# Komi grammar

This article deals with the grammar of the Komi language of the northeastern European part of Russia (the article "Komi language" discusses the language in general and contains a quick overview of the language.)

## Pronouns

Komi pronouns are inflected much in the same way that nouns are. However, personal pronouns are usually only inflected in the grammatical cases and cannot be inflected in the locative cases.

### Personal pronouns

Komi personal pronouns inflect in the grammatical cases and the approximative case. Personal pronouns in the nominative case are listed in the following table:
Personal pronouns :
| Komi | English |
| Singular ||
| ме | I |
| тэ | you |
| сійӧ | he/she/it |
| Plural ||
| ми | we |
| ті | you |
| найӧ | they |

## Nominals

As with other languages in the Uralic family, Komi does not encode grammatical gender. Nouns and personal pronouns make no gender distinction; сійӧ/sijö means both 'he' and 'she', depending on the referent.

### Cases

Komi has seventeen noun cases: nine core grammatical cases and eight locative cases. The locative cases are usually only used with inanimate references with the exception of the elative, terminative, approximative and egressive cases. There is no difference in the meaning of the translative and prolative cases.
Komi cases :
| Case | Suffix | English prep. | Example | Translation |
| Core grammatical cases |||||
| nominative | – | - | керка | house |
| genitive | -лӧн | of / 's | керкалӧн | of a house / house's |
| accusative | -ӧс | - | керкаӧс | house (as an object) |
| ablative | -лысь | from | керкалысь | from a house |
| dative | -лы | to/for | керкалы | to a house |
| instrumental | -ӧн | with/by means of | керкаӧн | by means of a house |
| comitative | -кӧд | with/accompanied by | керкакӧд | with a house |
| caritive | -тӧг | without | керкатӧг | without a house |
| consecutive | -ла | gone/come for | керкала | for a house |
| Locative cases |||||
| inessive | -ын | in | керкаын | in a house |
| illative | -ӧ | into | керкаӧ | into a house |
| elative | -ысь | from | керкаысь | from a house |
| translative | -ті | along | керкаті | along a house |
| prolative | -ӧд | along | керкаӧд | along a house |
| terminative | -ӧдз | end up | керкаӧдз | end up at a house |
| approximative | -лань | towards | керкалань | towards a house |
| egressive | -сянь | starting from | керкасянь | starting from a house |

#### Stem extension

Preceding suffixes that start with a vowel, nouns may use an extended stem.
Nouns ending in в often change this consonant to л, e.g. ныв ("girl") → нылыс ("his/her girl").
Some nouns ending in дз, дь and ль undergo gemination, e.g.:
    видз ("lawn") → виддзыд ("your lawn");
    додь ("sled") → доддьыс ("his sled");
    куль ("demon") → кулльысь ("from a demon").
Another group of nouns undergoes epenthesis, e.g.:
    пон ("dog") → понйыс ("his/her dog");
    ун ("dream") → унмӧн ("by means of a dream");
    ош ("bear") → ошкысь ("from a bear");
    гӧп ("puddle") → гӧптын ("in a puddle");
    кыв ("language") → кывйын ("his/her language").

#### Personal pronouns

The declension of personal pronouns is quite systematic as well:
Komi personal pronoun declensions :
| Case | 1st pers. sing. | 2nd pers. sing. | 3rd pers. sing. | 1st pers. pl | 2nd pers. pl. | 3rd pers pl. |
| nominative | ме | тэ | сійӧ | ми | ті | найӧ |
| genitive | менам | тэнад | сылӧн | миян | тіян | налӧн |
| accusative | менӧ | тэнӧ | сійӧс | миянӧс | тіянӧс | найӧс |
| ablative | менсьым | тэнсьыд | сылысь | миянлысь | тіянлысь | налысь |
| dative | меным | тэныд | сылы | миянлы | тіянлы | налы |
| instrumental | меӧн | тэӧн | сыӧн | миянӧн | тіянӧн | наӧн |
| comitative | мекӧд | тэкӧд | сыкӧд | миянкӧд | тіянкӧд | накӧд |
| caritive | метӧг | тэтӧг | сытӧг | миянтӧг | тіянтӧг | натӧг |
| consecutive | мела | тэла | сыла | миянла | тіянла | нала |
| elative | меысь | тэысь | сыысь | миянысь | тіянысь | наысь |
| terminative | меӧдз | тэӧдз | сыӧдз | миянӧдз | тіянӧдз | наӧдз |
| approximative | мелань | тэлань | сылань | миянлань | тіянлань | налань |
| egressive | месянь | тэсянь | сысянь | миянсянь | тіянсянь | насянь |

### Plural

There are two types of nominal plurals in Komi. One is the plural for nouns -яс (with the exception of -ян in пиян, "the sons / boys" and -ана/-яна in words ending on -анин/-янин, e.g. зыряна, "Zyrians") and the other is the plural for adjectives -ӧсь.

