Ubykh grammar

Ubykh was a polysynthetic language with a high degree of agglutination that had an ergative-absolutive alignment.

Nouns

Plurality

Ubykh nouns do not mark plurality and the only case that displays plurality is the relational suffix -/nɜ/. Otherwise plurality is shown either by suppletive verb roots (e.g. /ɐkʷɨn blɜs/ 'he is in the car' vs. /ɐkʷɨn blɜʒʷɜ/ 'they are in the car') or by verb suffixes: /ɐkʲʼɜn/ ('he goes'), /ɐkʲʼɐn/ ('they go').

Definiteness

The definite article is /ɐ/ (e.g. /ɐtɨt/ 'the man'). There is no indefinite article directly equivalent to the English a or an, but /zɜ/-(root)-/ɡʷɜrɜ/ (literally 'one'-(root)-'certain') translates French un : e.g. /zɜnɜjnʃʷɡʷɜrɜ/ ('a certain young man').

Cases

There are two core cases and four non-core cases in Ubykh. The core cases are: relational, absolutive; the non-core cases are: adverbial, locative, instrumental, and instrumental-comitative.

Ubykh cases

	singular	plural
relational	-/n/	-/nɜ/
absolutive	-/Ø/
adverbial	-/n(ɨ)/
locative	-/ʁɜ/
instrumental	-/ɜwn(ɨ)/
instrumental-comitative	-/ɐlɜ/

Relational case

This case displays ergative, genitive, and dative functions. It is marked with -/n/ in the singular and -/nɨ/ in the plural and is the only case that has a distinction in plurality.

/sɨtʷ

/sɨ-tʷ

1stPOSS-father.ABS

amɨzɨn

a-mɨzɨ-n

the-child-ERG

jɨbjɜqʼɜ/

Ø-jɨ-bjɜ-qʼɜ/

(s)he saw

/sɨtʷ amɨzɨn jɨbjɜqʼɜ/

/sɨ-tʷ a-mɨzɨ-n Ø-jɨ-bjɜ-qʼɜ/

1stPOSS-father.ABS the-child-ERG {(s)he saw}

"My father saw the child."

Absolutive case

Marked with the bare root; this indicates the subject of an intransitive sentence and the direct object of a transitive sentence (e.g. /tɨt/ 'a man').

/sɨtʷ

/sɨ-tʷ

1stPOSS-father.ABS

ɐkʲʼɜqʼɜ/

ɐ-kʲʼɜ-qʼɜ/

(s)he went

/sɨtʷ ɐkʲʼɜqʼɜ/

/sɨ-tʷ ɐ-kʲʼɜ-qʼɜ/

1stPOSS-father.ABS {(s)he went}

"My father went."

Adverbial case

This is marked with -/n(ɨ)/ and has the primary function of marking essive and translative functions of nouns.

Locative case

Marked in -/ʁɜ/, which is the equivalent of English in, on or at.

Instrumental case

Marked with -/ɜwn(ɨ)/ and was also treated as a case in Dumézil (1975). This is similar to "by means of" in English.

Instrumental-Comitative case

Marked with -/ɐlɜ/ and broadly means "with".

Other suffixes

There is also a pair of suffixes that have been noted to be synthetic datives but are not cases in their own right: -/lɐq/ ('to[wards]') and -/ʁɐfɜ/ ('for') e.g. /ɜχʲɨlɐq ɐstʷɜdɜw/ 'I will send it to the prince'.

Adjectives

In Ubykh, adjectives do not decline in any way and are suffixed to the noun that they modify: /tʃɨbʒɨjɜ/ ('pepper') with /pɬɨ/ ('red') becomes /tʃɨbʒɨjɜpɬɨ/ ('red pepper').

