Verbs

Every verb has one unchanging form. There are no irregular verbs, no participles, no gerunds, no infinitives. Changes in tense, mood, and aspect are indicated by the use of markers. Verbs can take prefixes and suffixes, but this is entirely regular.

Qualitative and Dynamic Verbs

There are two types of verbs: qualitative and dynamic.

Qualitative verbs
Qualitative verbs usually translate English adjectives. They refer to qualities and characteristics. Qualitative verbs take the predicate markers i (positive) and man (negative). Here are some examples of qualitative verbs:

bai — to be good
dai — to be big
dogo — to be small
yèye — to be pretty
tia — to be hot
saɲi — to be cold
suka — to be difficult
yoɲì — to be easy
witi — to be quick, fast, swift, rapid

Dynamic verbs
Dynamic verbs refer to actions, events, and relationships. Most verbs are dynamic verbs. Dynamic verbs can be transitive (they can take an object) or intransitive.

ke — to do, to make
lon — to know a thing
kai — to eat

Tense and aspect

Tense—that is to say, the distinction between past, present, and future—is not very important in Lio Sabalè. What’s more important is the “aspect” of a verb, which is how it fits into a timeline in relation to other events and facts, not in relation to the present moment.

Tense and aspect are indicated through predicate markers and through suffixes or post-verbal particles.

Perfective aspect | Ø; ma

This aspect is expressed without any marking in the positive, and with the predicate marker ma in the negative.

This refers to an event that is seen as a simple whole, without any overlap with other events. It can be past, present, or even future (if a future time-word is used).

Progressive aspect | de; la

Formed with the predicate markers de (positive) and la (negative). This refers to an ongoing action or a temporary state of being.

Perfect aspect | …lè

Formed with the particle lè, which comes after the verb. It can be written as a suffix or separated with a space.

With dynamic verbs, this refers to a state that results from the completion of an event. It is not a past-tense marker.

O ge lè jì manga. “She has cut her own hair.”

When used with qualitative verbs, it refers to the state that results from a change.

Omina i murà. “Gas is cheap.” (In general.)
→ Omina murà lè. “Gas has gotten cheaper.”

This aspect has no negative form in itself. However, when used with negative predicate particles (usually ma), it means “to stop doing something” or “won’t do something anymore”.

Ye ma soko lè. “Stop talking.” N ma soko lè. “I’ll stop talking.”

Qualitative aspect | i; man

This is used for qualitative verbs.

Mìnde ne i kai co. “These noodles are tasty.”
Mìnde ne man kai co. “These noodles are not tasty.”

Incompletive aspect | mè

This means “has not done something”.

Habitual aspect | kàn …; la kàn …

This refers to actions that are done repeatedly as a habit. It is often paired with with a time word to express the interval of repetition.

O kàn ge jì manga. “She cuts her own hair.”
Ita la kàn ge jì manga. “She does not cut her own hair.”

Continuous aspect | …mà; la …mà

This aspect only occurs on a small set of verbs. It refers to an ongoing action that had some definite beginning point. The bare verb refers to the beginning of the action. For example:

gi “to put on” → gimà “is wearing”
nò “to sit down on” → nòmà “is sitting on”
jin “to stand up; to stop” → jinmà “is standing somewhere”

Passive stative aspect | …kà; man …kà

This means “has been [verb]ed”. It refers to something that as undergone a change as a result of being acted upon.

beni “to bend” → benikà “is bent”
po “to bare, strip” → pokà “is bare, is naked”

Potential stative aspect | zà …kà; la zà …kà

This translates the English suffix “-able”. It refers to the potential of something to be acted upon successfully.

non “to drink” → zà nonkà “is drinkable”, la zà nonkà “is undrinkable”
sème “to lean on” → zà sèmekà “is reliable”

Serial Verbs

[This section is in progress]

Verbs of change

The suffix –ya A qualitative verb (or a noun) can be changed into

Causative verbs

A verb can be made causative with the suffix –sa/sà. This suffix takes the same tone as the last syllable of the verb.

dugu “to read, to study” → dugusa “to educate”
loa “to be long” → loasa “to lengthen”

wò “to fall” → wòsà “to drop, to let fall”
jà “to dry” → jàsà “to dry”

Mood

Mood is indicated with predicate markers.

Te (possibility)

To express “can” or “be able to”, use the verb te + kà (the infinitive marker).

Te can be negated with la, ma, man.
La te means that an unsuccessful attempt is in progress.
Imo la te won ki. “I can’t see you.”
Ma te means that there was an attempt which failed.
Imo ma te ɲo duse. “I couldn’t lift the stone.”
Man te means a general lack of ability. For example:
Imo man te làɲimi. “I can’t swim.”