Bikol/Grammar

Verbs

Verb Classes

Bikol verbs may be transitive or intransitive.

Intransitive Verbs

Intransitive verbs take one affix, «-mag», which places the focus of attention in the sentence on the actor of the verb.

• luwás<vblex><inf><subj> ↔ nagluwás
• pulí<vblex><inf><subj> ↔ nagpulí
• digdí<vblex><inf><subj> ↔ nagdigdí

Transitive Verbs

Transitive verbs can also take the affix «-mag» to focus attention on the actor.

• sublí<vblex><inf><subj> ↔ nagsublí

But, transitive verbs can take a second affix, either «-on», «i-», or «-an», to place the focus on the object, the receiver of the action.

• «-on» is the largest class of bases. Note: When a suffix is added to a verb base, the stress of the word moves one syllable toward the end of the word.
  • sublí<vblex><inf> ↔ sublión
  • apód<vblex><inf> ↔ apodón
• Verb bases in the «i-» class often show an action away from the speaker. This is the affix used on the transitive versions of intransitive verbs.
  • hatód<vblex><inf> ↔ ihatód
  • luwás<vblex><inf> ↔ iluwás
• «-an» works much in the same way as «-on». Note: When a verb base ends in a vowel, an h is added to the base before the suffix.
  • ibá<vblex><inf> ↔ ibahán
  • será<vblex><inf> ↔ serahán

Verb Tenses

Bikol has three tenses: past tense, progressive tense (used for both present and habitual action), and future tense. It also has a form that is used for both the infinitive and the command tenses. From now on, I will simply call this the infinitive tense.

Infinitive Tense

The infinitive is created by placing the affix indicating the verb class onto the base.

• «-on» class
  • apód<vblex><inf> ↔ apodón
  • gíbo<vblex><inf> ↔ gibóhon
• «i-» class
  • ulí<vblex><inf> ↔ iulí
  • taó<vblex><inf> ↔ itaó
• «-an» class
  • imbitár<vblex><inf> ↔ imbitarán
  • hugás<vblex><inf> ↔ hugásan

Future Tense

The future tense is composed by taking the infinitive of each word class and reduplicating the first syllable of the verb base.

• «-on» class
  • apód<vblex><fti> ↔ áapodón
  • gíbo<vblex><fti> ↔ gigibóhon
• «i-» class
  • ulí<vblex><fti> ↔ iúulí
  • taó<vblex><fti> ↔ itátaó
• «-an» class
  • imbitár<vblex><fti> ↔ iímbitarán
  • hugás<vblex><fti> ↔ huhugásan

Past Tense

The past tense is built upon the infinitive form. (1) If the base begins with a vowel, the affix «-in-» is prefixed to the base. (2) If the base begins with a consonant, the affix «-in-» is infixed between the first consonant and the first vowel of the base.

• «i-» class
  • ulí<vblex><past> ↔ iínulí
  • taó<vblex><past> ↔ itínaó
• «-an» class
  • imbitár<vblex><past> ↔ inímbitarán
  • hugás<vblex><past> ↔ hinugásan
• «-on» class: This class is an exception. When the past tense affix is added to the base, the infinitive suffix is removed and the stress returns to its normal base position.
  • apód<vblex><past> ↔ inapód
  • sublí<vblex><past> ↔ sinublí

Progressive Tense

The progressive tense is formed by taking the future form and either prefixing or infixing (depending on whether the base begins with a vowel or a consonant) the affix «-in-» within or before the reduplicated syllable.

• «i-» class
  • ulí<vblex><pres> ↔ iinúulí
  • taó<vblex><pres> ↔ itinátaó
• «-an» class
  • imbitár<vblex><pres> ↔ inímbitarán
  • hugás<vblex><pres> ↔ hínuhugásan
• «-on» class: This class is an exception. As with the past tense, when the «-in-» affix is added to form the progressive tense, the suffix «-on» is dropped.
  • apód<vblex><pres> ↔ ináapód
  • sublí<vblex><pres> ↔ sinúsublí

Alternate Command Form

As was discussed earlier, the infinitive form of the verb can be used as a command. However, this only applies when the pronoun is stated. When the pronoun is not stated, the alternate command form is used. This is created by adding a suffix which depends on the class of the verb.

