Lesson 2: Expressing actions in Ainu part 1

Intransitive verbs and 0-argument verbs

This is the second lesson on your journey to learn the basics of the Ainu language and Ainu grammar. In this lesson, you'll learn how to express different actions and states in Ainu. You will learn how to say 'I sleep' or 'you go' or 's/he sits' in Ainu, that is, how to use the person markers with Ainu verbs. In this lesson, we only use intransitive verbs; the verbs that can't get an object (the target of the action), only a subject (the person/thing that performs the action). This makes intransitive verbs to 1-argument verbs: they can only have one argument and that is the subject.

You will also learn that the is not a part of speech called 'adjectives' in Ainu but only intransitive verbs, of which some have similar meanings to English adjectives.

A bit detached last part of the lesson handles how to talk about the weather in Ainu. To do this, we need to learn about avalent or 0-argument verbs that do not take any person makers at all but are just used as-is to express temperature and meteorological phenomena (compare with English, in which you have to always state the subject: 'it's hot').

This is a long lesson packed with all kind of interesting aspects of the Ainu language, so let's get started.

The first person singular subject—ku-

To say things like 'I sleep', 'I run', or 'I cry' in Ainu, you don't need to use a personal pronoun 'I' like in English. Instead, in Ainu, you have to attach a person marker ku- to the verb. Ku- is a prefix and it can never stand alone as an independent word but it must be always attached to some other word. There are personal pronouns in Ainu, too, but they are not used as much as in English (we'll learn them sometime later). You could say that in Ainu personal pronouns are optional (for more emphasis etc.) but the person marker is required for the sentence to be grammatical.

Examples 1

Vocabulary 1

  • ku- (PM) — the first person singular subject marker, 'I do'
  • hosipi (VI) — to return; to go back home
  • hoyupu (VI) — to run; to leap
  • mokor (VI) — to sleep
  • cis (VI) — to cry
  • nepki (VI) — to work

On this site, I use a single hyphen (-) to separate the person marker and the verb. The hyphen doesn't affect the pronunciation of the word in anyway; it's there just to show that there is a person marker involved but there is not really a need to use any mark at all. You might have seen Ainu writing with a lot of equal marks (=) between the words. That's another way to separate the person marker from the verbs. Actually, the equal sign should be a double hyphen (⹀) but because most of the people don't know how to produce a double hyphen on their keyboard (me included; I just copied the double hyphen there from Wikipedia), they have started to use equal sign instead. You can read more about this on the start here page.

We have also come now to the first point where we can see differences in the Ainu varieties (dialects). In the Saru variety, the person marker ku- is shortened into plain k- when the verb coming after it starts with a vowel /a/, /e/, /o/ or /u/. The vowel /i/ doesn't tricker this change. Another variety that has the same change is Chitose variety. The other varieties don't cut off the -u. It is also not incorrect to pronounce the -u clearly in Saru variety; pronouncing the /u/ is just considered a more stylish and elaborate way of speaking.

Examples 2

Vocabulary 2

  • k- (PM) — the first person singular subject marker before vowels /a/, /e/, /o/ or /u/, 'I do'
  • a (VI) — to sit
  • ekimne (VI) — to go to the mountains (to hunt, to gather wild vegetables or mushrooms, etc.)
  • omanan (VI) — to travel; to walk around; to go here and there
  • itak (VI) — to speak; to talk

ku-itak can be pronounced either /ku'itak/ or /kuytak/ depending on the speakers preference.

The second person singular subject—e-

Just like the first person 'I', the second person 'you' is marked with a prefix on the verb, not with an independent word. The second person marker is e-. Notice that unlike in modern English, Ainu makes a difference between singular 'you' (in old English 'thou') and plural 'you'. We will learn the plural later.

Examples 3

Vocabulary 3

  • e- (PM) — the second person singular subject marker, 'You do'
  • arpa (VI) — to go
  • ek (VI) — to come
  • hopuni (VI) — to get up; to stand up; to fly
  • mina (VI) — to laugh
  • a (VI) — to sit

The third person singular subject—∅- (zero)

In the previous lesson we learned about the copula ne. Now that you have learned about the first and the second person markers, you might have wondered why we didn't attach any marker to the copula ne to indicate the person. Well, the reason is simple: In Ainu, the third person is unmarked. That means we don't have to attach any person marker when we talk about the third person, that is, 'he' or 'she' or 'it'. Because all the sentences in the previous lesson are not about me or not about you but about some third party, we don't have to attach anything at all. This goes to all Ainu verbs. Pretty handy, huh? Here are some examples.

