The Komejech language

Introduction

Komejech is the native language spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of the Taizi islands (Ndak Ta "Dawaim", Fáralo "Dagćm") during the classical period. This language descends directly from Ndak Ta and thus is related to other contempory Edastean languages like Adāta, Naidda and Fáralo.

Sound changes from Ndak Ta

From Ndak Ta to Proto-Komejech:
-Nasal vowels were denasalised.
-[ɐ ɪ ɐɪ ɐʊ], resulting from denasalisation, became [ɛ e ɛ ɔ] respectively.
-[ɑi au] became [ɛ ɔ] respectively.
-An epenthetic [ɛ] was inserted at the begining of words starting with a consonant cluster.
-[bʷ] became [v].
-[ts] became [s] at the begining of words and after a consonant.
-[ts] became [sː] in other environments.
-Nasals where lost word-finally after a vowel (but not after a consonant).

From Proto-Komejech to Archaic Komejech:
-Nasals adopted the articulation point of a previous consonant in clusters.
-Consonants assimilated to the following obstruent or nasal to form geminates.
-[sl] became [ʃ].
-[l] became [r] after a consonant.
-[n] became [d] before [r].
-[s] and its geminated counterpart became [ʃ] after a front vowel.
-[r] became [ʒ] between vowels.
-[e] became [i] between a consonant and a vowel.
-Geminated consonants became simple at the end of words.
-Unstressed [i u] became [e o] when following the stressed syllable or in closed syllables.
-[w] became [j] at the begining of words and after a vowel.

From Archaic Komejech to Old Komojech:
-First diphthongization: stressed [ɛ ɔ] became [ie wo] in all environments.
-[kʷ ŋʷ] became [kw ŋw] respectively.
-[w] was ellided after another [w].
-First lenition: voiced occlusives became voiced fricatives between vowels or between a vowel and [r], and voiceless obstruants became voiced in the same environments.
-[ɛ ɔ] became [e o].
-[o] became [e] when following [w].
-Second diphtongization: [e o a] became [ei ou ae] when stressed or post stress, in an open syllable (velar + [w] clusters are treated as a single consonant).
-[ae] became [ie] after [ʃ],[ʒ],[l] or [r], [ai] at the end of words or before a non-obstruant, and [e] elsewhere.
-Geminated consonants became simple when following a stressed vowel.
-Second lenition: same changes as the first lenition.
-[s] became [z] at the begining of words.
-[j] became [z] at the begining of words and after a vowel.
-All geminated consonants became simple.
-Voiced obstruents where devoiced at the end of words.
-[iei] became [i].
-[s z] became [ʃ ʒ] when following [u].
-[w] was ellided between a consonant and a vowel.
-[ŋ] became [j] before a vowel and [n] at the end of words.

From Old Komejech to Classical Komejech:
-Non-sibilant fricatives were ellided before [r].
-[r] was ellided after a sibilant fricative.
-[l] became [w] at the end of words.
-Third lenition: [p t k] became [f s x] between vowels and at the end of words, then [t] became [ts] in all environments.
-First fortition: Voiced occlusives became voiceless in all enrironments.
-[ɣ] became [j] before a front vowel.
-[i] was ellided between a vowel and [j].
-[i] became [e] after or before [j].
-Second fortition: non-sibilant voiced fricatives became voiced occlusives.
-[aw ew iw ow uw] became [au eu eu ou ou], respectively.
-Word-initial unstressed vowels were ellided, except in monosyllabic words.
-Stress became consistently rendered on the initial syllabe.
-[ai ei au ou eu] simplified to [e i o u o] when the preceding syllable countained a diphthong.
-[ie] became [je].

Dialects

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Stop	p b	t d		k g
Nasal	m	n
Affricate		ts
Fricative	f	s z	ʃ ʒ	x
Approximant	w	l r	j

The palatal fricatives are written š ž.
The velar fricative is written ch.
The alveolar affricate is written c.
Other consonants are written as in IPA.

