(Meadow Mari)
AuxVInfl & AuxNotVInfl
AuxVInfl: Auxiliary verbs are verbs, and the inflection of lexical and auxiliary verbs is the same.
AuxNotVInfl: Auxiliaries are verbs, but the inflection of auxiliaries is not identical to that of lexical verbs.
| (1) | paša-m | əšt-en | pətarə-meke | kaj-en-da. |
|---|
| work‑ACC | do‑CVB | finish‑CVB.PRI | go‑PST2‑2PL |
| ’After finishing work, you left.’ (E. V.) |
| (2) | paša-m | əšt-en | pətarə-meke | kaj-en | kert-əda. |
|---|
| work‑ACC | do‑CVB | finish‑CVB.PRI | go‑CVB | can‑2PL |
| ’After finishing work, you can go.’ (Riese et al. 2022: 280) |
| (3) | paša-m | əšt-en | pətarə-meke | o-da | kaj. |
|---|
| work‑ACC | do‑CVB | finish‑CVB.PRI | NEG‑2PL | go.CNG |
| ’After finishing work, you don’t leave.’ (E. V.) |
| (4) | koncert-əšte | gitar | dene | šokt-aš | tüŋal-am. |
|---|
| concert‑INE | guitar | with | play‑INF | begin‑1SG |
| ’I will start playing the guitar at the concert.’ (E. V.) |
| ‘I will play the guitar at the concert.’ (E. V.) |
| (5) | paša-m | əšt-en | pətarə-meke | tə-lan-da | kaj-aš | lij-eš. |
|---|
| work‑ACC | do‑CVB | finish‑CVB.PRI | you‑DAT‑2PL | go‑INF | will‑3SG |
| ’After finishing work, you can go.’ (E. V.) |
| (6) | paša-m | əšt-en | pətarə-meke | tə-lan-da | kaj-aš | kül-eš. |
|---|
| work‑ACC | do‑CVB | finish‑CVB.PRI | you‑DAT‑2PL | go‑INF | must‑3SG |
| ’After finishing work, you must go.’ (E. V.) |
| (7) | paša-m | əšt-en | pətarə-meke | tə-lan-da | kaj-aš | kül-ən. |
|---|
| work‑ACC | do‑CVB | finish‑CVB.PRI | you‑DAT‑2PL | go‑INF | must‑PST2.3SG |
| ’After finishing work, you had to go.’ (E. V.) |
Some auxiliaries of Meadow Mari inflect the same way as lexical verbs. These include kertaš ‘can’, ‘is able to’ (2), the future auxiliary tüŋalaš ‘begin’ (4), and the negative auxiliary (3). Other, mainly modal, auxiliaries such as lijaš ‘will be’ (5), or külaš ‘must’ (6)–(7) are marked for tense but always have the third person singular form irrespective of the person and number of the subject.
Author: Bogáta Timár
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