Serial Verb Construction - Examples

Examples

Ewe language:

Kofí trɔ dzo kpoo (Kofi turn-PERF leave-PERF quietly)

Kofi turned and left quietly.

Mandarin Chinese:

我(I) 坐(sit) 飞机(aircraft) 从(from) 上海(Shanghai) 到(to) 北京(Beijing) 去(travel)

I travel from Shanghai to Beijing by aircraft.

Japanese:

With the first verb in the continuative form (連用形 ren'yōkei):

押し通る (oshitōru, push through) in which oshi is the 'continuative' form of osu (push) and tōru (pass; get through) is the finite form whose present tense and indicative mood get read back onto oshi.

飛び込む (tobikomu, jump in) tobi (jump, from tobu) + komu (go/push in)

出来上がる (dekiagaru, be completed) deki (be able to be done, from dekiru) + agaru (rise, be offered)

No verb arguments can come between the two verbs.

With the first verb in the -te form (gerund or conjunctive participle):

開く (aku, to open ) → 開いている (aite iru, has opened and is still open)

This sequence is similar to the English be sat: 'John is sat on a chair.'

Serial verbs can also be used to tie together any arbitrary string of verbs, often as a looser connection indicating causal or temporal relations, similar to English "and". A pair of examples from Hayao Miyazaki's Mononoke Hime:

足跡をたどって来た (ashi-ato o tadotte kita) 'I followed him here' (Lit: 'Following his foot prints I came.') in which the actions of following (辿る) and of coming (来る) are simultaneous.

恨みをのんで死んだ亡者 (urami o nonde shinda mōja) '...the dead, who died swallowing their resentment' in which nonde is in the -te conjunctive participial form of nomu (drink) and expresses an action prior to that of shinda (died).

The second verb can also take its own arguments, making this construction a way of connecting entire clauses.