Note: this phonemic transcription, used in this grammar, does not reflect the actual orthography of Komejech, which is much more complex. See the "transliteration" section for more details about this point.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-Mid	e		o
Open		a

Komejech has the following diphthongs: ai, ei, au, eu and ou

All vowels are written as in IPA.

Syllabic structure and distribution

Komeyech is a relatively vocalic language, with the following syllabic structure: (C)(j)V(C), consonants clusters other than C + j being strictly prohibited.

Word-initialy, voiced fricatives are much more common than their voiceless counterparts.

Occlusives, voiced fricatives, /ts/, /l/ and /j/ cannot appear word-finally.

No root (and generally, no word at all, with the exception of compounds) contains more than one diphthong. Generally, this diphthong is either on the stressed syllable or on the syllable directly following the stressed syllable, but exceptions exist.

/w/ is rare and appears exclusively word-initially.

Allophony

Stress

Stress always falls word initially.

Morphology

Consonantic mutations

Komeyech has developped an elaborated system of consonantic mutations, that we will meet in several places of the grammar.

The consonants affected are p, t, k, b, d, g, c, z, ž, r, l and j. There are three kinds of mutation: lenition, spirantisation and fortition.

	Lenition	Spirantisation	Fortition
p	b	f	-
t	d	-	-
k	g/j/0*	ch	-
b	-	f	p
d	-	s	t
g	-	ch	k
c	d	s	-
z	-	s	-
ž	-	s	r
r	ž	-	-
l	-	r	-
j	-	ch	k

*: g before a back vowel, j before a front vowel, ellided before j.

s-/z- also frequently alternate with š-/ž-.

Whenever a i ends up being preceeded by a j, it is lowered to e.

Other mutations are considered irregular.

Nominal morphology

Komeyech nouns are inflected for number and case. The three cases, nominative, accusative, and dative, are inherited from Ndak Ta. Nouns take indefinite and definite articles, which are inflected for number and case:

		Indef	Def
SG	Nom	o	lu
	Acc	jo	ru
	Dat	mo	ru
PL	Nom		ro
	Acc		žo
	Dat		lo

These forms have been created in analogy with nominal mutations: in Old Komejech, articles did not inflect for case. Notice that there are no plural forms for the indefinite article.

Nouns are roughly divided into 6 declension classes (the reference form of a noun is the nominative singular).

From a historical perspective, it should be noted that articles were strongly bounded with nouns during the different sound shifts, and the word boundary was pretty much inopperent, allowing normally medial only sound changes to act on initial consonants as well. This explain both why nouns have very specific mutation patterns in comparison with other parts of speech, and why they often don't start with the expected consonant in respect to sound changes.

Class I)

Includes: many nouns starting with b-, d-, g-, j-, ž- and all nouns starting in l-. These nouns go back to Ndak Ta nouns starting with p-, t-, k- before back vowel, k- before front vowel, s- and l-, respectively.

—Spirantization marks the singular accusative and dative, as well as plural nominative and accusative.
—However, the plural accusative of nouns starting in l- is instead marked by an irregular spirantization to ž-.

Examples:

		bujai - nose	doubi - horn	garas - border	jerai - scribe	žužei - mouse	lachei - bone
SG	Nom	lu bujai	lu doubi	lu garas	lu jerai	lu žužei	lu lachei
	Acc	ru fujai	ru soubi	ru charas	ru cherai	ru sužei	ru rachei
	Dat	ru fujai	ru soubi	ru charas	ru cherai	ru sužei	ru rachei
PL	Nom	ro fujai	ro soubi	ro charas	ro cherai	ro sužei	ro rachei
	Acc	žo fujai	žo soubi	žo charas	žo cherai	žo sužei	žo žachei
	Dat	lo bujai	lo doubi	lo garas	lo jerai	lo žužei	lo lachei

Class II)

Includes: many nouns starting with b-, d-, g-, j- or ž-. These nouns go back to Ndak Ta nouns starting in b-, d-, g- before back vowel, g- before front vowel and r-, respectively.

