Sotho Verbs - Varieties

Varieties

Verb stems may be divided into four varieties:

1. Regular stems beginning with a consonant and ending in a vowel
2. Monosyllabic verbs
3. Vowel verb stems begin with a vowel
4. Derived verbs constructed from other verbs, noun roots, adjectival roots, and ideophones by suffixes.

Regular verbs are those beginning with a consonant and ending in the vowel a. The final a may change into every vowel except the near-close near-back vowel (/ʊ/) through inflexion or derivation. The verb root is the atomic part of the verb, which does not change (save for some purely phonetic changes) and Bantu languages share numerous similar verb roots (with predictable sound changes between languages).

Stem -bona see, from root -bon-, also existing as isiZulu -bon-, Swahili -on-, Tshivenda -vhon-, Chishona -von-, Chilamba -won- etc. Proto-Bantu *-bon-

Monosyllabic stems may be classified into several categories:

• The i-stems have a typical i in derivatives, and u in the passive

  -tla come ⇒ Perfect -tlile, Causative -tlisa, Passive -tluwa

  -ya go ⇒ Perfect -ile, Causative -isa, Passive -uwa

  -kga draw water ⇒ Perfect -kgile, Causative -kgisa, Passive -kguwa

• The e-stems have a typical near-close near-front e in their derivatives

  -tjha burn ⇒ Perfect -tjhele, Causative -tjhesa, Passive -tjhewa

  -ja eat ⇒ Perfect -jele, Causative -jesa, Passive -jewa

• The "velar" e-stems have labialized onsets, and have similar forms to other e-stems but have a near-close near-back vowel o in the passive

  -nwa drink ⇒ Perfect -nwele, Causative -nwesa, Passive -nowa

• There are three defective stems, ending in a vowel other than a. The first two of these verbs are very common among the Bantu languages

  -re say ⇒ Perfect -itse, No causative, Passive -thwe

  -le be; very restricted in use (only used in the participial sub-mood of certain copulatives)

  -tjho say so ⇒ Perfect -tjhelo / -tjholo, No causative, No passive

Vowel verb stems are conjugated as regular verbs but are put into a separate class due to being uncommon in Bantu languages (and, in some languages but not in Sesotho, causing changes to concords and other formatives prefixed to them). Class 1 and 5 nouns derived from these verbs do not cause any velarization to the prefix. The Proto-Bantu reconstructions of many of these verbs suggests that they originally began with *g (or sometimes *j), which "protected" the vowel.

-ila avoid (as a taboo)

-eta travel

-utlwa hear, sense

-aha construct

-otla strike, punish