A verb
may have a prefix and a suffix simultaneously.
a-ta-c
‘will draw (water)’
vp draw will
me-na-c
‘will sit’
vp sit will
a-ta
‘draw (water)’
vp draw
me-naa
‘sit !’
vp sit
ma-ta-c
‘will not draw (water)’
not draw will
me-me-na-c
‘will not sit’
not vp sit will
4.2. The
Verb / ali / :
/ali/ is the verb ‘be’ in Ao. The initial vowel is the
classificatory prefix. As mentioned before it is dropped when
the following morpheme begins with a vowel. It is not dropped
when the following morpheme begins with a consonant.
li-y-as
‘was’
a-li-c
‘will be’
li-y-e
‘is’
The verb /ali/ has three functions. One is copulative. It occurs
when the predicate is a noun or an adjective.
ní
nisó
ká
liye
‘I am a man’
I
man a
is
lá
tàcó
iive
‘she is good’
she good
is
k kakàt ká
liye9
‘I have a book’
my
book a
is
When the finite verb has an aspect marker and a tense marker, /ali/
is used as an auxiliary to carry the tense markers.
ní
ci-y-a liyas
‘I was eating’
I
eat(Asp)was
ní
ci-li liye
‘I just ate’
I
eat (Asp) is
4.3.
Tenses :
Ao
distinguishes between past, present and future tenses. The past
tense is not morphologically marked while the present and future
tenses are marked by separate markers.
4.3.1.
The Past :
The verb
takes no overt markers to indicate simple past except the ‘be’
verb /ali/ where the past tense marker is /as/.
pá
au
‘he came’
ní
zlu
‘I wrote’
lá
campí
‘she spoke’
panok liyas
‘they were’
4.3.2.
The Present :
The present tense marker is /taki/.
9. There is
also another verb /kà/
‘possess’. But its subject is in the nominative.
‘will draw (water)’
-c
‘is’
kakàt ká
liye
