Monday, 4 April 2011

Verbs: Conjugation 3a & 3b

Up to now, we have dealt with two groups of verbs, Conjugations 1 & 2. Conjugation 1 deals with verbs that end in a consonant, e.g. 'cun' (eat) 'cab'(drink) etc. Conjugation 2 dealt with verbs that end in 'i' or 'ee' such as 'kari' (cook) or 'samee'(to do/make). Conjugation 3 largely deals with verbs that end in 'o'. However, this conjugations can be split into roughly two patterns, 3a & 3b. In 3a, 'o' changes into 'a', and the verbs conjugated as below. However, with 3b, for 1st person singular and 3rd person male (singular & plural), the 'o' is dropped.


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Verb stem3a3b
1st person-aday-tay
2nd person-atay-atay
3rd person(male)-aday-tay
3rd person(female)-atay-atay
1st person(plural excl)-anney-anney
1st person (plural incl.)-anney-anney
2nd personateen-ateen
3rd person(plural)-adeen-teen


Example,


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Conjugation 3aConjugation 3b
guursolaabo
WaanguursadayI got marriedlaabtayI returned
WaadguursatayYou got marriedlaabatayYou returned
WuuguursadayHe got marriedlaabtayHe returned
WeyguursatayShe got marriedlaabatayShe returned
WaannuguursanneyWe got marriedlaabanneyWe returned
WeynuguursanneyWe got marriedlaabanneyWe returned
WaadguursateenYou(pl) got marriedlaabateenYou(pl) returned
WeyguursadeenThey got marriedlaabteenThey returned
Posted by Mitsurugi at 03:23

5 comments:

  1. Just me13 September 2011 at 05:47

    So when looking at a verb which ends in "o", how will I know if it is a 3a or 3b for conjugation purposes?

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  2. Mitsurugi14 September 2011 at 15:04

    That's a good question. At the moment, I use a Somali dictionary that tells you what conj. group the verb belongs to, e.g.

    guurso (3a) - to get married

    I think there is a way to tell whether a verb is 3a or 3b (for example, I think if the verb ends in 'so' it's more likely to be 3a) but I have to check my grammar book at home. I'll update here after I check it out.

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  3. Just me16 September 2011 at 05:29

    So I have seen a pattern, typically for 3a (change the letter) the word will have 2 consonants prior to the ending "o" (except for words with a "k" prior to the ending "o" like buko) and with 3b (drop the letter) the word will have 1 consonant prior to the ending "o". Words that end in "ow" are also considered type 3a verbs, but they are different because the ending "ow" is a change of state verb (something is "becoming" something else).

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  4. Mitsurugi16 September 2011 at 07:58

    I think you're right. However there are some exceptions. 'Dhegeyso' (to listen),'qubeyso' ( to have a bath) and 'sheekeyso' all have two consonants before the 'o' but they are 3b verbs. But maybe this is because although 'y' is strictly speaking a consonant, when you pronounce it, it has an 'i' sound so in practice it's a vowel.
    Verbs that end in 'ow' tend to have that 'becoming' sense, but there also seem to be some important exceptions. 'Illow' (to forget) is a Conj.1 verb (Waan illaaway - I forgot). 'Imow'(to come) is an irregular verb and doesn't belong to any of the conj. groups.

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  5. Just me16 September 2011 at 09:32

    Oh yea, I forgot to mention that, the y is treated like a vowel. Unfortunately Somali isn't a perfect science, but the pattern is at least helpful for most words. The irregular verbs are a whole different beast =)

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