Adyghe verbs


In Adyghe, like all Northwest Caucasian languages, the verb is the most inflected part of speech. Verbs are typically head final and are conjugated for tense, person, number, etc. Some of Circassian verbs can be morphologically simple, some of them consist only of one morpheme, like: кӏо "go", штэ "take". However, generally, Circassian verbs are characterized as structurally and semantically difficult entities. Morphological structure of a Circassian verb includes affixes which are specific to the language. Verbs' affixes express meaning of subject, direct or indirect object, adverbial, singular or plural form, negative form, mood, direction, mutuality, compatibility and reflexivity, which, as a result, creates a complex verb, that consists of many morphemes and semantically expresses a sentence. For example: уакъыдэсэгъэгущыӏэжьы "I am forcing you to talk to them again" consists of the following morphemes: у-а-къы-дэ-сэ-гъэ-гущыӏэ-жьы, with the following meanings: "you with them from there together I am forcing to speak again ".

Tense

Adyghe verbs have several forms to express different tenses, here are some of them:
TenseSuffixExampleMeaning
Present~∅макӏо /maːkʷʼa/he is going; he goes
Simple past~агъэ /~aːʁa/кӏуагъэ /kʷʼaːʁa/he went
Discontinuous past~гъагъ /~ʁaːʁ/кӏогъагъ /kʷʼaʁaːʁ/he went
Pluperfect~гъагъ /~ʁaːʁ/кӏогъагъ /kʷʼaʁaːʁ/he had gone"
Categorical Future~н /~n/кӏон /kʷʼan/he will go
Factual Future~щт /~ɕt/кӏощт /kʷʼaɕt/he will go
Imperfect~щтыгъкӏощтыгъ /kʷʼaɕtəʁ/he was going; he used to go
Conditional perfect~щтыгъкӏощтыгъ /kʷʼaɕtəʁ/he would have gone
Future perfect~гъэщт /~ʁaɕt/кӏуагъэщт /kʷʼaːʁaɕt/he will have gone
Recent past~гъакӏ /~ʁaːt͡ʃʼ/кӏогъакӏ /kʷʼaʁaːt͡ʃʼ/he just went
Present Perfect~гъах /~ʁaːχ/кӏогъах /kʷʼaʁaːx/he already went

[Simple past]

The verbs in simple past tense are formed by adding -aгъ /-aːʁ/. In intransitive verbs it indicate that the action took place, but with no indication as to the duration, instant nor completeness of the action. In transitive verbs it convey more specific information as regards to completeness of the action, and therefore they indicate some certainty as to the outcome of the action.
Examples :
PluralityPersonCyrillicIPAMeaning
SingularFirst-personскӏуагъ, седжагъskʷʼaːʁ, sajd͡ʒaːʁI went, I read
SingularSecond-personукӏуагъ, уеджагъwkʷʼaːʁ, wajd͡ʒaːʁYou went, You read
SingularThird-personкӏуагъ, еджагъkʷʼaːʁ, jad͡ʒaːʁHe went, He read
PluralFirst-personткӏуагъ, теджагъtkʷʼaːʁ, tajd͡ʒaːʁWe went, We read
PluralSecond-personшъукӏуагъ, шъуеджагъʃʷkʷʼaːʁ, ʃʷajd͡ʒaːʁYou went, You read
PluralThird-personкӏуагъэх, еджагъэхkʷʼaːʁax, jad͡ʒaːʁaxThey went, They read

[Pluperfect] / [Discontinuous past]

The tense ~гъагъ /~ʁaːʁ/ can be used for both past perfect and discontinuous past:
Examples :
PluralityPersonCyrillicIPAMeaning
SingularFirst-personскӏогъагъ, седжэгъагъskʷʼaʁaːʁ, sajd͡ʒaʁaːʁI had gone, I had read
SingularSecond-personукӏогъагъ, уеджэгъагъwkʷʼaʁaːʁ, wajd͡ʒaʁaːʁYou had gone, You had read
SingularThird-personкӏогъагъ, еджэгъагъkʷʼaʁaːʁ, jad͡ʒaʁaːʁHe had gone, He had read
PluralFirst-personткӏогъагъ, теджэгъагъtkʷʼaʁaːʁ, tajd͡ʒaʁaːʁWe had gone, We had read
PluralSecond-personшъукӏогъагъ, шъуеджэгъагъʃʷkʷʼaʁaːʁ, ʃʷajd͡ʒaʁaːʁYou had gone, You had read
PluralThird-personкӏогъагъэх, еджэгъагъэхkʷʼaʁaːʁax, jad͡ʒaʁaːʁaxThey had gone, They had read

