UNIT ELEVEN
a. Present participle (nomen actoris) in -kan
b. Past participle (nomen perfecti) in -nă
c. Future participle (nomen futuri) in -as
d. Infinitive (nomen concretum) in -ma
e. Nomen necessitatis in —malla
Present Participle (Nomen actoris)
As briefly observed previously, Chuvash does not have relative clauses of the sort “The man, who is reading the book, said so.“ Instead, this function is handled by a number of verbal nouns corresponding to the participles of other languages. The first of these is the present participle, or nomen actoris, which is made from a verbal stem plus the morpheme {(A)kAn}. Since it is a noun, it may occur in various cases and in the possessive and plural. It denotes the person doing customarily or presently the action of the verb. Thus, it frequently refers to occupations or professions, as well as temporary practices. It may be subject, modifier or object.
vulakan reader, one who reads, the reading one
ĕntĕ kileken etem ‘the now coming man‘ the man who is coming now
shyva kürteken Ioann ‘causing to go into water John‘ = John the Baptist
tyra akakan a grain-sower, the one sowing grain
şynna pulăshăkan şyn a philanthropist (a man-helping man‘)
esir julakan jură ‘the you singing song‘ = the song which you are singing
chej ĕşeken chashăk the tea-drinking cup (obviously, not the cup which is drinking tea,
but the cup for the purpose of tea-drinking)
vulakan charănchĕ the reader stopped
pĕr vătăr hălăş an oak thirty fathoms in circumference (lit. ‘revolving around‘)
şavrănakan juman
The nomen actoris may have an object of its own, and it in turn may be the modifier of another word, or the object of another word, as
hulana kajakan şul the road leading to the city
It may occur with possessive endings, as in these examples:
şyrakanni şyrat, the writer writes,
vulakanni vulat the reader reads (lit. ‘its writing-one writes‘)
puşlakanni esĕ pultăn, “Its beginning one you were; its finishing one, I“
vĕşlekenni – epĕ You started it but 1 finished it.
This form may occur in all cases, and its formation is absolutely regular
vulakan ĕşleken vulakansem
vulakanăn ĕşlekenĕn vulakansenĕn
vulakana ĕşlekene vulakansene
vulakanta ĕşlekente vulakansenche
vulakantan ĕşlekenten vulakansenchĕn
vulakanpa ĕşlekenpe vulakansempe
The morpheme -chchĕ may also be affixed:
esĕ haşata stat‘ja şyrakanchchĕ you used to write newspaper articles
(‘you were one who was writing articles‘)
The negative is made with the morpheme {. mAn}:
vulaman not reading, one who does not read, a non-reader
kuş kurman şyn ‘a non-eye-seeing man‘ > a blind man
shyvra putman japalasem things which do not sink in water, unsinkables
ereh ĕşmen şyn a non-wine-drinking man, teetotaler
pĕlmenten an yjt don‘t ask a man who doesn‘t know (note ablative)
There is in addition an older form of this noun without the k, and ending in -an/-en. It is met today in a few fixed phrases, as:
juhanshyv flowing water‘ = river
vĕşen kajăk ‘flying bird‘ = fowl, bird
şüren şul ‘going, travelling road‘ = well-trodden path
Fast Participle (Nomen perfecti)
This form is of extremely wide application. It is chiefly a narrative and abstract participle, and functions in general like the preceding form, in that lt occurs as a modifier and as a predicate. From its latter usage as a predicate, many grammarians, both Chuvash and Western, treat it like a tense. Although it is superficially like a tense, it differs from them in not having any personal endings. Yet, it differs from the nouns, and the foregoing nomen actoris in that it does not occur in different persons (except as a special formation with the 3rd p. sg. suffix). Like other nouns, it may take the past morpheme -chchĕ‚ thus making it a sort of past form of itself. it is a non-eyewitness form, and when used predicatively in its tense-like function, it is chiefly found in narrative style, especially of folktales. The ending is -nă/-nĕ, and does not vary for person. Before this morpheme, monosyllabic verb stems in -r employ their stem alternant without -r.
epĕ vulană I was a reader, I am one who read; I read (past)
epĕ pĕlnĕ I was a knower, I am one who knew, I knew
şyn kurnă the man saw
kurnă şyn the seen man‚ the man who was seen AND the man who saw
esĕ kurnă etem your seen man‘ the man whom you saw
kilnĕ etem the man who came
varmanti pysăk tipnĕ juman a big oak which has dried out in the forest
pytannă sĕrten tuprăn you have found their hidden place
arămĕ jană tytnă his wife went and held him ( began to hold him)
manăn hĕrĕ tălăha from having left my daughters as widows,
hăvarnăshăn because you left them as widows
Note that both active and passive may be inferred from this form, depending on the context:
kurnă şyn the man who saw, the man who was seen
kurman iltmen şyn a man who was neither seen nor heard;
a man who did not see or hear
The negative to this morpheme is in -mAn, which thus coincides formally with that of the preceding nomen actoris. Both positive and negative forms may occur in different cases and in possessive forms, of the 3rdp. only.