Pronouns

Free pronouns in all North-West Caucasian languages lack an ergative-absolutive distinction.^[1]

Free personal pronouns

		1st Person	2nd Person		3rd Person
			Normal	Jocular
Singular	Standard	/s(ɨ)ʁʷɜ/	/(w(ɨ))ʁʷɜ/	/χɜʁʷɜ/	/ɐʁʷɜ/
	Ali Bilaş	/(s)χɜ/
Plural	Standard	/ʃɨʁʷɜɬɜ/	/ɕʷɨʁʷɜɬɜ/		/ɐʁʷɜɬɜ/
	Tevfik Esenç	/ʃɜɬɜ/	/ɕʷɜɬɜ/
	Osman Güngür	/ʃɨʁʷɜ/	/ɕʷɨʁʷɜ/

The "standard" pronouns are displayed along with variations that particular speakers used due to rapid speech. All speakers condemned Tevfik Esenç's usage of /ʃɜɬɜ/ and he even accepted the correction but all recordings of Tevfik contain /ʃɜɬɜ/ regardless.

Possessive

Possessive pronouns

	1st Person	2nd Person		3rd Person
		Normal	Jocular
Singular	/sɨ/-	/wɨ/-	/χɜ/-	/ʁɜ/-
Plural	/ʃɨ/-	/ɕʷɨ/-		/ɐʁɜ/-

Possessed nouns have their plurality marked with the affix /-ɜw-/.

/ʃɜwtʃɨ/

/ʃ(ɨ)-ɜw-tʃɨ/

1pPOSS-PL-horse

/ʃɜwtʃɨ/

/ʃ(ɨ)-ɜw-tʃɨ/

1pPOSS-PL-horse

Our horses

Verbs

Verb Template

The Ubykh verb template is quite complex with 26 slots for the verb.

1. Interrogative / subordinative prefixes
2. absolutive agreement marker or a prefixed interrogative pronoun
3. Oblique-1 marker agreeing with slot 4
4. Relational preverb
5. Incorporated noun or Oblique-2 marker
6. Local preverb
7. /ʁɜ/- or /ɐ/-
8. Generic preverb /lɜ/
9. Orientational preverb /jɨ/-
10. Ergative preverb marker
11. Negation in the dynamic and imperfect tenses or polite imperative
12. Causative
13. stem
14. Intensifying suffix
15. Habitual aspect
16. Iterative aspect
17. Exhaustive aspect
18. Excessive aspect
19. Continual aspect
20. Potential aspect
21. Plural marker
22. Tense
23. Plural marker for dynamic past, conditional II, and stative present.
24. Negation in all tenses except for dynamic present
25. Affect marker
26. Mood or converb markers
27. Conjunctive elements

Agreement

Oblique 1 markers are limited to marking the agreement of a noun before a relational preverb and Oblique 2 markers are used for not only marking agreement with local and directional preverbs but also the simple oblique, or dative, arguments.^[1]

Pronominal Agreement Markers

		Absolutive	Oblique (1 and 2)	Ergative
First Person	sg.	/s(ɨ)/-	/s(ɨ)/- ~ /z/	/s(ɨ)/- ~ /z/
	pl.	/ʃ(ɨ)/-	/ʃ(ɨ)/- ~ /ʒ/-	/ʃ(ɨ)/- ~ /ʒ/-
Second Person	sg.	/wɨ/-	/w(ɨ)/-	/w(ɨ)/-
	pl.	/ɕʷ(ɨ)/-	/ɕʷ(ɨ)/- ~ /ʑʷ(ɨ)/-	/ɕʷ(ɨ)/- ~ /ʑʷ(ɨ)/-
	sg. (joc., arc.)	/χɜ/-	/χɜ/-	/χɜ/-
Third Person	sg.	/ɐ/-, /jɨ/-, /ɨ/-, /Ø/-	/Ø/-	n(ɨ)/- /Ø/-
	pl.	/ɐ/-, /jɨ/-, /Ø/-	/ɐ/-	/ɐ/-, /nɐ/-

The second-person /χɜ/- is an archaic pronoun used to indicate that the person being referred to is a female, or heckling the speaker in some way. It became extinct before the death of the language due to all of the last speakers being male.

