|
|
‘my brother has three wives’
|
|
I-gen. brother pos. wife three
exist
|
|
kago ki ami ya ohe
da
|
‘Kago has five cats’
|
|
Kago pos. cat five exist
|
|
sika myu k
|
‘this man has two swords’
|
|
this man pos. sword two exist
|
|
|
|
| The existential verbs take the
tense like regular verbs. The negative of it is - nyma
‘no’. |
|
|
‘he has no dogs’
|
|
he pos. dog no
|
|
ude ho ami ny
|
‘there is no cat in the house’s
|
|
house loc. cat no
|
|
|
|
| As already mentioned, there is a class
of verbs which can be used as adjectives as well. Such verbs take
the existential verb when used as adjective. |
|
myu si jantu do
|
‘the man if fat’
|
|
man det. fat exist
|
|
ika
alyi si atu do
|
‘that pig is small’
|
|
that pig det. small exist
|
|
|
|
| The negative is formed by using 'ma' in
the place of existential verb. |
|
alyi atu ma
|
‘the pig is not smal’
|
|
pig small no
|
|
|
|
‘our leader is not tall’
|
|
our acc. gen. leader tall no
|
|
|
|
| Verb Particle
In Apatani, verbs are added to the main verb to modify its
inherent meaning. Such verbs are called verb particles. 'ca'
(means 'climb') is added to the verb root to indicate that the
subject is moving up to perform the action identified by the
main verb. |
|
luca
|
to move up to tell’
|
m
|
‘to move up to do’
|
|
bica
|
‘to move up to give’
|
|
|
| yi' is added to indicate that the subject
is moving down to perform the action identified by the main verb. |
|
luyi
|
‘to move down to tell’
|
m
|
‘to move down to do’
|
|
biyi
|
‘to move down to give’
|
|
imiyi
|
‘to move down to sleep’
|
|
|
| bo' is added to indicate that the subject
is moving on level ground to perform the action identified by the
main verb. |
k
