Preverb

Algonquian

In Algonquian languages, preverbs can be described as phonologically separate words that may precede a verb and share its inflection. In particular, pronominal prefixes or initial change are applied to the first preverb, if any, of the verb complex rather than to the verb stem. Their meaning can range from past tense or perfective aspect to meanings for which English might use an adverb or another verb, like these from Ojibwe:

In Munsee, some words can come between a preverb and its verb.

See also prenoun in such languages.

Caddoan

In Caddoan linguistics, preverbal elements are less well defined as a class, and often, "preverb" designates a part of the verbal root that can be separated from the rest of the root by certain prefixes, as in this Wichita example:

|ta- i- aa- tíísaas kir ri- ʔa -s |- 3SG- PVB- medicine liquid portative- come -IMPERF |He is bringing (liquid) medicine}}

Northwest Caucasian languages

In Northwest Caucasian languages, they can have nouns, directional and locative preverbs (like prepositions), like in this example from Ubykh:

|sɨ- bʁʲɜ- w- qʼɜ -nɜjtʼ |1SG- PVB- 2SG- talk - |You were talking about me (literally, 'you were talking on me')}}

Mandarin Chinese

For Mandarin Chinese and many other varieties of Chinese, the term refers to some words that carry the meanings of prepositions in English. In Chinese, they are lexically verbs and appear before the noun in question. They are more commonly referred to as coverbs.

Georgian

In Georgian, a Kartvelian language, the main function of a preverb is to distinguish the present tenses and the future tenses. To turn a present tense verb into a future tense, a preverb is added to the verb compound. In addition, preverbs also have directional meanings in Georgian.

Preverbs are directly attached to the beginning of the verb compound:

:აკეთებს ka and გააკეთებს ka :ვწერ ka and დავწერ ka

Note in those two examples that the meaning of the future tense is achieved only by adding the preverb; no other grammatical change occurs. In these examples, preverbs have directional meanings:

:მოდის ka :მიდის ka :ადის ka :ჩამოდის ka :შემოდის ka

Again, note that only the preverbs are changed to convey the meaning of various directional meanings.

Preverbs add directional meanings not only to the verbs of motion but also to any other kind of verbs. Compare the examples of the verb ka :

:დავწერე ka :მოგწერე ka :მივწერე ka :გადაგიწერე ka

As can be seen from the examples, the preverb changes according to the indirect object (the person for (to) whom the verb is being done).

Many verbs have a common root. For example, "end" and "stay" have the same verb root, ka. The meanings of the verbs are distinguished by their preverbs and other elements of the verb compound:

:რჩება ka , დარჩება ka :რჩება ka , მორჩება ka

As is clear, the verbs are identical in the present tense but differ in the future tense by their preverbs.

Modern Persian

A preverb is a morpheme, which is applied together with the participles modifying their meaning and the meaning of their derivates.

Some Persian preverbs, referred to as "pīš fi'l" or "pīšvand e fi'l", are:

• bar (meaning up, upon, from Middle Persian abar)
• bar (meaning fruit, from Middle Persian bar)
• bar (bar meaning chest, side, direction, from Middle Persian war) and var (alternative form of bar)
• bāz
• far and fara
• farāz
• foru and forud
• ham and an
• ni
• go (e.g godāxtan, gozāštan, gorīxtan, etc...)
• negah and negāh
• pas
• piš
• ru
• sar
• vā
• andar and dar
• pay
• ā
• tar and tara
• par and para

Pre-verbs can modify the procedure attribute of the verbs and the infinitives, but they do not change their objective attribute:

|.او کتابی داشت |c1=(static attribute) |U ketābi dāsht. |3.PN- book.DEF- have.PAST |}}

|.او کتابی را برداشت |c1=(dynamic attribute) |U ketabi bar dāsht. |3.PN- book.DEF- PVB- have.PAST |}}

The Pre-verb is normally positioned ahead of the verb. If the verb is composed of two separable components, the pre-verb is positioned ahead of the second component. The Pre-verb can be positioned at the end of the sentence, owing to versification requirements:

از کارِ خير عزمِ تو هرگز نگشت باز

هرگز زِ راه بازنگشته‌ست هيچ تير

Manuchehri (11th - 12th Century AD)

Pingelapese

Pingelapese is a language spoken on the Island of Pingelap atoll, located in Micronesia. This language uses preverbs in existential sentences, one of their four sentence structures. The verb is used when a character of a story or statement is already known.

Toki Pona

In the constructed language Toki Pona, a preverb is a class of words that can be placed at the start of the predicate in front of the verb. Toki Pona preverbs have various functions, such as marking grammatical mood or aspect.

Some examples:

|mi ∅ wile moku |1.PN DES eat |I/we want to eat}}

|o awen pona |OPT. CONT good |Stay good (e.g. keep being well, may you stay healthy, etc.)}}

|ona li ken ala kama sona e ni |3.PN POT NEG INCEP know DEM.PN |They aren't capable of learning this (More literally: They can not come to know this)}}

References

References

1. (2003). "Yearbook of Morphology 2003".
2. Hattori, Ryoko. (2012). "Preverbal Particles in Pingelapese: A Language of Micronesia".
3. Lang, Sonja. (2014). "Toki Pona: The Language of Good". Tawhid.