Examples 4

Vocabulary 4

  • iki (VI) — to do things
  • ma (VI) — to swim
  • seta (N) — dog
  • horipi (VI) — to dance
  • ipe (VI) — to have a meal
  • an (VI) — to be; to exist
  • cape (N) — cat

In linguistics, in cases like this, the absence of the person marker (or any word or affix) is often marked with the sign ∅, which means zero. This is to make clear that in some cases there might be some word or affix on that position but in this particular case there is not. So, linguists might write the examples above as ∅-iki, ∅-ma, ∅-horipi, etc. We don't need to use that mark in these lessons, but I will probably use it to explain the person marker system later, when things get a bit more complicated.

Descriptive verbs

In English, there are parts of speech called adjectives that describe the quality of things, for example, big, small, red, old, and slow. English adjectives need the copula 'to be' as their auxiliary.

In Ainu, there is not such a part of speech as adjectives. All the words that might be interpreted as adjectives in English by meaning are just regular intransitive verbs in Ainu. So, in Ainu, copula or any other auxiliary verb is not needed, the descriptive verb can be used as it is. Anyway, I have included the 'to be' part in the English translations in the vocabulary list for clarity and so that you remember there is no need to use any auxiliary verbs.

Examples 5

Vocabulary 5

  • nonno (N) — flower
  • hure (VI) — to be red
  • ku- (PM) — the first person singular subject marker, 'I do'
  • moyre (VI) — to be late; to be slow
  • e- (PM) — the second person singular subject marker, 'You do'
  • poro (VI) — to be big; to be large
  • wakka (N) — water
  • nam (VI) — to be cold (to touch)
  • pewre (VI) — to be young

The Ainu descriptive verbs have also inchoative meaning: the verbs can also mean that the thing or person becoming something. So, hure doesn't only mean 'to be red' but also 'to become red; to turn red; to redden'! This is also one of the reasons why Ainu descriptive verbs are not called adjectives; they are much more than that.

'Not to do': somo and ka somo ki

Just like with the copula ne, all the other verbs can also be negated with somo, with some exceptions we'll learn later (there are some lexical negated verbs in Ainu, which means that some Ainu verbs have inherently negative meanings). As mentioned earlier, somo goes directly in front of the verb, but the person marker is attached so strongly to the verb that somo can't go between the person marker and the verb. It's best to think about the person marker as part of the verb.

Examples 6

Vocabulary 6

  • somo (ADV) — not
  • ku- (PM) — the first person singular subject marker, 'I do'
  • nepki (VI) — to work
  • mokor (VI) — to sleep
  • e- (PM) — the second person singular subject marker, 'You do'
  • a (VI) — to sit
  • as (VI) — to stand
  • iki (VI) — to do things
  • wakka (N) — water
  • nam (VI) — to be cold
  • nonno (N) — flower
  • hure (VI) — to be red
  • retar (VI) — to be white

Just like with the copula ne, there is another form of negating. However, in the case of the verbs, the form of 'the long negation' is ka somo ki. Literally, the phrase means 'doesn't even do' or 'doesn't do at all', but in most of the cases, it is perfectly exchangeable with the negation of plain somo in front of the verb. The particle ka just adds some emphasis on the negation. 'The long negation' form is attached after the verb it negates.

Examples 7

Vocabulary 7

  • ka somo ki (EXP) — not (does not do)

By the way, the ki in the construction ka somo ki is a transitive verb meaning 'to do something; to make something; to create something' but in this construction it is used as a dummy verb with no special meaning. This is because somo can't be used alone in a sentence like this without a verb coming after it, so in this expression, ki is added to fill the place of the required verb. You will learn more about transitive verbs in the next lesson. (Transitive verb means that the verb can get a direct object, that is, a target of the action.)

So, why there are two ways to negate a sentence in Ainu? Well, the one with somo going in front of the verb is thought to be the original Ainu way of negating. Ainu have been in contact with the wajin ("ethnic" Japanese from Ainu perspective) for several hundreds of years and when people and people meet, their languages also meet. Researchers believe that the second way of saying 'not' (ka somo ki) in Ainu comes from the influence of the Japanese language to Ainu. In the Japanese language the verbs are conjugated to create negative forms and this conjugation can be seen at the end of the verb. So, the thinking is that Ainu have modeled a new way of negating after the Japanese verb negative form.

