| -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | 0 | 1 |
| Aspect | Direct-Inverse Marking |
Negation | Incorporated Word |
Polypersonal Particle* |
ROOT* | Question Particle |
*These portions of the VC are mandatory in all situations
| ᔓᐳᖤᖝᖤᒐᐃᕊᑎᕫᒃᐅᖤᓐᐸᖶᖕᓬᑕᐅᕊᒧᐅᖼ᙮ | |||||||
| Xū | hlō | tròi | thịc | ōn | bãng | zào | muŏ? |
| y/n | top | perf | neg | stair | 1p | climb | ques |
| Weren't we climbing the stairs? | |||||||
Inverse particle only
Below is a the basic inflection paradigm for marking the referents involved in the substance of a verb complex. The relationships expressed in the blank cells are not possible to mark with strictly polypersonal agreement. Especially in the case of the obviate, it would be ungrammatical to have that person marked as the agent with 1st and 2nd person patients.
| Transitive | 1s Patient | 1p Patient | 2 Patient | 3 Patient | 4 Patient |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1s Agent | cāo | cao | cào | ||
| 1p Agent | hı̄ | hı | hı̀ | ||
| 2 Agent | buō | buõ | buọ | ||
| 3 Agent | uẹ | uê | uē | ||
| 4 Agent | cuōng | ||||
Below are a list of the different aspects and the particles that go in the aspect slot in the the verbal complex. They are inflected for direct-inverse marking.
| Seriative xàng | Imperfective unmarked | Perfective trôi |
| Distributive quê | Continuative pun | Inchoative xọ |
| Cursive kuŏ | Habitual zuī | Stative oi |
| Prospective xuē | Potential kuòng | Punctual tung |
Add thịc
In transitive verbs, if both arguments of the verb are pronouns no nouns need to be incorporated because the language is pro-drop. If there is a direct object only, then that noun is incorporated. Modifiers of the direct object are left in their normal place. If there is an indirect object, then the indirect object is incorporated and the agent/patient are left in place. Verbs usually follow this rule, but a noun may be allowed to not incorporate into the verb to draw attention to that noun. Topics can also be incorporated by adding the topic particle into the incorporation slot. The same can be done with ngā and other connector particles as they refer to the previous clause.
Verbs can also be incorporated into the VC. This has two main uses. The first would be if there is an auxiliary construction, in which the verb is being colored by the additional verb. While the second is the verbal intensification construction for use in making the VC more semantically intense (ex. tired vs. exhausted).
[Also discuss the adverbial construction]
When nouns are incorporated they may have as little as just the root of the noun incorporated, but the noun complex's possessor and/or modifier may also be included. That means that, not only can "ball" be part of the VC (ex. "ball-tossing"), but "my blue ball" can also be in the VC ("my-blue-ball-tossing").