Kabyle grammar
Kabyle grammar is the set of structural rules and regulations included in the Kabyle language, ranging from words to phrases, to punctuation, and sentences.
Nouns and adjectives
Gender
As an Afro-Asiatic language, Kabyle has only two genders, masculine and feminine. Like most Berber languages, masculine nouns and adjectives generally start with a vowel, while the feminine nouns generally start with t- and end with a -t. Note that most feminine nouns are in fact feminized versions of masculine nouns.Examples:
- aqcic "a boy", taqcict "a girl".
- amɣar "an old man", tamɣart "an old woman".
- argaz "a man", tameṭṭut "a woman".
- izi "a fly", tizit "mosquito".
Certain feminine nouns do not end with a -t: tasa "liver", tili "shadow", and timess "fire".
Certain feminine nouns do start wi a t-: lexdma "work" and rradyu "radio". These include the names of relatives: weltma "my sisterm", yelli "my daughter", and yemma "my mother".
Loan words that end with a consonant are usually masculine: zzman "time" ; Loan words that end with a vowel are usually feminine: qahwa "coffee".
Pluralization
Singular nouns generally start with an a-, and do not have a suffix. Plural nouns generally start with an i- and often have a suffix such as -en. There are three types of plural : External, Internal, Mixed:- External or "Regular": consists in changing the initial vowel of the noun, and adding a suffix -n,
- Internal: involves only a change in the vowels within the word:
- Mixed: combines a change of vowels with the suffix -n:
- Special cases: that do not fall into any of the previous three categories
- * Initial vowel -a does not change: tama "side" → tamiwin "sides"
- * Initial vowel -u does not change: tuɣmest "tooth" → tuɣmas "teeth"
- * Loan words from Arabic that keep their Arabic plural: lɛada "tradition" → leɛwayed "traditions"
Certain words exist only in the singular form and do not have a plural, such as: tidet "truth", tiɣrit "correction", and tagella "food".
The plural of certain words can change the meaning of the singular: tuccanin "mercurial", plural of tuccent "female jackal"; timeddukkal "placenta", plural of tamdeddakelt "female friend".
Certain words can have different plural forms with different meanings: iri "collar" has two plural forms, iran "edge" or irawen "responsibility".
Free and annexed state
As in all Berber languages, Kabyle has two types of states or cases of the noun: one is unmarked, while the other serves as a post-verbal subject of a transitive verb and the object of a preposition, among other contexts, and may be glossed as, or. The former is often called free state, the latter construct state. The construct state of the noun derives from the free state through one of the following rules:The first involves a vowel alternation, whereby the vowel a become u :
The second involves the loss of the initial vowel in the case of some feminine nouns :
The third involves the addition of a semi-vowel word-initially:
Finally, some nouns do not change for free state. These include masculine nouns that do not start with a vowel, feminine nouns that do not start with -t, and feminine nouns whose initial vowel is -a or -u:
Depending on the role of the noun in the sentence, it takes either its free or annexed state.
When located after a verb, the direct object of the verb takes the free state, while the subject is in the annexed state.
When the direct object is indicated on the verb by a direct object affix, the direct object's identity may be restated in the annexed state.
When a noun is moved in front of the verb to establish it as the sentence topic, it remains in its free state.
After a preposition, all nouns take their annexed state. Hence the free-state noun aman, annexed state waman, can form kas n waman,, with the preposition n "of" triggering the construct state's appearance.
