Verbs: Roots

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INTRODUCTION

In English, to ever split an infinitive is a grave sin. Or so they say. Verbs — action words that tell you what kind of action is being performed — are often inflected in many languages to show tense, aspect etc. An infinitive is the opposite; it is the basic, uninflected form of a verb. For example, “ate” is an inflected form of the infinitive “to eat”.

Why are infinitives important? In Nepali, the infinitive form of a verb is not only the dictionary form (lemma), but also used to extract the root of a verb. The root of a verb is the base of a verb where all inflections are added to obtain various forms of the verb. For example, adding -ing to the verb “to blink” gives you “blinking“, where “blink” is the root of the verb “to blink“.

While I was researching how Nepali verbs behave in regards to conjugations, I came across a pattern which I will describe below. Depending on the type of root, the conjugation method can vary.

VOCABULARY

पिट्नु (piṭnu)To beat (sb. up)
पिउनु (piunu)To drink
खानु (khānu)To eat
लिनु (linu)To take (sth.)
सिउनु (siunu)To sew
जिउनु (jiunu)To live (a life)
जानु (jānu)To go
दिनु (dinu)To give
लेखाउनु (lekhāunu)To make (sb.) write [causative form of lekhnu > to write]
जन्मिनु (janminu)To be born
बिर्सनु (birsanu)To forget
पकाउनु (pakāunu)To cook
लगाउनु (lagāunu)To wear; To put on (clothes)
सुनाउनु (sunāunu)To make (sb.) listen [causative form of sunnu > to listen]
आउनु (āunu)To come
चिप्लनु (ciplanu)To slip (on a surface)
लेख्नु (lekhnu)To write
सुन्नु (sunnu)To hear; To listen
गर्नु (garnu)To do
छुनु (chunu)To touch
धुनु (dhunu)To wash
रुनु (runu)To cry
हुनु (hunu)To be

OBTAINING THE ROOT

Infinitives are listed in the dictionary with the following form:

root + –नु (-nu)

So, it should be fairly easy to obtain the root of a verb and proceed with conjugating them, right? Yes, it is in fact true. To obtain the root of a verb, just remove –नु (-nu) and you will be done. For example:

पिट्नु (piṭnu) > पिट्- (piṭ-) + –नु (-nu)
= पिट्- (piṭ-) [root]

But this lesson wouldn’t exist if things were that easy. That is because the process of conjugating verbs in Nepali is rather arduous and complex, and the type of root you get does affect your outcome, so knowing what type of root you have is rather important if you were to do it correctly. Fortunately a pattern emerges, so if you understand the types, it should be relatively straight forward.

Note | The terminology used is idiosyncratic to Nepalgo.

TYPE I: CLEAN VOWELS

Type I roots are roots that end with a free-standing vowel (that forms its own syllabic unit). The term “clean” refers to the fact that the root has a “clean” free-standing vowel sound. Examples include:

पिउनु (piunu) > पिउ– (piu-)
लेखाउनु (lekhāunu) > लेखाउ– (lekhāu-)

You can further divide Type I into two subtypes: type Ia, and type Ib.

Type Ia

Type Ia roots end with an -आउ (-āu) sound. Examples include:

पकाउ– (pakāu-)
लगाउ– (lagāu-)
सुनाउ– (sunāu-)
आउ– (āu-)

The root आउ- (āu-) from the verb आउनु (āunu) is a type Ia as well.

Type Ib

Type Ib roots are all other roots that have a clean vowel sound, but do not end with -आउ (-āu). These usually end with -उ (-u). Examples include:

पिउ– (piu-)
सिउ– (siu-)
जिउ– (jiu-)

TYPE II: ATTACHED VOWELS

Roots that end with an attached vowel sound are type II roots. They are related to type I roots as they both deal with vowels, but the vowel is joined together with a constant to form a syllable. Examples include:

खानु (khānu) > खा– (khā-)
लिनु (linu) > लि– (li-)
जन्मिनु (janminu) > जन्मि– (janmi-)
बिर्सनु (birsanu) > बिर्स– (birsa-)

You can further divide Type II into two subtypes: type IIa, and type IIb.

