Guugu Yimithirr Verbs
An introduction to Guugu Yimithirr Verbal Morphology
Jan Arvid Götesson, Pama Language Centre
June 2025
1 Introduction: linguistic terminology
In word lists and dictionaries published by Pama Language Centre there is a line of basic information about the lead word of each entry. If the entry is a verb (an action word) it may say:
Dagaaya sit down; stay down; get down;
sit; ride (on horse)
Verb reflexive‑only dpL conjugation
(intransitive)
The words “Verb reflexive‑only dpL conjugation (intransitive)” is the key to the inflection of the verb, i.e. the endings and the forms of the verb. This document, An introduction to Guugu Yimithirr Verbal Morphology is the key to that information. To understand the information, one must know what conjugations and other linguistic terms mean.
1.1 The words verb and morphology
Guugu Yimithirr and English are languages where words have endings. The words change shape; “morph-” has to do with shape. Write, writes, writing and wrote are different shapes of the same word. The description of the systems of shapes of words is called “morphology”.
Most morphology in English and almost all morphology in Guugu Yimithirr is a matter of adding endings. A related word is inflection, which broadly means “adding endings”.
1.2 The two meanings of conjugation
One of the main groups of words is verbs, action words, such as write or the Guugu Yimithirr verb balgal. The description of verbal morphology is called conjugation.
But the word conjugation has an special meaning too. When we study verb, we need to sort then in groups according to how they “go”. Most English verbs go like this:
call called called
open opened opened
claim claimed claimed
grab grabbed grabbed
But some smaller groups of verbs go differently. One group goes like this:
drive drove driven
ride rode ridden
rise rose risen
write wrote written
The second meaning of conjugation is “a group of verbs that go in the same way”. A conjugation with an “a” is a group of verbs; conjugation without an “a” means verbal morphology in general.
In English, it is not important to group verbs in conjugations. English has a main paradigm (call – called – has called) and a few small ones, and few very irregular verbs (go – went – has gone). Foreigners who learn English just learn buy heart how individual verbs go. But in the study of Guugu Yimithirr it is a good idea to learn about the groups, the conjugations, by their names.
1.3 Stem, ending, morpheme and root
Words in English and Guugu Yimithirr consist of a stem and an ending. Often there is no visible ending, which we call a zero ending. Dog- is a stem; if we have a zero ending, dog, we signal that it is one dog, and if we add the plural ending –s we signal that there are many dogs. In verbs, the ending –ed signals that that action took place in past time: called. Another term for ending is suffix.
If we want to mark a zero ending, we use the symbol for Empty Set, ‑∅: one dog-∅, many dogs.
Guugu Yimithirr nouns may have zero endings, but not Guugu Yimithirr verbs. In verbs we have the phenomenon of dropped endings that gives the same result (invisibility), but is different in principle. In verbs we have endings that become invisible because of rules of pronunciation. Consider a few forms of two verbs:
balgal balgala balgay
wagil wagila wagi
The past tense ending is ‑y in balgay, but in wagi there is no visible past tense ending. The ‑y has been dropped. The past tense ending is signalled by the absence of a visible ending. A Guugu Yimithirr verb stem is never naked, so the person who hears wagi knows that there must be a dropped ending there, which can only be the past tense suffix ‑y.
The building blocks that make up words are called morphemes. In called there are two morphemes: the stem call– and the past tense suffix –ed. Stem is defined as a morpheme that is able to accept a suffix.
1.3.1 Stem formatives
In Guugu Yimithirr verbs, but not in any English words, there is a complication: a basic component called a root is visible, and must be augmented before it can function as a root. Compare the word wumaa (give) and thadaa (go). These are two forms each of the two verbs:
wumaa wuthinhu
thadaa thadanu
The second syllable changes in wumaa – wuthinhu. The reason is that the root wu– must be turned into a stem before it can accept further inflection (suffixes). The syllables that we add to a few verbs roots in Guugu Yimithirr are called stem formatives. These are the morphemes of wuthinhu:
| wu- | -thi- | -nhu |
| root | stem formative | suffix |
| stem | ||
1.4 Allomorphs
Allomorphs are alternative endings: endings that have different form but identical function. Consider the verbs balgal (make) and yitharr (put):
balgal balgay
yitharr yitharrin
The ending ‑l in balgal and the ending ‑rr in yitharr have the same function: they signal present or future tense. The ending ‑y in balgay and the ending ‑rrin in yitharrin have the same function: they signal past tense. Such alternative endings are called allomorphs.
Balganhu (meaning “in order to build”) corresponds to yithanhu. The suffix ‑nhu does not have any allomorphs; it is the same ending for every Guugu Yimithirr verb.
1.5 The dictionary form: the lemma
When verbs have many different endings, we choose one of them to be the dictionary form, which is called the lemma or the citation form. We have forms such as call, calls, called, calling. We have call as the head word in dictionaries. In Guugu Yimithirr, we have balgal as the dictionary form, not balgay or balganhu or some other form. We always say balgal when we talk about the verb out of the context of a sentence. Balgal might seem like a natural choice, but it is in fact a choice made by linguists.
