Verbs With an -i Stem

Verbs with an I Stem

Level 3

Fiiriyaa/fiirisaa and kariyaa/karisaa illustrate class two. Compare several forms of the same verb.

How It Works

Fiiri- gives fiiriyaa, fiirisaa, fiirinnaa, fiirisaan, and fiiriyaan across the ordinary agreement categories. Y separates adjacent stem and ending vowels; agreement t becomes s after i. First-person plural has nn between vowels.

Compare Waxaan kariyaa bariis, “I cook rice,” with Maryan waxay karisaa bariis, “Maryan cooks rice.” Waxaan karinnaa bariis, “We cook rice,” shows nn. Infinitive karin and progressive karinayaa retain n.

Class two also includes ee stems: sameeyaa contrasts with samaysaa/sameysaa and samayn/sameyn. Some vowel-final verbs permit class-one alternatives. Akhriyaa can have class-two akhrisaa and akhrin or class-one akhridaa and akhriyi. These are attested alternatives. An imperative or masculine present alone cannot identify the selected pattern.

Examples (4)

  1. Waxaan kariyaa bariis.

    I cook rice.

    Y separates the vowels.

  2. Maryan waxay karisaa bariis.

    Maryan cooks rice.

    Agreement t becomes s.

  3. Waxaan karinnaa bariis.

    We cook rice.

    First-person plural has nn.

  4. Waxaan karin doonaa bariis.

    I will cook rice.

    Infinitive -n precedes the future auxiliary.

How It Connects

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

Verbs With an -i StemLevel 3Verbs with an I Stem

Learn This First

Use the class inventory before learning the infinitive and inflection patterns of -i stems.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

akhri