The third person agreement markers have a fair amount of variation due to the rules it must follow.

absolutive markers

Marker	Rule	Example
/ɐ/-	No other third person object is present in the sentence.	/ɐ-qʼɜ-qʼɜ/ "(s)he said" – /ɐ-z-bjɜ-n/ "I see it"
/jɨ/-	Appears when the following marker is also third person singular.	/jɨ-Ø-jɜ-qʼɜ/ "X hits Y"
/ɨ/-	This is a rare allophone of /jɨ/- and usually appears when the marker carries stress.	/ɨ́-Ø-tʷʼɜ-qʼɜ/ "X digs Y"
/Ø/-	This appears when the following marker is third person plural.	/Ø-ɐ́-ʃ-tʷʼɨ-n/ "we give X to them"

The plural markers exist in the same rules as the singular rules with the exception that singular /ɐ/- can be deleted but plural /ɐ/- cannot.

Dynamic verb conjugation

Dynamic Ubykh verbs are split up in two groups: Group I which contain the simple tenses and Group II which contain derived counterpart tenses. Only the Karaclar dialect uses the progressive tense and the plural is unknown.

The singular-plural distinction is used when the subject, the ergative, is singular or plural.

Square brackets indicate elided vowels; parenthesis indicate optional parts of the stem; and the colon indicates the boundary of a morpheme.^[1]

verb conjugation

Group I
	Singular	Plural
Simple Past	-/qʼɜ/	-/qʼɜ-n(ɜ)/
Mirative Past	-/jtʼ/	-/jɬ(ɜ)/
Present	-/n/	-/ɐ-n/
Future I	-/ɜw/	-/n[ɜ]-ɜw/
Future II	-/ɜw:t/	-/n[ɜ]-ɜw:t/
(Progressive)	-/ɜwɨ:n/	?
Group II
Pluperfect	-/qʼɜ:jtʼ/	-/qʼɜ:jɬ(ɜ)/ ~ -/qʼɜ:nɜ:jtʼ/
Imperfect	-/nɜ:jtʼ/	-/ɐ-nɜ:jɬ(ɜ)/
Conditional I	-/ɜwɨ:jtʼ/	-/n[ɜ]-ɜwɨ:jɬ(ɜ)/
Conditional II	-/ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ/	-/(n[ɜ]-)ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ(-n)/

Simple past

The verbs in the simple past tense are conjugated with -/qʼɜ/ in the singular and -/qʼɜ-n(ɜ)/ in the plural.

Examples:

• /qʼɜ/ – to say → /ɐ-qʼɜ-qʼɜ/ (s)he said
• /fɨ/ – to eat → /ɐ-fɨ-qʼɜ/ (s)he ate
• /tɕʼɜ/ – to know → /ɐ-tɕʼɜ-qʼɜ/ (s)he knew
• /kʲʼɜ/ – to go → /ɐ-kʲʼɜ-qʼɜ/ (s)he went

Plurality	Person	Ubykh	Meaning
Singular	First-person	/s(ɨ)-fɨ-qʼɜ/	I ate
	Second-person	/wɨ-fɨ-qʼɜ/	you ate
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-qʼɜ/	(s)he ate
Plural	First-person	/ʃ(ɨ)-fɨ-qʼɜ-n(ɜ)/	we ate
	Second-person	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-fɨ-qʼɜ-n(ɜ)/	you (all) ate
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-qʼɜ-n(ɜ)/	they ate

Mirative past

The verbs in the mirative past tense are conjugated with -/jtʼ/ in the singular and -/jɬ(ɜ)/ in the plural.

Examples:

• /qʼɜ/ – to say → /ɐ-qʼɜ-jtʼ/ (s)he said apparently
• /fɨ/ – to eat → /ɐ-fɨ-jtʼ/ (s)he ate apparently
• /tɕʼɜ/ – to know → /ɐ-tɕʼɜ-jtʼ/ (s)he knew apparently
• /kʲʼɜ/ – to go → /ɐ-kʲʼɜ-jtʼ/ (s)he went apparently

Plurality	Person	Ubykh	Meaning
Singular	First-person	/s(ɨ)-fɨ-jtʼ/	I ate apparently
	Second-person	/wɨ-fɨ-jtʼ/	you ate apparently
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-jtʼ/	(s)he ate apparently
Plural	First-person	/ʃ(ɨ)-fɨ-jɬ(ɜ)/	we ate apparently
	Second-person	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-fɨ-jɬ(ɜ)/	you (all) ate apparently
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-jɬ(ɜ)/	they ate apparently

Present

The verbs in the present tense are conjugated with -/n/ in the singular and -/ɐ-n/ in the plural.

