Kabyle verbs inflect for four paradigms of
tense–aspect–mood, three of them conventionally labelled the preterite (expressing
perfective aspect), intensive aorist (expressing
imperfective aspect) and aorist (essentially functioning like an
irrealis or
subjunctive mood). Unlike other Berber languages, where it is used to express the present, the
aorist alone is rarely used in Kabyle, instead often appearing with an accompanying particle. The preterite also has an accompanying negative paradigm which may or may not differ from that of the non-negative preterite depending on the verb. • "Weak verbs" have a preterite form that is the same as their aorist. Examples of weak verbs that follow are conjugated at the first person of the singular: • "Strong verbs" or "irregular verbs": The intensive aorist can be used alone or with the following particles: •
ar: to indicate an extended action: ar ileḥḥu "he walks for a long time" •
la: to indicate a continuous action in the present, equivalent of the present continuous in English: la yettazzal "he is running" •
a la: to indicate a continuous action in the past: a la yeqqar "he was saying" •
ad: to indicate a continuous action in the future: ad ttmerriḥeɣ "I will be taking a walk"
Conjugation Conjugation in Kabyle is done by adding affixes (prefixes, suffixes or both). These affixes are static and identical for all finite stems, with only the theme changing. Kabyle is a
pro-drop language, where the affixes are sufficient to indicate the subject pronouns, without the need to include the pronouns separately. A group of stative/resultative verbs (such as "to be/become big or old") use a different set of person-number endings in their preterites, which contains only suffixes.
Preterite formation In weak verbs, the aorist and preterite stems are identical. In strong verbs, however, the preterite differs from the aorist, typically through vowel alternation and, in some cases, consonant gemination or tension. The table below summarizes common patterns described in the literature.
Intensive aorist formation The intensive aorist is a verbal form derived from the basic aorist stem. Stem structures are often represented using the symbols
C (consonant) and
V (vowel);
R denotes the initial consonant or consonant cluster of the aorist stem, and
R′ the corresponding intensive prefix. The intensive aorist is typically formed by prefixing
tt- (or
tte-), frequently accompanied by vowel alternation or consonant gemination depending on the stem type. The table below summarizes common formation patterns described in the literature. As an example, the full finite conjugation of the verb
afeg "to fly" exhibiting its four themes (preterite
ufeg, negative preterite
ufig, aorist
afeg, and intensive aorist
ttafeg) is given below. For Kabyle verbs, the
citation form of a verb is the second-person singular imperative. The participles in Kabyle are used as a means of expressing relative phrases in which the preceding noun is the participle's subject. In the following proverb,
ur nxeddem "who doesn't work" modifies
argaz "man". Each Kabyle verb has five participles, all formed by attaching various affixes onto a corresponding finite stem.
Verb framing Kabyle is a
satellite-framed based language, Kabyle verbs use two particles to show the path of motion: •
d orients toward the speaker, and could be translated as "here". •
n orients toward the interlocutor or toward a certain place, and could be translated as "there". Examples: • « iruḥ-
d » (he came), « iruḥ-
n » (he went). • « awi-
d aman» (bring the water), « awi-
n aman » (carry away the water).