1.6 Transitive and intransitive verbs
Verbs are either transitive or intransitive. Transitive means that the doer (the subject) directly does something to another person or thing mentioned in the clause (sentence). The action can be drastic like bite or mild like observe. These are sentences with transitive verbs:
The dog chased the cat.
We saw an emu.
If additional words are needed to express that the doer affects a target, the verb is not transitive.
We arrived in Paris.
We cannot say *We arrived Paris. Since an extra word is needed, the verb arrive is not transitive. A transitive verb can always be stripped down to three‑word sentences: Dogs chase cats; We saw emus. (An asterisk * means that a form or sentence is not found in genuine speech or is hypothetical.)
An intransitive verb is usually a state or a movement. An intransitive verb cannot have a direct object:
He died but not *He died the dog.
We exist but not *We exist our lives.
Guugu Yimithirr is strict about the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs. English is lax: I broke the spear (transitive) and The spear broke (intransitive). Guugu Yimithirr has dumbil for transitive meanings of “break”, and a different verb or at least a special ending for intransitive meanings (gada-bal or dumbaaya).
2 The Guugu Yimithirr four‑box model of verb structure
2.1 Necessary and optional parts of the verb
English verbs can maximally consist of two morphemes: the stem and one ending. Guugu Yimithirr verbs can consist of the stem and four additional morphemes. We can choose to call the additional morphemes endings (suffixes), or we can say that the optional second and third morphemes make the stem longer and longer.
The most important fact about the four‑box model is that the first and last parts are necessary, and the second and third parts are optional. Compare these two forms of the verb gundal (hit): gundal and gundaarndathigamu.
| gunda‑ | ‑l | ||
| stem | aspect | voice | mood/tense |
| gunda‑ | ‑arnda‑ | ‑thi‑ | ‑gamu |
| stem | aspect | voice | mood/tense |
Ngayu gundal means “I hit now” or “I’ll hit”. Gundaarndathigamu means “so that they won’t be hitting each other”. Gundal could be shown like this:
| gunda‑ | ‑∅‑ | ‑∅‑ | ‑l |
| stem | aspect | voice | mood/tense |
The symbol ∅ shows that there is a zero morpheme in the boxes for aspect and voice; the absence also provides information.
The four‑box model introduces the terms aspect, voice, mood and tense. These will be described in the following sections.
2.2 Aspect
Simply put, aspect means that a verb action either takes place at a point in time or is continuous. English has the same alternatives in aspect as Guugu Yimithirr, so the concept can be explained with an English verb
simple aspect: I cut the rope.
continuous aspect: I was cutting sugar cane.
In Engling, the suffix for continuous aspect is ‑ing; simple aspect is marked by a zero suffix. In Guugu Yimithirr, simple aspect is also marked by a zero ending. Continuous aspect is marked by reduplication of the last syllable of the stem, with some modifications.
simple aspect: Ngayu gumbiin wagi.
continuous aspect: Ngayu sugar cane wagiilgi.
2.2.1 Reduplication
In reduplication, the stem wagi‑ is elongated to wagi‑ilgi‑. The rules for reduplication are complicated and subject to evolution in contemporary speech, and are described in a separate document.
The main rule of reduplication is a follows. 1) The last vowel of the verb stem is lengthened: wagi‑ → wagii‑. There is no lengthening if the consonant at the beginning of the last syllable of the stem is l, r, rr, w, or y. 2) An ‑l‑ is added: wagii‑ → wagiil‑. 3) The second syllable of the stem is reduplicated: : wagiil‑ → wagiilgi‑, and endings for tense or mood are added to the longer, usually trisyllabic form.
2.3 Voice
Voice is how a language expresses the relationship between
- the doer of the verb action (the agent),
- the target of the verb action, and
- the verb
In English we have active voice and passive voice:
active voice: A crocodile took the dog.
passive voice: The dog was taken by a crocodile.
The doer, the affected target and the verb action are unchanged, but English used passive voice to foreground the affected target, which is called the direct object in grammar.
In Guugu Yimithirr, we use voice in a different way: to express that the doer of the verb action (called the subject in grammar) and the direct object are the same person(s). We call this reflexive voice:
active voice: Ngayu gumbiin wagi.
passive voice: Ngayu wagiithi.
The verb in our sample sentence Ngayu wagiithi has a reflexive voice suffix: ‑:thi‑. The colon signifies that the suffix lengthens that last vowel of the stem, if the stem has two syllables, which almost all verbs have in Guugu Yimithirr.
2.3.1 Allomorphs in voice
The main reflexive voice suffix is ‑:thi‑. However, this suffix has an allomorph, ‑ya‑. The allomorph ‑ya is used in non‑past tense and in imperative mood in all verbs. Tense and mood are explained in the next section, but we mention the allomorphy in reflexive voice in this section, because it is common to all Guugu Yimithirr verbs. One of the meanings of the verb balgal is “wash”. Some forms are:
non‑past tense (present or future) Nhulu balgaaya. He’ll wash himself.
imperative mood (command) Balgaaya! (or Balgaayi!) Wash yourself!
past tense Nhulu balgaathi. He washed himself.