#### Nominal plural

In attributive plural phrases, the noun is always in plural, while the adjective is not required to be in the plural:
Attributive plural :
| Komi | English |
| мича(ӧсь) нывъяс | (the) beautiful girls |
The plural marker always comes before other endings (i.e. cases and possessive suffixes) in the morphological structure of plural nominal.
Morphological order :
| Komi | English |
| нывъяслы | to the girls |
Since -яс, -ян and -яна start with a soft vowel, they may be preceded by either a hard sign (ъ) or a soft sign (ь), depending on the preceding letter:
Morphological order :
| Komi | English |
| ва; ваяс | water; waters |
| ун; унъяс | dream; dreams |
| лӧдз; лӧдзьяс | horsefly; horseflies |

#### Predicative plural

As in Hungarian, if the subject is plural, the adjective is always plural when it functions as the sentence's predicative:
Attributive plural :
| Komi | English |
| нывъяс мичаӧсь | the girls are beautiful |
| керкаяс ыджыдӧсь | the houses are big |

### Possessive suffixes
#### Nominal possessive suffixes

Komi possessive suffixes are added to the end of nouns either before or after a case ending. The possessive suffixes vary in the nominative and accusative cases and with case endings.
Nominative possessive suffix :
| Suffix ending | Komi | English |
| -ӧй | ёртӧй | my friend |
| -ыд | ёртыд | your friend |
| -ыс | ёртыс | his/her friend |
| -ным | ёртным | our friend |
| -ныд | ёртныд | your (pl) friend |
| -ныс | ёртныс | their friend |

#### Accusative possessive suffixes

Accusative possessive suffixes are shown in the following table. Note that the possessive of the first person in the accusative matches the simple accusative.
Accusative possessive suffix :
| Suffix ending | Komi | English |
| -ӧс | ёртӧс | my friend |
| -тӧ | ёрттӧ | your friend |
| -сӧ | ёртсӧ | his/her friend |
| -нымӧс | ёртнымӧс | our friend |
| -нытӧ | ёртнытӧ | your (pl) friend |
| -нысӧ | ёртнысӧ | their friend |

## Verbs

Komi infinitives are marked with -ны. as in мунны, 'to go'. Some infinitives have a so called connecting vowel ы which is dropped in the verbal stem when affixing, for example, a personal ending such as in the verb велӧдчыны ‘to study’ → велӧдча 'I study'.
There is one phoneme which undergoes consonant gradation when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel. This change is в → л as in овны ‘to live’ → олан ‘you live’. Another exception is the verb локны, which has an epenthetic [t] added before a suffix beginning with a vowel, e.g. локтан ‘you come’.
The indicative mood has four tenses: present, future and two past tenses. In addition, there are four past tense structures which include auxiliary verbs. Verbs are negated by use of an auxiliary negative verb that conjugates with personal endings. Separate personal pronouns are not required in verb phrases.

### Present tense

The verbal personal markers in the Komi present tense are:
Personal endings of verbs :
| Person | Ending | Ending |
| | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | -а | -ам |
| 2nd | -ан | -анныд |
| 3rd | -ӧ | -ӧны |
Present tense :
| Person | уджавны | English |
| Singular |||||
| 1st | уджала | I work |
| 2nd | уджалан | you work |
| 3rd | уджалӧ | he/she works |
| Plural |||||
| 1st | уджалам | we work |
| 2nd | уджаланныд | you work |
| 3rd | уджалӧны | they work |
The negative indicative present is formed by the auxiliary о- negative verb and the verbal stem in the first person and with -ӧй in the first and second person plural and -ны in the third person plural.
The negative verb conjugates with the ending -г in first person, -н in the second person and -з in the third person. The first and second person plural is marked with -ӧ.
Present tense negative :
| Person | уджавны | English |
| Singular |||||
| 1st | ог уджав | I do not work |
| 2nd | он уджав | you do not work |
| 3rd | оз уджав | he/she does not work singing |
| Plural |||||
| 1st | огӧ уджалӧй | we do not work |
| 2nd | онӧ уджалӧй | you (pl) do not work |
| 3rd | оз уджавны | they do not work |

### Future tense

The affirmative and negative future tense in Komi is basically the same as in the present with the exception of the third person in the affirmative, ending in -ас (singular) and -асны (plural):
| уджалас | he/she will work |
| уджаласны | they will work |

### Past tense

The conventionally used designations preterite and perfect are used with denotations which are divergent from their usual meanings in the grammar of other languages.