Negation Kabyle usually expresses negation in two parts, with the
particle ur attached to the verb, and one or more negative words that modify the verb or one of its
arguments. For example, simple verbal negation is expressed by «
ur » before the verb and the particle «
ara » after the verb: • « Urareɣ » ("I played") → «
Ur urareɣ
ara » ("I did not play") Other negative words (acemma ... etc.) are used in combination with
ur to express more complex types of negation. Negation of the verbs in the subjunctive mood is achieved by the form
a wer + verb • « ad yeqqim! » ("Let him stay!) → «
a wer yeqqim! » (Let him not stay!) Negation of the verbs in the imperative mood is achieved by the form
ur + intensive imperative +
ara • « aru » ("write") →«
ur ttaru
ara » ("Do not write")
Auxiliaries The auxiliary ili (to be) ili + verb is employed to express the following aspects: • A possibility, a doubt, or a repetition in the future, and the future perfect • A repetition in the past, and the past perfect • A habit or a normal state
Examples • yeswa (sew "to drink" in the preterite) + yella (ili "to be" in the preterite) → yella yeswa "He had drunk" • yeswa (sew "to drink" in the preterite) + ad yili (ili "to be" in the aorist) → ad yili yeswa "He will have drunk" • yebzeg (bzeg "to be wet" in the preterite) + yettili (ili "to be" in the intensive aorist) → yettilli yebzeg "It is usually wet" • tesseɣ (sew "to drink" in the intensive aorist) + lliɣ (ili "to be" in the preterite) → lliɣ tesseɣ "I was drinking" • tesseɣ (sew "to drink" in the intensive aorist) + iliɣ (ili "to be" in the aorist) → ad iliɣ tesseɣ "I will be drinking"
The auxiliary aɣ (to have) aɣ in its general meaning "to take" can be used in complex verb construction in its preterite form yuɣ, or intensive aorist form yettaɣ. Its use is equivalent to the use of the verb ili.
Examples • yuɣ lḥal yečča "He had (already) eaten" • yuɣ-iten lḥal ad awḍen ass-nni "They must have arrived on that day"
Verb derivation Verb derivation is done by adding affixes. There are three types of derivation forms :
Causative,
reflexive and
Passive. •
Causative: The causative or factitive is formed primarily by prefixation of
ss- to the verbal stem. The derived form typically expresses causation ("to cause to do" or "to make become"). Depending on the phonological structure of the stem, vowel alternations may occur. Representative examples are shown below. •
Reflexive: The reflexive or reciprocal is formed by prefixation, most commonly with
m- (often realized as
me-, my- or with vowel insertion depending on the stem). The derived form typically expresses mutual or reciprocal action (e.g., “each other”). The table below illustrates representative reciprocal formations. •
Passive: The passive is formed by prefixation to the primary verb stem. The most common passive markers are
ttu- and
ttwa-, although other prefixes such as
tt-,
mm(e)-,
n- and
nn(e)- also occur depending on the verb class. The table below illustrates representative passive formation. •
Complex forms: obtained by combining two or more of the previous prefixes: ::enɣ "to kill" → mmenɣ "to kill each other" → smenɣ "to make to kill each other" Two prefixes can cancel each other: ::enz "to be sold" → zzenz "to sell" → ttuzenz "to be sold" (ttuzenz = enz !!).
Agent noun Every verb has a corresponding
agent noun. In English it could be translated into verb+er. It is obtained by prefixing the verb with « am- » or with « an- » if the first letter is b / f / m / w (there are exceptions however). • Examples: ::ṭṭef "to hold" → anaṭṭaf "holder" ::inig "to travel" → iminig "traveller" ::eks "to graze" → ameksa "shepherd"
Action noun Every verb has a corresponding
action noun, which in English it could be translated into verb+ing: ::ffer "to hide" → tuffra "hiding" (stem VI), « Tuffra n tidett ur telhi » — "Hiding the truth is bad". There are 6 regular stems of forming action nouns, and the 7th is for quality verbs : (C for consonant, V for vowel) • Examples: ::ɣeẓẓ "to bite" → aɣẓaẓ ::zdi "to be united" → azday ::ini "to say" → timenna
Predicative particle "d" The predicative particle "d" is an indispensable tool in speaking Kabyle, "d" is equivalent to both "it is + adjective" and "to be + adjective", but cannot be replaced by the verb "ili" (to be). It is always followed by a noun (free state). Examples: • D taqcict, "it's a girl". • D nekk, "it's me". • Nekk d argaz, "I'm a man". • Idir d anelmad, "Idir is a student". • Idir yella d anelmad, "Idir was a student". The predicative particle "d" should not be confused with the particle of coordination "d"; indeed, the latter is followed by a noun at its annexed state while the first is always followed by a noun at its free state. == Pronouns ==