Four ways to make a sentence without a verb
Welcome to B2. B1 worked through the verb; this tier works through everything above it — starting with sentences that have no verb at all.
Kapampangan has no copula. What it has instead is four distinct non-verbal predication types, and knowing which one you are looking at tells you what the sentence is doing.
Beginner lesson 10 and its correction gave you the core. Forman's full statement:
| Meaning | Form | Takes |
|---|---|---|
| BE — exists in space | ati | the special pronouns yu, lu in the third person |
| HAVE — possession | atin | the regular short pronouns plus the -ng linker |
| Both are negated by ala. | ||
Ante i Tatang? — Where is Father?
Ati ne i Ima. — Mother is here now.
Ati yu keni king mula. — She's here now in the yard.
Ala yu. — She's not here.
Atin yang barong Tagalog. — He has a barong Tagalog.
Ala ya pang sapatus. — He doesn't have shoes yet.
I Jun, ala ya pang asawa. — As for Jun, he has no wife yet.
Ala kami. — We have none.
In questions, nukarin/nu or anta/ante substitute for ati — and Forman notes that anta/ante is limited to moveable objects. A distinction English does not draw at all.
There are two further HAVE constructions. One uses mika-:
Mikaapat ta palang pesus. — To our surprise we have four pesos.
Metung man alang makipanyu. — None of them has a handkerchief.
Dakal ya bie i Juan. — Juan has many lives.
The bare pattern Noun Phrase + Noun Phrase. The second is always ing-marked; the first is ing-marked only if it is specific.
Kutseru ya i Mandong. — Mandong is a rig driver.
Kusinera ya i Rita. — Rita is a cook.
Kang Karmen ing manika. — The doll is Carmen's.
Ing kang Karmen ing manika. — The doll is the one Carmen has.
Those last two differ by one ing, and the difference is specificity.
Forman notes the identificational predication has a durative, characteristic meaning, while the ati construction implies a specific time or place. Being a cook is what Rita is; being in the yard is where she happens to be.
Negatives use aliwa ("other") or the preclitic e-; or ali can stand in for the whole predicate.
Saging la? — Are they bananas?
Ali la. — No, they're not.
E la asan den. — Those aren't fish.
Predications of quality and quantity — the ma- adjectives doing predicate work.
Masipag ya i Lina. — Lina is hard-working.
Obat malungkut ka? — Why are you sad?
Mapagselos kung talagang ngeni. — I'm really jealous now.
Manong itang gewa na. — What he did was improper.
Madagul ya busbus ing saku. — The sack has a big hole.
And the maka- descriptives from lesson 8 belong here too — Forman files them under this heading, which is why lesson 8 followed his framing rather than calling them potentives.
Here is something that surprises learners: descriptives inflect.
With past tense, ma- becomes me- — the a → e change yet again:
Melulut no retang mangga. — Those mangoes have become ripe.
Mesiasi tang linutu na. — What she cooked has hardened now.
Melukung ya itang plastik. — The piece of plastic got curved.
Mebagsik ne itang asu ku. — My dog has become fierce.
With number, a manga- / menga- element appears:
Mangatako lang anda deng taung den. — Those people there are all greedy.
Mangataram la ding gagamitan dang kampit. — The knives they are using are sharp.
Mengalilyu la uling e la mamangan maskinanu.
They got dizzy because they didn't eat anything.
Mengalalam la ding sapa keni. — The brooks get deep here.
So a Kapampangan adjective can carry tense and number — two things English adjectives never do.
"Adjective" is a convenient label that has been quietly misleading you since beginner lesson 15. These words take aspect-like marking, number marking and complements, and they head predications on their own.
Forman's term is descriptive, and it is better. They are closer to a kind of verb than to an English adjective.
Write existential, identificational or descriptive.
Why does Kapampangan need four types? It does not "need" them — this is Forman's classification of what the language does. The value is that each type behaves differently under negation and questioning.
Is aliwa common? Reasonably. Ali standing for the whole predicate is commoner in speech.
Do all descriptives inflect for tense? Not all, but enough that you should expect me- forms and not read them as unknown words.
A large fraction of everyday sentences have no verb. Being able to classify them tells you immediately how to negate them, how to question them, and whether they describe a permanent characteristic or a passing situation.
Next: The Lexical Particles in Depth — the small words that carry most of the attitude in Kapampangan.