kurmanji_complete

There are also two verbs, zanîn ‘to know’ and karîn ‘to be able,’ that are
irregular in the negative. They form the negative with ní instead of na.
ZANÎN KARÎN
ez nizanim em nizanin ez nikarim em nikarin
tu nizanî hun nizanin tu nikarî hun nikarin
ew nizane ew nizanin ew nikare ew nikarin
The present tense is used for (1) present habitual action (“I go”) and (2)
present progressive action (“I’m going”), and context usually makes it clear
which tense should be used in English. Normal word order in Kurdish is
subject, object, verb. 1 Complements of verbs of motion (where one comes,
goes, brings, etc.) tend to follow the verb in the oblique case, as in the first
example below.
Ez naçim doktor. Ez derman venaxwim.
Derziyê jî naxwazim.
Xelkên Mehabadê wê roja han mîna
karnevalekê pîroz dikin, dehol û zurnevanên
bajêr lêdixin, Mehabadî jî bi
destên hev digirin û direqisin.
Du jinên gundî nêzîktir dibin, heta ber
derê lojmanê tên, Mamoste Kevanot
çav li wan dikeve û bi matmayîn
dibêje…
THE VERB
I’m not going to the doctor. I’m not
taking medicine. I don’t want stiches
either.
The people of Mahabad celebrate that
day like a carnival, they play the city
drums and clarions, and Mahabadis join
hands and dance.
Two village women get closer. They
come up to the door of the lodging.
Master Kevanot looks at them and says
with astonishment…
§ 15. Compound Verbs. Compound verbs, which do not differ significantly
from their counterparts in Persian and Sorani, consist of a nonverbal element
(preverb or complement) and a verb. In Kurmanji some compound
verbs are consistently written as one word, like hildan ‘to lift,’ which consists
of the preverb hil and the verb dan ‘to give’ (present stem d-), vekirin
1
Full normal word order is: (1) temporal expression, (2) subject, (3) direct object,
(4) miscellaneous prepositional phrases, (5) verb, (6) directional complement. Many
other orders are possible, but when any element is moved from its normal position it
is highlighted or emphasized in some way.
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