Examples:

• /qʼɜ/ – to say → /ɐ-qʼɜ-n/ (s)he says
• /fɨ/ – to eat → /ɐ-fɨ-n/ (s)he eats
• /tɕʼɜ/ – to know → /ɐ-tɕʼɜ-n/ (s)he knows
• /kʲʼɜ/ – to go → /ɐ-kʲʼɜ-n/ (s)he goes

Plurality	Person	Ubykh	Meaning
Singular	First-person	/s(ɨ)-fɨ-n/	I eat
	Second-person	/wɨ-fɨ-n/	you eat
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-n/	(s)he eats
Plural	First-person	/ʃ(ɨ)-f-ɐ-n/	we eat
	Second-person	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-f-ɐ-n/	you (all) eat
	Third-person	/ɐ-f-ɐ-n/	they eat

Future I

The verbs in the present tense are conjugated with -/ɜw/ in the singular and -/n[ɜ]-ɜw/ in the plural. It conveys a sense of certainty, immediacy, obligation, or intentionality.

Examples:

• /qʼɜ/ – to say → /ɐ-qʼ-ɜw/ (s)he certainly will say
• /fɨ/ – to eat → /ɐ-f-ɜw/ (s)he certainly will eat
• /tɕʼɜ/ – to know → /ɐ-tɕʼ-ɜw/ (s)he certainly will know
• /kʲʼɜ/ – to go → /ɐ-kʲʼ-ɜw/ (s)he certainly will go

Plurality	Person	Ubykh	Meaning
Singular	First-person	/s(ɨ)-f-ɜw/	I certainly will eat
	Second-person	/wɨ-f-ɜw/	you certainly will eat
	Third-person	/ɐ-f-ɜw/	(s)he certainly will eat
Plural	First-person	/ʃ(ɨ)-fɨ-n[ɜ]-ɜw/	we certainly will eat
	Second-person	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-fɨ-n[ɜ]-ɜw/	you (all) certainly will eat
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-n[ɜ]-ɜw/	they certainly will eat

Future II

The verbs in the present tense are conjugated with -/ɜw:t/ in the singular and -/n[ɜ]-ɜw:t/ in the plural. It conveys a generic sense of the future as well as an exhortative sense such as: /ʃɨ-kʲʼɜ-n[ɜ]-ɜw/ (let's go!).

Examples:

• /qʼɜ/ – to say → /ɐ-qʼ-ɜw:t/ (s)he will say
• /fɨ/ – to eat → /ɐ-f-ɜw:t/ (s)he will eat
• /tɕʼɜ/ – to know → /ɐ-tɕʼ-ɜw:t/ (s)he will know
• /kʲʼɜ/ – to go → /ɐ-kʲʼ-ɜw:t/ (s)he will go

Plurality	Person	Ubykh	Meaning
Singular	First-person	/s(ɨ)-f-ɜw:t/	I will eat
	Second-person	/wɨ-f-ɜw:t/	you will eat
	Third-person	/ɐ-f-ɜw:t/	(s)he will eat
Plural	First-person	/ʃ(ɨ)-fɨ-n[ɜ]-ɜw:t/	we will eat
	Second-person	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-fɨ-n[ɜ]-ɜw:t/	you (all) will eat
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-n[ɜ]-ɜw:t/	they will eat

Pluperfect

The verbs in the present tense are conjugated with -/ɜw/ in the singular and -/n[ɜ]-ɜw/ in the plural. It conveys [TODO]

Examples:

• /qʼɜ/ – to say → /ɐ-qʼɜ-qʼɜ:jtʼ/ (s)he had said
• /fɨ/ – to eat → /ɐ-f-qʼɜ:jtʼ/ (s)he had eaten
• /tɕʼɜ/ – to know → /ɐ-tɕʼɜ-qʼɜ:jtʼ/ (s)he had known
• /kʲʼɜ/ – to go → /ɐ-kʲʼɜ-qʼɜ:jtʼ/ (s)he had gone

