Lesson Five: Comparison, the Present Tense Conjugation of Verbs, and the Illative Case
Витӧд Урок: Ӧткодялан тшупӧдъяс, ӧнія када кадакывлӧн вежласьӧм, пыран падеж
Vitöd Urok: Ötkoďalan tšupödjas, önija kada kadakyvlön vežlaśöm, pyran paďež
Alright, let's start with adjectives. As in English, there are three levels of comparison - base, comparative, and superlative.
The Comparative is formed by attaching -джык -džyk to the end of the adjective:
бур bur "good" > бурджык burdžyk "better"
лёк l'ok "bad" > лёкджык l'okdžyk "worse"
кузь kuź "long" > кузьджык kuźdžyk "longer"
The superlative is a bit more interesting. It is formed with the "prefix" мед- med-:
медбур medbur "best"
медлёк medl'ok "worst"
медкузь medkuź "longest"
I say "prefix" (in quotes) because it actually can be separated from the adjective, most commonly by an adverb of some sort:
Тайӧ туйыс мед на кузь. Tajö tujys med na kuź. "This road is still the longest" (на na = "still")
(equivalent to Тайӧ туйыс медкузь на Tajö tujys medkuź na)
Finally, the superlative can also be marked with the always separate word медся medśa placed before the adjective:
медся бур medśa bur "best"
медся лёк medśa l'ok "worst"
медся кузь medśa kuź "longest"
The object of comparison is marked with the ellative case, which will be discussed later.
One theme you will very often see in Komi is that very rarely is any affix limited to only one part of speech. In fact, affixes frequently can be applied to many parts of speech in ways that seem strange from an Indo-European perspective. We'll start with the suffix -ӧсь -öś, which if you remember is used on predicate adjectives with plural antecedents. However, it is also used on predicate locative nouns with plural "antecedents": Айловъясыс пыжынӧсь Ajlovjasys pyžynöś "The men are in a boat" (айлов ajlov "man", пыж pyž "boat"). This is not just adjectivalized, however, as the locative noun can still be singular or plural itself. Thus you have four combinations:
Айловыс пыжын. Ajlovys pyžan. "The man is in a boat"
Айловъясыс пыжынӧсь. Ajlovjasys pyžynöś. "The men are in a boat"
Айловыс пыжъясын. Ajlovys pyžjasyn. "The man is in boats" (nonsensical by itself, but it could work if you wanted to say "He spends his life in boats")
Айловъясыс пыжъясынӧсь. Ajlovjasys pyžjasynöś. "The men are in boats"
(I think I may have forgotten this rule earlier on... if so, sorry)
The infinitive of a Komi verb ends is formed by adding the suffix -ны -ny to the verb root. The roots themselves may end in both vowels and consonants. However, if the root ends in /l/, it will always become /v/ in the infinitive as per the /l/ > /v/ before another consonant or at the end of a word rule. If the root ends in a cluster, the epenthetic vowel ы y is added before the infinitive suffix to prevent a three-consonant cluster.
*mun- "go" > мунны munny "to go"
*giž- "write" > гижны gižny "to write"
*lydď- "read" > лыддьыны lydďyny "to read"
*gögörvo- "understand" > гӧгӧрвоны gögörvony "to understand"
*ol- "live" > овны ovny "to live"
(/j/ as part of a diphthong does not count as a consonant: *raďejt- "love" > радейтны raďejtny "to love"; when after another consonant, it does: *kösj- "want" > кӧсйыны kösjyny "to want")
Komi has four main tenses - present, future, and two evidential past tenses. Verbs conjugate in each to agree in person and number with their subject. Here is the present tense positive conjugation of гижны gižny "write":
ме гижа me giža "I write"
тэ гижан te gižan "you write"
сійӧ гижӧ sijö gižö "he/she/it writes"
ми гижам mi gižam "we write"
ті гижанныд ti gižannyd "you all write"
найӧ гижӧны najö gižöny "they write"
(1Sg -a, 2Sg -an, 3Sg -ö, 1Pl -am, 2Pl -annyd, 3Pl -öny)
Like other Finno-Ugric languages, negation is marked using a specialized negative verb that conjugates to agree with its subject, though using a unique set of endings. The main verb is left with very limited agreement, with only three forms: singular, plural 1Pl/2Pl, and plural 3Pl. The main agreement has been transferred to the negative verb. Again with гижны:
ме ог гиж me og giž "I do not write"
тэ он гиж te on giž "you do not write"
сійӧ оз гиж sijö oz giž "he/she/it does not write"
ми огӧ гижӧй mi ogö gižöj "we do not write"
ті онӧ гижӧй ti onö gižöj "you all do not write"
найӧ оз гижны najö oz gižny "they do not write"
(1Sg og + -0, 2Sg on + -0, 3Sg oz + -0, 1Pl ogö + -öj, 2Pl onö + -öj, 3Pl oz + -ny)
All these endings are completely regular, even for roots that end in a vowel.
As another example of affixes crossing parts of speech, the comparative suffix -джык -džyk may freely be added to conjugated verbs with the meaning "more":
радейтныджык raďejtnydžyk "to love more [than someone else]"
уджавныджык udžavnydžyk "to work harder [than someone else]"
If the comparative is added to the negative verb, it carries the meaning "less":
Ме огджык кӧсъя гижны. Me ogdžyk kösja gižny. "I don't want as much to write"
And as a final note, I want to stress that Komi is not pro-drop. That is, you generally leave pronouns in, even though the verb shows full agreement. The biggest exception is with impersonal verbs like those dealing with the weather, which appear in the 3sg without any pronoun: лымъявны lymjavny "to snow" > лымъялӧ lymjalö "it's snowing".
The Illative Case replaces the preposition "into" and therefore marks motion into something. This applies to any sort of motion into, even in cases were English would use simply "to". It is marked by the suffix -ӧ -ö in the singular, -ясӧ -jasö in the plural. It answers the question кытчӧ? kyttśö "to where? whither?", while the locative answers кӧні? köni "where?"
школаӧ školaö "to school"
гортӧ gortö "[to] home"
Exercises:
Уджъяс:
Udžjas:
1) Conjugate мунны munny "to go" in the present tense, positive and negative. Include pronouns as well, since Komi is not pro-drop.
2) Conjugate овны ovny "to live" in the present tense, positive and negative. This is a little trickier.
3) Translate the following using the given vocabulary:
- We are going to a theatre today.
- I love to read.
- They do not understand as well. (Use a verbal comparative)
- She is still the prettiest girl. (give me all three ways)
- Many people live in cities.
- You (pl) work in a university.
- I do not live in Russia, but in the United Kingdom.
- This year we want to go to Moscow.
- Our children are going into first grade in the fall. (lit. "first class")
- You all are arriving home (lit. "into home")
- Today is a nicer day. (lit. "better")
- It rains harder there.
Vocabulary:
Кыввор:
Kyvvor:
- арнас arnas "in the fall"
- воны vony "to arrive"
- зэрны zerny "rain" (3sg only)
- класс klass "class"
- медводдза medvoddźa "first"
- мича mitśa "pretty"
- сэні seni "there"
- таво tavo "this year"
- талун talun "today"
- театр teatr "theatre"
- уджавны udžavny "to work" (*udžal-)
- университет uńiverśiťet "university"
- челядь tśel'aď "children" (takes plural agreement despite lacking a plural ending)
- Ыджыд Британия Ydžyd Britańija "United Kingdom" (literally "Great Britain", but as in Russian this is the standard term