#### Preterite I

The first preterite can be compared with the simple past in English. Preterite I is marked with і/и.
Preterite I :
| Person | уджавны | English |
| Singular |||||
| 1st | уджалі | I worked |
| 2nd | уджалін | you worked |
| 3rd | уджаліс | he/she worked |
| Plural |||||
| 1st | уджалім | we worked |
| 2nd | уджалінныд | you worked |
| 3rd | уджалісны | they worked |
The negative preterite I is formed by the auxiliary э- negative verb with the same personal endings as in present tense. The main verb is the same as in the present tense
Preterite I negative :
| Person | уджавны | English |
| Singular |||||
| 1st | эг уджав | I did not work |
| 2nd | эн уджав | you did not work |
| 3rd | эз уджав | he/she did not work |
| Plural |||||
| 1st | эгӧ уджалӧй | we did not work |
| 2nd | энӧ уджалӧй | you did not work |
| 3rd | эз уджавны | they did not work |

#### Preterite II

The second preterite is a past tense with an evidentiality distinction. It can be compared to the English perfect in which the speaker did not personally observe the past event. The preterite II is marked with -ӧм-, which is historically related to the third infinitive in Finnish.
Preterite II :
| Person | уджавны | English |
| Singular |||||
| 1st | уджалӧма | I evidently worked |
| 2nd | уджалӧмыд | you evidently worked |
| 3rd | уджалӧма | he/she evidently worked |
| Plural |||||
| 1st | уджалӧмаӧсь | we evidently worked |
| 2nd | уджалӧманыд | you evidently worked |
| 3rd | уджалӧмаӧсь/уджалӧмны | they evidently worked |
The negative preterite II is formed by including the auxiliary copular negative verb абу 'is not', e.g. абу уджалӧма (I have evidently not worked), абу уджалӧмыд (you have evidently not worked) etc.

#### Auxiliary past tenses

There are four past tenses in Komi which use a preterite form of the main verb and a preterite form of the auxiliary verb 'to be'.

##### Preterite III

The Komi preterite III makes use of the main verb in the present tense and the auxiliary вӧлі, 'was' in third person singular, in simple past. The pluperfect I tense expresses a continuation of action that has happened in the (distant) past.
Preterite III :
| Person | уджавны | English |
| Singular |||||
| 1st | вӧлі уджала | I was working |
| 2nd | вӧлі уджалан | you were working |
| 3rd | вӧлі уджалӧ | he/she was working |
| Plural |||||
| 1st | вӧлі уджалам | we were working |
| 2nd | вӧлі уджаланныд | you were working |
| 3rd | вӧлі уджалӧны | they were working |
The negative preterite III is formed by including the auxiliary copular verb вӧлі ‘was' with the main verb in the present negative.
Preterite III negative :
| Person | уджавны | English |
| Singular |||||
| 1st | вӧлі ог уджав | I was not working |
| 2nd | вӧлі он уджав | you were not working |
| 3rd | вӧлі оз уджав | he/she was not working |
| Plural |||||
| 1st | вӧлі огӧ уджалӧй | we was not working |
| 2nd | вӧлі онӧ уджалӧй | you were not working |
| 3rd | вӧлі оз уджавны | they were not working |

##### Preterite IV

The Komi preterite IV (pluperfect) makes use of the main verb in the preterite II form and the auxiliary вӧлі, 'was' in third person singular, in simple past. The preterite IV tense expresses an evidently completed action that has happened in the (distant) past.
Preterite IV :
| Person | уджавны | English |
| Singular |||||
| 1st | вӧлі уджалӧма | I have evidently worked |
| 2nd | вӧлі уджалӧмыд | you have evidently worked |
| 3rd | вӧлі уджалӧма | he/she has evidently worked |
| Plural |||||
| 1st | вӧлі уджалӧмаӧсь | we have evidently worked |
| 2nd | вӧлі уджалӧманыд | you have evidently worked |
| 3rd | вӧлі уджалӧмаӧсь/уджалӧмны | they have evidently worked |
The negative preterite IV is formed by including the auxiliary copular negative verb абу 'is not', e.g. вӧлі абу уджалӧма (I have evidently not worked), вӧлі абу уджалӧмыд (you have evidently not worked) etc.

