1. Main clauses
The basic word order in a transitive main clause is VAP, and for intransitives VS.
-
e-we-wotu lò-a tago
3SG-PERF-throw boy-ERG ball
'the boy threw the ball' -
in-igek amo-n
3PL-talk girl-PL
'the girls talk'
Secondary objects and oblique arguments usually follow these arguments:
-
e-wè-tagse-sig lò-a amo gagu
3SG-PERF-buy-BEN boy-ERG girl buffalo
'the boy bought the girl a buffalo' -
ì-nasi susi a sag
3SG-swim fish in water
'the fish swims in water'
2. Verb phrases
Adverbials are almost always placed after the verb and its core arguments. The general order of the modifiers is Place-Manner-Time:
-
e-wotu lò-a tago sen wo kiwi kimu
3SG-throw boy-ERG ball from here fast now
'the boy throws the ball fast away from here now'
Epistemic adverbs usually appear last in a sentence, as do adverbial clauses.
3. Noun phrases
Noun phrases may, apart from the head noun, contain demonstratives, numerals, quantifiers, relative clauses, possessors and attributive modifiers (nouns or prepositional phrases). The order of these consituents is typically:
-
DEM noun NUM/QTF POSS ATTR-N ATTR-PP RELCL
This is shown in these examples:
-
tag gagu-n nawag
DEM buffalo-PL many
'these many buffalos' -
e-waga-n gise amo
3POSS-friend-PL five girl
'the girl’s five friends' -
uk a kug a ì-teteg
tree in forest REL 3SG-grow
'the tree in the forest that grows'
Attributive nouns function morphosyntactically like possessives, with the attribute as a third person possessor:
-
e-àele moku
3POSS-house big
'a big house' -
∅-tago lò enek
3POSS-ball boy red
'the boy’s red ball' -
∅-tago e-lò enek
3POSS-ball 3POSS-boy red
'the red boy’s ball' -
∅-miso susi
3POSS-soup fish
'fish soup'
A noun phrase may lack a head noun, replacing it with a pronoun. This does not change the order or the number of possible constituents:
-
tag èni gise
DEM 3PL five
'these five (ones)' -
∅-èi amo a sag
3POSS-3SG girl in water
'the girl’s one in the water' -
∅-èni nawag susi a ine-teteg
3POSS-3PL many fish REL 3PL-grow
'the many fish ones that grow'
4. Prepositional phrases
A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition followed by a noun phrase. The noun is always in the unmarked form (absolutive case). The basic January 6th prepositions are te 'on', a 'in, inside', sen 'from', wig 'to', sig 'for' and ak 'with (instrumental and comitative)'.
-
a kug
in forest
'in the forest'
Other spatial relations are expressed by combinations of these prepositions, or of a preposition and a noun:
-
wig a kug
to in forest
'into the forest' -
te e-asi nogun
on 3POSS-head mountain
'on top of the mountain' -
sen e-lig àele
from 3POSS-back house
'from behind the house'
5. Comparatives
Comparative constructions are formed with the preposition te 'on'. An overt subject is required:
-
∅-kug moku te uk
3POSS-forest big on tree
'the forest is bigger than the tree' -
o-um àìu ago te ese
1SG-jump high 1SG on 2SG
'I jump higher than you'