| A. kadde=S | S act, do a task |
| B. kadde-kadde=A=O | A help O |
Kadde is an intransitive verb meaning ‘act, do something, perform a task, work’, with the person or thing acting as the subject. The task or action is not named as an object. If it must be specified, it would be marked with ne. A companion would also be marked with ne. A beneficiary of the action can be marked with du.
Kadde can incorporate nouns that specify the type of task. Jede-kadde ‘do a game, play’ is common. Here a companion in play is marked with ne. In contrast, a co-locution like gehe kadde, which could be interpreted as ‘behave’ is not considered to be a verb phrase, as gehe here really modifies the entire clause ‘act well’.
The reduplicated form kadde-kadde specifically means ‘help’ and is transitive. The task one is helping O with would be marked with du.
Kadde and kadde-kadde take all the appropriate auxiliaries. Additionally, the form kadde-seje ‘finish a task’ is attested in addition to the expected kadde-tetta ‘stop or finish a task’.
The derivation of kadde is unknown.
Tomorrow: deme and tello.