According to the four‑box model the voice morpheme is always followed by another morpheme, the suffix for mood/tense. In Nhulu balgaaya there seems to be no suffix after the reflexive allomorph ‑ya‑. The explanation is twofold. First, in reflexive voice, the non‑past tense suffix and the imperative mood suffix are vowel lengthening, symbolised by a colon, ‑:. Since the verb does not have two syllables after the addition of the reflexive voice morpheme – it has three – the vowel lengthening becomes invisible according to the rule that a vowel lengthening morpheme only effects lengthening of the second vowel of a verb if the verb has two syllables before the addition of the morpheme. In past tense, the suffix for past tense is ‑y, which is dropped in word‑final position after an ‑i‑. The form *balgaathiy becomes balgaathi.
The claim that the non‑past tense suffix and the imperative mood suffix are vowel lengthening in reflexive mood gives rise to another question: How do we know that they are there, if invisible? This will be explained below in the section V conjugation verbs. The change of the final vowel in imperative mood (Balgaayi!) will also be explained.
2.4 Tense and mood
Tense is that verb actions are marked as taking place present, past or future time. Guugu Yimithirr has two tenses, non‑past tense and past tense. It has one suffix, called non‑past, for present and future. The non‑past ‑l in balgal has a flavour of future, unless we also inflect the verb for continuous aspect (see above): balgaalgal, in which case the final non‑past ‑l has a flavour of present tense.
Mood is more complex. Grammatical mood is the speaker’s attitude to the utterance, and the speaker’s intention with the utterance. In English, indicative mood is a statement of fact (“I was chairman”); subjunctive mood signals that the utterance is a hypothetical or desired state (“If I were chairman”). Grammatical mood reflects the speaker’s view of which world a statement belongs: the real world, a desired world, and so on. Imperative mood – “Go home Paul!” – is a command to bring a world into existence: a world where Paul has gone home.
Mood and tense are interwoven in Guugu Yimithirr. The suffixes for non‑past tense and past tense also mark the verb as indicative mood, the mood for an utterance about the factual state of the world.
An overview of the complex system of tense and mood is shown in the following table, with forms of the verb .
| mood and tense | suffix | form | meaning |
| 1. non‑past tense (implies indicative mood) | ‑l | balgal | real event in present of future time |
| 2. past tense (implies indicative mood) | -y | balgay | real event in past time |
| 3. imperative mood | ‑la | balgala | command |
| 4. purposive mood | ‐nhu | balganhu | intended action |
| 5. contrafactual mood | ‑nda | balganda | impossible or unrealised action |
| 6. past negative mood (an indicative mood) | ‑:lmugu | balgaalmugu | action that was not taken |
| 7. cautionary mood | ‑ya | balgaya | undesired event about to happen |
| 8. anticipatory mood (rare) | ‑yigu | balgayigu | undesired event to be anticipated |
| 9. precautionary mood | ‑:ygamu | balgaaygamu | event that is stopped from happening |
| 10. perfective tense (implies indicative mood) | ‑:yga | balgaayga | past tense in story telling |
| 11. subordinate‑1 causal mood | ‑:yga | balgaayga | an event that caused another event |
| 12. subordinate-1 objective simultaneal mood | ‑:yga | balgaayga | see explanation below |
| 13. subordinate-2 subjective/agentive simultaneal mood (rare) | ‑nhun | balganhun | see explanation below |
In some of the suffixes shown in the table there is a colon. This symbol signifies that the suffix lengthens that last vowel of the stem, if the stem has two syllables, which almost all verbs have in Guugu Yimithirr.
Below are sample sentences to show the use of the forms.
- Non‑past tense. Ngayu bayan balgal. I’ll build a house.
- Past tense. Ngayu bayan balgay. I built a house.
- Imperative mood. Bayan balgala! Build a house!
- Purposive mood. Ngayu nagaar thaday bayan balganhu. I went to Cooktown to build a house.
- Contrafactual mood. Ngayu bayan balganda. How should I build a house?
- Past negative mood/tense. Ngayu bayan balgaalgamu. I didn’t build a house.
- Cautionary mood. Nyulu nganhi gundaya.. He might hit me.
- Anticipatory mood (rare). Nyundu dindaal-gu janyjila narradamayigu. Have a swim quickly before you start to shiver.
- Precautionary mood. Doctorngun nganhi bagay ngayu gaga-buliigamu. The doctor gave me a needle so I wouldn’t get sick.
- Perfective tense. Maaraarr dhana balgaayga blanketnganh. They made clothes from blankets.
- Subordinate‑1 causal mood. Ngayu duday nhulu nganhi gundaayga. I ran because he hit me.
- Subordinate-1 objective simultaneal mood. Nhulu gaangga nhaathi duthaanbi wunaarnayga. He saw a yam lying on the road.
- Subordinate-2 subjective/agentive simultaneal mood (rare). Mayi budanhun thana football nhaathi. When they ate they watched football.
Number 12, subordinate-1 objective simultaneal mood requires further explanation. This form is used when a direct object (the yam) is doing something at the same time (lying on the road). The person saw a yam, and at the same time the yam was lying on the road.
The rare form in number 13, subordinate-2 subjective/agentive simultaneal mood signifies that the subject (the doer) in a sentence is doing something at the same time. The people were watching football and eating food.