Plurality	Person	Ubykh	Meaning
Singular	First-person	/s(ɨ)-fɨ-qʼɜ:jtʼ/	I had eaten
	Second-person	/wɨ-fɨ-qʼɜ:jtʼ/	you had eaten
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-qʼɜ:jtʼ/	(s)he had eaten
Plural	First-person	/ʃ(ɨ)-fɨ-qʼɜ:jɬ(ɜ)/	we had eaten
	Second-person	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-fɨ-qʼɜ:jɬ(ɜ)/	you (all) had eaten
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-qʼɜ:jɬ(ɜ)/	they had eaten

Imperfect

The verbs in the imperfect tense are conjugated with -/nɜ:jtʼ/ in the singular and either -/ɐ-nɜ:jɬ(ɜ)/ in the plural. It conveys a sense of

Examples:

• /qʼɜ/ – to say → /ɐ-qʼ-nɜ:jtʼ/ (s)he was saying, (s)he used to say
• /fɨ/ – to eat → /ɐ-f-nɜ:jtʼ/ (s)he was eating, (s)he used to eatk
• /tɕʼɜ/ – to know → /ɐ-tɕʼ-nɜ:jtʼ/ (s)he was knowing, (s)he used to know
• /kʲʼɜ/ – to go → /ɐ-kʲʼ-nɜ:jtʼ/ (s)he was going, (s)he used to go

Plurality	Person	Ubykh	Meaning
Singular	First-person	/s(ɨ)-fɨ-nɜ:jtʼ/	I was eating, I used to eat
	Second-person	/wɨ-fɨ-nɜ:jtʼ/	you were eating, you used to eat
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-nɜ:jtʼ/	(s)he was eating, (s)he used to eat
Plural	First-person	/ʃ(ɨ)-f-ɐ-nɜ:jɬ(ɜ)/	we were eating, we used to eat
	Second-person	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-f-ɐ-nɜ:jɬ(ɜ)/	you (all) were eating, you (all) used to eat
	Third-person	/ɐ-f-ɐ-nɜ:jɬ(ɜ)/	they were eating, they used to eat

Conditional I

The verbs in the present tense are conjugated with -/ɜwɨ:jtʼ/ in the singular and -/n[ɜ]-ɜwɨ:jɬ(ɜ)/ in the plural. It conveys a sense of uncertainty but also a kind of future-in-the-past if the situation had been reversed.

Examples:

• /qʼɜ/ – to say → /ɐ-qʼ-ɜwɨ:jtʼ/ (s)he would have said
• /fɨ/ – to eat → /ɐ-f-ɜwɨ:jtʼ/ (s)he would have eaten
• /tɕʼɜ/ – to know → /ɐ-tɕʼ-ɜwɨ:jtʼ/ (s)he would have known
• /kʲʼɜ/ – to go → /ɐ-kʲʼ-ɜwɨ:jtʼ/ (s)he would have gone

Plurality	Person	Ubykh	Meaning
Singular	First-person	/s(ɨ)-fɨ-ɜwɨ:jtʼ/	I would have eaten
	Second-person	/wɨ-fɨ-n[ɜ]-ɜwɨ:jtʼ/	you would have eaten
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-n[ɜ]-ɜwɨ:jtʼ/	(s)he would have eaten
Plural	First-person	/ʃ(ɨ)-fɨ-n[ɜ]-ɜwɨ:jɬ(ɜ)/	we would have eaten
	Second-person	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-fɨ-n[ɜ]-ɜwɨ:jɬ(ɜ)/	you (all) would have eaten
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-n[ɜ]-ɜwɨ:jɬ(ɜ)/	they would have eaten

Conditional II

The verbs in the present tense are conjugated with -/ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ/ in the singular and -/(n[ɜ]-)ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ(-n)/ in the plural. It conveys a sense of certainty and intention but also a kind of future-in-the-past if the situation had been reversed.

