The verb: an overview

Abstract

Verbal inflection The verb complex is composed of the verb stem, tense, aspect, and modality markers and the person markers. Turkish marks the subject on the verb with person markers. The negative marker - mA is attached directly to a verb stem, preceding most other suffixes. Only the voice suffixes and the ability marker - (y)A(bil) may precede negation. The yes-no question particle, if there is one, appears either before or after the tense markers, depending on the person marker paradigm. In the following chapters, each tense marker is discussed in terms of its meaning, use, formation, and the other inflectional markers, negation, and person markers that it co-occurs with. The Turkish verb complex is represented in the table on page 81. The verb stem, either in the root form or with voice suffixes, appears as the first part of the verb complex. It is followed by negative - mA . Tense, aspect, and modality markers are listed right after the verb. The copula markers that are discussed as compound tenses in the following chapters follow the tense, aspect, and modality markers. Person markers are attached at the end of the complex and may appear in three different forms or paradigms, depending on the tense, aspect, and modality markers that they follow. The k -paradigm follows - DI or - (y)DI and - (y)sA , l -paradigm follows the optative - (y)A . The z -paradigm appears elsewhere.