Present tense

The present tense in Adyghe has no additional suffixes, but in dynamic verbs, the pronoun prefix's vowels change form ы to э or е, for instance, сышхыгъ "I ate" becomes сэшхы "I eat", ылъэгъугъ "he saw" becomes елъэгъу "he sees".
Examples :
PluralityPersonCyrillicIPAMeaning
SingularFirst-personсэкӏо, седжэsakʷʼa, sajd͡ʒaI go, I read
SingularSecond-personокӏо, уеджэwakʷʼa, wajd͡ʒaYou go, You read
SingularThird-personмакӏо, еджэmaːkʷʼa, jad͡ʒaHe goes, He read
PluralFirst-personтэкӏо, теджэtakʷʼa, tajd͡ʒaWe go, We read
PluralSecond-personшъокӏо, шъуеджэʃʷakʷʼa, ʃʷajd͡ʒaYou go, You read
PluralThird-personмакӏох, еджэхmaːkʷʼax, jad͡ʒaxThey goes, They read

Future tense

The future tense is normally indicated by the suffix ~щт /~ɕt/. This tense usually expresses some certainty.
Examples :
PluralityPersonCyrillicIPAMeaning
SingularFirst-personскӏощт, седжэщтskʷʼaɕt, sajd͡ʒaɕtI will go, I will read
SingularSecond-personукӏощт, уеджэщтwkʷʼaɕt, wajd͡ʒaɕtYou will go, You will read
SingularThird-personкӏощт, еджэщтkʷʼaɕt, jad͡ʒaɕtHe will go, He will read
PluralFirst-personткӏощт, теджэщтtkʷʼaɕt, tajd͡ʒaɕtWe will go, We will read
PluralSecond-personшъукӏощт, шъуеджэщтʃʷkʷʼaɕt, ʃʷajd͡ʒaɕtYou will go, You will read
PluralThird-personкӏощтых, еджэщтыхkʷʼaɕtəx, jad͡ʒaɕtəxThey will go, They will read

Imperfect tense">Imperfect">Imperfect tense

The imperfect tense is formed with the additional suffix ~щтыгъ /~ɕtəʁ/ to the verb. It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to walk".
Examples :
PluralityPersonCyrillicIPAMeaning
SingularFirst-personскӏощтыгъ, седжэщтыгъskʷʼaɕtəʁ, sajd͡ʒaɕtəʁI was going, I was reading
SingularSecond-personукӏощтыгъ, уеджэщтыгъwkʷʼaɕtəʁ, wajd͡ʒaɕtəʁYou were going, You were reading
SingularThird-personкӏощтыгъ, еджэщтыгъkʷʼaɕtəʁ, jad͡ʒaɕtəʁhe was going, he was reading
PluralFirst-personткӏощтыгъ, теджэщтыгъtkʷʼaɕtəʁ, tajd͡ʒaɕtəʁWe were going, We were reading
PluralSecond-personшъукӏощтыгъ, шъуеджэщтыгъʃʷkʷʼaɕtəʁ, ʃʷajd͡ʒaɕtəʁYou were going, You were reading
PluralThird-personкӏощтыгъэх, еджэщтыгъэхkʷʼaɕtəʁax, jad͡ʒaɕtəʁaxThey were going, They were reading

This suffix can also be used to express an action that someone used to do in the past.

