lesson 10 - helping verbs
vocabulary
verb roots
bis stay.there use.rock-like.object
bót'ak' ride c'í dress
ha, ma be, do hémno read
hón breath ʔítu have cramps
káj fall k'ólo lack
méji give túj sleep
noun roots
c'á: tree c'úk'u acorn soup
k'ámi belly kaw ground
káwaju horse
pronouns
mi(n) you my him/her
ni I
pronoun + helping verb combinations
mihano you mihani you
minaj I to you mỳhaj I to him
mynaj I to him/her nihaj I
other
homo where ʔati that
néh lots
verb suffixes
-bok'òj unable -bỳ prohibit
-ha to be -(i)s 1st.person on a main verb
-j 1st. person on a helping verb -ja: dual for the helping verb
-jeh continious.action, around -kàs strong emphatic
-ki: down -kì future
-m relational -m past.tense
-ma be, do -mo,-m 2nd.person “you” on verbs
-ni 2nd.person “you” on verbs -no 2nd.person “you” on verbs
-sa habitual -sa used to
-ti cause -wòno long ago
noun suffixes
3rd.person “he, she” (that is, nothing, no suffix) -sa dual for the pronoun
PART 1. HELPING VERBS

What we call the main verb of a sentence is the verb that tells about the action that’s central to the sentence. In the previous lesson, we wrote about person marking on main verbs. There are also helping verbs. In English, in a sentence like “I have eaten,” the main verb is “eaten” and the helping verb is “have.” Konkow has helping verbs too, with the most important one being ha ‘be, do’, and the less-common ma, which means the same thing and functions the same way.

We introduced helping verbs in the lesson on pronouns. In part 5 of that lesson, we talked about special forms where a pronoun links up with a helping verb. We also pointed out that the helping verb had person and number suffixes on it.

If you use a helping verb in a sentence,
all the person marking goes on that,
not on the main verb!

In fact, this way of making a sentence is much more common than a sentence without a helping verb.
Remember that in the previous lesson we said that a main verb with person and number markers usually does not translate as a simple statement. Instead, you need a helping verb when you are trying to make a statement. Helping verbs can be used to form sentences with complex meaning too, like the sentences you saw in the previous lesson. Whether the sentence has a simple or a complex meaning, the most common kind of sentence in Konkow has a helping verb in it.
Helping verbs are a special kind of word. They usually attach to other words, so they don’t stand on their own the way other words do. But they are not suffixes either. For purposes of this chapter, when we segment the different components we will use a different mark in front of the helping verb instead of a dash (-). The helping verb will have an equals sign (=) before it instead. See below.

Here are some of the pronoun + helping verb constructions we showed in the lesson on pronouns.

nihaj
ni
I
=ha
be
-j
1st.​person
   
I
mihano
mi
you
=ha
be
-no
2nd.​person
   
you
mihani
mi
you
=ha
be
-ni
2nd.​person
   
you
minaj
min
you
=(h)a
be
-j
2nd.​person
   
I to you

RULE: the (h) in ha ‘do, be’ disappears after a consonant.

mynaj
myn
him/her
=(h)a
do
-j
1st.​person
   
I to him/her

Sample sentences:

part 2 person suffixes on helping verbs

In each of the words above, the helping verb carries a person suffix for the subject.
NOTE that if the 1st.person subject is suffixed directly to a helping verb it is different from the 1st person on main verbs.
On main verbs the 1st.Person suffix is
–(i).

-j 1st person

Examples of first person on helping verbs:

nìhaj ʔù:tim k’ólon
I
=ha
be
-j
1st.​person
   
ʔù:tim
acorns
   
k’ólo
lack
-n
verb.​final
   
I have no acorns
nìhaj hónjehbok’òjsam
I
=ha
be
-j
1st.​person
   
hón
breathe
-jeh
continuous.​motion
-bok’òj
unable
-sa
habitual
-m
past.​tense
   
I used to have trouble breathing.
-ni or -no 2nd person

Examples:

mìhano néhwèwe:n!
you
=ha
be
-no
2nd.​person
   
néh
lots
-wèwe:
talk(redup)
-n!
verb.​final
   
You talk too much!
mìhani   bíssàm
you
=ha
be
-ni
2nd.​person
   
bís
stay.​there
-sà
habitual
-m
past
   
Were you in the habit of staying there?
mínaj méjin.
mín
you(object)
=(h)a
be
-j
I
   
méji
give
-n.
verb.​final
   
I gave it to you.
mỳhaj méjin
mỳ
him
=ha
be
-j
1st.​person
   
méji
give
-n.
verb.​final
   
I gave it to him.
Exercise 1.

