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6.6.1 The mood of obligation is expressed by the auxiliary m

which follows the verb or the adverb which follows the verb.

k¹ z² ³-t² mru⁴	‘We³ (incl. Pl.)¹ should⁴ sleep² early³’
n¹ sd² khok³ n⁴	‘You¹ should⁶ go⁵ to⁴ church³
v⁵ mru⁶ ty⁵	tomorrow²’
¹ ls² pu³ ths⁴mru⁵	‘I¹ should⁵ write⁴ a³ letter²’
nik¹ ² k³ n⁴ vr⁵	‘You (pl.)¹ should⁶ come⁵
mru⁶	to⁴ our² house³’

expresses a higher degree of obligation and is somewhat equivalent to the English modal auxiliary ‘must’ which requires the listener not to avoid the action identified by the verb.

¹ v

r² m

³ ‘You¹ must³ come²’

also is a modal of obligation but is less common.

¹ hu

² khri

³ z

⁴ ‘We (incl.pl.)¹ ought to/should⁴ love³ one another²’

6.6.2 The modal of necessity is r

which follows the verb

¹ h² b³ rv⁴	‘I¹ need to⁴ have³ this²’
k¹ v rv²	‘We (incl.pl)¹ need to go²’
pu¹ h² tsh³ rv⁴	‘He¹ will need to⁴ do³ this²’
n¹ lsphr b² rv³	‘You¹ need to³ be studying²’
pu¹ ht rv²	‘She¹ needs to marry²’

6.6.3 The dubitative mood which expresses doubt or uncertainty on the part of the speaker about the proposition is marked by r

suffixed to the verb. It the verb ends in r with or without a vowel following, it is dropped as in the first example.

vr+rlyv	®	vrlyv	‘may/might come’
		khrlyv	‘may/might go up’
		lirlyv	‘may/might marry’
		l vrlyv	‘may/might return’

The dubitative sense may be indicated by the adverb nhi

‘perhaps’ which is an exception to the general rule of adverbs, qualifying a whole clause immediately following the subject or occurring in the sentence-initial position (cf 7.1.0)

¹ v

r² nhi

³ ‘He¹ may/might³ come²’

6.6.4 The desiderative mood which expresses a wish or desire is marked by

which follows the verb.

in the trucated form of li

‘to want’ and b

is the progressive aspect marker.

pu¹ v b²	‘He¹ wants/wishes to go²’
hini¹ kwhr² vr b³	‘We (excl.dj.)¹ want to come³ (to) Kohima²’
¹ bli² pu³ khrli⁴ b⁵	‘I¹ want to⁵ buy⁴ a³ shirt³’

The above sentences have the past tense meaning also since past tense is not morphogically marked. n

doen’t occur with the future tense marker.

The optative and permissive have identical surface realisaions along with the syntactic causative construction. All three have the object in the executor case role with the addition of b

with no explicit conjugation of the verb for any of these.

6.6.5 The optative mood expresses a blessing or curse and

thi

is redundantly added to make it clear it is a kind of optation.

nglnd b¹ kuli² thi	‘May Nagaland¹ win²’
ndmi b¹ kkrutshli²	‘May Indians¹ prosper²’
thi
b¹ i pi³-t² thi	‘May you¹ die² soon³!’

6.6.6 The Permissive

b¹ vrci²	‘Let¹ me³ come²’
rvz b¹ tyotci²	‘Let Ravizo¹ go away²’
¹ b² tyt³ ty⁴	‘I¹ will⁴ let you² go away³’
pu b¹ ² vsci³	‘Let him¹ hit³ me²!’

6.6.7 The Hortative mood realised only with the First person inclusive dual or plural is denoted by kh

if it is a mutually agreed upon or understood action or state and by ty

if the speaker is asking about the opinion of the listener about the action or state identified by the verb. Thus, it is

‘let us eat’ if the listener has been invited for lunch and

‘let us eat?’ (which may be considered as an interrogative hortative), if the listener has paid a surprise visit and is being asked to join for lunch.

v¹ phr ty kh²	‘Let us (incl.du.)¹ go for a walk²’
tsl tsh ty¹ kh²	‘let² us⁰ sing¹’
vt ty¹ kh²	‘let² us⁰ go¹’
k¹ mhth² h³ tshli kh⁴	‘Let us (incl.pl.)¹ do⁴ this³ work²’
k¹ lsphr² pvli³ kh²	‘Let us (incl.pl.)¹ study² well³’
vt¹ kh²	‘Let²us⁰ go¹’


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