Observation

shitamu	it is set up tight	shitamuipan	it was set up tight
mińumu	it is set up well	apu mińumut	it is not set up well

Verbs like shitamu or mińumu have stems ending in u. The u can be long or short; the length is not marked in standard spelling.

The eastern dialects have a greater number of verbs with stems ending in -u, because, for many of these verbs, there is a form ending in -un in the western dialects: shipeku / shipekun it’s green, nipiu / nipiun it’s wet. In fact, verbs that alternate between u and un according to dialect are treated together, and make up their own type of stem; they can be found in the dictionary with their alternate form, as follows: shipeku(n). The stem type discussed here refers to stems that always end in u in all dialects, even the western ones.

Note that in the form shitamuipan above, an i is added to the ending pan, as if the stem ended with a consonant. For u stems, in the independent, modal suffixes are preceded with the vowel -i-: -ipan, -itak, -ishapan, -itshe, -ikupan. This is one of the particularities of this conjugation in -u.

II VERBS WITH u STEMS

mińumu	it is set up well	mińumuitshe	it must be set up well
pimamu	it is set up crooked	apu pimamut	it is not set up crooked
shitamu	it is set up tight	shitamuipan	it was set up tight
matshamu	it is poorly set up	matshamuipan	it was poorly set up
mińumu	the path is good	apu mińumut	the path is not good
uakamu	the path has a bend	uakamuipan	the path had a bend
kuishkumu	the path is straight	apu kuishkumut	the path is not straight
ńutinamu	it is exposed to the wind	apu ńutinamut	it is not exposed to the wind
kashkuanashku	it’s cloudy	kashkuanashkuipan	it was cloudy

NOTES

Normally, when a verb stem ends in a vowel and a suffix beginning with a consonant is added (-pan, -tak, -shapan, etc.), the inflection is added as is. If the stem ends in a consonant, however, the vowel -i- is introduced. The presence of this vowel can be analyzed in different ways: either it is part of the stem which would then end in ui, and this vowel would be deleted in certain situations; or it is part of the modal suffix and it is deleted when the stem ends with a long vowel; or it is added between 2 consonants (that of the stem ending and that of the suffix) to link the stem and the inflection. In the case of II u stems, the situation is mixed: Generally, the u of the stem acts like a vowel; this is the case in the Independent Indicative Present, with the addition of the obviative -ń- (mińumuńu [her/his] path is good), and in the conjunct (apu mińumut the path is not good). In the Independent, when modal suffixes are added -pan, -tak, -shapan, -tshe, -kupan, the u- of the stem becomes a semi-consonant [w], and the modal suffixes must be preceded by the vowel -i-: -ipan, -itak, -ishapan, -itshe, -ikupan, as if the stem ended with a consonant. Furthermore, these modal suffixes have the particularity of lengthening the preceding vowel, in this case the i inserted between the stem u and the ending: mińumu+i+pan=mińumuipan it was set up well. In the 3rd person of the Independent Indicative Present, the suffix –u merges with the u of the stem: mińumu+u=mińumu.

Verb Stems	Roots, stems and inflections
Verb Classes	Verb conjugations