Conditional perfect

The Conditional perfect is indicated by the suffix ~щтыгъ /ɕtəʁ/ as well.
Examples :
PluralityPersonCyrillicIPAMeaning
SingularFirst-personскӏощтыгъ, седжэщтыгъskʷʼaɕtəʁ, sajd͡ʒaɕtəʁI would have gone, I would have read
SingularSecond-personукӏощтыгъ, уеджэщтыгъwkʷʼaɕtəʁ, wajd͡ʒaɕtəʁYou would have gone, You would have read
SingularThird-personкӏощтыгъ, еджэщтыгъkʷʼaɕtəʁ, jad͡ʒaɕtəʁhe would have gone, he would have read
PluralFirst-personткӏощтыгъ, теджэщтыгъtkʷʼaɕtəʁ, tajd͡ʒaɕtəʁWe would have gone, We would have read
PluralSecond-personшъукӏощтыгъ, шъуеджэщтыгъʃʷkʷʼaɕtəʁ, ʃʷajd͡ʒaɕtəʁYou would have gone, You would have read
PluralThird-personкӏощтыгъэх, еджэщтыгъэхkʷʼaɕtəʁax, jad͡ʒaɕtəʁaxThey would have gone, They would have read

Future perfect

The future perfect tense is indicated by adding the suffix ~гъэщт or ~гъагъэщт. This tense indicates action that will be finished or expected to be finished at a certain time in the future.
Examples :
PluralityPersonCyrillicIPAMeaning
SingularFirst-personскӏогъэщт, седжэгъэщтskʷʼaʁaɕt, sajd͡ʒaʁaɕtI will have gone, I will have read
SingularSecond-personукӏогъэщт, уеджэгъэщтwkʷʼaʁaɕt, wajd͡ʒaʁaɕtYou will have gone, You will have read
SingularThird-personкӏогъэщт, еджэгъэщтkʷʼaʁaɕt, jad͡ʒaʁaɕthe will have gone, he will have read
PluralFirst-personткӏогъэщт, теджэгъэщтtkʷʼaʁaɕt, tajd͡ʒaʁaɕtWe will have gone, We will have read
PluralSecond-personшъукӏогъэщт, шъуеджэгъэщтʃʷkʷʼaʁaɕt, ʃʷajd͡ʒaʁaɕtYou will have gone, You will have read
PluralThird-personкӏощтыгъэх, еджэгъэщтэхkʷʼaɕtəʁax, jad͡ʒaʁaɕtaxThey will have gone, They will have read

Transitivity

In Circassian the verb being transitive or intransitive is of major importance in accounting for the contrast between the two cases ergative and absolutive. The division into transitive and intransitive verbs is an important distinction because each group functions a bit differently in some grammatical aspects of the language. Each group for example has its own arrangement of prefixes and conjunctions. Circassian is an ergative–absolutive language, which means it is a language in which the subject of intransitive verbs, behave like the object of transitive verbs. This is unlike nominative–accusative languages, such as English and most other European languages, where the subject of an intransitive verb behaves grammatically like the agent of a transitive verb
Intransitive verbs in Circassian are verbs that have a subject in the absolutive case. The common definition of an intransitive verb is a verb that does not allow an object, and we see this in Indo-European, Turkic and other languages. This is problematic in the Circassian languages, because in Circassian, there is a number of verbs with transitive semantics but morphological features and syntactic behavior according to the intransitive pattern. Thus in Circassian, intransitive verbs can either have or not have objects.
Examples of intransitive verbs that have no objects:
Examples of intransitive verbs that have indirect objects:
Transitive verbs in Circassian are verbs that have a subject in the ergative case. Unlike intransitive verbs, transitive verbs always need to have an object. Most transitive verbs have one object, but there are some that have two objects or several.
Examples of transitive verbs with a direct object:
Examples of transitive verbs with two objects:
The absolutive case in Adyghe serves to mark the noun that its state changes by the verb, for instance, in the English sentence "The man is dying", the man's state is changing by dying, so the man will get the absolutive case mark in Adyghe.
An example with an object will be "The man is stabbing its victim", here the man's state is changing because he is moving to stab, so in this case the word man will get the absolutive case mark, the verb "stab" does not indicate what happens to the victim, it just expresses the attacker's movement of assault.
Another example will be "The boy said the comforting sentence to the girl", here the sentence's state is changing by being uttered by the boy and coming to existence, so sentence will get the absolutive case mark, it is important to notice that the boy's state is not changing, the verb "said" does not express how the boy uttered the sentence.
In intransitive verbs the subject gets the absolutive case indicating that the subject is changing its state.
In transitive verbs the subject gets the ergative case indicating that the subject causes change to the direct object's state which gets the absolutive case.
TransitivitySubjectObject
IntransitiveAbsolutive Oblique
TransitiveErgative Absolutive