Type IIa

Type IIa roots end with either -अ (-a) or -इ (-i). These roots are also unique as you can replace one with the other vowel and still have the same meaning, i.e. they are allophonic. However, conjugations can favor one form over the other. Examples include:

बिर्स– (birsa-) | बिर्सि– (birsi-)
चिप्ल– (cipla-) | चिप्लि– (cipli-)
जन्म (janma-) | जन्मि– (janmi-)

Type IIb

Type IIb roots are all other roots that end with a vowel sound that form a syllable with a consonant. Simply put, they do not end with either -अ (-a) or -इ (-i). You can also recognize them through their diacritic. Examples include:

खा- (khā-)
जा- (jā-)
दि- (di-)

Type IIb roots are important as some of them undergo strong modification. However, the vast majority of type IIb roots resists any modification.

TYPE III: CONSONANTS

Roots that end with a consonant are type III roots. They are by far the most common type of roots you will encounter. Examples include:

लेख्नु (lekhnu) > लेख्– (lekh-)
सुन्नु (sunnu) > सुन्– (sun-)
गर्नु (garnu) > गर्– (gar-)

FORMs

Both type I and type II roots have two forms: a normal form where the root is as expected (i.e. without –nu), and a modified form. There are two ways you can modify a root: strong, where the vowel (or even the consonant) is completely changed, and weak, which only involves dropping the last vowel sound.

The modified form is used for some conjugations.

Strong Modified Form

A few type IIb roots are modified by altering the vowel or the consonant of the root to give a strong modified form. There are not many verbs that do this, and an exhaustive list is given below:

VerbNormal FormModified Form (Strong)
जानु (jānu)जा- (jā-)ग- (ga-)
दिनु (dinu)दि- (di-)दे- (de-)
लिनु (linu)लि- (li-)ले- (le-)
छुनु (chunu)छु- (chu-)छो- (cho-)
धुनु (dhunu)धु- (dhu-)धो- (dho-)
रुनु (runu)रु- (ru-)रो- (ro-)
हुनु (hunu)हु- (hu-)भ- (bha-) | छ- (cha-)

Type IIb forms that end with -ओ (-o) are dialectal and can be interchanged with its normal form. However, some conjugations can favor one form over the other.

The vast majority of type IIb roots does not have a strong modified form.

Weak Modified Form

Type I and IIa undergo weak modification by removing the end vowel sound from the normal form to obtain the weak modified form. It is very simple to obtain the weak modified form: just remove the end vowel sound.

An example table for type I is given below.

VerbNormal FormModified Form (Weak)
सुनाउनु (sunāunu)सुनाउ- (sunāu-)सुना- (sunā-)
पिउनु (piunu)पिउ- (piu-)पि- (pi-)

An example table for type IIa is given below.

VerbNormal FormModified Form (Weak)
बिर्सनु (birsanu)बिर्स- (birsa-)बिर्स्- (birs-)
जन्मिनु (janminu)जन्मि- (janmi-)जन्म्- (janm-)

Whether you use the normal form or the modified form depends on the conjugation you want to do. Usually, the normal form is used but sometimes, the modified form is used instead.

SUMMARY

  • An infinitive is the basic, uninflected form of a verb.
  • The root of a verb is the base of a verb where all inflections are added to obtain various forms of the verb.
  • To obtain the root of a verb, just remove -नु (-nu) from the infinitive form.
  • There are three types of roots: Type I, II, III.
  • Type I roots end with an open vowel.
  • Type II roots end with an attached vowel.
  • Type I and II roots can be further subdivided into Ia & Ib, and IIa & IIb respectively.
  • Type III roots end with a consonant.
  • Type I and II roots have two forms: normal, and modified.
  • The strong modified form changes the root completely and only affects some type IIb roots.
  • The weak modified form only drops the end vowel from the normal form of the root, and affects Type I and IIa roots.
  • Which form is used (normal vs. modified) depends on the conjugation.

EXERCISES

COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING TABLE. LEAVE FIELD(S) BLANK IF NECESSARY.

No.VerbMeaningTypeNormal FormModified Form
0sunāunuto make (sb.) listenIasunāu–sunā–
1to eat
2lekh–
3pi–
4dauḍ–
5chu–
6camkanu | camkinu
7to buy
8banāu–

ANSWERS

No.VerbMeaningTypeNormal FormModified Form
0sunāunuto make (sb.) listenIasunāu–sunā–
1khānuto eatIIbkhā–
2lekhnuto writeIIIlekh–
3piunuto drinkIbpiu–pi–
4dauḍanu | dauḍinuto runIIadauḍa– | dauḍi– dauḍ–
5chunuto touchIIbchu–cho–
6camkanu | camkinuto shineIIacamka– | camki–camk–
7kinnuto buyIIIkin–
8banāunuto makeIabanāu–banā–