The Language of the Modhupur Mandi (Garo), Volume 2
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0.2 Verb Suffixes
pp. 240.21 Principle Verb Suffixes
pp. 24These have a claim on being the most important suffixes in the language, for they come closest to being obligatory. With the single exception of equational sentences, every sentence must have at least one word with a principal verb suffix. They are described in detail in Chapter 6 of Volume I.
0.211 Tense-Aspect Suffixes
pp. 24-a pvs. neutral, unmarked tense-aspect marker. In addition to present time, it often shows habitual action, and can even imply past or future: kat-ing-a is running; ga˙-ak-a falls.
-a-ha pvs. past tense marker, (A˙ chik). Mandi has no simple equivalent but uses -a-ming, formed from the neutral -a and the terminal suffix -ming.
-a-ha-jok pvs. past tense marker for relatively remote time.
-gen pvs. future, (A˙ chik equivalent of Mandi -no-a).
-gin-ok pvs. immediate or intentional future, (A˙ chik equivalent of Mandi -na-jok).
Page 25 -jok pvs. indicates a change of state, for an action or condition that happened in the past but whose results continue in the present: kat-jok has run; kat-ja-jok does not run any more; ga˙-ak-jok fell, has fallen.
-na-ba-gin-ang pvs. will probably: re˙-ba-na-ba-gin-ang will probably come.
-na-jok pvs. immediate or intentional future: kat-na-jok about to run, intends to run; kat-ja-na-jok will run no more, does not intend to run any more; ga˙-ak-na-jok is about to fall.
-no-a, -nu-a, -no pvs. future tense: kat-no-a will run; ga˙-ak-no-a will run, (A˙ chik: -gen).
-pit-chi pvs. only, just.
-te pvs. doing and doing, continuing.
0.215 Imperative Affixes
pp. 25-bo pvs. imperative: ring-bo drink!; a-song-bo-ne please sit down!
-bo-da pvs. emphatic or abrupt imperative.
-bo-ne pvs. polite imperative.
-et pvs. imperative: dak-et do it.
-kan, -ka-na pvs. third person imperative, let her, let him, let them: bi-a re˙-ang-kan let her go, she can go. -kan, -ka-na pvs. subordinating suffix used esp. with verbs of telling or ordering: kat-kan-a bi-a hit-a he ordered (him) to run.
-kan-bo, -ka-na-bo pvs. third person imperative, equivalent to -kan or -ka-na.
-na-be pvs. negative imperative, (A˙ chik).
0.216 Subordinating Suffixes
pp. 25-e, -i pvs. suffix that subordinates one verb or clause to the one that follows; having, being: ang-a nok nap-e, a-song-jok having entered the house, I sat down.
-e-min-a, -i-min-a, -e-ming pvs. subordinating suffix, elaborated equivalents of -e, having, being: cha˙-e-min-a, ang-a ok-ka-jok having eaten, I'm full.
-kan, -ka-na pvs. subordinating suffix, esp. with verbs of telling or ordering: kat-kan-a bi-a hit-a he ordered (him) to run. pvs. third person imperative, let her, let him, let them: bi-a re˙-ang-kan let her go, she can go.
-mit-ing-o pvs. while, at the time of: chol-a gan-mit-ing-o while wearing a shirt.
-na pvs. infinitive: i˙-ang-na ha˙-sik-be-ing-a (I) want very much to go.
-o-ba pvs. although, even if: bi-a sok-ba-ja-o-ba, nik-ja-no-a even if (he) arrives, (we) will not see him.
Page 26 -o-de pvs. if: sok-ba-ja-o-de, nik-ja-no-a if (he) doesn't arrive, (we) will not see (him).
-o-sa, o-ha pvs. only if: bi-a sok-ba-o-sa, nik-no-a (we) will see (him) only if he arrives.
0.218 Nominalizing Suffixes
pp. 26-a pvs. nominalizing suffix that puts verbs into a form that is usable as a noun or as a modifier of a noun: dal˙-a me˙-a-sa big man.