For example, both the intransitive verb егъуин /jaʁʷəjən/ and the transitive verb дзын /d͡zən/ mean "to throw".
Another example is еон /jawan/ "to hit" and укӏын /wət͡ʃʼən/ "to kill".
Dynamic verbs express actions that are taking place while steady-state verbs express the condition and the state of the subject. For example, in Adyghe, there are two verbs for "standing", one is a dynamic verb and the other is a steady-state verb:
Examples of dynamic verbs:
Examples of steady state verbs:
is the number of arguments controlled by a verbal predicate. Verbs in Adyghe can be monovalent, bivalent, trivalent, possibly also quadrivalent.
For example, the verb макӏо /maːkʷʼa/ "he is going" has one argument, the verb ео /jawa/ "he is hitting it" has two arguments, the verb реӏо /rajʔʷa/ "he is saying it to him/her" has three arguments.

Monovalent verbs

Monovalent verbs can only be intransitive having one argument, an absolutive subject with no objects.
MonovalentSubjectDirect objectIndirect object
IntransitiveAbsolutive --
Transitive---

Examples :
Bivalent verbs in Adyghe can be either intransitive or transitive.
BivalentSubjectDirect objectIndirect object
IntransitiveAbsolutive -Oblique
TransitiveErgative Absolutive -

Intransitive bivalent verbs

In a sentence with an intransitive bivalent verb :
This indicates that the subject is changing by doing the verb.
Examples :
The conjugation of the intransitive bivalent verb еплъын /japɬən/ "to look at":

Transitive bivalent verbs

In a sentence with a transitive bivalent verbs:
This indicates that the subject causes change to the object.
Examples :
In transitive verbs the left prefix pronoun is the object while the right prefix pronoun is the subject, for example in осэгъакӏо "I am making you go", the left prefix pronoun о "you" is the object while the right prefix pronoun сэ "I" is the subject.
The conjugation of the transitive bivalent verb ылъэгъун /əɬaʁʷən/ "to see it":

Trivalent verbs

Trivalent verbs require three arguments : a subject, a direct object and an indirect object:
Most trivalent verbs in Adyghe are created by adding the causative prefix to bivalent verbs. The causative prefix increases the valency of the verb by one and forms a transitive, thus bivalent verbs become trivalent. Intransitive bivalent verbs that become trivalent have different conjunction than transitive bivalent verbs that become trivalent, thus we end up with two types of trivalent verbs.
To form a trivalent verb one must take a bivalent verb, add the causative prefix -гъэ /-ʁa/ and the subject's pronoun prefix to the right.
Examples of intransitive verbs:
Examples of transitive verbs:
TrivalentSubjectDirect objectIndirect object
Transitive with intransitive rootErgative Absolutive Oblique
TransitiveErgative Absolutive Oblique

Intransitive verbs to trivalent

These verbs are formed by adding the causative prefix to intransitive bivalent verbs, increasing their valency and making them transitive.
Examples :
The conjugation of the trivalent verb with an intransitive origin:
These verbs can be formed by adding the causative prefix to transitive bivalent verbs. There are some exceptional transitive verbs that are trivalent by default without any increasing valency prefixes such as етын "to give".
Examples :
The conjugation of the trivalent verb with a transitive origin:
Adyghe infinitives are created by suffixing -н to verbs. For example:
Along with roots, verbs already inflected can be conjugated, such as with person:
Also, due to the interchangeability of nouns and verbs, infinitives can be constructed from nouns, resulting in verbs that describe the state of being the suffixed word.