You have observed that the suffixes in number 10, 11 and 12 are identical. The forms undoubtedly have a common origin, but since their uses and meanings are different today it is better to treat them as different forms, rather than different uses of the same form.
2.5 The richness of Guugu Yimithirr verbal inflection
In our 13 sample sentences above all verbs consisted of a stem and a suffix for mood/tense; the two middle boxes for aspect and voice were empty. Since there are two choices in aspect, and two choices in voice for the majority of verbs, the number of verb forms is doubled to 26 and then doubled again to 52. In English there are only five verb forms: drive, drives, drove, driven, driving.
3 The Guugu Yimithirr verb conjugations
We have learned that a Guugu Yimithirr verb has four parts, where the first and fourth parts are compulsory, and the second and third are optional. We have learned the meaning of stem and that three following parts, aspect, voice and mood/tense. We have learned that the morpheme for aspect is reduplication of the last syllable of the stem; we have learned the suffixes in reflexive voice, and the 13 suffixes in mood/tense of the verb balgal. One difficulty remains however: the Guugu Yimithirr verbs are divided into groups, conjugations, that have different endings in some tenses and moods.
3.1 The tree main conjugations
The instances where endings vary most are non‑past tense, past tense, and imperative mood. These three forms are called diagnostic forms. We divide the verbs into three main conjugations, that are named after the suffix in non‑past tense.
| L conjugation | V conjugation | RR conjugation | |
| non‑past tense | ‑l balga‑l | ‑: thada‑: → thadaa | ‑rr yitha‑rr |
| past tense | ‑y balga‑y | ‑y thada‑y | ‑rrin yitha‑rrin |
| imperative mood | ‑la balga‑la | ‑a‑ → ‐i‑ + ‑: thada‑ → thadi‑ → thadii | ‑rrV yitha‑rra |
In the L conjugation we add three suffixes to the stem in the three diagnostic forms. We get
non‑past tense balgal
past tense balgay
imperative mood balgala
The V conjugation is more complicated. In non‑past tense the suffix is vowel lengthening (V stands for vowel lengthening). In our example the stem is thada‑, and the suffix ‑: produces thadaa.
In imperative mood, we have a process called stem alternation, where the final vowel of the stem is changed to an ‑i‑. The suffix is then vowel lengthening, as in the L conjugation. In the V conjugation, imperative mood is marked by two things: stem alternation and a suffix. We get these V conjugation forms:
non‑past tense thadaa
past tense thaday
imperative mood thadii
In the RR conjugation, the suffix in imperative consist of ‑rr‑ and a repetition of the last vowel of the stem. This is symbolised as ‑rrV. However, today most people do not say Wugurru!, they say Wugurra! The imperative mood ending is always ‑rra in their speech. We get these RR conjugation forms:
non‑past tense yitharr
past tense yitharrin
imperative mood yitharra
3.2 Subconjugations
The three main conjugations need to be divided into eight subconjugations in order to describe all allomorphs. The rationale for the names of the eight subconjugations are shown in this table:
| L conjugation | dpL subconjugation | The stems are disyllabic or polysyllabic (three or four syllables). |
| mL subconjugation | The stems are monosyllabic. | |
| V conjugation | dV subconjugation | The stems are disyllabic. |
| dVna subconjugation | The stem is disyllabic and non‑past stem ends in ‑na‑. | |
| mVna subconjugation | The stems are monosyllabic and non‑past stems ends in ‑na‑. | |
| mVma subconjugation | The stems are monosyllabic and non‑past stems ends in ‑ma‑. | |
| RR conjugation | RRrr subconjugation | Non‑past tense has the suffix ‑rr. |
| RRl subconjugation | The verbs go like RR verbs, but the suffixes have ‑l‑ instead of ‑rr‑. |
We shall now look at the subconjugations in turn.
3.3 The dpL subconjugation
The dpL subconjugation verbs are the most numerous in Guugu Yimithirr. In the tables below we show all 52 forms of balgal (stem balga‑)
| simple aspect, active voice | ||
| mood and tense | suffix | form |
| 1. non‑past tense (implies indicative mood) | ‑l | balgal |
| 2. past tense (implies indicative mood) | –y | balgay |
| 3. imperative mood | ‑la | balgala |
| 4. purposive mood | ‐nhu | balganhu |
| 5. contrafactual mood | ‑nda | balganda |
| 6. past negative mood (an indicative mood) | ‑:lmugu | balgaalmugu |
| 7. cautionary mood | ‑ya | balgaya |
| 8. anticipatory mood | ‑yigu | balgayigu |
| 9. precautionary mood | ‑:ygamu | balgaaygamu |
| 10. perfective tense (implies indicative mood) | ‑:yga | balgaayga |
| 11. subordinate‑1 causal mood | ‑:yga | balgaayga |
| 12. subordinate-1 objective simultaneal mood | ‑:yga | balgaayga |
| 13. subordinate-2 subjective/agentive simultaneal mood | ‑nhun | balganhun |
| continuous aspect, active voice | ||
| mood and tense | suffixes | form |
| 14. non‑past tense (implies indicative mood) | ‑alga‑ + ‑l | balgaalgal |
| 15. past tense (implies indicative mood) | ‑alga‑ + –y | balgaalgay |
| 16. imperative mood | ‑alga‑ + ‑la | balgaalgala |
| 17. purposive mood | ‑alga‑ + ‐nhu | balgaalganhu |
| 18. contrafactual mood | ‑alga‑ + ‑nda | balgaalganda |
| 19. past negative mood (an indicative mood) | ‑alga‑ + ‑:lmugu | balgaalgalmugu |
| 20. cautionary mood | ‑alga‑ + ‑ya | balgaalgaya |
| 21. anticipatory mood | ‑alga‑ + ‑yigu | balgaalgayigu |
| 22. precautionary mood | ‑alga‑ + ‑:ygamu | balgaalgaygamu |
| 23. perfective tense (implies indicative mood) | ‑alga‑ + ‑:yga | balgaalgayga |
| 24. subordinate‑1 causal mood | ‑alga‑ + ‑:yga | balgaalgayga |
| 25. subordinate-1 objective simultaneal mood | ‑alga‑ + ‑:yga | balgaalgayga |
| 26. subordinate-2 subjective/agentive simultaneal mood | ‑alga‑ + ‑nhun | balgaalganhun |
Unstressed ‑ay‑ in third syllable often becomes ‑i‑. The forms in 22–25 usually become balgaalgigamu, balgaalgiga.
