Verbs

3.6 Verbs.

-      In the south-western dialects in the singular and in the plural in Present Indefinite the ending ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ is used, if the Subject is expressed as

a noun.

e.g. Boys as wants more mun ask.

The other ehaps works hard.

-      In Devonshire ‘-th’ [ð] is added to verbs in the plural in Present Indefinite.

-      The form ‘am’ (’m) of the verb ‘to be’ is used after the personal pronouns:

e.g. We (wem = we are) (Somersetshire)

you, they

-      After the words ‘if’, ‘when’, ‘until’, ‘after’ Future Indefinite sometimes used.

-      The Perfect form in affirmative sentences, in which the Subject is expressed as a personal pronoun, is usually built without the auxiliary verb ‘have’:

e.g. We done it.

I seen him.

They been and taken it.

-      The negation in the south-western dialects is expressed with the adding of the negative particle ‘not’ in the form ‘-na’ to the verb.

e.g. comesna (comes not)

winna (= will not)

sanna (= shall not)

canna (= cannot)

maunna (= must not)

sudna (= should not)

dinna (= do not)

binna (= be not)

haena (= have not)

daurna (= dare not)

-      It is typical to the south-western dialects to use too many nigotiations in the same phrase:

e.g. I yin’t seen nobody nowheres.

I don’t want to have nothing at all to say to you.

I didn’t mean no harm.

Ye’ll better jist nae detain me nae langer.

-      The negative and interrogative forms of the modal verbs are built with the help of the auxiliary verb ‘do’.

e.g. He did not ought to do it.

You do not ought to hear it.

-      Some verbs which are regular in the Standard language become irregular in the south-western dialects:

e.g. dive - dave, help - holp

-      Sometimes the ending ‘-ed’ is added to some irregular verbs in the Past Simple:

e.g. bear - borned, begin - begunned, break - broked, climb - clombed,

dig - dugged, dive - doved, drive - droved, fall - felled, find -

funded, fly - flewed, give - gaved, grip - grapped, hang - hunged,

help - holped, hold - helded, know - knewed, rise - rosed, see -

sawed, shake - shooked, shear - shored, sing - sunged, sink -

sunked, spin - spunned, spring - sprunged, steal - stoled, strive -

stroved, swear - swored, swim - swammed, take - tooked, tear -

tored, wear - wored, weave - woved, write - wroted.

-      But some irregular verbs in the Past Simple Tense are used as regular:

e.g. begin - beginned (Western Som., Dev.)

bite - bited (W. Som.)

blow - blowed (Dev.)

drink - drinked (W. Som.)

drive - drived (Dev.)

fall - falled (W. Som., Dev.)

fight - fighted (W. Som.)

fall - falled (Som., Dev.)

go - gade (Dev.)

grow - growed (W. Som.)

hang - hanged (W. Som.)

lose - losed (W. Som., Dev.)

ring - ringed (W. Som.)

speak - speaked (Som.)

spring - springed (W. Som., Dev.)

-      Many verbs form the Past Participle with the help of the ending ‘-n’.

e.g. call - callen

catch - catchen

come - comen

-      In some cases in the Past Participle a vowel in the root is changed, and the suffix is not added.

e.g. catch - [k t∫]

hit - [a:t]

lead - [la:d]

-      In the south-western dialects intransitive verbs have the ending ‘-y’ [ı].

-      In Western Somersetshire before the infinitive in the function of the adverbial modifier of purpose ‘for’ is used:

e.g. Hast gotten a bit for mend it with? (= Have you got anything to mend it with?)

3.7 Adverbs.

-      In the south-western dialects an adjective is used instead of the adverb.

e.g. You might easy fall.

-      To build the comparative degree ‘far’ is used instead of ‘further’; ‘laster’ instead of ‘more lately’.

-      The suparative degree: ‘farest’; ‘lastest’; ‘likerest’; ‘rathest’.

a)    The adverbs of place:

abeigh [∂bıx] - ‘at some distance’

abune, aboon - ‘above’

ablow - ‘under’

ben, benn - ‘inside’

outbye [utbaı] - ‘outside’

aboot - ‘around’

hine, hine awa - ‘far’

ewest - ‘near’

b)    The adverbs of the mode of action:

hoo, foo - ‘how’

weel - ‘great’

richt - ‘right’

ither - ‘yet’

sae - ‘so’

c)    The adverbs of degree:

much

e.g. How are you today? - Not much, thank you.

‘much’ is also used in the meaning of ‘wonderfully’

e.g. It is much you boys can’t let alone they there ducks.

It was much he hadn’t a been a killed.

rising

‘rising’ is often used in the meaning of ‘nearly’

e.g. How old is the boy? - He’s rising five.

-      ‘fell’, ‘unco’, ‘gey’, ‘huge’, ‘fu’, ‘rael’ are used in the meaning of ‘very’.

-      ower, owre [aur] - ‘too’

-      maist - ‘nearly’

-      clean - ‘at all’

-      that - ‘so’

-      feckly - ‘in many cases’

-      freely - ‘fully’

-      naarhan, nighhan - ‘nearly’

-      han, fair - ‘at all’

d)   Adverbs of time:

whan, fan - ‘when’

belive, belyve - ‘now’

yinst - ‘at once’

neist - ‘then’

fernyear - ‘last year’

afore (= before)

e.g. Us can wait avore you be ready, sir.

next - ‘in some time’

e.g. next day = the day after tomorrow

while = till, if

e.g. You’ll never make any progress while you listen to me.

You have to wait while Saturday.