Talking about the weather using avalent/0-argument verbs

Many of the Ainu verbs expressing meteorological phenomena, especially verbs denoting temperature, do not show any subject at all, they are used just as they are and in a sense already include or incorporate the subject. These types of verbs are called avalent or 0-argument verbs.

If you compare this with English, it's very different, because English always requires a subject. In the case of weather, there is no one who actually does the rain or wind or adjusts the temperature, so you have to use the formal subject 'it', for example, 'it's cold' or 'it rains'. In Ainu, the direct translations of equivalent phrases are just 'cold' and 'rains'. It's of course possible to say 'I'm cold' or 'I'm feeling hot' in Ainu, but you have to use a different set of verbs.

In English, you can say 'wind blows' or 'snow falls' or 'thunder rolls', but in Ainu, the verb to describe many of the natural phenomena happening is the verb as. We just learned that is means 'to stand' but in the case of weather, it is just a general verb to express that the meteorological phenomenon in question is happening.

The verbs that describe temperature or the weather conditions in general are avalent/0-argument verbs in Ainu. They start with the prefix sir- 'vicinity; thereabouts; surroundings', except the word for 'to be cold', mean. So, literally these words have a meaning 'the surroundings are xxx' depending on what comes after sir-. The composition of mean 'the weather is cold' is me 'coldness' + an 'to exist; to be somewhere', so it literally means 'coldness exists'. Here is a list of the common

If there is someone (me, you, your grandpa, my cat...) who feels the temperatures, you need to use another set of verbs. There are all intransitive verbs and can take a subject person marker just like we just learned.

So, 'I'm feeling hot' would be ku-sesek and 'you are cold' is e-merayke.

Many of the meteorological or weather phenomena come in form noun representing the type of phenomenon + the verb as. We just learned in the example sentence 28 that as means 'to stand'.

Then there are many meteorological phenomena that don't use as '(1) stand (2) (of meteorological phenomena) to fall; to come down' but another verb instead. Many of them use an 'to exist; to be (somewhere)' but there are others, too.

If the said natural phenomenon is strong, you can use yupke '(VI) to be fierce; to be severe' or ruy '(VI) to be fierce; to be strong; to be hard; to be harsh' instead of as '(1) stand (2) (of meteorological phenomena) to fall; to come down'. For instance, upun yupke 'the snowstorm is harsh', upas yupke 'it snows heavily', rera ruy 'the wind is strong', rir ruy 'the waves are high'.

Examples 8

By the way, the word for wind, rera, has an exceptional accent: réra.

Vocabulary 8

  • sirsesek (VA) — (weather, temperature) is hot
  • ku- (PM) — the first person singular subject marker, 'I do'
  • sesek (VI) — to feel hot; to be hot
  • sirmeman (VA) — (weather, temperature) is cool
  • somo (ADV) — not
  • e- (PM) — the second person singular subject marker, 'You do'
  • popke (VI) — to feel warm; to be warm
  • tane (ADV) — now
  • sirpirka (VA) — the weather is god
  • sukus an (EXP) — the sun shines
    • sukus (N) — sunshine; sunlight
    • an (VI) — to be; to exist
  • niskur an (EXP) — to be cloudy
    • niskur (N) — cloud
  • ka somo ki (EXP) — not (does not do)
  • sirwen (VA) — the weather is bad
  • apto as (EXP) — it rains
    • apto (N) — rain
    • as (VI) — (1) stand (2) (of meteorological phenomena) to fall; to come down
  • rera ruy (EXP) — the wind is strong
    • rera (N) — wind
    • ruy (VI) — to be fierce; to be strong; to be hard; to be harsh
  • kawkaw as (EXP) — it's hails
    • kawkaw (N) — hail

Congratulations! You have made your way to the end of the second Ainu language grammar lesson. This was a very long lesson with many things and concepts that don't exist in the English language, so it might take some time to understand them. In the next lesson, you can learn more about Ainu verbs. This time we take a look at transitive verbs and ditransitive verbs.

Created on 2023/2/10, Latest update on 2024/9/25