Adjectives
Adjectives can be formed by deriving a verb or using elements placed before the noun.Verb derivation
- From a stative verb: izwiɣ "to be red" → azeggaɣ "red"
- Identical to an agent noun: ilaẓ "to be hungry" → amellẓu "hungry"
- By adding the suffix -an to a verb: ihiriw "to be large" → ahrawan "large"
- By adding the prefix u- to a verb: zmer "to be able" → uzmir "strong" or "capable"
Using elements before the noun
- Adding bu "who has", mu "who has", at "who have", sut "who have" + noun in the annexed state: bu uqerru, mu uqerru "tenacious" ; sut wartiran "demonym for people from At Waritran, in this case feminine plural"
- Adding war "without" or tar "without" + noun in the free state: war sseɛd, tar sseɛd "unlucky"
- Adding yir "bad" + noun in the free state: yir zwaǧ "a bad marriage"
Verbs
Kabyle verbs inflect for four paradigms of tense–aspect–mood, three of them conventionally labelled the preterite, intensive aorist and aorist. Unlike other Berber languages, where it is used to express the present, the aorist alone is rarely used in Kabyle, instead often appearing with an accompanying particle. The preterite also has an accompanying negative paradigm which may or may not differ from that of the non-negative preterite depending on the verb.- "Weak verbs" have a preterite form that is the same as their aorist. Examples of weak verbs that follow are conjugated at the first person of the singular:
| Verb | Preterite | ad + aorist | Intensive aorist |
| If | ifeɣ | ad ifeɣ | ttifeɣ |
| Muqel | muqleɣ | ad muqleɣ | ttmuquleɣ |
| Krez | kerzeɣ | ad kerzeɣ | kerrzeɣ |
- "Strong verbs" or "irregular verbs":
| Verb | Preterite | ad + aorist | Intensive aorist |
| Aru | uriɣ | ad aruɣ | ttaruɣ |
The intensive aorist can be used alone or with the following particles:ar: to indicate an extended action: ar ileḥḥu "he walks for a long time"la: to indicate a continuous action in the present, equivalent of the present continuous in English: la yettazzal "he is running"a la: to indicate a continuous action in the past: a la yeqqar "he was saying" ad: to indicate a continuous action in the future: ad ttmerriḥeɣ "I will be taking a walk"
Conjugation
Conjugation in Kabyle is done by adding affixes. These affixes are static and identical for all finite stems, with only the theme changing. Kabyle is a pro-drop language, where the affixes are sufficient to indicate the subject pronouns, without the need to include the pronouns separately.| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | — ɣ | n — |
| 2nd | t — ḍ | t — m |
| 2nd | t — ḍ | t — mt |
| 3rd | i/y — | — n |
| 3rd | t — | — nt |
A group of stative/resultative verbs use a different set of person-number endings in their preterites, which contains only suffixes.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | — ɣ | — it |
| 2nd | — ḍ | — it |
| 2nd | — ḍ | — it |
| 3rd | — | — it |
| 3rd | — t | — it |
As an example, the full finite conjugation of the verb afeg "to fly" exhibiting its four themes is given below. For Kabyle verbs, the citation form of a verb is the second-person singular imperative.
The participles in Kabyle are used as a means of expressing relative phrases in which the preceding noun is the participle's subject. In the following proverb, ur nxeddem "who doesn't work" modifies argaz "man".
Each Kabyle verb has five participles, all formed by attaching various affixes onto a corresponding finite stem.
Verb framing
Kabyle is a satellite-framed based language, Kabyle verbs use two particles to show the path of motion:- d orients toward the speaker, and could be translated as "here".
- n orients toward the interlocutor or toward a certain place, and could be translated as "there".
- « iruḥ-d », « iruḥ-n ».
- « awi-d aman», « awi-n aman ».
Negation
Kabyle usually expresses negation in two parts, with the particle ur attached to the verb, and one or more negative words that modify the verb or one of its arguments. For example, simple verbal negation is expressed by « ur » before the verb and the particle « ara » after the verb:- « Urareɣ » → « Ur urareɣ ara »
Negation of the verbs in the subjunctive mood is achieved by the form a wer + verb
- « ad yeqqim! » → « a wer yeqqim! »
- « aru » →« ur ttaru ara »
Auxiliaries
The auxiliary ''ili'' (to be)
ili + verb is employed to express the following aspects:- A possibility, a doubt, or a repetition in the future, and the future perfect
- A repetition in the past, and the past perfect
- A habit or a normal state
- yeswa + yella → yella yeswa "He had drunk"
- yeswa + ad yili → ad yili yeswa "He will have drunk"
- yebzeg + yettili → yettilli yebzeg "It is usually wet"
- tesseɣ + lliɣ → lliɣ tesseɣ "I was drinking"
- tesseɣ + iliɣ → ad iliɣ tesseɣ "I will be drinking"
The auxiliary ''aɣ'' (to have)
aɣ in its general meaning "to take" can be used in complex verb construction in its preterite form yuɣ, or intensive aorist form yettaɣ. Its use is equivalent to the use of the verb ili.Examples
- yuɣ lḥal yečča "He had eaten"
- yuɣ-iten lḥal ad awḍen ass-nni "They must have arrived on that day"
Verb derivation
Verb derivation is done by adding affixes. There are three types of derivation forms : Causative, reflexive and Passive.- Causative: obtained by prefixing the verb with s- / sse- / ssu- :
- Reflexive: obtained by prefixing the verb with m- / my- / myu-:
- Passive: is obtained by prefixing the verb with ttu- / ttwa- / tt- / mm- / n- / nn-:
- Complex forms: obtained by combining two or more of the previous prefixes:
Agent noun
Every verb has a corresponding agent noun. In English it could be translated into verb+er. It is obtained by prefixing the verb with « am- » or with « an- » if the first letter is b / f / m / w.- Examples:
Action noun
Every verb has a corresponding action noun, which in English it could be translated into verb+ing:There are 6 regular stems of forming action nouns, and the 7th is for quality verbs :
| Stem | Verb | Action noun |
| I | CVCV | aCVC |
| II | CVC | aCVCV |
| III | CeCC | aCeCCi |
| IV | CaC | aCaCi |
| V | C1C2eC3 | aCCaC |
| VI | CCeC | tuCCCa |
| VII | iC1C2VC3 | teC1C2eC3 |
- Examples:
Predicative particle "d"
The predicative particle "d" is an indispensable tool in speaking Kabyle, "d" is equivalent to both "it is + adjective" and "to be + adjective", but cannot be replaced by the verb "ili". It is always followed by a noun.Examples:
- D taqcict, "it's a girl".
