Mon verbs

Transitivity

    The Mon language has three different kinds of verbs: intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive.

    Intransitives

    Intransitive verbs are those that can be used without an object.
    The word order for intransitive sentences is SV (PP).

  1. Nyeh toit mo'ng.
    he sleep prog.

    'He slept.' or 'He is sleeping.'

  2. Nyeh kway mo'ng padua ka' klo pakaw.
    he walk prog. in prep [ park ]

    'He is walking in the park.'

    Transitives

    Transitive verbs are used with an object. The basic word order for transitive sentences in Mon is SVO. Examples follow:

  3. Nyeh sayn hoa7.
    He built house

    'He built the house.'

  4. Nyeh pale hoa7.
    He fix house

    'He fixed the house.'

    Exceptionally, sentences with the verb nùm 'to have, to exist' show apparent SOV order. See the section on copular and possessive sentences for more information

  5. 7ua kla' num.
    I dog have or

    Kla' 7ua num.
    dog I have

    'I have a dog.'

    Some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive.

  6. 7ua dun praw7.
    I cooked quickly

    'I cooked quickly.'

  7. 7ua dun pu'ng praw7.
    I cooked rice quickly

    "I cooked the rice quickly.'

  8. 7ua no'ngka loit.
    I study book

    'I study.'

  9. 7ua no'ngka loit inglowi.
    I study book English

    'I study English.'

    Verbs of Motion

    Certain verbs of motion are followed by the verb 7a 'go' when they take an object


  10. 7ua krip.
    I run

    'I run.'


  11. 7ua krip 7a phya.
    I run go store

    'I run to the store.'

  12. 7ua ti7 7a phya.
    I drive go store

    'I drive to the store.'

  13. 7ua 7a phya.
    I go store

    'I go to the store.'

    Ditransitives

    Ditransitive verbs take two objects which are a indirect object and a direct object, as shown in the following examples.

  14. Nyeh ka' 7ua parang tua.
    He give I gift com

    'He gave me a gift.'

    Compare these two following sentences. They show that two different orders are possible in some ditransitives.
    The word order for first sentence is S V DO IO and second one is S V IO DO(IO=indirect object, DO=direct object). These sentences are similar to dative shift in English.

  15. 7ua ka' kaw ka' mi che'n 7ua.
    I give flower to mother friend I

    'I gave flowers to my girlfriend.'

  16. 7ua ka' mi che'n 7ua kaw.
    I give mother friend I flowers

    'I gave my friend flowers.'

  17. Nyeh lèa tapa7 pa'm ka' kon nay kamalayn.
    He tell show story to child Pl.

    'He told the children a story.'

    However, this sentence is also same as 'He told a story to the children.'

    The passive

    Mon makes the passive voice with using the special verb tè'h tu'ng 'suffer' before the main verb. Passive makes the transitive verbs intransitives.

    The passive voice sentences are as follows:

  18. Mèa nyeh pye nyeh.
    Father he scold he

    'His father scolded him.'

  19. Nyeh [tè'h tu'ng] pye ka' mèa nyeh.
    he [suffer] scold prep father he

    He was scolded by his father.'

  20. Kla' kit [kon nay].
    dog bite [ child ]

    'The dog bites the child.'

  21. [Kon nay] [tè'h tu'ng] kit ka' kla'.
    [child] [suffer] bite prep dog.

    'The boy is bitten by the dog.'

  22. John che'n Mary.
    John love Mary

    'John loves Mary.'

  23. Mary [tè'h tu'ng] che'n ka' John.
    Mary [suffer] love prep John

    ' Mary is loved by John.'

    However, in Mon the passive sentence Mary tè'h tu'ng che'n ka' John. is hardly used. This is probably because the use of the passive implies a negative effect on the subject.

    Causative verbs

    The causatives express the idea of causing someone to perform the relevant action.
    English uses the verbs like make, get, let, have, and cause to express causation.

    It seems that Mon makes the causative verbs in two ways. One general way is to use the verb cika 'make' before the main verb and the other way is put a causative prefix like pa-before the verb. The latter way is only applied for a small number of verbs like 'eat,' 'sleep,' etc.

    Some verbs also show an irregular (suppletive) relationship between the non-causative and the causative. For example, che 'see' and tapah 'to show'.

    Causatives of intransitive verbs

  24. [Tè7] klu'ng phèa.
    [Younger sis.] come school

    'She comes to school.'

  25. Min cika ka' [tè7] klu'ng.
    Min make prep [younger sister] come

    'Min makes her come.'

  26. 7acha me'n [kon kway phè] kamalayn.
    teacher wait [ student ] plur

    'The teacher waits for the students.'

  27. [Kon kway phèa] kamalayn cika ka' 7acha me'n
    [student] plur make prep teacher wait

    'The students make the teacher wait.'

  28. [Kon nay] toyt mo'ng padua kare'an.
    [child] sleep prog. in cradle

    ' The child sleeps on the bed.'

  29. 7ua pa-toyt pie' [kon nay] padua ka' kare'an toa rà
    I cause-sleep down [child] in prep cradle com aff

    'I laid the child down to sleep on the bed.'

    Causatives of transitive verbs

  30. Nyeh cu loit.
    he write book

    ' He writes a letter.'

  31. 7ua cika (ka') nyeh cu loit.
    I make to he write book

    'I make him write a letter.'

  32. Min che loit.
    Min saw book

    ' Min saw the book.'

  33. 7ua tapah loit ka' Min.
    I show book to Min

    ' I showed Min the book.'

  34. 7ua tapah Min loit.
    I show Min book

    ' I showed Min's book to someone.'

    The verb cia7 has two different causatives, with slightly different meanings. The morphological causative pacia7 means 'feed', while the syntactic causative cika cia7 means 'force to eat'.

  35. [Kon nay] cia7 pyun.
    [child] eat meat

    ' The boy ate meat.'

    The word order is SVO.

  36. Nyeh pacia7 pyun ka' [kon nay].
    he feed meat prep [child]

    ' He fed the boy meat.'

  37. Nyeh cika ka' [kon nay] cia7 pyun.
    he make prep [child] eat meat

    ' He forced the boy to eat meat.'

    Causatives of ditransitive verbs

  38. 7ua cika ( ka') John cu loit ka' Min.
    I make Prep John write book Prep Min

    ' I made John write a letter to Min.'

  39. 7ua cika (ka') kla' kit kon nay.
    I make Prep. dog bite child

    'I made the dog bite the child.'