Put the right pronoun + helping verb form into the following sentences (Don’t bother with dashes and equals signs. Try to say the sentences out loud.)

solbok’ojsan.
You used to have trouble singing.
kawaju méjin.
I gave him a horse.
bélem ?ýkojkì:n.
I will go again.


mihano
solbok’ojsan.
You used to have trouble singing.
myhaj
kawaju méjin.
I gave him a horse.
nihaj
bélem ?ýkojkì:n.
I will go again.
part 3 Helping verbs attach to first word of a sentence.

There is one important thing we didn’t mention before about helping verbs. It’s not just pronouns that the helping verb can attach to – a helping verb will always attach to the first word in the sentence, even if it’s not a pronoun.

In section 2.1 we showed you this sentence:
nìhaj ʔù:tim k’ólon
I
=ha
be
-j
1st.​person
   
ʔù:tim
acorns
   
k’ólo
lack
-n
verb.​final
   
I have no acorns

You can also say it this way:

ʔù:timaj k’ólon
ʔù:tim
acorns
=(h)a
be
-j
1st.​person
   
k’ólo
lack
-n
verb.​final
   
I have no acorns

In that one there is no pronoun, but “I” is indicated by the subect person suffix on the helping verb.

So in all the sentences above, you could either have a pronoun at the front of the sentence and the helping verb will attach to that, or leave the pronoun off and the helping verb will attach to whatever else is the first word of the sentence.

Here are other sentences showing various kinds of words that might be the first word of the sentence:

hómohanikàs ʔýk’o:n!
hómo
where
=ha
be
-ni
2nd.​person
-kàs
emphatic
   
ʔýk’o:
go
-n!
verb.​final
   
Where are you going?

-kàs is a strong emphatic suffix. A loose translation might be “Where the heck are you going!”

ʔó:haj k’áwdi bóki:n.
ʔó:
rock
=ha
do
-j
1st.​person
   
k’áw
ground
-di
on
   
use.​rocklike.​object
-ki:
down
-n.
verb.​final
   
I threw (put, lay) the rock to the ground.
k’ámihaj ʔítun.
k’ámi
belly
=ha
be
-j
1st.​person
   
ʔítu
have.​cramps
-n
verb.​final
   
I have stomach cramps

As you see, in the first sentence, the helping verb with its person marking is attached to a question word (‘where’), and in the second and third sentences, it’s attached to a noun.

The helping verb can even be attached to the main verb itself if it is the first (and therefore generally the only) verb of the sentence.

méjinàj.
méj
give
-in
verb.​final
=(h)à
do
-j
1st.​person
   
I gave it to him.

RULE: the (h) in ha ‘do, be’ disappears after a consonant.

In the example above, the verb carries the –(i)n verb.final suffix because the verb itself is not marked for person. In that sentence, what I gave and who I gave it to is not expressed.

We saw the constructions where the helping verb is marked for subject and is attached to the object (minaj and myhaj). There are other ways to express the object too. Here’s one from the “Lost Swimmer” text, where there are two objects with the verb “give” – the first is “this” (what was given), and the second is “you” (the receiver of the gift). Here the helping verb is attached to first object, and the second object comes after.

ʔàmahaj min méjin.
ʔàma
this
=ha
be
-j
1st.​person
   
min
you(object)
   
méji
give
-n
verb.​final
   
I give this to you.

