Being in a state rather than doing an action — and where kapatad comes from
So far every predication you have met describes an action and picks which participant is in focus. Stative predications do something different: they say the ing-marked referent is in a certain state.
marked by mi- or ka-
(also the circumfixes mi- … -an and ka- … -an)
+ an ing-marked noun phrase that is in that state
Most roots take one or the other. A few take both, and then the meanings diverge — with ka- usually carrying a causative sense.
Mirinan ding malan makasable. — The clothes hanging up got dirt on them.
Miabuan ye ing babi. — The pig got ashes on it.
Ika ing misasakitan. — You are the one who will suffer.
Mipatanan ya king pun ning mangga. — He was struck by the mango tree.
Mialbugan kami king Maliualu. — We were in Maliualu when sunset came.
Miaralan ka king amanu ning Dios. — You are schooled in the word of God.
Istung milamnan ka, sinulapo ka. — When you are filled up, you fly away.
Notice how many of these come out in English as passives — "got dirt on them," "was struck," "are schooled." That is an artefact of English. In Kapampangan they are not passives; they are statements that something is in a condition.
Where a root takes both prefixes, the contrast is sharp. Forman's example is takut, "fear":
| Form | Sense | Example |
|---|---|---|
| katakutan | causative — frightens someone | Obat katakutan ye ing timbabalak? Why does the lizard frighten you? |
| mitakutan | stative — becomes frightened | E ka mainge, pota mitakutan ya. Don't make noise, or he'll get frightened. |
More ka- statives:
Kebengian ya keng dalan. — He was overtaken by night on the road.
Kedagulan ne ing imalan na. — He got too big for his clothes.
Katubasan deng kamatis nung e me agad agtalan.
The tomatoes will get overripe if you don't pick them right away.
Kayabyayan daka. — We give and get from you.
Kebengian is worth a second look. It is ka- + bengi ("night") + -an, with the a → e change from lesson 4. "To be nighted" — English has no such verb, though it once did.
Here is something Kapampangan does that will surprise you: for some roots, the mi- forms inflect for number.
| Form | How many | Example |
|---|---|---|
| kapate | the one you do it with | Atin kung metung a kapate. There is one person I fight with. |
| mipate | two | Adua lang mipate. The two of them fight each other. |
| mipapate | three or more | Atlu lang mipapate. The three of them fight one another. |
Reduplication marks the plural: mipate against mipapate. The same device you have seen marking aspect is here marking number.
Bisa kang mibarilan kata? — Do you want us to shoot each other?
mi- and ka- combine to express relationships — and this is where a word you learned in your first week comes from.
Beginner lesson 7 gave you kapatad, "sibling," as a plain vocabulary item. It is not plain. It is the same ka- relationship construction as kapate, "the one I fight with."
Forman lists it alongside tata, inda, bapa and dara as terms built on relationships. A sibling, structurally, is "the one you are co-something with."
The same ka- turns up in kaluguran (from lugud, "love") and kapitbale (from bale, "house"). Beginner vocabulary, intermediate morphology.
Forman gives a long list of roots that behave this way, including kumbira, ambun, bulad, dalig, gulis, sulat, uran, sipun, lumut and kutang.
Write mitakutan or katakutan.
Is a stative the same as a passive? No. Passives rearrange who is in focus while keeping an action. Statives say something is in a condition. English often translates them alike, which is misleading.
How do I know whether a root takes mi- or ka-? Lexically, as usual. Where a root takes both, expect ka- to be causative.
Do all mi- forms inflect for number? No — Forman says "some roots." The reciprocal ones are where you will meet it.
Statives cover a large slice of everyday description — being tired, dirty, caught out, rained on, frightened. And the ka- relationship pattern retroactively explains a handful of the most basic words in the language.
Next: Recent Completion with ka- — a whole predication type for "just happened."