Verbs in Kah do not inflect for tense, gender, number. This means they have one basic form that is modified by individual constituents surrounding it.
Kah has no tenses like in English. Only three aspects are marked: perfect, imperfect and future aspect, and those are indicated only when they can not be derived from the context and it is necessary to express them in order to be able to understand a sentence. The aspect markers and their independent meanings are:
kwi - already, indicates the action has already taken place
la - to be at, indicates the action is still taking place
denu - to go, indicates an action will take place in the future
kwiku - before, ever, indicates an action has ever taken place
lum - about to, on the brink of, indicates an action is about to take place
janja - usually, have the habit of, indicates an action usually takes place
Examples of the use of these markers are:
Jan kwi kwanza
john already do homework
John did his homework
Jan la kwanza
john be at do homework
John is doing his homework
Jan denu kwanza
john go do homework
John will do his homework
Jan kwiku kwanza ha?
john ever do homework q.
Has John ever done his homework?
Jan lum kwanza
john about do homework
John was just about to do his homework
Jan janja kwanza la zekita
john usually do homework
John usually does his homework in the evening
The fact tense is not expressed means there is no one-on-one translation possible in many cases. A sentence like uma la kiza can have various meanings in the English counterpart translation:
uma la kiza
mother be at eat
mother is eating
mother was eating
mother will be eating
When a sentence needs to be more specific, these markers can be combined, but this is rarely necessary:
uma denu la kiza
mother go be at eat
mother will be eating
Besides the aspect markers, there are some markers expressing a number of moods:
ke - intend, indicates the action could take place, "would", "how I wish"
om - "let's!" "may you" indicates the wish that the action takes place
tinti - should, ought to, indicates the action should be taking place, "should"
ke kiza!
intend eat
how I would like to eat that!
om denu!
opt go
let's go!
tinti ka si tunti!
should speak few surpass
you should talk less!
The imperative mood in Kah usually is unmarked. In written form it often is characterized by the use of an exclamation mark:
wehim wa!
listen me
listen to me!
de!
come
come here!
In spoken language, the stress which is associated with an imperative clause tends to cause the stressed vowel to be elongated:
de! denu! wehim! | [de:] [de:nu] [wehi:m] |
Sometimes the imperative verb is accompanied by the focus marker lo to enhance the stress:
lo wehim wa!
foc listen me
now, listen to me!
de lo!
come foc
come here, now!
A polite request is introduced by the verb soi which translates as please in most settings.
soi wehim wa
please listen me
please listen to me
soi nubo
please enter
do come in
An adhortative is accompanied by the interjection oi:
oi jam!
adhort do
well come on!
oi pon dodil!
adhort push doorbell
ring the bell already!
The conjunctive mood usually is introduced by the conjunctive clause marker en which is followed directly by a verbal clause:
keju en wehim wa
want that listen me
I want you to listen to me
uba ka en nong tus
father say that not be permitted
Father said that it was not allowed
nong jo en de
not know that come
I don't know whether he comes
Of course, when necessary, personal pronouns can be included in conjunctive phrases:
nong jo en yu de
not know that he come
I don't know whether he comes
keju en li wehim wa
want that you listen me
I want you to listen to me
Also, the marker en may be omitted when the relation between the various clauses and their constituents is obvious:
nong jo yu de
not know he come
I don't know whether he comes
keju li wehim wa
want you listen me
I want you to listen to me