Here the demonstrative for “this, that” is the first word in the sentence, and the helping verb attached to that; and then “you” follows it.

exercise 2

Take the sentences from PART 2.1 and remove the pronoun, and put the helping verb at the end of whatever the first word is. The first one was done for you above and now here:

nihaj Ɂu:tim kólon. I have no acorns.
I have no acorns.

nìhaj hónjehbòk’òjsam I used to have trouble breathing
I used to have trouble breathing

mìhano néhwèwe:n You talk too much!
You talk too much!

mìhani bíssam ? 'Were you in the habit of staying there?'
'Were you in the habit of staying there?'

mìnaj méjin. I give it to you.
I give it to you.

mỳhaj méjin. I give it to him.
I give it to him.


nihaj Ɂu:tim kólon. I have no acorns.
Ɂu:timaj k'ólon. I have no acorns.

nìhaj hónjehbòk’òjsam I used to have trouble breathing
hónjehbòk’òjsamhaj I used to have trouble breathing

mìhano néhwèwe:n You talk too much!
néhwèwe:nhano You talk too much!

mìhani bíssam ? 'Were you in the habit of staying there?'
bíssamhani? 'Were you in the habit of staying there?'

mìnaj méjin. I give it to you.
amahaj mìn méjin I give it to you.

mỳhaj méjin. I give it to him.
amahaj méjin I give it to him.
amahaj myje méjin I give it to him.
part 4 Other suffixes on helping verbs.

Like main verbs, helping verbs can take other inflectional suffixes besides person marking. In the first example below you see both person and number on the helping verb.

káwajudihàjes bót’ak’àjehsam
káwaju
horse
-di
on
=hà
be
-je
plural
-s
1st.​person
   
bót’a
ride
-k’àjeh
around
-sa
used.​to
-m
past
   
We used to ride around on horseback.

In the next example, two suffixes involving uncertainty work together for a meaning that translates as “must have.”

nihàndes tújwònon
ni
I
=hà
be
-n
uncertain
-de
questioning
-s
1st.​person
   
túj
sleep
-wòno
long.​ago
-n
verb.​final
   
I must have fallen asleep

Notice, however, that when you add more suffixes, instead of a -j on the helping verb, the first person -s is added at the end of the word. This is the same first-person suffix that main verbs take. The first person -j is only if it is the first suffix after the helping verb.

Exercise 3.
Practice putting the right form of the helping verb with any additional suffixes at the end of the first word of the the same sentence we put above. Remember, no pronoun on these forms – just the helping verb and person (and number) suffix.

solbok’ojsam=

You used to have trouble singing.


kawaju= méjin.

I gave him a horse.


bélem= Ɂýkojkì:n.

I will go again.



solbok’ojsam=

You used to have trouble singing.


kawaju= méjin.

I gave him a horse.


bélem= Ɂýkojkì:n.

I will go again.

part 5 We and you together, with helping verb

There are not many sentences in the data we have available that have plural pronouns with helping verb attached.

But we can assume from other examples that a sentence like “We ate acorn soup” could be said relatively simply like this:
nìhajes c’úk’u pèn.
I(we)
=ha
be
-je
plural
-s
1st.​person
   
c’úk’u
acorn.​soup
   
eat
-n
verb.​final
   
We ate acorn soup.

However, when Ultan asked for that sentence, he got a more complicated one:

nìsemamdéjemo c’úk’u pèn
I(we)
-se
plural
-m
subject
=(h)a
be
-m
past
-dé
non.​interog
-je
plural
-mo
2nd.​person
   
c’úk’u
acorn.​soup
   
eat
-n
verb.​final
   
We ate acorn soup.

This sentence has to mean “we, including you, ate acorn soup.” We could infer that the first sentence could mean “we (not including you) ate acorn soup”.