—Fortition marks the singular accusative and dative, as well as the plural nominative and dative.
—However, the plural accusative of nouns starting in ž- is instead marked by an irregular depalatalization to z-.

Examples:

		bjeri - leg	depei - child	gan - log	jei - road	žus - man
SG	Nom	lu bjeri	lu depei	lu gan	lu jei	lu žus
	Acc	ru pjeri	ru tepei	ru kan	ru kei	ru rus
	Dat	ru pjeri	ru tepei	ru kan	ru kei	ru rus
PL	Nom	ro pjeri	ro tepei	ro kan	ro kei	ro rus
	Acc	žo pjeri	žo tepei	žo kan	žo kei	žo zus
	Dat	lo bjeri	lo depei	lo gan	lo jei	lo žus

This class also includes two irregular nouns:

		jedou - rabbit	jere - sheep
SG	Nom	lu jedou	lu jere
	Acc	ru kidou	ru kjere
	Dat	ru kidou	ru kjere
PL	Nom	ro kidou	ro kjere
	Acc	žo kidou	žo kjere
	Dat	lo jedou	lo jere

Class III)

Includes: some nouns starting with b-, ch- or s-. These nouns go back to Ndak Ta nouns starting in bw, kw- and ts-, respectively.

—No mutation, all the forms are identical.

Examples:

		bi - star	ťchir - goat	silei - tooth
SG	Nom	lu bi	lu chir	lu silei
	Acc	ru bi	ru chir	ru silei
	Dat	ru bi	ru chir	ru silei
PL	Nom	ro bi	ro chir	ro silei
	Acc	žo bi	žo chir	žo silei
	Dat	lo bi	lo chir	lo silei

Class IV)

Includes: all nouns starting in m- or n-, and some nouns starting in j-. These nouns go back to Ndak Ta nouns starting in m-, n- and ng-, respectively.

—Singular accusative and plural nominative marked by an irregular mutation to j-.
—Singular dative marked by an irregular mutation to m-.
—Plural accusative marked by an irregular mutation to n-.

Examples:

		mechas - brother	ťnegai - god	jaini - neck
SG	Nom	lu mechas	lu ťnegai	lu jaini
	Acc	ru jechas	ru ťjegai	ru jaini
	Dat	ru mechas	ru ťmegai	ru maini
PL	Nom	ro jechas	ro ťjegai	ro jaini
	Acc	žo nechas	žo ťnegai	žo naini
	Dat	lo mechas	lo negai	lo jaini

Class V)

Includes: some nouns starting in ž- and all nouns starting in w-. These nouns go back to Ndak Ta nouns starting in w- and in stressed au- or âu-, respectively.

—Singular accusative marked by an irregular mutation to j-.
—Singular dative marked by an irregular mutation to m-.
—Plural nominative marked by an irregular mutation to ch-.
—Plural accusative marked by an irregular mutation to s-.
—Nouns starting in ž- furthermore get an irregular plural dative in z-.

Examples:

		ťžimeš - neighbour	weimu - insult
SG	Nom	lu ťžimeš	lu weimu
	Acc	ru ťjemeš	ru jeimu
	Dat	ru mimeš	ru meimu
PL	Nom	ro chimeš	ro cheimu
	Acc	žo simeš	žo seimu
	Dat	lo zimeš	lo weimu

Class VI)

Includes: all nouns starting in p-, t-, k-, f-, š- or a vowel, as well as some nouns starting in s- or ch-. These nouns go back to Ndak Ta nouns starting in mb-, nd-, ngg-, mp-, nts-, a vowel, nt- and ngk-, respectively.

Nouns of this class use prefixes instead of mutations:

—The singular accusative is marked by a prefix je- (before consonant) or j- (before vowel).
—The singular dative is marked by a prefix me- (before consonant) or m- (before vowel).
—The plural nominative is marked by a prefix je- (before consonant), g- (before back vowel) or j- (before front vowel).
—The plural accusative is marked by a prefix že- (before consonant) or ž- (before vowel).
—The plural dative is marked by a prefix sje- (before vowel) or sj- (before vowel).

