‘Be’ with nouns: Mvhayvt owis ‘I am a teacher’
- The verb ometv means ‘to be’.
| Mvhayvt omis. |
‘I am a teacher.’ |
| Mvhayvt ometskes. |
‘You are a teacher.’ |
| Mvhayvt omes. |
‘He/she is a teacher.’ |
| Mvhayvt omēs. |
‘We are teachers.’ |
| Mvhayvt omatskes. |
‘You all are teachers.’ |
Most people today pronounce this word as owetv. Some speakers have a nasal o.
|
Mvhayvt owis. |
‘I am a teacher.’ |
|
Mvhayvt owetskes~ontskes~oncces. |
‘You are a teacher.’ |
|
Mvhayvt os. |
‘He/she is a teacher.’ |
|
Mvhayvt owēs. |
‘We are teachers.’ |
|
Mvhayvt owatskes. |
‘You all are teachers.’ |
Negative ‘be’ with nouns: Mvhayv tokot owis ‘I am not a teacher’
- The word toko means ‘not being’ and is used with nouns (not with adjectives or verbs).
| Mvhayv tokot owis. |
‘I am not a teacher.’ |
| Mvhayv tokot owetskes. |
‘You are not a teacher.’ |
| Mvhayv tokot os. |
‘He/she is not a teacher.’ |
| Mvhayv tokot owēs. |
‘We are not teachers.’ |
| Mvhayv tokot owatskes. |
‘You all are not teachers.’ |
Sentences like these are common.
|
Heyv cokvt os. |
‘This is a book.’ |
|
Heyv cokv tokot os. |
‘This is not a book.’ |
|
Mv tokot os. |
‘It’s not that.’ |
