-um-

Actor-Focus Actions with -um-

Level 1

inum → uminum, “drink”; gatang → gumatang, “buy.”

How It Works

With vowel-initial inum, prefix um- to form uminum. With consonant-initial gatang, insert -um- after g, forming gumatang. Affix labels use analytical hyphens; these complete words do not.

In personal clauses, the actor receives subject marking. Gumatangkami identifies us, excluding the addressee, as the buyers. A singular named actor takes ni. The marker has no person or gender endings.

The basic form can describe a contemplated action or give an instruction. Uminumka can mean “drink”; a future time phrase can instead locate a contemplated drinking event. Ongoing forms add copying. Learn completed counterparts with their attested spellings and variant restrictions.

Buying takes an affected item. Directional umuli, “go up,” permits a destination. Temporal and descriptive impersonal members can lack an actor. Learn this lexical distribution rather than assigning the affix to every English action word.

Examples (3)

  1. Uminumkayo iti kape.

    Drink some coffee.

    Um- precedes inum; kayo addresses several people or one person respectfully.

  2. Gumatang ni Dario ti sapatos inton bigat.

    Dario will buy shoes tomorrow.

    The marker follows initial g; the future phrase locates the contemplated purchase.

  3. Umulika idiay balay ni Elena.

    Go up to Elena's house.

    Attached ka identifies the addressee, and the following phrase supplies the destination.

How It Connects

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

-um-Level 1Actor-Focus Actions with -um-

Words in This Pattern

gumatang