Examples:

		pos - color	ti - tree	kou - foot	fješe - fish	sidou - metal	šei - feeling	chi - egg	ouche - ear	imou - head
SG	Nom	lu pos	lu ti	lu kou	lu fješe	lu sidou	lu šei	lu chi	lu ouche	lu imou
	Acc	ru jepos	ru ťjeti	ru jekou	ru jefješe	ru jesidou	ru ješei	ru jechi	ru jouche	ru jemou
	Dat	ru mepos	ru meti	ru mekou	ru mefješe	ru mesidou	ru mešei	ru mechi	ru mouche	ru mimou
PL	Nom	ro jepos	ro ťjeti	ro jekou	ro jefješe	ro jesidou	ro ješei	ro jechi	ro gouche	ro jemou
	Acc	žo žepos	žo žeti	žo žekou	žo žefješe	žo žesidou	žo žešei	žo žechi	žo žouche	žo žimou
	Dat	lo sjepos	lo sjeti	lo sjekou	lo sjefješe	lo sjesidou	lo sješei	lo sjechi	lo sjouche	lo sjemou

This class also includes 3 irregular nouns:

		fach - chair	ťsou - wind	je - fight
SG	Nom	lu fach	lu sou	lu je
	Acc	ru jofach	ru jasou	ru jaje
	Dat	ru mofach	ru masou	ru maje
PL	Nom	ro gofach	ro gasou	ro gaje
	Acc	žo žofach	žo žasou	žo žaje
	Dat	lo sjofach	lo sjasou	lo sjaje

Loan words tend to be integrated into one of these classes, according to the phoneme they start with:
b-, d-, g-, j-, ž- > class I or class II
l- > class I
m-, n- > Class IV
w- > Class V
p-, t-, k-, c-, f-, s-, z-, š-, ch-, r-, vowel > class VI

Names have been integrated into declension classes following the same process. This means that names rarely end up in the expected declension in respect to the original consonant they started with in Ndak Ta.

Demonstratives and quantifiers

In Komejech, these words have two forms: a weak, unstressed and uninflected form that comes before the article, and stressed, pronominal, inflected standalone forms.

Weak forms:

These forms will often require a specific number or state of definiteness.

ze - this (definite)
ke - that (definite)
pos - other
to - any (indefinite singular; derived from the discourse referencial indefinite article).
ja - (a) few (plural)
name - some (indefinite)
opa - many (plural)
ope - more (plural)
eš - a lot of (indefinite; uncountable nouns)
mi - no, none (indefinite singular)
eze - all (definite plural)
or - each (definite singular)

Standalone forms:

this

that

other

any

few

some

many

more

lot

none

all

each

SG

Nom

zješ

kješ

pos

tos

naimeš

ješ

miš

eizeš

or

Acc

zjen

kjen

pon

ton

naimen

jen

min

eizen

on

Dat

zjen

kjen

pon

ton

naimen

jen

min

eizen

on

PL

Nom

zjech

kjech

poudach

jach

naimech

obach

obeinach

mich

eizech

Acc

zješ

kješ

poudas

jas

naimeš

obas

obeinas

miš

eizeš

Dat

zjeti

kjeti

poudasi

jatei

naimesi

obasi

obeinasi

mitei

eizesi

Most of the singular forms have been created by analogy with those of pos, ješ and or.

Adjectives

Adjectives agree in case and number with the noun they qualify, though they show a great deal of analogical influence from the standalone demonstratives.

Each adjective belongs to one of two possible groups: thematic or athematic. Thematic adjectives have their stem ending in a vowel, and take the following endings:
Singular: -s/-n/-n
Plural: -ch/-s/-si

The singular nominative and plural accusative endings become -š if the stem ends in -e or -i.