• «i-» class: adds the suffix «-an», or «-han» if the verb base ends in a vowel
  • bugták<vblex><imp> ↔ bugtakán
  • abut<vblex><imp> ↔ abután
• «-an» class: adds the suffix «-i», or «-hi» if the verb base ends in a vowel
  • námit<vblex><imp> ↔ namíti
  • probár<vblex><imp> ↔ probarí
• «-on» class: adds the suffix «-a», or «-ha» if the verb base ends in a vowel
  • hilíng<vblex><imp> ↔ hilingá
  • sábi<vblex><imp> ↔ sabíha

Pluralizing Verbs

Verbs are pluralized by placing after the first syllable of the verb base a syllable consisting of «r-» plus the vowel that appears in the first syllable of the base. Pluralization can be used to indicate the plurality of the object of the verb as in "I bought a pencil" --> "I bought pencils", or to pluralize the subject as in "He walked to the market" --> "They walked to the market". There is no morphological distinction between these two forms of pluralization.

• Pluralization of the object:
  • binakál<vblex><pl> ↔ binarakál
  • pinundó<vblex><pl> ↔ pinurundó
• If the base verb begins with an L, then the plural infix is prefixed to the base.
  • naglakáw<vblex><pl> ↔ nagralakáw

Repeated Action

To express a repeated action, the affix «pára-» is used. This roughly translates to "he keeps doing it".

Nominal Series: Occupation Forms

The prefix «pára-» can be added to a verb base to create an occupational form. These nouns refer to a person who keeps doing the action contained in the verb base (as for a job).

• kantá<vblex><n><aa> ↔ párakánta (sing --> singer)
• tahí<vblex><n><aa> ↔ páratáhi (sew --> taylor/ seamstress)

General Nominal «pang-»

The prefix «pang-» can be added to certain verb bases to form nouns. The meaning conveyed with these nouns is that their sole function is for the action of the verb base from which they are derived.

• • sipít<vblex><n> ↔ pansipít (fasten --> clothes pin): Saín mo ibinugták an pansipít = Where did you put the clothes pin?
  • híke<vblex><n> ↔ panhíke (hike --> hiking (shoes)): Panghíke an sapátos na iní = These are hiking shoes.

Adjectives

Adjective Phrase

The adjective phrase is composed of two parts: an adjective affix and an adjective base. The adjective phrase may consist of a single word or a series of words.

There are three kinds of adjective bases.

• Those which take the «ma-» affix
  • gayón<adj><sg> ↔ magayón
  • sirám<adj><sg> ↔ masirám
• Those which take the «ha-» affix (usually words related to height, length, and depth)
  • langkáw<adj><sg> ↔ halangkáw
  • rárom<adj><sg> ↔ harárom
• Those which take no affix (including but not limited to colors and numbers)
  • pulá<adj><sg> ↔ pulá
  • duwá<adj><sg> ↔ duwá

Superlatives

Superlatives are formed by placing the prefix «pináka-» in front of the adjective phrase (which includes its adjective affix).

• «ma-» class
  • gayón<adj><sg><sup> ↔ pinákamagayón
• «ha-» class
  • langkáw<adj><sg><sup> ↔ pinákahalangkáw
• «∅-» class
  • dakúla<adj><sg><sup> ↔ pinákadakúla

Pluralizing Adjectives

There are two ways to pluralize adjectives, depending on their prefixes.

• If the adjectives takes the prefix «ha-» or no prefix, the plural is formed the same way as in verbs (by placing after the first syllable of the verb base a syllable consisting of «r-» plus the vowel that appears in the first syllable of the base).
  • langkáw<adj><pl> ↔ haralangkáw
  • dakúla<adj><pl> ↔ darakúla
• If the adjectives requires the «ma-» prefix, then the plural is formed by reduplicating the first syllable of the verb base.
  • gayón<adj><pl> ↔ magagayón

Verbs from Adjective Bases

When using an adjective base as a verb, one adds the prefix «mag-». This then makes the word act as an intransitive verb base.

• dakúla<adj><vblex> ↔ nagdakúla (big --> grew big)
• asgád<adj><vblex> ↔ nagasgád (salty --> became salty)