pĕlmen sămah an unknown word, a word one didn"t know
şemjiseni pĕri te sismen not one of the family-members noticed
lashasem shyv ĕşmenten owing to the horses‘ not drinking water
kahal kajnăne kursassăn when they saw Lazybones coming
kahal vshsem kulnăshĕ Lazybones grew angry from their having laughed
şilennĕ julnăshke the one who has remained
In the possessive of the 3rd p. sg.‚ with the suffix -i, this form is used as a verbal noun in -ni, which may then occur in different cases.
kĕneke vulani usăllă book reading is useful (‘book its reading useful‘)
tabak turtnine sijenlĕ teşşĕ tobacco smoking is harmful, they say
vulani reading, the act or occupation of reading
tărăshni the trying, striving, endeavor, attempt
epir tavlashnine şăltăr the stars, moon and sun saw us fighting
ujăh hĕvel kurchĕ
anchah acha lashi kalanine however, the boy did not obey the horse‘s talking
itlemen (what the horse had said)
hu savnine par give the one you love, your loved one
hăjne chup tunine kăşt sisnĕ she felt somewhat herself having been kissed
Future Participle (Nomen futuri)
The formation of this noun is not difficult: to the stern of the word -(A)s is added, thus:
vulas one who will read, that which is to be read,
which will be read
pĕles what will be known, one who will know
vyras văhăt the time to harvest
pulas văhăt future tense (‘the going-to-become time‘)
kiles şul the coming year
kalas sămax the words (I am) going to say
ĕntĕ kĕrü tăvas pulĕ now there will be the making into a son-in-law
(now we shall make you my son in-law)
The negative of this form employs the -mAs- allomorph of the negative morpheme, thus, kilmes ‘not going to come,‘ or jurlamas ‘not going to sing.‘ In today‘s language, however, this usage is relatively rare. Instead, the postposed negative word mar is employed, or the word şuk ‘there is none.‘
epĕ temterle kajas mar tĕrem I said (I was) one who will not go at all
The nomen futuri may also be used predicatively, with or without pronoun.
epĕ pĕles I will know, I should know
kajas, ate I‘ll go, father lit. ‘there will be a going‘
ăşta pytanas Where is one to hide?
jeple pĕles How to know? How is one to know that?
jeple tupas How to find? = How is one to find her?
The future participle is also frequently used with the so-called purposive case denoted by the morpheme -/shăn/, meaning “for, for the purpose of.“ This combination functions like the infinitive of European languages in many ways. Note that in pronunciation the combinations -ssh- or şsh become -shsh-.
appana kurasshăn epĕ I came here for the seeing of my sister, to see my sister
kunta kiltĕm
acha şavah anasshăn pulnă the boy was for descending there (anyway),
the boy wanted to go down there
ku hĕre kahala that girl was not for going to the Lazybones,
kajasshăn pulman did not want to go to Lazybones
Infinitive (Nomen concretum) in -ma
This form, which other writers have called the infinitive (and Ashmarin the supine), is a standard verbal noun formed from any stem with the morpheme {-mA}. It is frequently translated into English with a form (gerund) in -ing. It does not refer to any mood, tense, person or number, but to the action in a nominal sense. There is no negative form.
jurla to sing
jurlama singing, the act or practice of singing
văl jurlama havas he loves singing, he loves to sing
mana tupma hushat he orders me to find (them)
vută tijeme hatĕrlenĕ he readied the loading of firewood
văl shyv ăsma annă he went down to draw water
This form frequently has a purposive connotation, “for, for to, in order to, for the purpose of doing so.“
pĕrre amashĕ shyva kajma hushnă once his mother ordered going for
(the purpose of getting) water
şav starik lashisene şăvarma annă that old man went down to water
(in order to water) his horses
ashshĕ vara ilme kĕnĕ then his father came in to eat
akă tyră akakan akma tuhnă Lo, a sower went out to sow [Mark IV,3]
kartana lasha tytma kajnă he went into the herd to catch a horse
pallama pyrsan when he went in order to recognize
Although there is no negative, this form may occur with the privative morpheme -săr, viz.:
nummajchchen kajmasăr tăna he stood for a long time without going
chătajmasăr inability to restrain
arămĕ tepĕr kaş şyvărmasăr the next night his wife lay and watched without
syhlasa vyrtnă sleeping
Nomen necessitatis in -malla
The so-called obligatory noun, or noun of necessity, is formed from the verbal noun in -ma by the addition of the old directive morpheme -lla, which we previously encountered in forms like vărmanalla ‘towards the woods.‘ It most frequently occurs in the 3rd p. sg. possessive, thus -malli, or -malle. It has no negative formation, except to add mar after it.
Examples are:
vulamalla, vulamalli that which must be read, is to be read
pĕlmelle, pĕlmelli that which must be known, is necessary to know
epĕ kilmelle I must come, I have to come
hal"ĕh kajmalli? is it necessary to go now (= do we have to go now?)
untan tepĕr kun the next day it was necessary to recognize the middle
vătalăhne pallamalla pulnă one (the middle one was to be recognized)
hăşşan … pürtre puran When will we be having to live in a house? (When do
purănmalla pulăr-shi we get to live in a house like other people?)