Lesson 13

Action Words

When we want to talk about doing, saying or thinking anything we need to use verbs (action words). Suffixes are put onto the end of verbs to describe when, how, or why the action took place. For example, in English ‘-ing’ and ‘-ed’ are suffixes. Compare talk, talking, talked; listen, listening, listened. In this lesson we will be learning the Present tense, Past tense and Future tense verb forms. We will also look at some example sentences for each of these. We will also learn how to say you are ‘not’ doing something (negative), how to say you ‘intend’ to do something (intentional), how to tell someone to do something (command), and how to say ‘in order’ to do something (purposive).

Building Action Words

First up, here is a list of 20 Tanganekald verbs. A suffix (ending) is added at the end of these ‘roots’ to show when or how the action is happening.

kiyal-	to turn back
kraw-	to bury (something)
kung-	to listen/hear/understand (something)
kungul-	to look out (for something)
kurunul-	to ask, to enquire
malk-	to crawl, to stalk (someone)
miwur-	to wish, to desire
morp-	to watch (something)
muth-	to drink (something)
nak-	to see (something)
ngarr-	to build/make (something)
ngey-	to sit down
ngolk-	to bite (something)
ngop-	to go, to walk
pul-	to swim
tam-	to hit (something)
thak-	to eat (something)
warra(w)-	to bring/fetch/carry (something)
wang-	to hear (something)
yan-	to talk, to speak, to say

Present Tense

Present tense is used to talk about actions which are happening now. -ing is an example of a present tense suffix in English, for example 'running', 'jumping'.
 
The present tense suffix in Tanganekald is -un or -in. This gets added to the end of the verb 'roots' that we have just learned.
 
Here are those Tanganekald verbs in present tense.

kiyalun	turn back
krawun	bury
kungun	listen, hear, understand
kungulun	look out
kurunulun	ask, enquire
malkun	crawl, stalk
miwurun	wish, desire
morpun	watch
muthun	drink
nakun	see
ngarrun	build, make
ngeyun	sit down
ngolkun	bite
ngopun	go, walk
pulun	swim
tamun	hit
thakun	eat
warrawun	bring, fetch, carry
wangun	hear
yanun	talk, speak, say

Here are some sentence examples using those present tense verbs.

Panmauri-il nandurri ngolkun.	The dog is biting the man.
Ngati mantri thakun.	I am eating an emu apple.
Ngun Tanganekald ruminyeri yanun!	We are talking Tanganekald language!

panmauri means ‘dog’, the ending -il shows the dog is doing the action in this sentence, nandurri means ‘man’ and ngolkun means ‘biting’. Ngati means ‘I’, mantri means ’emu apple’ and thakun means ‘eating’. Ngun means ‘we’, ruminyeri means ‘language’ and yanun means ‘talking’.

Past tense

Past tense is used to talk about actions which happened in the past. -ed is an example of a past tense suffix in English, for example 'walked', 'talked'.

The past tense suffix in Tanganekald is –ur or –ir. This gets added to the end of the verb ‘roots’ that we have learned.

If you are asking a question in the past tense however, you must use –ung or –ing.
Here are those Tanganekald verbs in past tense.

kiyalur	turned back
krawur	buried
kungur	listened, heard, understood
kungulur	looked out for
kurunulur	asked, enquired
malkur	crawled, stalked
miwurur	wished, desired
morpur	watched
muthur	drank
nakur	saw
ngarrur	built, made
ngeyur	sat down
ngolkur	bit
ngopur	went, walked
pulur	swam
tamur	hit
thakur	ate
warrawur	brought, fetched, carried
wangur	heard
yanur	talked, spoke, said

Here are some example sentences using these past tense verbs.

Alice Menengeng-ungai ngeregei ngopur.	Alice went to Meningie at dawn.
Panmauri pulur.	The dog swam.
Ngenta kuwadjani wangur?	Did you hear the kookaburra?
Yekau, ngati kuwadjani wangur.	Yes, I heard the kookaburra.

Menengeng means ‘Meningie’ and the ending –ungai means ‘to’, ngeregei means ‘dawn’ and ngopur means ‘went’. Panmauri means ‘dog’ and pulur means ‘swam’. Ngenta means ‘you’, kuwadjani means ‘kookaburra’ and wangur means ‘heard’. Yekau means ‘yes’ and ngati means ‘I’.

Future tense

Future tense is used to talk about actions which are happening in the future. 'will walk', 'will talk' are examples of the future tense in English.

The future tense suffix in Tanganekald is -an or -ani. This gets added to the end of the verb 'roots' that we have learned.
 
Here are those Tanganekald verbs in future tense.

kiyalan	will turn back
krawan	will bury
kungan	will listen, hear, understand
kungulan	will look out for
kurunulan	will ask, will enquire
malkan	will crawl, will stalk
miwuran	will wish for, will desire
morpan	will watch
muthan	will drink
nakan	will see
ngarran	will build, will make
ngeyan	will sit down
ngolkan	will bite
ngopan	will go, will walk
pulan	will swim
taman	will hit
thakan	will eat
warrawan	will bring, fetch, carry
wangan	will hear
yanan	will talk, speak, say

Here are some example sentences using these past tense verbs.

Ngati kin kurunulan.	I will ask her.
Nakan ya!	See ya!
Maranu-il tjininyeri morpan.	Big sister will watch the baby.

ngati means 'I', kin means 'her' and kurunulan means 'will ask' . Nakan means 'will see', and ya is English (as in 'see ya'). Maranu means 'big sister', the ending -il shows that big sister is doing the action of the sentence, tjininyeri means 'baby' and morpan means 'will watch'.

Other verb forms

There are many other verb forms in Tanganekald, which create different meanings. Here are some more examples.

Negative

The negative verb form is used to say that something did not or is not happening.

thakiambi	may not eat
wangiambi	may not hear

The suffix -iambi on verbs means 'may not, not'.

Intentional

The intentional verb form is used to say that someone intends to do something.

thakal	intend to eat
tamil	intend to hit

The suffix -il or al on verbs means 'intend to' do something.

Command

The command verb form is used to tell someone to do something.

ngolk!	bite (it)!
warra!	bring (it)!

Notice that the command form of a verb is the same as the 'root' form we learned at the start of the lesson. There is no additional suffix added to the end of the verb.

Purposive

The purposive verb form is used when saying that something must happen in order for something else to happen.

ngopurambi	in order to go
kurunulurambi	in order to ask

The suffix -urambi is used to mean ‘in order to’ do something.

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