| C. sede=CS | CS is (CC, adjective, peripheral phrase) |
| D. auxiliary V-sede | V-ing |
As a copula sede means ‘be’ and expresses identity: CS is CC; attribution: CS is adjective; assocation: CS is with ASSOCIATION=ne; and location: CS is at LOCATION=su. The CC and adjective arguments tend to come before the verb, and are not referenced within the verb phrase. The CS argument is always marked with the A set of pronominal clitics.
As an auxiliary, sede marks progressive aspect.
Sentences with sede as a main verb.
Sentences with sede as an auxiliary verb.
Sede as a copula and as an auxiliary is restricted to class I, rational animate nouns. Xunumi-Wudu has four main noun classes: class I, rational animates i.e. people, spirits, deities; class II, other animates, such as animals, trees, some natural phenomena; class III, edible and potable items, which generally also exist in class II or IV, but are marked with a different O clitic; and class IV, everything else, with subclasses.
The classes are distinguished by the use of different third person O clitics for class I, II, III, and IV. Class I A and O arguments are often tagged with deictic clitics, and these are used in place of the third person class I A and O clitics. Here is a list of all the A and O clitics:
| A clitics | O clitics | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | |
| first person | le | mi | ce | cena |
| first + second | ñe | te | ño | ñona |
| second person | di | ja | ŋa | ŋana |
| deictic here | da | dana | mo | mona |
| deictic there | sa | sana | be | bena |
| deictic yon | ke | kena | yo | yona |
| class I | ŋe | – | ||
| class II | – | ma | ||
| class III | – | go | ||
| class IV | – | nu | ||
Tomorrow: tene.