Copulas

Kaitag has three copula series, which roughly mean "to be", "to have", and "to still have".

Cheatsheet
✅	❎
is tea	is not tea
there's tea	no tea
tea left	no more tea

Glossary

	I, my
	you, your
	we
	tea
	at home
	glad/happy
	doctor
	girl/daughter
	working

1 Facts

	I, we	you (sg.)	you	he, she, it, they
present
past

The basic series corresponds to "to be" and mainly used for:

1. Stating a fact:

   • 
     I am a doctor
   • 
     you are a girl
   • 
     [that] is my tea

2. Expressing a state, often via adverbs:

   • 
     I am working
   • 
     we were glad
   • 
     daughter is at home

Attention

The form is the used for both the 2nd singular and the past.

Note

Instead of many villages use the old form with class agreement. Its application is somewhat different and we don't consider it here for simplicity.

1.1 Negation

The negative counterparts, "to be not":

	I, we	you (sg.)	you	he, she, it, they
present
past

• 
  I am not a doctor
• 
  you are not happy
• 
  [that] wasn't my car

2 Presence

	I	we	you (sg.)	you	he, she, it	they
present
past

There are two important things:

1. The copula follows class-person agreement, which you can play with using the buttons under the table. Note that 1st & 2nd person plurals always use class .
2. We add "to be" forms & to show the person & time agreement, except for the 3rd person present. The other copulas follow this as well.

We use this series for presence & possession:

• 
  [there] is a doctor
• 
  I have a daughter (i.e. there's my daughter)
• 
  [there] was tea at home

And also for additional emphasis on a particular moment:

• 
  the car is [currently] at home
• 
  we are working [right now]

2.1 Absence

The negative counterparts are irregular and have classes as well:

	I	we	you (sg.)	you	he, she, it	they
present
past

They convey absence:

• 
  you are not at home
• 
  I don't have a car
• 
  [there] was no tea at home

Note

Some villages use the variants with : , , , etc.

3 Availability

	I	we	you (sg.)	you	he, she, it	they
present
past

The third series could mean "still" or even the perfect continious tense:

• 
  we are still at home
• 
  I still have a car (i.e. my car still is)
• 
  the doctor has been working

It's negated via the regular verbal prefix :

• 
  I no longer have a car
• 
  [there] was no more tea at home

Note

In speech the prefixed form is pronounced as "ebel" due to the vowel assimilation. It happens with verbs as well.