Copulatives

Copulatives

1. Identifying copulative

   • = is, am, are
   • Indicative: present tense
     • 1st person
       • Ke / Ga ke
       • Re / Ga re
     • 2nd person
       • O / Ga o
       • Le / Ga le
     • 3rd person
       • Ke / Ga se
   • Relative
     • 1st person
       • Yo ke lego / Yo ke sego
       • Ba re lego / Ba re sego
     • 2nd person
       • Yo o lego / Yo o sego
       • Ba le lego / Ba le sego
     • 3rd person: noun classes
       • Structure: DEM + e lego/sego
   • Situative
     • 1st person
       • Ke le / Ke se
       • Re le / Re se
     • Often preceded by conjunction 'ge'
     • 2nd person
       • O le / O se
       • Le le / Le se
     • 3rd person
       • E le / E se

2. Descriptive copulative

   • = is, am, are
   • Complement: class 14 noun / locative noun
   • Indicative: present tense
     • 1st person
       • Ke / Ga ke
       • Re / Ga re
     • 2nd person
       • O / Ga o
       • Le / Ga le
     • 3rd person: noun classes
       • SC / Ga + SC
   • Relative
     • 1st person
       • Yo ke lego / Yo ke sego
       • Ba re lego / Ba re sego
     • 2nd person
       • Yo o lego / Yo o sego
       • Ba le lego / Ba le sego
     • 3rd person: noun classes
       • Structure: DEM + SC + verb -go
         • SC class 1 'o' > 'a'
   • Situative
     • Often preceded by conjunction 'ge'
     • 1st person
       • Ke le / Ke se
       • Re le / Re se
     • 2nd person
       • O le / O se
       • Le le / Le se
     • 3rd person: noun classes
       • Structure: SC + le/se
         • SC class 1 'o' > 'a'

3. Associative copulative

   • = has, have / be with
   • Indicative: present tense
     • Structure: SC + na le / ga + SC + na
       • SC class 1 'o' > 'a' in negative
       • go na le = there is/are
   • Situative
     • 1st person
       • Ke na le / Ke se na
       • Re na le / Re se na
     • Often preceded by conjunction 'ge'
     • 2nd person
       • O na le / O se na
       • Le na le / Le se na
     • 3rd person
       • SC + na le / SC + se na
         • SC class 1 'o' > 'a'
   • Relative
     • Structure: DEM + SC + nago le / DEM + SC + se nago
       • SC class 1 'o' > 'a'