- Somali preverbal particles are like verbal affixes, except they stand detached from the verb.
- They mostly occur before the verb in the verbal phrase.
- We can distinguish two main categories of preverbal particles :
- The pronoun particles.
- The locative and relational particles.
- Both categories of preverbal particles have pre-assigned positions in the verbal phrase.
- Some particles can coalesce with other particles, both pronoun and/or locative, leading to phonetic changes.
Word order of the verbal phrase :
Subject Pronoun + Object Pronoun (1st series) + Locative Particle + Negation + Relational Particle + Verb + Object Pronoun (2nd series)
Ordered table of Preverbal markers
Word order : | Subject Pronoun | Object Pronoun (1st series) |
Locative | Negation | Relational | Object Pronoun (2nd series) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st pers. sing. | waan waxaan |
i | u (for) ku (in) ka (from) la (with) |
ma (not) |
soo (towards) sii (away) wada (together) kala (apart) |
kay |
2nd pers. sing. | waad waxaad |
ku | kaa | |||
3rd pers. sing. masc. | wuu waxuu |
|||||
3rd pers. sing. fem. | way waxay |
|||||
1st pers plur. excl. | waannu waxaannu |
na | kayo | |||
1st pers. plur. incl. | waynu waxaynu |
ina | keen | |||
2nd pers. plur. | waydin waxaydin |
idin | kiin | |||
3rd pers. plur. | way waxay |
Combinations of preverbal particles and pronouns :
Preverbal locative and relational particles combine with each other and with various preverbal object and subject pronouns, often with phonological changes, and become amalgamated words.
There are three types of combination schemes :
- Locative particle + locative particle combinations
- Object pronoun particle + locative particle combinations
- Pronoun particle + [particle + particle] clusters combinations
Two locative particles combinations :
locative / locative combination |
ú | kú | ká | lá | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
= for | = in | = from | = with | ||
ú | = for | ugú | ugú | ugá | ulá |
kú | = in | kagá | kagá | kulá | |
ká | = from | kagá | kalá | ||
lá | = with |
Examples :
sidée | bùu | ugá | baxay ? |
sí-dée | bàa-uu | ú-ká | baxay ? |
way-which | FOCUS-he | in-from | went out |
= How did he get out of it ? (lit. 'in what way did he go out from [it] ?') |
nínkíi | bàan | cèelka | xádhig | kagá | sóo | saaray |
nín-kíi | bàa-aan | cèel-ka | xádhig | kú-ká | sóo | saaray |
man-the | FOCUS-I | well-the | rope | with-from | towards_me | raised |
= I pulled the man out of the well with a rope |
Object pronoun + locative particle combinations :
The locative particles or "prepositions" also combine phonologically with the preverbal object pronouns and with the impersonal subject pronoun la.
The preverbal pronoun takes the first position in the combination.
Pronoun / Locative combination |
ú | kú | ká | lá | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
= for | = in | = from | = with | ||
i | = me | íi | igú | igá | ilá |
ku | = you | kúu | kugú | káa | kulá |
na | = we [excl.] | nóo | nagú | nagá | nalá |
ina | = we [incl.] | inóo | inagú | inagá | inalá |
idin | = you [pl.] | idíin | idinkú | idinká | idinlá |
la | = one [subj.] | lóo | lagú | lagá | lalá |
Examples :
wuu | i | dhiibay |
waa-uu | i- | dhiibay |
he | me-to | handed |
= He handed [it] to me | ||
way | káa | qaadday |
waa-ay | ku-ká | qaadday |
she | you-from | took |
= She took [it] from you | ||
way | nóo | qoreen |
waa-ay | na-ú | qoreen |
they | us-for | wrote |
= They wrote [it] for us |
sidée | bàa | lóo | sameeyey |
sí-dée | bàa | la-ú | sameeyey |
way-which | FOCUS | one-in | did |
= How was it done ? (lit. 'in which way did one do [it] ?') |
Pronouns and particle clusters combinations :
Pronoun / particle cluster combination |
ugú | ugá | ulá | kagá | kulá | kalá | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
i | = me | iigú | iigá | iilá | igagá | igulá | igalá |
ku | = you | kuugú | kaagá | kuulá | kaagá | kugulá | kaalá |
na | = we [excl.] | noogú | noogá | noolá | nagagá | nagulá | nagalá |
ina | = we [incl.] | inoogú | inoogá | inoolá | inagagá | inagulá | inagalá |
idin | = you [pl.] | idiinkú | idiinká | idiinlá | idinkagá | idinkulá | idinkalá |
la | = one [subj.] | loogú | loogá | loolá | lagagá | lagulá | lagalá |
Examples :
way | ká | qaadeen |
waa-ay | ká | qaadeen |
they | from | took |
= They took [it] from [him] | ||
way | nóo | qaadeen |
waa-ay | na-ú | qaadeen |
they | us-for | took |
= They took [it] for us | ||
way | noogá | qaadeen |
waa-ay | na-ú-ká | qaadeen |
they | us-for-from | took |
= They took [it] from [him] for us |
Source: http://hooyo.web.free.fr
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