Morphology

In Circassian morphology is the most important part of the grammar. A Circassian word, besides that it has its own lexical meaning, sometimes, by the set of morphemes it is build of and by their aggregate grammatical meanings, can reproduce a sentence. For example, a verb by its set of morphemes can express subject's and object's person, place, time, manner of action, negative, and other types of grammatical categories.
Negative form

Prefixes

In Adyghe, most verbal prefixes either express direction or valency increasing.

Negative form

In Circassian, negative form of a word can be expressed with two different morphemes, each being suited for different situations.
Negative form can be expressed with the infix ~мы~. For example:
Negative form can also be expressed with the suffix ~эп, which usually goes after the suffixes of time-tenses. For example:

Causative

The suffix гъэ~ designates causation. It expresses the idea of enforcement or allowance. It can also be described as making the object do something. for example:
Examples:

Comitative

The prefix д~ designates action performed with somebody else, or stay/sojourn with somebody.
Examples:

Benefactive

The prefix ф~ designates action performed to please somebody, for somebody's sake or in somebody's interests.
Examples:

Malefactive

The prefix шӏу~ designates action done against somebody's interest or will. The prefix also strongly indicates taking something away from someone by doing the action or taking a certain opportunity away from somebody else by doing the action.
Examples:

Suffixes

Frequentative

The verbal suffix ~жь designates recurrence/repetition of action.
Examples:
This verbal suffix can also be used to designates continuum, meaning, an action that was paused in the past and is being continued.
Examples:

Duration

The verbal suffix ~эу designates action that takes place during other actions.
Examples:

Capability

The verbal suffix ~шъу designates the ability to perform the indicated action.
Examples:

Manner

The verbal suffix ~акӏэ expresses the manner in which the verb was done. It turns the verb into a noun.
Examples:
A similar expression can be expressed by adding the prefix зэрэ~ /zara~/ and a noun case to the verb, but this behaves differently than the previous one.
Examples:

[Imperative mood]

The imperative mood of the second person singular has no additional affixes:
When addressing to several people, The prefix шъу- /ʃʷə-/ is added:
In Adyghe, the positional prefixes are expressing being in different positions and places and can also express the direction of the verb. Here is the positional conjugation of some dynamic verbs, showing how the prefix changes the indicated direction of the verb:
Here is the positional conjugation of some steady-state verbs, showing how the root changes the indicated position:
prefixstandssitslies
Body position/Poseщы~ щыт щыс щылъ
Onте~ тет тес телъ
Underчӏэ~ чӏэт чӏэс чӏэлъ
Amongхэ~ хэт хэс хэлъ
Within some massхэ~ хэт хэс хэлъ
Within some areaдэ~ дэт дэс дэлъ
Inside an objectдэ~ дэт дэс дэлъ
Aroundӏу~ ӏут ӏyc ӏулъ
Insideи~ ит иc илъ
Hangedпы~ пыт пыc пылъ
Attachedпы~ пыт пыc пылъ
Behindкъо~ къот къоc къолъ
Asideго~ гот гоc голъ
Inside withinкӏоцӏы~ кӏоцӏыт кӏоцӏыc кӏоцӏылъ

Direction

In Adyghe verbs indicate the direction they are directed at. They can indicate the direction from different points of view by adding the fitting prefixes or changing the right vowels.

Towards and off

In Adyghe, the positional conjugation prefixes in the transitive verbs are indicating the direction of the verb. According to the verb's vowels, it can be described if the verb is done toward the indicated direction or off it. Usually high vowels designates that the verb is done towards the indicated direction while low vowels designates that the verb is done off the indicated direction. For example:
The Cislocative prefix is a type of verbal deixis that designates orientation towards the deictic center, in the simplest case towards the speaker. In Adyghe, verbs by default are andative while verbs that have къы~ are venitive.
For example:
When speaking to someone, the prefix къэ~ /qa~/ can be used to indicate that the verb is directed at him, for example :
In intransitive verbs, it can also be used to exchange the subject and the object in a sentence, for example :