Seuna serial verb construction

The serial verb construction (SVC) is used when two verbs (on occasion it can be more than two verbs) can be thought of as representing one single action.

how it works

In this construction one verb comes first and then the second verb follows. The first verb is given the full markings for tense, etc. etc. but the second verb has its final vowel deleted and the ending i added (however when the verb is monosylabic, the ending ia is added). For example ;-

donori nia = "he walked here" or more accurately "he walked in this direction"

Here nia is a second verb indicating motion. There are eight verbs of motion very commonly used as the second element in SVC.

the 8 SVC verbs of motion

along	lia	to follow	l???
across	dia	to cross	d???
through	dwia	to go through	dw??
up	sia	to ascend	s???
down	jia	to descend	j???
back	wia	to return	w???
away from speaker	gia	go	g??
towards speaker	nia	come	n???

Some examples ;-

he telephoned (to this location) = wire-speakori nia

he telephoned (from this location) = wire-speakori gia

to returned a call = wire-speak wia

These eight words often corespond to prepositions in English. As with prepositions they are often followed by nouns to which they relate.

the copula in SVC

In Seuna "he painted the green house" would mean the same as "he painted the house green" because of word order. Therefor to avoid confusion we must say "he painted the house to be green". "to be" in this position is treated as a normal second element in a SVC. It is represented by ya which is a sort of modified ia.

other stuff

Note ;- In the Seuna writing system ia is represented by the active verb symbol (i.e. "r") unadorned with a vowel subscript.

Some more example ;-

he broke into the bathroom = breakori enter the bathroom

normally when the first verb is a word of motion, the word "enter" is not used.

donori pidwolo = "S/he walked in the house" or "S/he walked into the house"

However with "break", which is not a verb of motion, you use "enter".

prepositions not supplanted by the SVC, but by case

As mentioned above, the second element in many SVC are functionally equivalent to prepositions in English.

Other English prepositions are functionally equivalent case tags in Seuna.

Having a second verb in SVC's was considered but it was decided to go the "case" route.

case marking	English equivalent preposition	2nd element of SVC (thought of but not used)
-ji	for	"to give" or "to help"
-u	with	"to use"
-ho	with	to accompany
-fi	at	to be at
-le	than	to surpass

Also the cases -le, -yo and -wa ; could maybe have been reoplaced by verbs meaning "come", "go", "arrive there", "arrive here", "reach", etc. etc.

other verbs commonly used as SVC elements

meaning when independent verb	Form when independent	Meaning when 2nd element of SVC	Form when 2nd element
to oppose	w???	against	wia
to do carelessly	f???		fia
to botch	b???	mis-	bia

to hurry,

to gather, to scratter

to repeat, ............... (again)

to enter, to exit

to stop off .................. for a time on a journey(when second element "to take five"??)

to connect, to disconnect ... on and off

to stay ......................continue, keep on

arrive, leave ................... to start, to stop ??

deliberate and accidental actions

swela by itself means "to pounce on","to jump on", to swoop down on", "to fall on"

toko by itself means "to fall"

sweli after a verb means that that verb was done deliberately

toki after a verb means that that verb was done accidentally

Index

1. Introduction to Seuna
2. Seuna : Chapter 1
3. Seuna word shape
4. The script of Seuna
5. Seuna sentence structure
6. Seuna pronouns
7. Seuna nouns
8. Seuna verbs (1)
9. Seuna adjectives
10. Seuna demonstratives
11. Seuna verbs (2)
12. Asking a question in Seuna
13. Seuna relative clauses
14. Seuna verbs (3)
15. Methods for deriving words in Seuna
16. List of all Seuna derivational affixes
17. Numbers in Seuna
18. Naming people in Seuna
19. The Seuna calendar
20. Seuna units