Examples:

• /qʼɜ/ – to say → /ɐ-qʼ-ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ/ (s)he was going to say
• /fɨ/ – to eat → /ɐ-f-ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ/ (s)he was going to eat
• /tɕʼɜ/ – to know → /ɐ-tɕʼ-ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ/ (s)he was going to know
• /kʲʼɜ/ – to go → /ɐ-kʲʼ-ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ/ (s)he was going to go

Plurality	Person	Ubykh	Meaning
Singular	First-person	/s(ɨ)-fɨ-ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ/	I was going to eat
	Second-person	/wɨ-fɨ-ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ/	you were going to eat
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ/	(s)he was going to eat
Plural	First-person	/ʃ(ɨ)-fɨ-(n[ɜ]-)ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ(-n)/	we were going to eat
	Second-person	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-fɨ-(n[ɜ]-)ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ(-n)/	you (all) were going to eat
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-(n[ɜ]-)ɜw:tʷ:qʼɜ(-n)/	they were going to eat

Static verb conjugation

In all dialects and speakers, only two static tenses exist: present and past.

	Singular	Plural
Present	-/Ø/	-/n(ɜ)/
Past	-/jtʼ/	-/jɬ(ɜ)/

Aspect

There are five basic aspects that exist besides the aspects that exist within the Ubykh tense system. They are: habitual, iterative, exhaustive, excessive, and potential.

A few meanings covered in English by adverbs or auxiliary verbs are given in Ubykh by verb suffixes.

A speaker may combine one of these aspects with another to convey more complex aspects in conjunction with the tenses.^[1]

Aspect	Suffix	Example with /fɨ/ ('to eat')		Example with /dʑʷɜ/ ('to drink')
		Ubykh	English	Ubykh	English
habitual	-/gʲɜ/	/ɐsfɨɡʲɜn/	I eat it all the time	/ɐzdʑʷɜɡʲɜn/	I drink it all the time
iterative	-/ɐj(ɨ)/	/ɐsfɐjɨn/	I eat it again	/ɐzdʑʷɐjɨn/	I drink it again
exhaustive	-/lɜ/	/ɐsfɨlɜn/	I am eating it all up	/ɐzdʑʷɜlɜn/	I am drinking it all up
excessive	-/tɕʷɜ/	/ɐsfɨtɕʷɜn/	I eat it too much	/ɐzdʑʷɜtɕʷɜn/	I drink it too much
potential	-/fɜ/	/ɐsfɨfɜn/	I can eat it	/ɐzdʑʷɜfɜn/	I can drink it

example of Ubykh verbal aspects

		simple	habitual	iterative	exhaustive	excessive	potential
Singular	First-person	/s(ɨ)-fɨ-n/	/s(ɨ)-fɨ-gʲɜ-n/	/s(ɨ)-f-ɐj(ɨ)-n/	/s(ɨ)-fɨ-lɜ-n/	/s(ɨ)-fɨ-tɕʷɜ-n/	/s(ɨ)-fɨ-fɜ-n/
	Second-person	/wɨ-fɨ-n/	/wɨ-fɨ-gʲɜ-n/	/wɨ-f-ɐj(ɨ)-n/	/wɨ-fɨ-lɜ-n/	/wɨ-fɨ-tɕʷɜ-n/	/wɨ-fɨ-fɜ-n/
	Third-person	/ɐ-fɨ-n/	/ɐ-fɨ-gʲɜ-n/	/ɐ-f-ɐj(ɨ)-n/	/ɐ-fɨ-lɜ-n/	/ɐ-fɨ-tɕʷɜ-n/	/ɐ-fɨ-fɜ-n/
Plural	First-person	/ʃ(ɨ)-f-ɐ-n/	/ʃ(ɨ)-f-gʲ[ɜ]-ɐ-n/	/ʃ(ɨ)-f-ɐj(ɨ)-ɐ-n/	/ʃ(ɨ)-fɨ-l[ɜ]-ɐ-n/	/ʃ(ɨ)-fɨ-tɕʷ[ɜ]-ɐ-n/	/ʃ(ɨ)-fɨ-f[ɜ]-ɐ-n/
	Second-person	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-f-ɐ-n/	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-fɨ-gʲ[ɜ]-ɐ-n/	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-f-ɐj(ɨ)-ɐ-n/	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-fɨ-l[ɜ]-ɐ-n/	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-fɨ-tɕʷ[ɜ]-ɐ-n/	/ɕʷ(ɨ)-fɨ-f[ɜ]-ɐ-n/
	Third-person	/ɐ-f-ɐ-n/	/ɐ-fɨ-gʲ[ɜ]-ɐ-n/	/ɐ-f-ɐj(ɨ)-ɐ-n/	/ɐ-fɨ-l[ɜ]-ɐ-n/	/ɐ-fɨ-tɕʷ[ɜ]-ɐ-n/	/ɐ-fɨ-f[ɜ]-ɐ-n/

