not

Actually the (present tense, positive) copula is usually dropped if there is no chance of a misunderstanding.

It is mostly used for emphasis; like when you are refuting a claim

Person A) ... ʃirke moltai = You aren't a doctor

Person b) ... sàr moltai = I AM a doctor

Another situation where the (present tense, positive) copula tends to be used is when either the subject or the copula complement are longish trains of words. For example ...

solbua alkyo ʔá dori sùr sawoi = Those alcoholic drinks that she has made are delicious.

Unlike the other verbs, the copula has a different form for the past tense and a different form for the future tense. These are ...

tàr = I was

jàr = I will be

jarke = I won't be

etc. etc.etc.

(You could say that taiku sàr => tàr and jauku sàr => jàr)

The forms ‘’’sor’’’ and ‘’’sur’’’ are invariably shortened to simply -‘’’r’’’ and stuck on to the end of the copula subject. ........................................XXX colour light green ................................

Similarly the forms ‘’’sorke’’’ and ‘’’surke’’’ are invariably shortened to simply -‘’’rke’’’ and stuck on to the end of the copula subject. ...............XXX colour light green ................................

Note ... In copular sentences there is not free word order. They must be "copula subject" followed by "copula" followed by "object". Copula subject does not take the ergative suffix -s.

The subjunctive forms are ...

sas and saske ... uses ???

There are only two imperative forms ... jiya and jeya

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In a later chapter ...

tari = I was already

taru = I was not yet

sari = I am already

saru = I am not yet

jari = I will be already

jaru = I will not yet be

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There are 2 more words that might be considered copulaa ...

1) twài = to be located, to be placed .... perhaps an eroded form of a participle of tèu "to place"

2) yór = to exist ... a third person indicative form of the verb yái "to have". The third person indicative meaning is completely bleached in this usage.

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..... The Ordinal Numbers & Fractions

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To get an fractional number (regarded as specifiers ... as all numbers are) you just attach s- to the front of the cardinal number. So we have ;-

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a unit	saja
a half	sauva
a third	saiba
a quarter	sida
etc.	etc.

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These are fully numbers. They are written in the same way as numbers, except the have a squiggle above them. The squiggle looks like an "8" on its side that hasn't fully closed.

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To get an ordinal number (regarded as adjectives) you just attach n- to the front of the cardinal number. So we have ;-

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first	naja
second	nauva
third	naiba
fourth	nida
etc.	etc.

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May be this form originally came from an amalgamation of nò plus the number.

These forms are adjectives 100% and are always written out in full.

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To get (I don't know what these are called) (regarded as a noun) you just attach b- to the front of the cardinal number. So we have ;-

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alone, single	baja
a double, a twosome, a duality	bauva
a threesome, a trinity	baiba
a foursome, a quartet	bida
etc.	etc.

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Note bajai = lonely

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..... The time of the day

kòi = sun, day (24 hours)

The béu day begins at sunrise. 6 o'clock in the morning is called cuaju

The time of day is counted from cuaju. 24 hours is considered one unit. 8 o'clock in the morning would be called ajai (normally just called ajai, but cúa ajai or ajai yanfa might also be heard sometimes).

6 o'clock in the morning	cuaju
8 o'clock in the morning	ajai
10 o'clock in the morning	ufai
midday	ibai
2 o'clock in the afternoon	agai
4 o'clock in the afternoon	idai
6 o'clock in the evening	ulai
8 o'clock in the evening	icai
10 o'clock at night	ezai
midnight	okai
2 o'clock in the morning	apai
4 o'clock in the morning	atai

Just for example, let us now consider the time between 4 and 6 in the afternoon.

16:00 would be idai : 16:10 would be idaijau : 16:20 would be idaifau .... all the way up to .... 17:50 which would be idaitau

Now all these names have in common the element idai, hence the period from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock is called idaia (the plural of idai). This is exactly the same as us calling the period from 1960 -> 1969, "the sixties".

The perion from 6 o'clock to 8 o'clock in the morning is called cuajua. This is a back formation. People noticed that the two hour period after the point in time ajai was called ajaia(etc. etc.) and so felt that the two hour period after the point in time cuaju should be called cuajua. By the way, all points of time between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. MUST have an initial cuaju. For example "ten past six in the morning" would be cuaju ajau, "twenty past six" would be cuaju afau and so on.

If something happened in the period from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock, it would be said to have happened idaia.pi

Usually you talk about points of time rather than periods of time. If you arrange to meet somebody at 2 o'clock morning, you would meet them apaiʔe.

But we refer to periods of time occasionally. If some action continued for 20 minutes, it will have continued nàn ufau, for 2 hours : nàn ajai (nàn means "a long time")

In English we divide the day up into hours, minutes and seconds. In béu they only have the yanfa. The yanfa is equivalent to 5 seconds. We would translate "moment" as in "just a moment" as yanfa also.

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..... Index

1. Introduction to Béu
2. Béu : Chapter 1 : The Sounds
3. Béu : Chapter 2 : The Noun
4. Béu : Chapter 3 : The Verb
5. Béu : Chapter 4 : Adjective
6. Béu : Chapter 5 : Questions
7. Béu : Chapter 6 : Derivations
8. Béu : Chapter 7 : Way of Life 1
9. Béu : Chapter 8 : Way of life 2
10. Béu : Chapter 9 : Word Building
11. Béu : Chapter 10 : Gerund Phrase
12. Béu : Discarded Stuff
13. A statistical explanation for the counter-factual/past-tense conflation in conditional sentences