Examples:

		ata- dark	ebe- calm
SG	Nom	atas	ebeš
	Acc	atan	eben
	Dat	atan	eben
PL	Nom	atach	ebech
	Acc	atas	ebeš
	Dat	atasi	ebesi

Athematic adjectives have their stem ending in a consonant, and take the following endings:
Singular: -0/-n/-n
Plural: -ach/-as/-asi

The singular accusative and dative endings delete the final consonant stem. In the nominative singular, said consonant will often undergo a predictible mutation:
-b > -f
-d, -z > -s
-g > -ch
-ž > -š or -r
-l > -u
-m, -n, -j > 0

The vowel of the final syllable of the stem is also often altered in the singular.

Examples:

		efeib- light	keid- simple	kežouz- dangerous	ljeneg- pleasant	pubež- warm	peiž- short	kujeil- domestic	koum- high	nain- dry	zej- wet
SG	Nom	efef	kes	kežos	ljenach	pubeš	per	kujeu	kou	nai	zi
	Acc	efen	ken	kežon	ljenan	puben	pen	kujen	kon	nan	zin
	Dat	efen	ken	kežon	ljenan	puben	pen	kujen	kon	nan	zin
PL	Nom	efeibach	keidach	kežouzach	ljenegach	pubežach	peižach	kujeilach	koumach	nainach	zejach
	Acc	efeibas	keidas	kežouzas	ljenegas	pubežas	peižas	kujeilas	koumas	nainas	zejas
	Dat	efeibasi	keidasi	kežouzasi	ljenegasi	pubežasi	peižasi	kujeilasi	koumasi	nainasi	zejasi

Adjectives have a comparative form, formed by suffixing -zin- (for thematic adjectives) or -in- (for athematic ones). This new form is declined like an athematic adjective with the following endings:
Singular: -(z)i/-(z)en/-(z)en
Plural: -(z)inach/-(z)inas/-(z)inasi

For athematic adjectives, it must be noted that this suffix goes on the full stem, the one used with the plural forms. Athematice adjectives with a stem ending in -g have that consonant changed into -j before that suffix. Futhermore, the -i of the suffix becomes -e after -j.

Adjectives also have a superlative form, formed by suffixing -jele, both for thematic and athematic adjectives. In the latter case, the final consonant of the stem is erased (except if this consonant is -m or -n, in which case it is the j- of the suffix which is erased), and any eventual stem final diphthong loses its final glide. This suffix declines like a thematic adjective.

Additionally, any adjective directly following the adverb ja ("very") undergoes spirantization if applicable. If it starts with a vowel, it receives a prefix l- instead. (atas "dark" > ja latas "very dark").

Personnal pronouns

Personnal pronouns developped a contrast between so-called "strong" and "weak" forms. The exact use of these different forms is complex and will be covered in the syntax section.

		1st		ť2nd		3rd
		Strong	Weak	Strong	Weak	Strong	Weak
SG	Nom	izei	i	ljekos	cos	ejei	as
	Acc	eizi	e	ljekon	con	agai	an
	Dat	imei	e	ljekon	con	agai	an
PL	Nom	ichech	ech	ljekoch	coch	agach	ach
	Acc	išeš	eš	ljekos	cos	agas	as
	Dat	imesi	esi	ljekosi	cosi	agasi	asi

Weak forms of 1st and 3rd persons derive more or less straightforwardly from unaccented forms of the original Ndak Ta pronouns, with visible analogical influence from the determiners and adjectives; the strong forms seem to result from accented forms of the same pronouns suffixed with demonstratives. 2nd person strong forms derive from Ndak Ta formal 2nd person pronouns, with again some analogy.

2nd person weak forms, however, constitute an anomaly. Expected forms would have been starting in t-, instead of c-. It seems that proto Komejech had two alternative forms for the non formal 2nd person pronoun: a regular, expected form *do, and an alterated form *to, most probably under the influence of the 2SG pronoun of Early Doroh, "toɲ". Both forms are well attested in Old Komejech, but as the original pronoun became more and more similar looking with the reflex of Ndak Ta "ndo" (discourse-referential indefinite pronoun, meaning "any" in Komejech), it progressively started to lose ground and finally disapeared completly, surviving only as a prepositional inflection.