- D nekk, "it's me".
- Nekk d argaz, "I'm a man".
- Idir d anelmad, "Idir is a student".
- Idir yella d anelmad, "Idir was a student".
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Example : « Ula d nekk. » — "Me too."Possessive pronouns
There are three types of possessive pronouns: isolated, suffixes, and those of names of relatives.1-Isolated :
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | inu | nneɣ |
| 1st | inu | nnteɣ |
| 2nd | inek | nwen |
| 2nd | inem | nkent |
| 3rd | ines | nsen |
| 3rd | ines | nsent |
Isolated possessive pronouns can be placed before or after the possessed noun:
- After: « Axxam agi inu »— Lit. "House-this-my" or "This is my house"
- Before: « Inu wexxam agi » —Lit. "My-house-this" or "This is my house"; If the possessive pronoun comes before the possessed noun, then the possessed noun takes the annexed state.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | -iw | -nneɣ |
| 1st | -iw | -nnteɣ |
| 2nd | -ik | -nwen |
| 2nd | -im | -nkent |
| 3rd | -is | -nsen |
| 3rd | -is | -nsent |
Example : « Axxam-nneɣ. » — "Our house."
3-Possessive pronouns of the names of relatives:
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | ∅ | -tneɣ |
| 1st | ∅ | -nteɣ |
| 2nd | -k | -twen |
| 2nd | -m | -tkent |
| 3rd | -s | -tsen |
| 3rd | -s | -tsent |
When the name of the relative does not have a possessive pronoun, it means by default "my", for example: ∅ baba "my father"; whereas baba-s means "his father" or "her father".
Pronouns of the verb
- Direct object
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | yi | ɣ / aɣ / naɣ / anaɣ |
| 1st | yi | ɣ / aɣ / tnaɣ / anteɣ |
| 2nd | k | ken |
| 2nd | kem | kent |
| 3rd | t | ten |
| 3rd | tt | tent |
Example : « Yuɣ-it. » — "He bought it."
- Indirect object
- Example : « Yenna-yas. » — "He said to him."
- Complex example : « Yefka-yas-t. » — "He gave it to him."
Demonstratives
There are three demonstratives, near-deictic, far-deictic and absence:- Suffix: Used with a noun, example : « Axxam-agi» — "This house.".
- Isolated : Used when we omit the subject we are speaking about : «Wagi yelha» — "This is nice."
Numerotation
Only the first two numbers are Berber; for higher numbers, Arabic is used. They are yiwen "one", sin "two". The noun being counted follows it in the genitive: sin n yirgazen "two men"."First" and "last" are respectively amezwaru and aneggaru. Other ordinals are formed with the prefix wis : wis sin "second ", tis tlata "third ", etc.
Prepositions
Prepositions precede their objects: « i medden » "to the people", « si temdint » "from the town". All words preceded by a preposition take their annexed state.Some prepositions have two forms : one is used with pronominal suffixes and the other form is used in all other contexts.
Also some of these prepositions have a corresponding relative pronoun, example:
| Preposition | With suffixes | Translation equivalent | Corresponding Relative pronoun | Translation equivalent |
| d | yid- / did- | 'and, with, in the company of' | ukud / wi d | 'with whom' |
| i | — | 'for, to' | iwumi / iwimi / imi / umi / mi | 'to whom' / 'whose' |
| ɣer / ar | — | 'to' | iɣer / ɣer way / aniɣer / awier / ɣer | 'to' |
| s | — | 'to' | sani | 'to' |
| ɣur | — | 'among' | uɣur / ɣur | 'among' |
| ɣef / af / f | fell- | 'on; because of; about' | iɣef / ɣef way / ɣef wadeg / ɣef | 'on what' |
| deg / g / di | — | 'in' | ideg / deg way / deg waydeg / anda / deg | 'where' |
| seg / si / g | — | 'from' | iseg / seg way / ansi | 'from where' |
| s | iss- / yiss- / yis- | 'with, by means of, using' | s ways / s wacu / s / iss / is | 'with what' |
| ger | gar- | 'between' | — | — |
| n | — | 'of' | — | — |
| nnig / sennig | — | 'on top of' | — | — |
| ddaw / seddaw | — | 'beneath, under' | — | — |
| ar | — | 'until' | — | — |
| deffir | — | 'behind' | — | — |
| zdat / zzat | — | 'in front of' | — | — |
| am | — | 'like, as' | — | — |