Verb roots

We suggest that the verb root is easiest to find in the 1s past conjugation. -om can be removed to find the root

libom, root = lib

How helpful it is to analyse verb roots

Our team put a lot of time into analysing verb roots and came to differing, but similar conclusions. No 1 explanation fits everything. It is best to check all verbs against how Kovol speakers speak and not try to predict them.

We think it is helpful to be aware that roots ending in L and M may behave differently.

Types of verb roots

We suggest that there may be several types of verb roots. There are patterns in how the root conjugates with the verb suffix for:

• Regular verb roots
  Have simple, predictable conjugations
  
• L-roots: Potential vowel variation.
  For example, to hold:
  obogolom, abagagam, ebegenim
  
• M-roots: Potential vowel variation and reduction.
  For example, to rest:
  molomom, mologom, melemenim

Irregular verb roots

There are also some irregular verb roots. These may be examples of suppletion.

pugugum "I sit"
ulomungg "We sit"