| simple aspect, reflexive voice | ||
| mood and tense | suffixes | form |
| 27. non‑past tense (implies indicative mood) | ‑ya + ‑: | balgaaya |
| 28. past tense (implies indicative mood) | ‑thi‑ + –y | balgaathi |
| 29. imperative mood | ‑ya‑ + ‑a‑ → ‐i‑ + ‑: | balgaayi |
| 30. purposive mood | ‑thi‑ + ‐nhu | balgaathinhu |
| 31. contrafactual mood | ‑thi‑ + ‑nda | balgaathinda |
| 32. past negative mood (an indicative mood) | ‑thi‑ + ‑:lmugu | balgaathilmugu |
| 33. cautionary mood | ‑thi‑ + ‑ya | balgaathiya |
| 34. anticipatory mood (rare) | ‑thi‑ + ‑yigu | balgaathiyigu |
| 35. precautionary mood | ‑thi‑ + ‑:ygamu | balgaathigamu |
| 36. perfective tense (implies indicative mood) | ‑thi‑ + ‑:yga | balgaathiga |
| 37. subordinate‑1 causal mood | ‑thi‑ + ‑:yga | balgaathiga |
| 38. subordinate-1 objective simultaneal mood | ‑thi‑ + ‑:yga | balgaathiga |
| 39. subordinate-2 subjective/agentive simultaneal mood | ‑thi‑ + ‑nhun | balgaathinhun |
A ‑iy‑ at the end of a syllable always becomes ‑iy‑. We see this in forms 35–38.
| continuous aspect, reflexive voice | ||
| mood and tense | suffixes | form |
| 40. non‑past tense (implies indicative mood) | redup. + ‑ya + ‑: | balgaalgaya |
| 41. past tense (implies indicative mood) | redup. + ‑thi‑ + –y | balgaalgathi |
| 42. imperative mood | redup. + ‑ya‑ + ‑a‑ → ‐i‑ + ‑: | balgaalgayi |
| 43. purposive mood | redup. + ‑thi‑ + ‐nhu | balgaalgathinhu |
| 44. contrafactual mood | redup. + ‑thi‑ + ‑nda | balgaalgathinda |
| 45. past negative mood (an indicative mood) | redup. + ‑thi‑ + ‑:lmugu | balgaalgathilmugu |
| 46. cautionary mood | redup. + ‑thi‑ + ‑ya | balgaalgathiya |
| 47. anticipatory mood (rare) | redup. + ‑thi‑ + ‑yigu | balgaalgathiyigu |
| 48. precautionary mood | redup. + ‑thi‑ + ‑:ygamu | balgaalgathigamu |
| 49. perfective tense (implies indicative mood) | redup. + ‑thi‑ + ‑:yga | balgaalgathiga |
| 50. subordinate‑1 causal mood | redup. + ‑thi‑ + ‑:yga | balgaalgathiga |
| 51. subordinate-1 objective simultaneal mood | redup. + ‑thi‑ + ‑:yga | balgaalgathiga |
| 52. subordinate-2 subjective/agentive simultaneal mood | redup. + ‑thi‑ + ‑nhun | balgaalgathinhun |
For ease of explanation, we count reduplication of the last syllable of the stem as a suffix. As remarked above, the rules of reduplication are complex, evolving, and explained in a separate document. An example of the complexity is that we do not say *budaaldal, we say budaaral because of certain sound rules.
3.3.1 Transitive and intransitive dpL subconjugation verbs
The majority of dpL subconjugation verbs are transitive, but quite a few are intransitive. Intransitive verbs usually have no reflexive form, which means that the number of forms is halved from 52 to 26. But it is not an absolute rule that transitive verbs have reflexive forms and intransitive verbs do not.
The reason why intransitive verbs usually have no reflexive form is obvious: an action that is not directed towards a direct object is not turned towards oneself. Waarril (fly) is an intransitive verb, and *Jijirr waarraathi (*The bird flew itself) does not make sense.
