—Kurmanji Kurdish— A Reference Grammar with Selected Readings

kirin ‘to discuss something,’ and bal kişandin ‘to attract attention,’ which
can be extended as bala … kişandin ‘to attract the attention of someone’),
the verb agrees in number (singular or plural) with with the last element
(not necessarily the last word) in the extension, i.e. if the last element in the
extension is plural, it attracts a plural verb, as in the following:
Wî ji min re behsa serpêhatiyên xwe
kirin.
He discussed his adventures with me.
Here the extended patient is behsa serpêhatiyên xwe ‘discussion of his
adventures,’ and the past verb kirin agrees in the plural with the last element
in the sequence, serpêhatiyên xwe ‘his adventures.’
Wêneyên min bala rojname û
hunermendan kişandin.
My pictures attracted the attention of
newspapers and artists.
In this example the extended patient is bala rojname û hunermendan ‘the
attention of newspapers and artists,’ and the plural verb kişandin agrees
with the last element in the sequence, the plural hunermendan ‘artists.’
Kemalîstên tirk fermana bi dardakirina
Emîn Elî Bedirxan û hersê
kurên wî jî derxistin.
THE VERB
The Turkish Kemalists issued an order to
hang Emin Ali Bedirkhan and all three
of his sons.
In this example the extended patient is fermana bi dardakirina Emîn Elî
Bedirxan û hersê kurên wî ‘an order to hang Emin Ali Bedirkhan and all
three of his sons,’ and the plural verb derxistin agrees with the last element
in the extended patient, hersê kurên wî ‘all three of his sons.’
§ 18.4. The Past Tense of Xwestin. The past tense of a transitive verb like
xwestin is ergative, but the following subjunctive complement is not.
Therefore, even when the subject of the two verbs is the same, the two pronouns—one
oblique for the ergative and the other nominative for the subjunctive—must
be expressed, and optionally ku may intervene between the
two verbs. An example is the conjugation of the phrase “I wanted to say”:
min xwest (ku) ez bibêjim me xwest (ku) em bibêjin
te xwest (ku) tu bibêjî we xwest (ku) hun bibêjin
wî xwest (ku) ew bibêje wan xwest (ku) ew bibêjin
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