Ordering people around in Konkani

(updated )

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In this post, we'll discuss the imperative mood – amongst other things, it's what you use to ask or tell people to do things. The imperative in English is called a mood, not a tense, but in practice it works very similarly.

In English, the imperative encompasses statements like:

  • Go. – this is the second-person form.

  • Let's see. – this is the first-person form.

  • Let them try. – this is the third-person form.

The second-person form

In this form, which is perhaps the most readily associated with the term imperative, imperatives are always addressed to a notional you (singular) or y'all (plural). The pronoun is usually omitted, otherwise it can be confused with the simple present You go.

In aamci [1], the imperative is formed of a BASE + SUFFIX using rules as shown in the following table. Note these points:

  • The verb bases are potentially different from those used in other tenses.

  • There is no gender specificity to the endings.

  • The bases are different for the positive and negative senses.

  • The bases often differ between singular and plural for the same verb, though generally not for the negative sense.

Sense

Singular

Plural

Positive

Do XXX

positive verb base + -a or -i or -aw or -aa or -A or -ai

Do XXX

positive verb base + -aati

Negative

Don't do XXX

negative verb base + -nakaa or -Nakaa

Don't do XXX

negative verb base + -nakaati or -Nakaati.

The -Nakaa and -Nakaati endings are used when the verb base ends with a -N sound, otherwise -nakaa and -nakaati are used. Some people use -naakaa / -Naakaa / -naakati / -Naakaati endings rather than the slightly shorter versions in the table; either variant is OK.

There seem to be a lot of special cases . The following table gives a flavour:

English

Konkani (positive singular)

Konkani (positive plural)

English

Konkani (negative singular)

Konkani (negative plural)

Go.

va-atsa.

vatsaati.

Dont' go.

votsunakaa.

votsunakaati.

Come.

yaw.

yayyaati.

Don't come.

yaywunakaa.

yaywunakaati.

Rise.

uTTaa.

uTaayaati.

Don't rise.

uTaaunakaa.

uTaaunakaati.

Sit.

baisa.

baisaati.

Don't sit.

boisunakaa.

boisunakaati.

Sleep.

niddA.

nidda-yaati.

Don't sleep.

niddonakaa.

niddonakaati.

Make.

kari.

karaati.

Don't make.

kornakaa.

kornakaati.

Read.

vaaci.

vaatsaati.

Don't read.

vaatsunakaa.

vaatsunakaati.

Write.

barai.

bara-yaati.

Don't write.

boronakaa.

boronakaati.

Laugh.

haasa.

haasaati.

Don't laugh.

haasunakaa.

haasunakaati.

Cry.

raDa.

raDaati.

Don't cry.

ro-oNakaa.

ro-oNakaati.

Fall.

paDa.

paDaati.

Don't fall.

po-oNakaa.

po-oNakaati.

Look.

paLA.

paLa-yaati.

Don't look.

poLonakaa.

poLonakaati.

Speak.

ullai.

ulla-yaati.

Don't speak.

ullonakaa.

ullonakaati.

Learn.

sheeka.

shikkaati.

Don't learn.

shikkunakaa.

shikkunakaati.

Ask.

neemgee.

nimgiyaati.

Don't ask.

nimgunakaa.

nimgunakaati.

Place.

davvari.

davvaraati.

Don't place.

davornakaa.

davornakaati.

Take.

ghA.

ghayyaati.

Don't take.

gheunakaa.

gheunakaati.

Give.

dee.

deeyaati.

Don't give.

deeunakaa.

deeunakaati.

The first-person form

Most common is the plural, exemplified by let's see, but of course the singular form of this is let me see. There is no special form for the singular – one would just say haanhvanh paLaitaanh , which is just the present tense form used in the future sense.

The plural version is, however, different – whereas the equivalent present tense form would be aammi paLaitaati , instead one would say, for let us see, the form poLoyaanh – the pronoun is understood to be aammi without needing to be explicit.

Since we're only looking at the first-person plural, no table is needed to say that the rule for formation is simply BASE + SUFFIX, where the SUFFIX is always -yaanh and the BASE is verb-dependent but not necessarily the same as the bases for that verb for other tenses, or even other forms of this tense.

This is what things look like, using the same verbs as in the preceding section.

English

Konkani

Let us go

vocciyaanh

Let us come

yevyaanh

Let us rise

uTTaaunhyaanh

Let us sit

boshiyaanh

Let us sleep

niddoyaanh

Let us make

koryaanh

Let us read

vaaciyaanh

Let us write

boroyaanh

Let us laugh

haashiyaanh

Let us cry

roDiyaanh

Let us fall

poDiyaanh

Let us look

poLoyaanh

Let us speak

ulloyaanh

Let us learn

shikkyaanh

Let us ask

nimguyaanh

Let us place

davoryaanh

Let us take

gheunhyaanh

Let us give

diunhyaanh

To express the negative sense of these statements, the method would be to use the form of the verb which expresses the act of, such as korcAnh , followed by the word naakkaa (not wanted). For example, voccAnh naakkaa would be used for let's not go.

The third-person form

In this form, there can be singular or plural versions. For example, let him cry or let them cry. As luck would have it, the singular form is independent of the gender of the doer.

As in other cases, the rule for formation is simply BASE + SUFFIX, where the SUFFIX is always -aw for singular and -awti for plural, and the BASE is verb-dependent but not necessarily the same as the bases for that verb for other tenses, or even other forms of this tense.

So, with the verbs we used earlier, we get this:

English

Konkani

English

Konkani

Let [him/her/it] go

vawtsaw

Let them go

vawtsawti

Let [him/her/it] come

yAwaw

Let them come

yAwawti

Let [him/her/it] rise

uTaawaw

Let them rise

uTaawawti

Let [him/her/it] sit

bawyisaw

Let them sit

bawyisawti

Let [him/her/it] sleep

niddowaw

Let them sleep

niddowawti

Let [him/her/it] make

kawraw

Let them make

kawrawti

Let [him/her/it] read

vaatstsaw

Let them read

vaatstsawti

Let [him/her/it] write

borowaw

Let them write

borowawti

Let [him/her/it] laugh

haasaw

Let them laugh

haasawti

Let [him/her/it] cry

rawDaw

Let them cry

rawDawti

Let [him/her/it] fall

pawDaw

Let them fall

pawDawti

Let [him/her/it] look

poLowaw

Let them look

poLowawti

Let [him/her/it] speak

ullowaw

Let them speak

ullowawti

Let [him/her/it] learn

shikkaw

Let them learn

shikkawti

Let [him/her/it] ask

nimguwaw

Let them ask

nimguwawti

Let [him/her/it] place

davoraw

Let them place

davorawti

Let [him/her/it] take

ghAwaw

Let them take

ghAwawti

Let [him/her/it] give

deewaw

Let them give

deewawti

For the negative sense, we use the same negative form as in the preceding section, but can use the modified form of the subject as described here. For example, Let her not go. would be tinnA voccAnh naakaa. , Let them not ask. would be taanni nimguncAnh naakkaa. , and so on.

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