Siwa

Conjugate Verbs

Facts

  • Language: Siwa
  • Alternate names: Oasis Berber, Sioua, Siwi, Zenati
  • Language code: siz
  • Language family: Afro-Asiatic, Berber, Greater Zenatic, Libyan-Egyptian Oases Berber
  • Number of speakers: 30000
  • Vulnerability: Vulnerable [Read more...]
  • Script:

More information:

    Introduction

    Siwi is the easternmost Berber language, spoken in Egypt by an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people in the oases of Siwa and Gara, near the Libyan border.

    The Siwa Verb

    Siwa verbs agree in person, number, and (when singular) gender with their subjects and their indirect objects, and take suffixes marking pronominal objects.

    Siwa verbs are also marked for aspect and mood. The basic stem is used in the imperative and in the irrealis/aorist. The perfective form is identical to the stem for most verbs, but in a few is marked by a variable suffixed vowel. The imperfective is formed from the stem by a variety of morphological strategies, including gemination of the second consonant, t prefixation, and insertion of an a.