About To: -pota / -mbota

About to: -pota

Level 2

Jahapota “we are about to go”.

How It Works

Type of wordEndingExample
oral-potajahapota “we are about to go”
nasal-mbotaasẽmbota “I am about to leave”

The ending sits right after the verb and does not change with person. The prefix shows who is about to act: asẽmbota “I”, pesẽmbota “you all”.

Add -ite to say “just about to”: ambaʼapopotaite “I am just about to work”.

Do not mix up the ending with the verb pota “want”, which is a word of its own and takes ai-: aipota “I want”. The ending is attached to a verb and never stands alone.

Examples (4)

  1. Jahapota.

    We are about to go.

    Ja- “we with you”, ha “go”, -pota “about to”.

  2. Asẽmbota.

    I am about to leave.

    Sẽ is nasal, so -pota becomes -mbota.

  3. Pesẽmbota.

    You all are about to leave.

    Pe- is for several people.

  4. Ambaʼapopotaite.

    I am just about to work.

    -ite adds “just” to -pota.

Common Mistakes

  • Using -pota after a nasal word.

    Asẽpota.
    Asẽmbota.

    Sẽ is a nasal word, so -pota becomes -mbota.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

About To: -pota / -mbotaLevel 2About to: -pota

Learn This First

The ending -pota looks ahead like -ta, but to something about to happen.

Words in This Pattern

-pota-mbotaipota-ite