Serial Aspect With ti / ń

One Time Frame Across Several Verbs

Level 5

Subject + ti or ń + first verb + remaining serial material.

How It Works

A serial predicate can share an aspect marker before its first verb. With gbé … wá, ti presents bringing as completed relative to the reference point. Ń presents an ongoing or imperfective situation; context supplies its time interpretation. Neither verb acquires an agreement ending, and the aspect marker need not be repeated before wá.

Compare Délé ti gbé bàtà wá, “Délé has brought the shoes,” with Délé ń gbé bàtà wá, “Délé is bringing the shoes.” The ongoing version does not assert completed arrival. A buying-and-eating series can likewise share one marker and one food object. Shared aspect does not require all component actions to occur simultaneously. Separate clauses may carry separate aspect frames, so establish the licensed event relationship before treating adjacent verbs as a single serial predicate.

Examples (3)

  1. Délé ti gbé bàtà wá.

    Délé has brought the shoes.

    Ti frames the linked bringing event as completed.

  2. Délé ń gbé bàtà wá.

    Délé is bringing the shoes.

    Ń does not assert completed arrival.

  3. Àwọn ọmọ ń ra ẹran jẹ.

    The children are buying meat and eating it.

    The verbs share the imperfective frame and meat participant.

How It Connects

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Serial Aspect With ti / ńLevel 5One Time Frame Across Several Verbs

Learn This First

A licensed serial predicate can share one aspect marker.