Pronominal Prefixes I1

Pronominal Prefixes: intransitive singular

When we refer to action by a single individual, we use the singular prefixes.

nga- (I) is for first person singular, e.g. ngare (I go), ngawam (I went).

yi- (you singular) is for second person singular, e.g. yire (you go), yiwam (you went).

∅- (he/she/it) is for third person singular, e.g. kare (he/she/it goes), wam (he/she/it went).

• The ∅- means nothing, a zero prefix.

• There is an extra ka- which only shows up in third person singular in present tense. You'll hear it all the time, so you need to know it.

• Just like "go" has an irregular past tense "went" (not "goed"), Kunwok re (go) has an irregular past tense wam (went).

Here it is again, in tabular form:

Nonpast	Meaning	Past	Meaning	Comment
ngare	I go	ngawam	I went	nga- is the first-person singular, I
yire	you (sg) go	yiwam	you (sg) went	yi- is the second-person singular, you (sg)
kare	he/she/it goes	wam	he/she/it went	- (no prefix) is the third-person singular, he/she/it

Here are more examples, this time for bidbun (climb) and mankan (fall).

Nonpast	Meaning	Past	Meaning
ngabidbun	I climb	ngabidbom	I climbed
yibidbun	you (sg) climb	yibidbom	you (sg) climbed
kabidbun	he/she/it climbs	bidbom	he/she/it climbed
Nonpast	Meaning	Past	Meaning
ngamankan	I fall	ngamankang	I fell
yimankan	you (sg) fall	yimankang	you (sg) fell
kamankan	he/she/it falls	mankang	he/she/it fell

It's your turn to try this with some new verbs:

I run (lobme)	she swims (wurlebme)	you're sitting (yerrkan)	he's returning (durndeng)	I cry
ngalobme	kawurlebme	yiyerrkan	kadurndeng	nganalkbun

Finally, you could make a table of words with their prefixes for some other intransitive verbs: e.g. dowen (be unwell), dolkkan (stand), keyo (sleep), di (be present), bebme (arrive), yayme (be itchy), borrkke (dance), wayini (sing).

Next: Intransitive Verbs 2