Mvskoke verbs change their shape slightly based on whether an action is in progress, completed, etc. It’s a little like the English verbs sing, sang, sung, where a change in the vowel changes the meaning. These different forms are called GRADES.

• A VERB STEM is the part of a verb affected by grades. Often the verb stem is the same as the infinitive without -etv:

• TENSE is a marker indicating when a situation occurs (future, present, recent past, etc.).
• Grades generally indicate ASPECT: whether the situation is in progress, completed, repeated, etc. at a time in the future, present, recent past, etc.

Zero grade

• When no change has been made to a verb stem, it is in the ZERO GRADE or base form.

• The zero grade is used in commands, where -vs is added to the zero grade stem.

• The zero grade is also used when -eko ‘not’ is added to a verb stem.

• A third use of the zero grade is in the future tense. In the future, -vrē ‘will’ is added to a zero grade verb stem.

• A fourth use of the zero grade is to describe states of being. For states of being, the suffix -ē is added to a zero grade verb stem.

These four uses of the zero grade have something in common: they are situations that aren’t really taking place.

Lengthened grade

• The most common grade in Mvskoke is the LENGTHENED GRADE or l-grade. In this grade, the last vowel of the stem may change from a short vowel to a corresponding long vowel.

This change can be seen in examples like the following.

• One use is for EVENTS or happenings: actions that are occurring at a point in time, that regularly take place, or that took place in the past.

Falling-tone grade

• The FALLING-TONE GRADE or f-grade also lengthens the last vowel of the verb stem, but uses a different tone or melody from the lengthened grade. The difference is not indicated in the traditional spelling, but we can show it here by putting a hat (^) over the accented vowel.

In the lengthened grade, the pitch is level on the last syllable of the stem. In the falling-tone grade, the pitch is first high on that syllable, and then drops suddenly.

As the examples above suggest, the falling-tone grade indicates a RESULTING STATE: a state existing in the present or past as a result of an action.

Aspirating grade

• The ASPIRATING GRADE or h-grade is often marked by inserting an h before the last consonant of the stem. If a verb stem ends in a single consonant, h is added before that consonant.

There are several small rules affecting the form of the h-grade.

✓ When h is inserted after a long vowel, the vowel is shortened.

✓ When h is inserted after v, it’s spelled ah. When h is inserted after u, it’s spelled oh.

✓ When a verb stem ends in two different consonants or kk, the h-grade is formed by inserting i between the consonants.

✓ If the stem ends in any other double consonant, the consonant is simplified to a single consonant and -iy is added.

• The aspirating grade has several different uses. One use is to show that one event happens before another. We can call this the SEQUENTIAL use.

• A second use is on main verbs, where it indicates an event that was successfully completed earlier in the same day or during the preceding night. We can call this use the PAST 1 use.

Nasalizing grade

People use the nasalizing grade or n-grade to make their language more expressive. In this grade, the last vowel of the verb stem is nasalized and lengthened.

• One use is with actions, where the n-grade means the action was done for an extended time (‘keep doing’). The action can be done once for a long time (like sitting), or done repeatedly for a long time.

• A second use of the n-grade is with adjectives, where it often translates as ‘very’.

Roots vs. stems

• The verb ROOT is the most basic part of a verb: the part conveying the fundamental meaning of the verb. The verb STEM may be larger than the verb root. The verb stem is the unit that grades apply to.

• The most common suffixes that are part of the stem are plural -vk and spontaneous -ep.