3.3.2 Stem alternation in reflexive
In the L conjugation there is often stem alternation before the reflexive suffix, if the stem ends in ‑i‑. The ‑i‑ is changed to ‑a‑. There is no rule for which verbs are affected.
daabil (move something) daabaathi (something moved itself)
wagil (cut something) wagiithi (somebody cut himself)
3.3.3 Reflexive‐only verbs
Two dozen verbs only have reflexive forms. One such verb is miiraaya (show oneself). In our dictionaries they are found under the reflexive mood, non‑past tense form: dagaaya, miiraaya and so on.
3.4 The mL subconjugation
The mL subconjugation consist of three monosyllabic dependent verbs, ‑bal, ‑ngal and ‑mal. Dependent means that they are only used if stuck onto other stems.
Monosyllabic verb stems usually take a stem formative, as mentioned above. Guugu Yimithirr has a strong preference for disyllabic stems. The only exception to this in verb conjugation is that non‑past tense and imperative mood in the mL subconjugation have no stem formative (which can be interpreted as a zero stem formative).
In other forms than non‑past tense and imperative mood the stem formative is ‑thi‑. The observant reader will have noticed that this creates an inconvenience: if the stem is elongated with ‑thi‑, and the second syllable of the stem is reduplicated, and the reflexive suffix ‑:thi is added, we get an awkward repetition of ‑thi‑ three times. This is avoided; the stem formative is changed to ‑tha‑ in reflexive voice. This stem formative is probably a *‑thi‑, with the vowel changed in a process similar to the vowel change in reflexive forms in disyllabic verbs: dumbil (break) becomes dumbaaya (break itself) in reflexive voice.
3.4.1 Gada‑bal
The only ‑bal verb used today is the intransitive verb gada‑bal (break by itself). The root is ‑ba‑; ‑l is the non‑past tense ending, which is added in the dictionary form.
The meaning of gada‑ is not known today. The observant reader immediately asks, “Why is gadabal then not counted as a trisyllabic verb?” The explanation is that ‑bal, when is has the stem formative ‐thi‑ added to the root ‑ba‐, behaves like a disyllabic word. Past negative mood is gada-bathiilmugu. When the suffix ‑:lmugu is added, the vowel is lengthened, and vowel lengthening can only happen in the second syllable of a verb, which means that ‑ bathiilmugu is still a separate word from gada‑; gada– and ‑bal are two components of a compound.
These are a few forms of gada‑bal:
| simple aspect, active voice (reflexive voice not attested) | |||
| mood and tense | stem formative | suffix | form |
| non‑past tense | zero | ‑l | gada‐bal |
| past tense | ‑thi‑ | –y | gada‑bathi |
| imperative mood | zero | ‑la | gada‐bala |
| purposive mood | ‑thi‑ | ‐nhu | gada‐bathinhu |
We recall that the ‑y in past tense will be dropped: *gada‑bathiy → gada‑bathi.
| continuous aspect, active voice (reflexive voice not attested) | |||
| mood and tense | stem formative | suffix | form |
| non‑past tense | zero | redup. + ‑l | gada‐balbal |
| past tense | ‑thi‑ | redup. + –y | gada‑bathiilthi |
| imperative mood | zero | redup. + ‑la | gada‐balbala |
| purposive mood | ‑thi‑ | redup. + ‐nhu | gada‐bathiilthinhu |
3.4.2 Thaaba‑ngal
The transitive verb thaaba‑ngal goes like gada‑bal, with the addition of reflexive forms. Below is a selection of forms.
| simple aspect, active voice | |||
| mood and tense | stem formative | suffix | form |
| non‑past tense | zero | ‑l | thaaba‐ngal |
| past tense | ‑thi‑ | –y | thaaba‑ngathi |
| imperative mood | zero | ‑la | thaaba‑ngala |
| purposive mood | ‑thi‑ | –nhu | thaaba‑ngathinhu |
| continuous aspect, active voice | |||
| mood and tense | stem formative | suffixes | form |
| non‑past tense | zero | redup. + ‑l | thaaba‐ngalngal |
| past tense | ‑thi‑ | redup. + –y | thaaba‐ngathiilthi |
| imperative mood | zero | redup. + ‑la | thaaba‑ngalngala |
| simple aspect, reflexive voice | |||
| mood and tense | stem formative | suffixes | form |
| non‑past tense | ‑tha‑ | ‑:ya‑ + ‑: | thaaba‐ngathaaya |
| past tense | ‑tha‑ | ‑:thi‑ + ‑y | thaaba‐ngathaathi |
| imperative mood | ‑tha‑ | ya‑ + ‑a‑ → ‐i‑ + ‑: | thaaba-ngathaayi |
| continuous aspect, reflexive voice | |||
| mood and tense | stem formative | suffixes | form |
| non‑past tense | ‑tha‑ | redup. + ‑:ya‑ + ‑: | thaaba‐ngathaalthaya |
| past tense | ‑tha‑ | redup. + ‑:thi‑ + ‑: | thaaba‐ngathaalthathi |
| imperative mood | ‑tha‑ | redup. + ‑ya‑ + ‑a‑ → ‐i‑ + ‑: | thaaba-ngathaalthayi |
3.4.3 ‑mal
The third mL conjugation verb is the common inchoative dependent verb ‐mal. Inchoative means to become something. ‑mal is often added to adjectives:
garrbun happy
garrbun‑mal become happy, i.e. rejoice
The inchoative verb ‑mal goes like ‑bal.
