Verbs

Verbs are far and away the most complex part of Mingo grammar. This is especially true for people who speak English, since Mingo verbs are quite different from English verbs in many ways. In order to understand how verbs work in Mingo, we need to consider both their form and their meaning.

Form

The basic verb in Mingo is composed of three parts: a pronominal prefix, a verb base and an aspect suffix.

The job of the pronominal prefix is to tell who is involved in the action. They give information on who performed the action, as well as who was affected by it. In this way, they function very much like pronouns do in English and other European languages. However, instead of being separate words, like 'I' or 'you' or 'him', the pronominal prefixes always occur attached to the verb.

The verb base is the part that carries the core meaning of the verb. It describes the event, activity or state that you are talking about. Some verb bases have very simple meanings, such as -k- eat. Others are much more complex, conveying ideas that usually require many separate words to express in English, such as -nunö'tayëthwahs- go somewhere and plant potatoes.

Lastly, the job of the aspect suffix is to give a particular view on the situation. By using different aspect suffixes, you can talk about actions as being single events, as being repeated on-going activities or as being unchanging, completed states. This is one of the hardest parts of the Mingo verb for English speakers to learn, since the Mingo system of aspect is quite different from the system of tense in English. In order to learn how to properly use the different aspect suffixes, it is crucial to understand the different meanings they express, and how those meanings combine with the meanings of the different types of verb bases, discussed below.

Meaning

When talking about verbs in Mingo, it is very useful to divide verb bases into different groups based on their meanings. The first main division is between verb bases that refer only to static, unchanging conditions versus those that don't. The first type are referred to as Inherently Stative verb bases. These usually correspond to adjectives in languages like English, and they are typically used in noting the characteristics of a particular person or object, or describing a state of affairs. For example:

Some Inherently Stative Verbs

utsi'kwát -- it's bent
unestu -- it's frozen
uænöwê -- it's wet
kekëhtsi -- I'm old
uthúwe' -- the weather's cold
ununö'taka'ö -- delicious potato

All the rest of the verb bases, that is, those which are not Inherently Stative, are called Active verb bases. Active verb bases can be split into two groups based on whether they describe actions with results or actions without results. Verb bases that refer to actions which have clear, recognizable results and which bring about changes in either the subject or the object, are called Resultative verb bases. For example:

Some Resultative Verbs

u'tkhit -- I smashed it
ökashu' -- I threw it away
u'kutyëyékhô' -- I gathered them up
u'knuwae' -- I washed it
ökíta' -- I went to sleep
wa'úték -- it burned

The verb bases which refer to actions without clear and direct results, and where the subject and/or the object are not viewed as having been substantially changed by the action, are called Non-Resultative verb bases.

Some Non-Resultative Verbs

u'katúwât -- I hunted
u'katênút -- I sang
u'ktháë' -- I talked

The importance of the distinction between these three types of verb bases -- Inherently Stative, Active Resultative and Active Non- Resultative -- will be clear when we talk about how the aspect suffixes are used with the different types of verb bases.

Now that we have discussed the basic structure of the Mingo verb, we can look more in-depth at each of the three component parts:

Verbal Prefixes: These pages outline the forms and uses of the 60 different pronominal prefixes in Mingo, as well as the numerous other verbal prefixes, including the Negative, Repetitive and Simultaneous prefixes.
Verb Bases: These pages discuss the structure of complex verb bases, including the use of derivational suffixes such as the Distributive and Benefactive suffixes, as well as the incorporation of noun bases into the verb base.
Verbal Suffixes: These pages include a detailed discussion of the various forms of the aspect suffixes and how their meanings interact with the meanings of the verb bases they attach to.