Observation

nashkumeu	s/he thanks her/him	tshinashkumin	you thank me
nashueu	s/he follows her/him	tshinashun	you follow me
nateu	s/he goes to meet her/him	tshinashin	you go to meet me

The verbs above are distinguished by their stem. The stem of nashkumeu is nashkum- and ends in m, while the stem of nashueu is nashu- and ends in shu. That of nateu sometimes ends in t (nat-), sometimes in sh (nash-). The ending varies depending on the form of the stem. There are 6 stem types for animate transitive verbs (VTA):

• Stems ending in m: uapameu, naskumeu
• Stems ending in n or ń: akuneu, kańeu
• Stems ending in t (sometimes sh): mińuateu, nateu
• Stems ending in long i: uitshieu, shetshieu, metueieu
• Stems ending in u (sometimes a): petueu
• Stems ending in u: katueu
• Stems ending in au or eu: ńakaueu, uitsheueu
• Stems ending in shu: nashueu, pashkushueu

EXAMPLES OF TA STEMS

m	nashkumeu	s/he thanks her/him	tshinashkumin	you thank me
n	akuneu	s/he photographs her/him	apu akunin	you didn’t photograph me
ń	kańeu	s/he hides her/him	nikańau	I hide her/him
t (sh)	nateu	s/he goes to meet her/him	tshinashin	you go to meet me
i	shetshieu	s/he frightens her/him	apu shetshit	you don’t frighten her/him
	metueieu	s/he makes her/him play	metuei!	make her/him play!
u (a)	petueu	s/he hears her/him	tshipetatin	I hear you
u	katueu	s/he hides her/him	tshikatuatin	I hide something from you
shu	nashueu	s/he follows her/him	tshinashun	you follow me
	pashkushueu	s/he shaves her/his head	eka pashkushu!	don’t shave her/his head!
au	ńakaueu	s/he meets her/him	tshińakautin	I meet you
eu	uitsheueu	s/he accompanies her/him	nuitsheuikunan	s/he accompanies us

Verb Stems	Roots, stems and inflections
Verb Classes	Verb conjugations