Circassian (Adyghe–Kabardian) is conjugated polypersonally: the verb agrees with several of its arguments at once, and a single word can encode a subject, an object, an indirect object, tense, direction, negation and more. Verbs are classified by transitivity and valency — how many arguments they take, and in which cases — into monovalent intransitive, bivalent intransitive, bivalent transitive and trivalent ditransitive types (with labile and causative verbs besides); this article tabulates the conjugation of a representative verb of each, comparing Adyghe (West Circassian) and Kabardian (East Circassian) side by side.

The two languages share one morphological system but differ in regular ways — pronouns (/ vs /), the consonant voicing of Kabardian, its dynamic present-tense vowel , and its collapse of the third-person singular/plural distinction that Adyghe still keeps.

Structure of the verbal complex

Adyghe (West Circassian) and Kabardian (East Circassian) are closely related Northwest Caucasian languages whose verbs are built on a single, highly templatic polysynthetic model. In both languages the verb root is surrounded by a rigid sequence of prefixal and suffixal slots, numbered here from −12 (leftmost prefix) through 0 (the root) to +7 (rightmost suffix). The prefixal slots form an argument-structure zone, in which the verb cross-references its absolutive, oblique (indirect-object) and ergative (agent) participants, followed by a smaller set of pre-stem elements; the suffixal slots encode categories such as aspect, tense, mood, negation and plurality. The two languages largely share this template and differ mainly in the phonological shape of individual affixes, as set out below.Arkadiev, P. M., & Letuchiy, A. B. (2011). Prefixes and suffixes in the Adyghe polysynthetic wordform: Types of interaction. In V. S. Tomelleri, M. Topadze, & A. Lukianowicz (Eds.), *Languages and Cultures in the Caucasus* (pp. 495–514). Otto Sagner.

Slot template (overview)

+ Order of slots in the verb (negative = prefix, 0 = root, positive = suffix) Prefixes Root Suffixes −12 −11 −10 −9 −8 −7 −6 −5 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 Abs Cisl/Transl Manner/Fact IO(Obl) Appl Loc Prep Agt(Erg) Dyn Opt/Juss Neg Caus √ROOT Rep Pot Tense Real Pl Dyn Mood/Neg

Markers filling each slot

+ Combined structure of the Adyghe (ady) and Kabardian (kbd) verbal complex Slot Category Adyghe Kabardian Gloss / meaning −12 Absolutive с- 1SG у- 2SG 1PL 2PL ∅ 3 (no overt marker) −11 Cislocative / Translocative къ- hither (cislocative) — toward (translocative) −10 Manner / Factive the way that…; factive −9 Indirect object (Oblique) с- 1SG у-, п- 2SG 1PL 2PL е- 3SG а-, я- 3PL −8 Applicative for (benefactive) against (malefactive) дэ- with (comitative) −7 Locative щы- at −6 Prepositional (locative preverbs) те- on under хэ- within / among дэ- in пы- on / attached to и- in(side) behind Ӏу- at / near beside — beside / next to within / inside −5 Agent (Ergative) с- 1SG у- 2SG 1PL 2PL 3SG а-, я- 3PL −4 'Dynamic' prefix мэ- 3rd person positive present −3 Optative / Jussive рэ- optative / jussive −2 Negation мы- negation (preverbal NEG) −1 Causative гъэ- causative (CAUS) 0 Root [verb] verb stem +1 Repetition again (re-) +2 Potential can / be able to +3 Tense past (PST) future (FUT) imperfect (IMPF) past perfect (PP) +4 Realization / Completion -х realization / completion +5 Plural 3rd person plural absolutive (PL) +6 Dynamic suffix -рэ dynamic suffix +7 Mood / Negation negative (NEG) -мэ conditional (COND) -ми concessive (CONC) — interrogative (Q) negative interrogative (NEG.Q) -и and (additive) adverbial (ADV)

Transitivity and valency

Verbs in the Circassian languages — both Adyghe (West) and Kabardian (East) — may be intransitive, transitive or ditransitive. Their valency — the number of arguments they require — sorts them into four main classes, one of which is conjugated in full in each of the sections below:Kumakhov, Mukhadin; Vamling, Karina (2009). Circassian Clause Structure. Caucasus Studies 1. Malmö: Malmö University, Faculty of Culture and Society, Dept. of International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER) / Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Linguistics, Moscow. ISBN 978-91-7104-083-1, pp. 31–33, 87–111 (ch. 4, "Ergative patterns in the verb").

+ The four valency classes conjugated in this article Class Arguments it takes Model verb Monovalent intransitive absolutive subject "to look" Bivalent intransitive absolutive subject + oblique object "to look at" Bivalent transitive ergative subject + absolutive object "to see" Trivalent ditransitive ergative subject + absolutive object + oblique object "to give"

Every one of those classes is built from the same three core cases. A verb may hold at most three arguments — one of each:

+ The three core cases Case Typical role Suffix on the noun Absolutive subject of an intransitive verb, or direct object ("him/it") of a transitive one -р Ergative subject (the agent) of a transitive verb -м Oblique indirect object ("to/at him") -м

Two kinds of verb sit outside this scheme. Labile (ambitransitive) verbs work both ways: their transitive direct object is the same thing as the subject of their intransitive use. Causative verbs add a causer ("make/let someone do it") and so raise the valency by one step — intransitive → transitive, bivalent transitive → trivalent (see Causative). For worked sentences illustrating each case role, see the main article Circassian verb transitivity.

