32.1. Object pronouns (subject in control): ET verbs
Singular | Plural | |||
1 | ‑S | ‘me’ | ‑OL¸W̱ | ‘us’ |
2 | ‑SE | ‘you’ | ‑SE HÁLE | ‘you folks’ |
3 | Æ | ‘him, her, it’ | Æ | ‘them’ |
Models
1) | ȻENÁṈES SW̱. | ‘You help me.’ |
2) | ȻENÁṈES SW̱ HÁLE. | ‘You (pl.) help me.’ |
3) | ȻENÁṈETO̱LW SW̱. | ‘You help us.’ |
4) | ȻENÁṈETOḺW SW̱ HÁLE. | ‘You (pl.) help us.’ |
5) | ȻENÁṈESE SEN. | ‘I help you.’ |
6) | ȻENÁṈESE ȽTE. | ‘We help you.’ |
7) | ȻENÁṈESE SEN HLE. | ‘I help you (pl.).’ |
8) | ȻENÁṈESE ȽTE HLE. | ‘We help you (pl.).’ |
9) | ȻENÁṈET SEN. | ‘I help him/her/it/them.’ |
10) | ȻENÁṈET ȽTE. | ‘We help him/her/it/them.’ |
11) | ȻENÁṈET SW̱. | ‘You help him/her/it/them.’ |
12) | ȻENÁṈET SW̱ HÁLE. | ‘You (pl.) help him/her/it/them.’ |
13) | ȻENÁṈESES. | ‘He/she/it/they help me.’ |
14) | ȻENÁṈET¸OḺWES. | ‘He/she/it/they help us.’ |
15) | ȻENÁṈETES. | ‘He/she/it/they help him/her/it/them.’ |
‣ 1 The models here show the first set of object suffixes. In this set the ‘me’ and ‘you’ objects have an S, so we will call this the S-set of objects.
‣ 2 There are basically two sets of object suffixes: the S-set and the Ṉ-set. The ‑ET transitivizer takes the S-set of objects. There are several other transitivizing suffixes in SENĆOŦEN; some take the S-set, and some take the Ṉ-set. See §36.2 for another transitivizer that takes the S-set.
‣ 3 The final ‑ET of ȻENÁṈET ‘help’ is the control transitive suffix. The idea of ‘control’ in SENĆOŦEN grammar has been mentioned in §8.1, §13, and §17. See the introduction to this section (§32) for a summary of the idea of ‘control’ in SENĆOŦEN grammar.
‣ 4 The final T of the ‑ET is the control marker. If it is followed by ‑S, the ‑T is dropped. If it is followed by nothing, the object is an understood ‘him,’ ‘her,’ ‘it,’ or ‘them.’
‣ 5 Note that the ‘us’ suffix, ‑OL¸W̱, is always stressed. The other object suffixes to not affect the word stress.
‣ 6 Note that HÁLE makes the ‘you’ plural when ‘you’ is the subject, as in models 2, 4, and 11. HÁLE also makes the ‘you’ plural when it is the object, as in models 7 and 8. Whether marking ‘you’ plural as subject or object, the HÁLE always appears after the subject.
‣ 7 Notice that there is no example given for ‘he/she/it/they help you.’ A special construction is needed when a third person (him/her/it/they) is acting on a second person (you). To express such sentences, SENĆOŦEN uses the passive construction. The passive is introduced in §7.2 and §8.1. It is discussed in detail in §33. Here we will just show the basic pattern:
ȻENÁṈETEṈ SW̱. ‘He/she/it/they help you.’ (‘You were helped.’)
‣ 8 While all L1 native speaking elders recognize S-set objects when they occur in speech, some of the youngest speakers do not use the S-set. Instead they use the Ṉ-set, which is covered in the next section.
![]() | U¸ ÍY¸ E SW̱? | ‘Are you okay?’ |
![]() | EWE! ȻENÁṈES ĆE! | ‘No! Help me!’ |
![]() | ȻENÁṈESE SEN SE¸. | ‘I will help you.’ |
![]() | HÍ SW̱ KE! | ‘Thank you!’ |
32.1A. Translate each into English. 1. XĆIS ȽTE. 2. QENETOL¸W̱ E SW̱? 3. QENESE SEN LÁ¸E ¸E TŦE SOȽ. 4. ȻENET ȽTE SE¸. | 32.1B. Translate each into SENĆOŦEN. 1. I know you. 2. You helped us. 3. Did you look at us? 4. Will you wake me? |