summary
  • Sentences might have just a main verb or could also have a helping verb. (The helping verb root is ha ‘be,do’, or less frequently ma, with the same meaning.)
  • The helping verb is always attached to the end of the first word of the sentence. So it’s not really an independent word, but it’s not really a suffix either.
In this lesson, when we separate a word into its components, the helping verb has an equals sign (=) in front of it instead of a dash (-), to indicate its special status.
  • The helping verb is marked for person and number. The first person is different from first person on main verbs. 1st.person “I” on a main verb -(i)s on a helping verb -j 2nd.person “you” on both main verbs and helping verbs: -no, -ni, -mo, or -m 3rd.person “he, she” Ø (that is, nothing, no suffix)
  • The term number refers to how many we are talking about – just one person, or two (dual), or three or more (plural).
  • number is also marked on verbs. Singular (just one person) has no marking. Dual (2 people
  • It seems that the most common way to mark person and number in a sentence is to use a helping verb.
  • The helping verb, marked for the subject, will attach to the first word of the sentence.
  • The first word can be a pronoun or any other kind of word.
  • When the helping verb is in the sentence, the main verb is not marked for person or any other inflectional suffix, and just takes the -n verb final suffix.
  • When person is marked on the main verb, the sentence can but doesn’t have to have a pronoun too.
  • When there is no helping verb, the person is marked on the main verb.
  • For first or second person, a person marker on the main verb means something like a command or like doubtfulness.

(b) Pronoun plus main verb marking

nìsem míʔatibỳjes
I
-se
plural
-m
subject
   
míʔati
happen.​do
-bỳ
prohibit
-je
plural
-s
1st.​person
   
We’d better not do that.
nìsem myʔatibỳjes We had better not do that. nì-se -m my-ʔati-bỳ-je-s I -plural-subj that-do-prohibit-plural-1st.person

(c) Pronoun+helping verb
Perhaps the most common way to mark person and number is on the helping verb, which will generally attach to the first word of the sentence, whether it is a pronoun or another part of speech.
Examples with pronoun:

níhaj béle ʔỳk’ojkìn.
I
=ha
be
-j
1st.​person
   
ʔỳk’oj
go
-kì
future
-n.
verb.​final
   
I'm going to go.
mìhano c’íhton
you
=ha
do
-no
2nd.​person
   
c’íh
dress
-to
self
-n
verb.​final
   
You got dressed
mòmc’á:haja:mo kájtin
that
-m
relational
-c’á:
tree
=ha
be
-ja:
dual
-mo
2nd.​person
   
káj
fall
-ti
cause
-n
verb.​final
   
We two fell that tree.

Here it seems like the helping verb is actually on the 2nd word of the sentence. But as we remarked in the lesson on demonstratives, Ultan usually writes them as being attached to the next word, including in this case where he wrote it as one word. We usually separate the words, but this shows that even though demonstratives can stand alone in some cases, they are interpreted as connected to the following noun.

nìsa:maja:s hémnon
I
-sa:
dual
=ma
be
-ja:
dual
-s
1st.​person
   
hémno
read
-n
verb.​final
   
We two are reading.

A number of interesting things about this word: one is the use of ma as the helping verb instead of ha. Ultan writes that ma and ha both mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably. The other is that both the pronoun and the auxiliary are both marked with their respective dual forms (-sa for the pronoun, -ja: for the helping verb).

Also, as noted before, once you have a suffix (other than person) on the helping verb, the first person marker is not -j but rather –(i)s, the same as for the person marker on the main verb.

Mary Jones
The wonderful Mary Jones videos have lessons organized by topic rather than grammar, and are very good for learning conversational speech.


Click the arrow to start the video. Once started, moving the curser off the image causes the controls to disappear. Move the curser over the image to return the controls.

Want to learn more? All the Mary Jones videos lessons are available HERE

or you can download a PDF of the lesson here DOWNLOAD - LESSON 10
Each lesson has a set of flashcards that can be printed and used for practice. As you work through the lessons, the sets can be combined to create more advanced sentences. There are several fun games you can play using these flashcards. The cards can be printed either single or double sided depending on what and how you want to play. Three games will be outlined below.

Go Fish
This is a multiple player game. It can be played from a basic level with simply the vocabulary words, to a more advanced game where all the questions are asked in the language. At the most basic level, you can play with an open hand. The object is to get pairs and practice the vocabulary. You will need to print two or four copies of each card to play Go Fish and Concentration.

Concentration
This can be played individually or as a multiplayer game. Cards can be double sided or single sided. Pictures can be facing up or hidden. You can match pictures and/or words.The object is to find matches and pronounce the vocabulary.

Flashcard Drills
This can be played individually or as a two player game. One person shows the image to their partner, who says the Konkow word. This is repeated until each player can identify and pronounce each card in the stack. The amount of cards in the stack can be increased as needed.