The directional ("hither") prefix

Most Circassian verb forms come in two shapes: a plain Base form and a directional form (here labelled Dir). The directional adds the prefix Adyghe / Kabardian , which aims the action toward the speaker — or toward some other point of reference already in view. Linguists call this a venitive or "hither" marker. English has no such prefix, but it draws the very same line with separate words — the action either heads away (or nowhere in particular) or comes toward you:

+ The "hither" idea in everyday English away / neutral toward me ("hither") motion go come handing something over take, carry bring

"Come here!" and "Bring it to me" already point the action back at the speaker; Circassian folds that same meaning into a single prefix and can attach it to almost any verb. So "he looks" becomes "he looks this way / over here" — exactly the step from go to come. The conjugation tables in the sections below show only one form per cell, so this section gathers the directional in one place: when it is freely optional, and when it is all but obligatory. (Purely static verbs — "sit", "stand", "lie" — are the exception: they take no directional at all.)

Direct vs. inverse: the 1 > 2 > 3 hierarchy

Whether the directional is optional turns on a ranking of the persons: 1 > 2 > 3 — the speaker outranks the addressee, who outranks a third party. A combination is direct when its subject outranks (or ties) its object — for example "I look at him" (1 acting on 3), or "he looks at him" (3 on 3). It is inverse when a lower-ranked subject acts on a higher-ranked object — "he looks at me" (3 on 1), or "you look at me" (2 on 1).

In a direct combination a plain Base form exists and the directional is simply an optional extra. In an inverse combination the plain form is dispreferred to the point that the directional has effectively hardened into the verb.Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters 2017, Moscow, 25–27 October 2017 — "Circassian directional markers and the typology of inverse" — Peter M. Arkadiev, Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences / Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow. Kabardian goes one step further than Adyghe, generalising the obligatory directional to every 1st/2nd-person ("local") object, not just the strictly inverse ones.

The hierarchy across the verb classes

As noted above, the directional is an optional extra in a direct combination — both forms are fine ( → "I look at him [this way]"; Kbd → ) — but semi-mandatory in an inverse one, where the bare form, though still constructible, sounds distinctly off, exactly as English insists on "he comes to me", not *"he goes to me". Going through the singular person combinations one verb class at a time shows where this split falls — and reveals that it is keyed to the case of the object. (In these singular cells Proto- and Modern Kabardian coincide, so a single Kabardian column is given; all forms are present tense.)

Monovalent intransitive — no object to rank. With a single absolutive argument there is nothing to outrank, so the directional keeps only its plain "toward here" sense and is optional for every person: / / "I / you / he look(s)" (Kbd / / ), each optionally taking / ( → , → ).

Bivalent intransitive — oblique object, the clearest case. The directional tracks the hierarchy exactly ( / "to look at"):

+ Bivalent intransitive: the directional follows 1 > 2 > 3 Subject → Object Direct / inverse Modern Adyghe Kabardian 1 → 3 "I look at him" direct 2 → 3 "you look at him" direct 3 → 3 "he looks at him" direct (tie) 1 → 2 "I look at you" direct (1 > 2) (translocative) 2 → 1 "you look at me" inverse 3 → 1 "he looks at me" inverse 3 → 2 "he looks at you" inverse

The three inverse cells obligatorily take the venitive; the direct cells leave it optional. The giveaway is Kabardian "I look at you": 1→2 is direct, yet Kabardian still marks it — with the translocative ("away"), the mirror of the cislocative ("toward") in "you look at me". Adyghe shows the same ranking through the bare-vs-marked asymmetry (1→2) vs (2→1).

Bivalent transitive — absolutive object, no inverse gap. When the object is absolutive there is no inverse gap at all: even the would-be inverse cells keep a plain base form ( / "to see"):

+ Bivalent transitive: directional optional everywhere Subject → Object Modern Adyghe Kabardian 1 → 3 "I see him" 2 → 3 "you see him" 1 → 2 "I see you" 2 → 1 "you see me" 3 → 1 "he sees me" 3 → 2 "he sees you" 3 → 3 "he sees him"

The venitive ( → "I see him [this way]") is a free option in every cell, the inverse ones included — so the inverse effect is bound to the oblique slot, not the absolutive.

Trivalent ditransitive — oblique indirect object. The recipient is oblique, so it behaves like the bivalent intransitive ( / "to give"; direct object "it" = 3SG):

+ Trivalent ditransitive: the directional follows subject vs. recipient Subject → Recipient Direct / inverse Modern Adyghe Kabardian 1 → 3 "I give it to him" direct 2 → 3 "you give it to him" direct 3 → 3 "he gives it to him" direct (tie) 1 → 2 "I give it to you" direct (1 > 2) 2 → 1 "you give it to me" inverse 3 → 1 "he gives it to me" inverse 3 → 2 "he gives it to you" inverse

The inverse cells again carry the venitive in both languages. (The direct 1→2 "give it to you" is cited with in Adyghe — the gift aimed at the addressee — but bare, , in Kabardian.)

In sum, the directional is keyed to the case of the object: with an oblique object (look at, give) it is forced in every inverse combination; with an absolutive object (see) there is no inverse gap; and with no object (look) it is simply a free "toward here" option. Kabardian additionally marks every local object and, in the bivalent intransitive, spells out the outward 1→2 direction with the translocative . For this reason the inverse (and, in Kabardian, every local-object) cells throughout the conjugation tables below already show the directional form; the marginal bare form is omitted.

Monovalent Intransitive Verbs conjugation

A monovalent intransitive verb has a single argument, an absolutive subject. With no object to agree with, only one personal prefix appears — the simplest paradigm, and a baseline for everything that follows. Both literary languages build it on Adyghe / Kabardian /pɬan/ "to look".