Relative pronoun

There's only one relative pronoun:

		who, which, that
SG	Nom	roume
	Acc	roumi
	Dat	roumi
PL	Nom	roumach
	Acc	roumas
	Dat	roumasi

Interrogative pronoun

		who, which, what
SG	Nom	izai
	Acc	izei
	Dat	izei
PL	Nom	izach
	Acc	izas
	Dat	izasi

As with the demonstrative and quantifiers, there is a weak, uninflected form: iza.

Pro-forms

A lot of variations are to be observed in the pro-adverb forms.

		Interrogative	Demonstrative		Quantifier
			Proximal	Distal	Existential	Free choice	Universal	Distributive	Negative
Determiner		iza	ze	ke	name	to	eze	or	mi
Pronouns	Person/thing	izai	zješ	kješ	naimeš	tos	eizeš	or	miš
Pro-adverbs	Location	maile mala	zelou	kilou kelou	narou	toulu tolou	eilu elou	orou	mailu malou
	Time	zoule zola	zežou zešo		nabou napo	touzu toso	ežou ešo	ozou	mazou maso
	Manner	ibai iba	zif zef		naimef namef	touzef tozef	eizef ezef	ozef
	Reason	tuzai tuza	zidou zetu		nabou napu				madou matu

Prepositions

Each preposition governs a specific case.

Prepositions governing the nominative:

au - without, except
ech - of, belonging to
ju - as, like
of - with (commitative sense)
zo - intended for, concerning

Prepositions governing the accusative:

ne - in, inside, among
peku - between, among (from *mbenggu, an alteration of Ndak Ta "mbembu")
poka - behind, at the end of
san - near to, by, around
se - with (instrumental sense)
u - made of

Prepositions governing the dative:

kežes - as far as, up to, until
lida - through, throughout
rape - along, via, during
ta - into
za - out of, from
ža - towards

When used in conjunction with the weak forms of personal pronouns, prepositions have special inflected forms.

Each preposition has a double stem, one used before pronominal starting in a vowel, and the other before pronominal endings starting with a consonant.

The choice of the prononminal ending depends of the case governed by the prepositions. Futhermore, each series is devided into two sets of endings, labelled "a" and "b".

Each of the two stems of a preposition is associated with a set.

Prepositional stems:

au > al-(a)/a-(b)
ech > eg-(a)/e-(b)
ju > j-(b)/ju-(a)
of > ob-(a)/o-(b)
zo > zaz-(b)/zo-(a)

ne > n-(b)/ne-(a)
peku > pek-(b)/peku-(a)
poka > pok-(b)/poka-(a)
san > san-(b)/sana-(a)
se > s-(b)/se-(a)
u > um-(a)/u-(b)

kežes > kežid-(a)/keže-(b)
lida > lid-(b)/lida-(a)
rape > rap-(b)/rape-(a)
ta > t-(b)/ta-(a)
za > z-(b)/za-(a)
ža > ž-(b)/ža-(a)

Pronominal endings:

	Nominative		Accusative		Dative
	a	b	a	b	a	b
1SG	-i		-e		-i
2SG	-do	-to	-do	-to	-do	-to
3SG	-a
1PL	-ech		-eš		-i
2PL	-doch	-toch	-dos	-tos	-do	-to
3PL	-ach		-as		-a

Thus, the preposition au would have the inflected forms ali, ato, ala, alech, atoch, alach.

The preposition ech is a bit irregular:
ech + 1SG > eje instead of *egi
ech + 1PL > ejech instead of *egech

Conjunctions

fo - because, because of
ju - as
koso - so, thus, therefore
lech - nor
lere - when (from *laidle, diminutive of Ndak Ta "laid", year)
mes - or
nete - then
o - and
rafe - instead of
se - in favor of
tau - but, however
za - after
ža - before
zaje - if, whether (from Ndak Ta "iwa" which + "ke" one)
zo - that

When the conjunction o precedes the indefinite article in the singular nominative (also o), they both contract to the single form no.

