13 Negative sentences

• The suffix -eko attaches to verbs and means ‘not’.

  yvhiketv

  ‘to sing’

  yvhik- + -es

  yvhikes

  ‘he/she is singing’

  yvhik- + -eko + -s

  yvhikekos

  ‘he/she is not singing’

  vtotketv

  ‘to work’

  vtotk- + -es

  vtotkes

  ‘he/she is working’

  vtotk- + -eko + -s

  vtotkekos

  ‘he/she is not working’

• The question marker -v is not pronounced after -eko.

  yvhiketv

  ‘to sing’

  yvhik- + -v

  yvhikv?

  ‘is he/she singing?’

  yvhik- + -eko + -v

  yvhikeko?

  ‘isn’t he/she singing?’

• When a verb is used in a positive sentence, the last vowel of the stem may be lengthened. Verbs are not lengthened when they’re negative, however.

  hecetv

  ‘to see, look at’

  hēces

  ‘he/she sees it’

  hecekos

  ‘he/she doesn’t see it’

  esketv

  ‘to drink’

  ēskes

  ‘he/she is drinking it’

  eskekos

  ‘he/she isn’t drinking it’

  letketv

  ‘(one) to run’

  lētkes

  ‘he/she is running’

  letkekos

  ‘he/she is not running’

• Agent person markers appear before negative -eko. The first person singular agent is -vko.

  vtotk- + -i + -eko + -es

  →

  vtotk- + -vko + -s

  ‘I am not working’

Here are the positive and negative forms of esketv ‘to drink’.

• Negative -eko, -vko, etc. are often shortened in statements.

  yvhikekos~yvhikeks

  ‘he/she is not singing’

  vtotkvkos~vtotkvks

  ‘I am not working’

  kerrvkos~kerrvks

  ‘I don’t know’

• Adjectives like cvpakkē ‘angry’ also form negatives with -eko.

  cvcvpakkēs

  ‘I am angry’

  cvcvpakkekot os

  ‘I am not angry’

  cecvpakkēs

  ‘you are angry’

  cecvpakkekot os

  ‘you are not angry’

  cvpakkēs

  ‘he/she/it is angry’

  cvpakkekot os

  ‘he/she is not angry’

  pucvpakkēs

  ‘we are angry’

  pucvpakkekot os

  ‘we are not angry’

• Negative -eko is not used with nouns. A special word toko ‘not being’ is used instead (see 0).

  Heyv pokkot os.

  ‘This is a ball.’

  Heyv pokko tokot os.

  ‘This is not a ball.’