Changing Verb Classes
Some verbs are automatically both specific and non-specific verbs, depending only on which suffixes they receive. The verb taku- - to see - is one example. However, other verbs require an additional suffix to shift classes.
Many action verbs that specifically involve an actor performing an action on another are specific verbs that take the suffix -si- in order to become non-specific verbs:
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Specific: Qukiqtara qimmiq I just shot the dog. Non-specific: Qukiqsijunga qimmirmik I just shot a dog.
Many verbs of emotion alternate between the suffixes -suk- and -gi- to change whether or not they are specific:
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Non-specific: Ilirasuktunga ilisaijimik I'm intimidated by a teacher Specific: Iliragijara ilisaiji I'm intimidated by the teacher
This is important when attributing an emotion to a person without designating the cause. To do so, Inuktitut always uses the non-specific form:
- Kuppiasuktunga I'm afraid
Read more about this topic: Inuit Grammar
Famous quotes containing the words changing, verb and/or classes:
“Sweet love, I see, changing his property,
Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The word is the Verb, and the Verb is God.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“What’s the greatest enemy of Christianity to-day? Frozen meat. In the past only members of the upper classes were thoroughly sceptical, despairing, negative. Why? Among other reasons, because they were the only people who could afford to eat too much meat. Now there’s cheap Canterbury lamb and Argentine chilled beef. Even the poor can afford to poison themselves into complete scepticism and despair.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)