Numerals

	Cardinal			Ordinal
		+10	x10		+10	x10
1	kei	rokei	rou	keidos	rokeidos	roudos
2	je	rojei	ježou	jedos	rojeidos	ježoudos
3	zos	rolos	zožou	zouzudos	rolouzodos	zožoudos
4	pu	robou	pužou	pudos	roboudos	pužoudos
5	tei	rodou	teižu	taizudos	rodaizodos	teižudos
6	eš	rouleš	ežou	ešoudos	roulešodos	ežoudos
7	mai	ronai	marou	maimoudos	ronaimodos	maroudos
8	zun	rozon	zunežo	zunoudos	rozounodos	zunežodos
9	neu	roneu	nirou	niloudos	roneilodos	niroudos
10	rou	ježou	ibei	roudos	ježoudos	ibeidos

The expected form of rokei (11) would have been *rojei, identical to 12, so a new form was created by analogical refection. In the western islands, this form is in competition with the expected rogei.

Analogy also lead to zožou (30) instead of the expected *zozou.

The ordinal forms have been created by suffixing the Ndak Ta verb "oto", to come, in the now no longer productive past imperfective.

Verbal morphology

Verbs in Komejech have considerably simplified compared to Ndak Ta. Common verbs loose tense and number categories altogether, retaining only aspect and mood.

Aspect.

Verbs know two aspects, imperfective and perfective. The former is unmarked, while the later is normally marked with the suffix -be:
zejeida (to confuse) > zejeidabe

If the verb ends in a consonant and is not monosyllabic, the last consonant is erased and the suffix becomes -pe:
amos (to walk) > amope

However, verbs ending in -m or -n keep their final consonant and receive the suffix -abe:
jepam (to melt) > jepamabe

If the verbs is monosyllabic, the suffix becomes -bei (an eventual final consonant is erazed without affecting the suffix):
pi (to joke) > pibei
bas (to sweat) > babei

If the verbs is monosyllabic but contains a diphthong, the suffix becomes -bi:
tei (to touch) > teibi

Monosyllabic verbs ending in -m or -n take the suffix -ebe:
jen (to keep) > jenebe

Finally, there are a number of irregular verbs, with unexpected outcomes in the formation of the perfective (they generally come from Ndak Ta verbs ending in -m, -n, -ng (not in a cluster), -l or having irregular stress):
aili (to break) > ailepe
cabai (to accuse) > cabape
chjepon (to reject) > chjepojabe
eižu (to take) > eižope
erai (to write) > erape
ežei (to play) > ežepe
ibei (to fold) > ibepe
itei (to lose) > itepe
kezeu (to look) > kezepe
ki (to bite) > kjebi
kipau (to cry) > kipape
kjeu (to dress) > kjebi
li (to flow) > ljebi
negai (to strike) > negape
nilei (to judge) > nilepe
oreizo (to start) > oreizape
oubjo (to offer) > oubjape
pau (to be loud) > pabei
pižei (to decide) > pižepe
pomou (to flee) > pomope
použu (to be careful) > použope
rateu (to run) > ratebei
rjai (to learn) > rjabei
rjegu (to fill) > rjegope
šetei (to discuss) > šetepe
taiži (to warn) > taižepe
teine (to breathe) > teinape
tibai (to store) > tibape
tideu (to buy) > tidepe
tužai (to regret) > tužape
zebou (to descend) > zebope
zeibi (to whistle) > zeibepe
zeimi (to lie) > zeimepe
zideu (to wear) > zidepe
zofiš (to defeat) > zofibei

Mood

Regular verbs retained only three moods from Ndak Ta, the indicative (unmarked), the negative and the imperative (actually a merger of Ndak Ta imperative and hortative).

Formation of the negative mood:
-If the root starts with a vowel, add m-.
-If the root starts with p-, k-, b-, d-, g-, c-, z-, ž-, l- or j-, spirantization is applied.
-In all other cases, add me-.

Formation of the imperative mood:
-If the root starts with a vowel, add ž- (negative miž-).
-If the root starts with p-, t-, k-, c- or r-, lenition is applied (same for negative, with an additional prefix me-).
-In all other cases, add že- (negative miže-).