3.5 The dV subconjugation
The dV subconjugation is a relatively small conjugation of mostly intransitive verbs and motion verbs. It is only necessary to show the three diagnostic forms of thadaa (go, leave, stem thada‑), since all other inflection is identical to the dPL subconjugation:
| simple aspect, active voice | ||
| mood and tense | suffix | form |
| 1. non‑past tense | ‑: | thadaa |
| 2. past tense | –y | thaday |
| 3. imperative mood | ‑a‑ → ‐i‑ + ‑: | thadii |
If the stem ends in ‑i‑, the stem alternation in imperative mood becomes invisible and the past tense suffix is dropped:
non‑past tense bulii falls, will fall
past tense buli fell
imperative mood bulii fall
Every Guugu Yimithirr verb goes like a dV subconjugation verb in reflexive mood. Compare the partial paradigm below (from the dpL subconjugation) with the previous table:
| simple aspect, reflexive voice | ||
| mood and tense | suffixes | form |
| 27. non‑past tense | ‑ya + ‑: | balgaaya |
| 28. past tense | ‑thi‑ + –y | balgaathi |
| 29. imperative mood | ‑ya‑ + ‑a‑ → ‐i‑ + ‑: | balgaayi |
The tense and mood suffixes (‑:, –y and ‑a‑ → ‐i‑ + ‑:) are identical.
3.6 The dVna subconjugation
The dVna subconjugation consist of one verb, wunaa (lie, as in lie down). Inflection is identical to the dV subconjugation, with one exception: There is no stem alternation in imperative:
Wunaa! Lie down!
Many speakers move wunaa to the dV conjugation.
3.7 The mVna subconjugation
The mVna subconjugation consist of two verbs, maanaa (take) and the dependent causative verb ‑manaa. Causative means that the doer (the subject) in the sentence causes somebody or something to do something or become something. The verb ‑manaa is added to other verbs:
bulii‑manaa make fall
The monosyllabic roots of the two verbs are maa‑ and ‑ma‑. To these roots, the following stem formatives are added:
‑na‑ in non‑past tense
‑rra‑ in imperative
‑ni‑ in past tense and in all other forms not mentioned
In reflexive forms, the stem formative is ‑na‑, which is probably the main stem formative ‑ni‑ with the vowel changed from ‑i‑ to ‑a‑ in a process similar to the vowel change in reflexive forms in disyllabic verbs.
The partial paradigm below shows the diagnostic forms and one further form of maanaa:
| simple aspect, active voice | |||
| mood and tense | stem formative | suffix | form |
| non‑past tense | ‑na‑ | ‑: | maanaa |
| past tense | ‑ni‑ | –y | maani |
| imperative mood | ‑rra‑ | ‑: | maarraa (today often maanaa) |
| purposive mood | ‑ni‑ | ‐nhu | maaninhu |
Some continuous aspect, active voice forms of dV subconjugation verbs are as follows.
| continuous aspect, active voice | |||
| mood and tense | stem formative | suffix | form |
| non‑past tense | ‑na‑ | redup. + ‑: | maanaarna |
| past tense | ‑ni‑ | redup. + –y | maanii(r)ni |
| imperative mood | ‑rra‑ | redup. + ‑: | maarrala |
The reflexive voice forms of maanaa (maanaaya, maanaathi) have the reciprocal meaning “get married”.
An irregular alternative continuous aspect, paste tense form is manaarnay. Continuous aspect, imperative mood is formed according to the main rule of reduplication: *maarralrra, and the second ‑rr‐ is dropped because the consonant cluster ‑lrr‑ is not possible in Guugu Yimithirr.
The reflexive voice forms of the other verb in the mVna subcojugation, the causative dependent verb ‑manaa, are very common. They are synonyms to the mL subconjugation verb ‑mal.
garrbun‑manaaya is equivalent to garbun‑mal
garrbun‑manaathi is equivalent to garbun‑mathi
garrbun‑manaayi is equivalent to garbun‑mala
3.7.1 Derived form
We mentioned that the dependent causative verb ‑manaa is added to other verbs:
bulii‑manaa make fall
To be able to construct all such forms we need to introduce the concept derived form. Derived form is a form that is derived from the verb stem by addition of the these suffixes:
L and V conjugations: ‑:y‑ or ‑:l‑
RR conjugation: ‑:rr‑
There is no rule for which of the two endings ‑:y‑ or ‑:l‑ is used in the L and V conjugations. The derived form of baajil (cry) is baajiil‑, but the derived form of waalngaal (be hanging) is waalngaay‑. In bulii‑manaa the ‑y‑ of derived form has been dropped accoring to the now familiar rule: * buliiy‑manaa → bulii‑manaa.
