Notes: The orthography used in this and related articles is that of South Africa, not Lesotho. For a discussion of the differences between the two see the notes on Sesotho orthography. Sesotho verbs are words in the language that signify the action or state of a substantive, and are brought into agreement with it using the subjectival concord. This definition excludes imperatives and infinitives, which are respectively interjectives and class 14 nouns.
In the Bantu languages, verbs often form the centre of a complex web of regular derivational patterns, and words/roots belonging to many parts of speech may be directly or indirectly derived from them. Not only may new verbs be derived using a large number of derivational suffixes, nouns (and, iteratively, the other parts of speech that derive from them), some imperative interjectives and, to a lesser extent, ideophones may be formed by simple morphological devices.
Varieties
Verb stems may be divided into four varieties: Regular stems beginning with a consonant and ending in a vowel Monosyllabic verbs Vowel verb stems begin with a vowel Derived verbs constructed from other verbs, noun roots, adjectival roots, and ideophones by suffixes.
Regular verbs are those beginning with a consonant and ending in the vowel . The final may change into every vowel except the near-close back vowel () through inflexion or derivation. The verb root is the atomic part of the verb, which does not change (save for some purely phonetic changes) and Bantu languages share numerous similar verb roots (with predictable sound changes between languages).
Stem see, from root , also existing as isiZulu -bon-, Swahili -on-, Tshivenda -vhon-, Chishona -von-, Chilamba -won- etc. Proto-Bantu *-bon-
Monosyllabic stems may be classified into several categories: The i-stems have a typical in derivatives, and in the passive come ⇒ Perfect , Causative , Passive go ⇒ Perfect , Causative , Passive draw water ⇒ Perfect , Causative , Passive The e-stemsSimple phonotactic explanations may make these apparent irregularities more understandable.
Almost all the non-velar e-stems are palatal or postalveolar in nature. This may be due to an original palatal glide being "absorbed" into the original consonant of the verbs (the alveolar also has similar origins). In Sesotho, the palatal may not be followed by the vowels or and these become weakened to and . The original passive suffix (still used in Setswana and many Northern Sotho languages) was , and so the suffixes are weakened to , and .
Apparently the velar e-stems use the modern passive instead, and due to phonotactic restrictions occasionally applied on the labial approximant , similar to those on the palatal, together with the fact that labialized consonants may not be followed by back vowels, the suffixes are weakened to , and . have a typical near-close front in their derivatives burn ⇒ Perfect , Causative , Passive eat ⇒ Perfect , Causative , Passive The "velar" e-stems have labialized onsets, and have similar forms to other e-stems but have a near-close back vowel in the passive drink ⇒ Perfect , Causative , Passive There are three defective stems, ending in a vowel other than . The first two of these verbs are very common among the Bantu languagesThe first two verbs, together with the copulative verb (indicating possession, with a conjunctive import), are used in many Bantu languages in generally restricted circumstances.
There exists certain "defective" verbs across most Bantu languages: Proto-Bantu *-di (Sesotho participial copulative ), *-ti (Sesotho ), and *-na (Sesotho ). Additionally, a common variant of *-ti &— *-tio — appears as Sesotho — an irregular palatalization (when an alveolarization would have been expected) possibly due to the verb being borrowed from some Nguni language (it does not exist in most other Sotho–Tswana languages).
These are distinguished from other verbs in that they are normally not used with many of the affixes in the verbal complex. For example, though they are all transitive and are therefore used with objects, they never take objectival concords (in Sesotho and many other languages, may take an objectival concord when used with ideophones). Additionally, except for Sesotho and , they may not be used as infinitives.
Even though they have these peculiarities and, except for , they do not end with the typical vowel, Bantuists consider them verbs because they may be used with subjectival concords.
The highly irregular passive of may be due to Nguni -thiwa (most other Sotho–Tswana languages use -riwa instead). say ⇒ Perfect , No causative, Passive be; very restricted in use (only used in the participial sub-mood of certain copulatives) say so ⇒ Perfect / , No causative, No passive
Vowel verb stems are conjugated as regular verbs but are put into a separate class due to being uncommon in Bantu languages (and, in some languages but not in Sesotho, causing changes to concords and other formatives prefixed to them).The specific label comes from early descriptions of isiZulu grammar, where it was discovered that, apart from simply looking different from other verbs, vowel verbs are also conjugated slightly differently from normal verbs under certain situations, and many of them have alternative (and, at least in modern popular urban isiZulu, more common) forms with the initial vowel deleted.
Though isiZulu has five vowel phonemes (plus two allophones), vowel verbs in that language may only begin with the vowels , , and (written 'a', 'o', and 'e' respectively in its orthography). There is no similar restriction in Sesotho. Class 1 and 5 nouns derived from these verbs do not cause any velarization to the prefix. The Proto-Bantu reconstructions of many of these verbs suggests that they originally began with *g (or sometimes *j), which "protected" the vowel. avoid (as a taboo) travel hear, sense construct strike, punish
Tones
Verbs fall into only two categories when it comes to their tones: L verbs and H verbs. The difference lies in whether the "underlying tone" of the verb's first syllable is high or null (under-specified). Thus, all verbs of a certain length in the same tonal category are pronounced with similar tonal patterns under the same grammatical circumstances.