##### Preterite V

The Komi preterite V makes use of the main verb in the present form and the auxiliary вӧлӧм, 'apparently was' in third person singular, preterite II. The preterite V tense expresses an evidently continuous action that has happened in the (distant) past.
Present tense :
| Person | уджавны | English |
| Singular |||||
| 1st | вӧлӧм уджала | I was evidently working |
| 2nd | вӧлӧм уджалан | you were evidently working |
| 3rd | вӧлӧм уджалӧ | he/she was evidently working |
| Plural |||||
| 1st | вӧлӧм уджалам | we were evidently working |
| 2nd | вӧлӧм уджаланныд | you were evidently working |
| 3rd | вӧлӧм уджалӧны | they were evidently working |
The negative preterite V is formed by including the auxiliary copular verb вӧлӧм 'evidently was' with the main verb in the present negative.
Preterite V negative :
| Person | уджавны | English |
| Singular |||||
| 1st | вӧлӧм ог уджав | I was not evidently working |
| 2nd | вӧлӧм он уджав | you were not evidently working |
| 3rd | вӧлӧм оз уджав | he/she was not evidently working |
| Plural |||||
| 1st | вӧлӧм огӧ уджалӧй | we were not evidently working |
| 2nd | вӧлӧм онӧ уджалӧй | you were not evidently working |
| 3rd | вӧлӧм оз уджавны | they were not evidently working |

##### Preterite VI

The Komi preterite VI makes use of the main verb in the preterite II form and the auxiliary вӧлӧм, 'apparently was' in third person singular, preterite II. The preterite VI tense expresses an evidently completed action that has happened in the (distant) past.
Preterite VI :
| Person | уджавны | English |
| Singular |||||
| 1st | вӧлӧм уджалӧма | I had evidently worked |
| 2nd | вӧлӧм уджалӧмыд | you had evidently worked |
| 3rd | вӧлӧм уджалӧма | he/she had evidently worked |
| Plural |||||
| 1st | вӧлӧм уджалӧмаӧсь | we had evidently worked |
| 2nd | вӧлӧм уджалӧманыд | you had evidently worked |
| 3rd | вӧлӧм уджалӧмаӧсь/уджалӧмны | they had evidently worked |
The negative preterite VI is formed by including the auxiliary copular negative verb абу 'is not', e.g. вӧлӧм абу уджалӧма (I had evidently not worked), вӧлӧм абу уджалӧмыд (you had evidently not worked) etc.

### Participles

Komi verbs have past and present participles. These participles can also be passive or active. In addition to affirmative participles, Komi also has a caritive participle.
The present participle is -ысь. It is a participle which expresses continuous action and is always active. It is affixed to the stems of the verb.
| Participle | English |
| велӧдысь ныв | a girl that studies |
| сьылысь пи | a boy that sings |
In addition to functioning as regular attributive participle, the present participle also functions as a nominalizing derivational suffix.
| as a participle | English | as a noun | English |
| велӧдысь ныв | a girl that studies | велӧдысь | student |
| сьылысь пи | a boy that sings | сьылысь | singer |
The participle -ан/-ана denotes continuous action and can be active as in сетан ки ‘a giving hand’. It can also be passive, formed from a transitive verb with the noun acting as the object as in лыддян небӧг, 'a book being read'. The agent in the phrase is in the instrumental case: Тайӧ мамӧй вуран дӧрӧм, ’This is a shirt sewn by mother’.
The past participle is -ӧм. It is an attributive participle which expresses completed action. It can be active with the head noun as agent велӧдчӧм морт 'a learned person', passive formed from a transitive verbs велӧдчӧм урок 'a lesson that was learned', the noun acting as the object as in гижӧм небӧг 'a book that was written'. The agent in the phrase is in the instrumental case: Иван Куратовӧн гижӧм небӧг, 'A book written by Ivan Kuratov'.
The caritive participle is -тӧм.
| Participle | English |
| гижтӧм небӧг | a book which has not been written |
| небӧг гижтӧм | the book cannot be written |

## Sources

* Bartens, Raija (2000). Permiläisten kielten rakenne ja kehitys (in Finnish). Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura. ISBN 952-5150-55-0.
* Hausenberg, Anu-Reet (1998), "Komi", in Abondolo, Daniel (ed.), The Uralic Languages, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 305–326, ISBN 0-415-08198-X