Example verbs, keinu to ask:
Negative: cheinu
Imperative: jeinu
Negative imperative: mejeinu

Negai to strike:
Negative: menegai
Imperative: ženegai
Negative imperative: miženegai

Ulje to rise:
Negative: mulje
Imperative: žulje
Negative imperative: mižulje

One might also encounter a naked imperative, consisting of the verb alone without pronoun. This form is considered "rude" by most grammarians.

Adei to be

The copula, deriving from the Ndak Ta verb meaning "to stand", is strongly irregular, as it has much more features. It agrees with the subject in person and number, distinguishes future, present and past imperfective, active and mediopassive voices, obligative, potential and irrealis moods. Historically, many forms seem to have been shortened or abbreviated by the syncope of medial syllables. This accounts a great part for the irregularities of the paradigms.

			Positive				Negative
			Indicative	Obligative	Potential	Irrealis	Indicative	Obligative	Potential	Irrealis
Active	Imperfective	Present	adei adou adai adech adoch adach	zadei zadou zadai zadech zadoch zadach	radei radou radai radech radoch radach		madei madou madai madech madoch madach	šadei šadou šadai šadech šadoch šadach	medei medou medai medech medoch medach
		Past	adeiži adeižo adeiža adeižech adeižoch adeižach			beiži beižo beiža beižech beižoch beižach	meiži meižo meiža meižech meižoch meižach			feiži feižo feiža feižech feižoch feižach
		Future	zjadei zjadou zjadai zjadech zjadoch zjadach	zodei zodou zodai zodech zodoch zodach	rudei rudou rudai rudech rudoch rudach	badei badou badai badech badoch badach	mjadei mjadou mjadai mjadech mjadoch mjadach	šodei šodou šodai šodech šodoch šodach	mudei mudou mudai mudech mudoch mudach	fadei fadou fadai fadech fadoch fadach
	Perfective		adeibi adeibo adeiba adeibech adeiboch adeibach	zeibi zeibo zeiba zeibech zeiboch zeibach	reibi reibo reiba reibech reiboch reibach	beibi beibo beiba beibech beiboch beibach	meibi meibo meiba meibech meiboch meibach	šeibi šeibo šeiba šeibech šeiboch šeibach		feibi feibo feiba feibech feiboch feibach
Mediopassive	Imperfective	Present	ajeni ajeno ajena ajenech ajenoch ajenach	zeni zeno zena zenech zenoch zenach			meni meno mena menech menoch menach	šeni šeno šena šenech šenoch šenach
		Future	zjeni zjeno zjena zjenech zjenoch zjenach	zoni zono zona zonech zonoch zonach		beni beno bena benech benoch benach	mjeni mjeno mjena mjenech mjenoch mjenach	šoni šono šona šonech šonoch šonach		feni feno fena fenech fenoch fenach
	Perfective		ajepi ajepo ajepa ajepech ajepoch ajepach	zepi zepo zepa zepech zepoch zepach		bepi bepo bepa bepech bepoch bepach	mepi mepo mepa mepech mepoch mepach	šepi šepo šepa šepech šepoch šepach		fepi fepo fepa fepech fepoch fepach

Conjunct verbs

Conjunct verbs are a small subset of verbs frequently use in composition with other verbs as a mean of derivation. In some circunstances, notably when the verb adei is used as an auxiliary, these conjunct verbs become proclitics preceding the auxiliary.

Here follows the complete list of these verbs, as well as there clitic equivalent (which always has two forms, one used before a consonant, and one before vowels):
apo (to make, create, do) > fo/faz-
eteza (to transform, push through) > ca/c-
baizi (to push, conduct, do) ba/baz-
kajou (to turn, move, remove) > e/em-
kech (to throw away, push back) > ke/keg-
kumei (to renew, start again) > ko/kum-
nanou (to cut, divise) > na/nan-
pou (to refuse, disobey) > po/pof-
ujen (to bear, carry, bring) > na/n-

Notice that the clitic form is not always etymologically related to the full form.