What the verbal tone system lacks in variety, however, it more than makes up for in complexity. The tones of the syllables of the verbs regularly change under varying grammatical environments, with the high tones being manipulated by "tonal rules", and the tones associated with certain syllables being changed by numerous "tonal melodies."
Verbal derivatives
Various derivatives may (recursively) be formed from verbs by means of several suffixes (called "extensions"). Each derived verb is as much an authentic verb as the original.
In the following sections, "polysyllabic" means "of more than two syllables."
Verbs are derived primarily through suffixes, some of which are no longer productive ("dead").
+ Verb derivations using the root The traditional verb root used to demonstrate these derivations (and form their traditional names; by using the class 5 noun prefix and changing the final vowel to ) is (do, act, make). The problem with this root is that the consonant tends to greatly complicate the forms of the derivatives (due to alveolarization), and it has been felt wise in this table to use a verb root with more neutral sounds. Note that the in regularly undergoes vowel raising when followed by certain vowels and consonants, but this is a simpler and more predictable phenomenon than the various complications brought on by the consonant.
Compare this with the situation in Arabic where the verb فَعَلَ (Faʿala "he did") traditionally used to indicated the various verb forms often confuses non-native learners due to the ʿAin ع sound being confused with that of the Hamza ء that appears in some forms (such as the causative stem IV أَفْعَلََ 'Afʿala).TypeSuffixValencychangeExampleMeaningSimple0finishPassive–1be finishedNeutro-active intr. finishableNeutro-passive intr. finishableApplied +1 finished forCausative +1 cause to finishIntensive 0 finish intenselyPerfective 0 finish completelyReciprocal –1 finish each otherAssociative –1 (be finished together)Reversive 0 unfinishAugmentative 0 (finish extensively)Extensive 0 (finish repeatedly and extensively)Diminutive(see text) 0 finish a littlePositional (dead) 0 ()(squat)Stative extensive (dead) 0 ()(sleep)Contactive (dead) 0 ()(clench the hand)
The passive indicates that the subject is acted upon by the agent, just like the "passive voice" in English. The agent is indicated by the copulative prefix although passives may also be used idiomatically without an agent.
The suffix may be either (Proto-Bantu *-u-) (short passive) or (long passive).
The following rules are applied to form the passive: The long passive is formed simply by changing the final to mould ⇒ be moulded Many verbs accept the short passive suffix by simply becoming labialized do ⇒ be done Palatalization occurs where necessary (when the final consonant is , , , or ) win ⇒ / be won Velarization occurs where necessary (when the final consonant is or ) move slightly ⇒ be moved slightly Monosyllabic e-stems suffix (except the velar e-stems ending in , which suffix ) and i-stems suffix give ⇒ be given Verbs ending in replace it with select, indicate ⇒ be selected Verbs ending in replace it with judge, condemn ⇒ be judged
It is very rare to have other verbs derived from the passive through suffixes.
This suffix has the effect of decreasing the valency of the verb and giving it an agentive import.
In the most formal standard language, the perfect of the passive is generally formed by inserting before the final vowel of the perfect form (that is, the passive suffix has to come after the perfect suffix). In non-standard common speech, however, the perfect of the passive may alternatively be formed by using the long passive with the final vowel changed to the final vowel (usually ) of the verb's perfect. Additionally, in non-standard speech the perfect passive of verbs ending in a that changes to in the passive replace it with .
The passive is used more commonly in Sesotho than the English "passive voice." Consider the following example: Sesotho (passive) , English (active) "Who will feed the dog?"
The alternatives are more complex in their respective languages: Sesotho (normal) , English (passive) "The dog will be fed by whom?"
Passive verbs are rare in the Niger–Congo family outside the Bantu sub-branch.
The neutro-active indicates an intransitive state without reference to the agent determining the condition. It can be approximated in English by using "get" or "become." It is, however, distinct from the passive. It indicates a current state of being done or being doable.
The suffix is . Only transitive verbs may take this suffix. accomplish ⇒; (currently) get finished, take place do ⇒; be done
This suffix has the effect of making the valency of the verb 0, even if the original verb had two objects. The resultant verb is completely intransitive and cannot assume any objects even if they are prefixed.
The perfect of verbs ending with this suffix is achieved by changing the final to .
This extension is quite rare in the Bantu language family as a whole.
The neutro-passive indicates an intransitive state without reference to the agent determining the condition. It can be approximated in English by the suffix "-able." It is, however, distinct from the passive. It indicates that the verb has the potential of being doable, but not necessarily currently.