All verbs must take a verb suffix. The verb suffix gives tense, actor and mood information for the whole sentence. The verb suffixes are either medial or final verb suffixes.
Neym obob libigom.
"I got the tree and came."
Neym (tree) obob (get, medial sfx, same actor) libigom. (come up, final sfx, 1s present statement)
Medial verbs are used to chain verbs in sequential actions. Related actions are chained together into a complex predicate, as is common in Papuan languages. The medial verb suffix communicates actor information, but not tense or mood.
Final verbs are used at the end of sentences and contain actor and tense (statements), or actor and mood (imperative).
Kovol verb suffixes are generally predictable. There is enough unpredictable variation, however, that the team has made the decision to record verb conjugations individually in the lexicon. A rule can predict 85% or so of Kovol verb conjugations, but struggles in some areas.
Kovol verb stems may be substituted for some verb conjugations. The verb to hit
"wolom" 1s past, "wagam" 1s present, wenim "1s future".
The verb stem is either wo or wa.
Roots ending in g cause difficulty with the present tense. The verb to smoke
"lambigom" 1s past "lambigom" 1s future.
Roots ending in l and m also show different patterns.
The general rules for the verb suffix are provided below, but each verb needs to be checked and updated in the lexicon manually.
Final verb suffixes go on verbs that end Kovol sentences. A clause requires one of these suffixes to be an independent clause.
The past tense is used for events that happened yesterday or before then. The present tense is for events that happened in the recent past. We have named it the present tense for simplicity, but really, it is a recent past tense. A tree present tense is created with the present tense and the Aspect suffix -yam.
The Perfect tense suffix seems to apply to singular actors. It is used to refer to an action in the past that affects the current time.
| Actor | Tense | Kovol suffix | Allomorphs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | Past | -om | -um following u, -m following C |
| 2s | Past | -ong | -ung following u, -ng following C |
| 3s | Past | -ot | -ut following u, -t following C |
| 1p | Past | -omungg | -umungg following u, -mungg following C |
| 2p | Past | -omuwa | -umuwa following u, -muwa following C |
| 3p | Past | -emind | -umind following u, -mind following C |
| 1s | Present | -gom | -gum following u, -om following g |
| 2s | Present | -gong | -ong following g |
| 3s | Present | -ge | -e following g |
| 1p | Present | -ongg | -ungg following u, -ngg following V |
| 2p | Present | -gama | -guma following u, -gima following i |
| 3p | Present | -gond | -gund following u |
| 1s | Future | -enim | -inim following i, -nim following V |
| 2s | Future | -ening | -ining following i, -ning following V |
| 3s | Future | -ing | |
| 1p | Future | -ug | |
| 2p | Future | -muwa | |
| 3p | Future | -is | |
| Singular? | Perfect | -ogot | -igot, -ugot, -got |
| Actor | Kovol suffix | Allomorphs |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | -e | -u after g sometimes |
| Plural | -as | -yas after i, -uwas after g sometimes |
In the past, the team has labelled these as "enclitics".
The medial verb suffix marks the verb as part of a sequential chain. The clause becomes dependent on the independent clause that follows it.
Medial verb suffixes don't end sentences. In spoken Kovol language, though, they may be heard when speakers start a sentence, but do not finish it.
| Actor | Kovol Suffix | Allomorphs |
|---|---|---|
| 1s | -esi | -isi after i |
| 2s/3s | -a | -wa after g sometimes |
| 1p | -osu | -usu after u, -isu after i |
| 2p/3p | -asi | -wasi after g sometimes |
| Same actor | -eb | -ob sometimes, -ub after u |