3.8 The mVma subconjugation
The mVma subconjugation consists of three verbs: nhaamaa (see, hear, stem nhaa‑), walmaa (rise, stem wal‑) and wumaa (give, stem wu‑). The set of stem formatives is ‑ma‑ in non‑past tense, ‑wa‑ in imperative mood, ‑thi‑ in past tense and all other forms. The stem formative is ‑tha‑ in reflexive voice, which is probably the main stem formative ‑thi‑ with the vowel changed from ‑i‑ to ‑a‑ in a process similar to the vowel change in reflexive forms in disyllabic verbs.
Some selected forms of nhaamaa are:
| simple aspect, active voice | |||
| mood and tense | stem formative | suffix | form |
| non‑past tense | ‑ma‑ | ‑: | nhaamaa |
| past tense | ‑thi‑ | –y | nhaathi |
| imperative mood | ‑wa‑ | ‑: | nhaawaa |
| purposive mood | ‑thi‑ | ‐nhu | nhaathinhu |
| continuous aspect, active voice | |||
| mood and tense | stem formative | suffix | form |
| non‑past tense | ‑ma‑ | redup. + ‑: | nhaamaalma |
| past tense | ‑thi‑ | redup. + –y | nhaathiilthi |
| imperative mood | ‑wa‑ | redup. + ‑: | nhaawala |
| puroposive mood | ‑thi‑ | redup. + ‐nhu | nhaathiiltinhu |
| continuous aspect, reflexive voice | |||
| mood and tense | stem formative | suffix | form |
| non‑past tense | ‑tha‑ | redup. + ‑ya‑ + ‑: | nhaathaalthaya |
| past tense | ‑tha‑ | redup. + ‑thi‑ + –y | nhaathaalthathi |
| imperative mood | ‑tha‑ | redup. + ‑ya‑ + ‑a‑ → ‐i‑ + ‑: | nhaathaalthaayi |
| puroposive mood | ‑tha‑ | redup. + ‑thi‑ + –nhu | nhaathaalthathinhu |
A form such as nhaathaalthaya may seem improbable, but is perfectly idiomatic:
Nhuluugu nhaathaalthaya gilaathawi. “He is looking at himself in the mirror.”
3.9 The RRrr subconjugation
The three diagnostic forms are different in the different subconjugations. In addition, the RR conjugation differs in many other forms as well from the L conjugation and the V conjugation. This is best shown in a table of the 13 tense/mood forms of an RRrr conjugation verb, yitharr:
| simple aspect, active voice | ||
| mood and tense | suffix | form |
| 1. non‑past tense (implies indicative mood) | ‑rr | yitharr |
| 2. past tense (implies indicative mood) | –rrin | yitharrin |
| 3. imperative mood | ‑rrV | yitharra |
| 4. purposive mood | ‐nhu | yithanhu |
| 5. contrafactual mood | ‑nda | yithanda |
| 6. past negative mood (an indicative mood) | ‑:rrmugu | yithaarrmugu |
| 7. cautionary mood | ‑:rr-baga | yithaarr-baga |
| 8. anticipatory mood | ‑rrigu | yithaarrigu |
| 9. precautionary mood | ‑rrin-gamu | yithaarrin-gamu |
| 10. perfective tense (implies indicative mood) | ‑rrin-ga | yitharrin-ga |
| 11. subordinate‑1 causal mood | ‑rrin-ga | yitharrin-ga |
| 12. subordinate-1 objective simultaneal mood | ‑rrin-ga | yitharrin-ga |
| 13. subordinate-2 subjective/agentive simultaneal mood | ‑nhun | yithanhun |
The forms in bold font have different suffixes than the L conjugation and V conjugation verbs.
3.9.1 Reflexive voice in the RR cojugation
Reflexive forms of RR conjugation verbs are formed by adding a dependent reflexive‑only verb to the derived form of the RR conjugation verb, and conjugate that verb for reflexive voice. The verb has two forms: ‑ngathaaya and ‑ngaraaya. It is sufficient to show one form:
thangurr scratch
thanguurr‑ngarraaya scratch oneself.
The dependent verb ‑ngathaaya/‑ngaraaya goes like any other reflexive‑only dpL subconjugation verb. However, the alternative ‑ngaraaya has an unexpected reduplicated form. Continuous aspect, non‑past tense is ‑ngarraalaya (often pronounced ‑ngarraaliya), but the published grammar predicts ‑ narralaya.
3.10 The RRl subconjugation
Five of the verbs in the RR conjugation belong to the RRl subconjugation. These verbs have an ‑l‑ in all places where the RRrr subconjugation verbs have an ‑rr‑. The great majority of verbs in the RR conjugation belong to the RRrr subconjugation. The reason for counting the RRl subconjugation to the RR conjugation is that they are go exactly like the RRrr verbs, except for having ‑l‑ in endings instead of ‑rr‑. A frequently used RRl conjugation verb is miirriil:
non‑past tense miirriil
past tense miirriilin
imperative miirriila
3.11 Common pronunciations
There are two simplifications in the pronunciation of polysyllabic verbs. First, unstressed /ay/ at the end of the third syllable of a verb is usually pronounced as /i/:
balgaalgay → balgaalgi
Second, verbs in continuous aspect, non‑past tense that end in ‑aya are often pronounced as if they ended in ‑iya:
balgaalgaya → balgaalgiya
thanguurr-ngarraalaya → thangguurr‑ngarraaliya