-a-ni pvs. nominalizing suffix that forms abstract nouns from verbs: cha˙-a-ni food, from cha˙-a eat; chan-chi-a-ni ideas, from chan-chi-a think.
-gi-ja pvs. the one who is not, those who are not; negative of the -a nominalizer; words suffixed with -gi-ja can be used either as a noun or to modify a noun: dal˙-gi-ja nok the house that is not big; dal˙-gi-ja-ko nik-jok (I) saw the one that is not big.
-gi-ja-gip-a pvs. negative of the -gip-a nominalization, allowing words to which it is suffixed to be used as a noun or to modify a noun; the one who is not, those who are not: kat-ang-gi-ja-gip-a man-de the man who does not run away.
-gip-a pvs. nominalizing suffix, the one who, those who: pi˙-sa-ko chik-gip-a a-chak the child-biting dog, the dog that bites the child.
-jok-o, -jok-o-no pvs. nominalizing suffix indicating when, after which: ang-ni chi ring-jok-o, na˙-a ring-bo when my tea has been drunk, you drink; mi jo˙-jok-o-no koi bal-ing-a when frying rice it bursts into puffs.
-na-jok-o, -na-jok-o-no pvs. when about to, when intending to: nang˙-ni cha˙-na-jok-o ang-ko o-kam-bo when you intend to eat, call me.
-o, -u pvs. nominalizing suffix, when, at the time of: ang-ko sing˙-o a-gan-chak-na man˙-no-a when (you) ask me, (I) will be able to answer.
0.31 Terminal Verb Suffixes
pp. 26-chim ts. an A˙ chik suffix that is equivalent, in part, to Mandi -ming, but not used for a simple past; past perfect, conditional, (A˙ chik): re˙-ang-a-chim had gone.
-da ts. particle that strengthens an imperative: nap-bo-da do come in!
-kon ts. perhaps, probably: nam-ku-ing-a-kon (it) is probably still good.
-ma ts. question marker that forms yes-no questions: neng˙-jok-ma? are you tired? ma? qw. what (did you say)?
-mo ts. a question marker anticipating agreement: ga˙-ak-jok-mo? (it) has fallen, hasn't it?, (A˙ chik).
Page 27 -na ts. quotative particle, it was said, someone said, I heard: sok-ba-no-a-na I heard that (he) will arrive.
-ne ts. a particle that softens an imperative or a request, and makes it more polite: ang-a nap-na-ne? may I please come in?; seng-bo-ne please wait.
-ni ts. question marker that forms yes-no questions, a less common synonym of -ma.
-ro ts. indicates a correction to a previous statement or presumption: ang-a Chu-ni-a-cha i˙-ang-jok-ro I did too go to Chunia.
-a-ha-ming ts. locates a past event before some other event: re˙-ang-a-ha-ming had gone, (A˙ chik).
-a-ming ts. suffix formed from the neutral tense-aspect marker -a with the past-conditional -ming; indicates past time: ching-a i˙-ang-a-ming we went.
-jok-ming ts. a pair of suffixes that combine to indicate a time previous to some other time, had: ching-a re˙-ang-jok-ming we had gone.
-ming ts. a terminal suffix that follows one of the tense-aspect markers and that indicates a conditional or a previous time.
-na-jok-ming ts. present or future conditional or future perfect, referring to an action happening before some specified time in the future: ching-a re˙-ang-na-jok-ming we will have gone.
-no-a-ming, nu-a-ming ts. conditional, would have: ching-a i˙-ang-no-a-ming we would have gone.
-ai ts. strengthens a statement or suggests a correction to a previous statement: cha˙-jok-ai (I) have, indeed, eaten.
-bai ts. contraction of imperative -bo with emphatic -ai.
-jai ts. contraction of negative -ja and emphatic -ai: i-a bol-de dal˙-jai this tree isn't big!
-mai ts. contraction of past marker -ming and emphatic -ai.
-nai ts. contraction of quotative -na and emphatic -ai: do˙-til-eng in-dik-e mik-u-jok-nai it really is said that the do˙ tileng bird calls like this.
