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.