PERSON MARKERS are affixes that attach to verbs and identify who is involved in a sentence. Mvskoke has three types of person markers: agent or type I, patient or type II, and dative or type D.

• AGENT PERSON MARKERS are used for the person in control of an action. The agent person markers are all suffixes and translate as a subject in English.

• PATIENT PERSON MARKERS or cv- prefixes refer to someone who is not in control of a situation. They may refer to a person who is affected by the action or in a state of being.

• DATIVE PERSON MARKERS or vm markers are generally used for those who are less directly involved in a situation.

Agent person markers: -i, -etsk, -ē, -atsk

The agent person markers have slightly different forms before consonants and before vowels.

The following are examples of statements.

The following are examples of questions.

In casual speech, some people pronounce -etsk and -atsk as -ecc and -acc. The second person forms are usually spelled -etsk and -atsk, though some people spell them -eck and -ack.

Patient person markers: cv-, ce-, pu-

The patient person markers on verbs are similar to the prefixes used for possession of body parts and family terms (cvcukwv ‘my mouth’, etc.).

• One use of these prefixes is for the person affected by an action.

• Patient person markers are also used for the subjects of verbs that translate as adjectives in English or that express emotion.

• Cv- prefixes may also be used for subjects that perform an action accidentally or involuntarily.

The cv- prefixes may change their shape slightly depending on the following root.

• The forms cv-, ce-, and pu- are used before consonants.

• Before e, drop the e and treat it the same way.

• Before v, drop the v and use the longer forms vcv-, ece-, and epu-.

• Before o, the prefixes are vc-, ec-, and ep-.

• Before a or ē, drop that vowel and add vca-, ecē-, and epo-.

Dative person markers: vm, cem, em, pum

The dative person markers on verbs are similar to the markers used for possession (vm efv ‘my dog’, etc.).

• The dative person markers often refer to an indirect object: someone who is indirectly affected by the action.

• With verbs describing the way something moves, dative person markers mean ‘from’.

• A handful of verbs use dative person markers for their subjects.

The vm markers may change their shape slightly based on the word that follows.

• Before a vowel or m, the forms vm, cem, em, and pum are used (see forms above).
• Before other consonants, the forms vn-, cen-, en-, and pun- are used.

Reflexives: ēhēcis ‘I’m looking at myself’

• The prefix ē- is a special patient prefix that means ‘self’.

Depending on the subject, it translates as ‘myself’, ‘yourself’, ‘himself’, ‘herself’, ‘themselves’, etc.

Reciprocals: etehecakes ‘they are looking at each other’

• Ete- is a patient prefix that means ‘each other’.

• Before a vowel, ete- is shortened to et-.

• The forms etem- or eten- are used as dative person markers.

Impersonal agent: hēcvkēs ‘one will see, you’ll see’

• Above we learned the agent person markers -vy ‘I’, -etsk ‘you’, -ē ‘we’, and -atsk ‘you all’. There is actually another agent person marker -vk. You use -vk for a “fourth person”: someone indefinite (‘one in general’, ‘you in general’, ‘people in general’).

• It’s easy to confuse impersonal agent -vk with plural -vk. Impersonal agent -vk is always short. Plural -vk often changes to -ak or -ahk depending on the grade.

Verbs using agent, patient, or dative person markers

Some verbs like hueretv ‘to stand’ use agent (or type I) person markers for their subjects. Others like hekokketv ‘to hiccup’ use patient markers (type II). A few verbs like emmesketv ‘to sweat’ use dative person markers (type D).

Dictionary entries include information on the type of person markers a verb takes.

The labels I, II, and D in these entries show which person markers a verb takes.

• Usually I verbs describe actions that are controlled and done deliberately.

One exception is the verb owetv ‘to be’. When owetv is used with a noun phrase, it uses type I person markers even though the action is not deliberate.

Another exception is numerals, which use agent person marking even though they seem not to be deliberate.

• II verbs usually describe states of being or actions that are accidental or not done on purpose.

• Type D verbs are uncommon. Only a few verbs use dative markers for their subjects.

• Some verbs describe actions that may be done on purpose or by accident. The following verbs can use agent or patient person marking and are labeled I/II in the dictionary.

Combining person markers

Person markers may be combined on the same verb to show different people. Dative and patient markers come before the verb root, while agent markers come after the verb root.

The verb nvfketv ‘to hit’ is a verb that uses agent markers for its subject and patient person markers for its object. We can call it a I;II verb to show that.

• Many verbs like nvfketv ‘to hit’ are I;II, using agent markers for the subject and patient markers for the object.

• Verbs like em pohetv ‘to ask of (someone)’ are I;D verbs. They use agent markers for subjects and dative markers for objects.

• Verbs like encvpakketv ‘to get mad at’ are II;D and use patient markers for subjects and dative markers for objects.