Several Verbs, One Event Chain

Level 2

Several verbs occur without an intervening coordinator or clause introducer; objects can occur between them.

How It Works

In a serial construction, several verbs form a linked sequence without a conjunction or subordinate-clause marker between them. Objects can intervene: in gbé àpò wá, “bring a bag,” the bag follows the carrying verb, while wá adds motion toward a reference point. The verbs have no person or number endings. A licensed series can share a preverbal aspect frame.

Track participants across the sequence. In buying and eating, the same food can be the object of both verbs. Other constructions give verbs separate objects or make an affected participant undergo a result. Compare gbé àpò wá, bringing a bag, with gbé àpò lọ, taking it away: the final verb changes direction. These patterns do not license arbitrary strings of verbs. UD documents uncertainty about classifying some sequences as serialization or action complements; the concrete carrying and shared-food patterns here follow its supplied analyses.

Examples (3)

  1. Bísí gbé àpò náà wá.

    Bísí brought the bag.

    Wá adds motion toward the reference point.

  2. Tósìn gbé àga náà lọ.

    Tósìn took the chair away.

    Lọ adds motion away from the reference point.

  3. Wọ́n ń ra àkàrà jẹ.

    They are buying bean cakes and eating them.

    Àkàrà is shared by buying and eating; ń frames the linked activity.

How It Connects

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Several Verbs, One Event ChainLevel 2