Mood

There are eleven distinct moods in Ubykh: indicative; direct, polite, and emphatic imperative; potential and frustrative optative; irrealis and realis conditional; binary and complex interrogative.^[1]

Indicative

There is no marker for the indicative mood.

Imperative moods

There are two forms of the imperative: a formal, more polite imperative and a direct, curt imperative.

Direct

The direct imperative is usually the omission of the singular tense marker:

/wɨkʲʼɜ/

/wɨ-kʲʼɜ/

2sABS-go

/wɨkʲʼɜ/

/wɨ-kʲʼɜ/

2sABS-go

"Go!" (sg.)

Versus in the plural:

/ɕʷɨkʲʼɜn/

/ɕʷɨ-kʲʼɜ-n/

2pABS-go-PL

/ɕʷɨkʲʼɜn/

/ɕʷɨ-kʲʼɜ-n/

2pABS-go-PL

"Go!" (pl.)

Polite

This is formed by adding a -/ɨ/ suffix to the verb root. This, however, is sometimes omitted.

Emphatic

This is formed by adding -/mɜɕ/ to the end of an imperative verb.

Optative moods

There are two forms of optative present: potential and frustrative optative.

Potential

This is formed by adding a -/χ/ suffix to the verb root or /ɐχ/ after a final /ɨ/.

Frustrative

This is formed by adding a -/dɐχ/ or -/dɜχ/.

Conditional moods

There are realis and irrealis conditionals.

Realis

This is marked with -/dɜ(n)/.

Irrealis

This is marked with -/bɜ/.

Interrogative moods

Open questions are marked with -/ɕ/ and closed questions are marked with -/j/.

Copulas of Existence

Singular		Plural		Meaning
static	dynamic	static	dynamic
/sɨ/	/w(ɨ)s/	/ʒʷɜ/	/kʲʼɜʒʷɜ/	to be in a sitting position; to be (of smaller objects)
/tʷɨ/	/w(ɨ)tʷ/	/xɜ/	/wɨxɜ/ or /kʲʼɜxɜ/	to be in a standing position; to be (of larger objects)
/ʁɨ/	/wʁʷɜ/	/ʁʲɜ/		to be suspended, to be handing
/ɬɨ/	/wɨɬ/	/ɬɜ/	/kʲʼɜɬɜ/	to be lying

Converbs

Ubykh has a liberal usage of converbs to convey complex sentences.

Converb	Meaning
/ɡʲɨ/ ~ /j(ɨ)/	Momentary action with the primary verb.
/ɕɜ/	Ongoing or continuing action with the primary verb.
/msɜ/	Similar to /ɕɜ/ but implies that the verb is continuing or prolonged in nature.
/ɡʲɨmsɜ/ ~ /j(ɨ)msɜ/	Instrumental-like connotations such as 'by means of'.
/ʃɜ/	Exclusively used with /ʁʷɜ/ ('to want') to mark that the verb is what is wanted.
/n(ɨ)/ ~ /n(ɜʁʷɜdɜ(n)/	Similar to the absolutive marker and has a sense of "X and then Y". Verbs are usually not marked with a tense when this is used.
/mɜ/	Forms a conditional or slight imperative force. Usually accompanies with Future I and Future II tenses.
/tɐlɜ/	Always accompanies Future I. Extremely rare so its nuance isn't known.
/ɐdʷɜn/	Has a sense of goal and implies that the verb it marks is required but the task was unfulfilled and has been completed.