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:
“Armies, though always the supporters and tools of absolute power for the time being, are always the destroyers of it too; by frequently changing the hands in which they think proper to lodge it.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“The word is the Verb, and the Verb is God.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“Journalists belong in the gutter because that is where the ruling classes throw their guilty secrets.”
—Gerald Priestland (b. 1927)