New Verbs in Lefa

Here are some of the suffixes that create new verbs in Lefa.

-sɨ: make

"hold" + sɨ = "pick up"

"lie (position)" + sɨ = "lay"

"dry (intr.: It dries)" + sɨ = "dry (tr: I dry it)"

-leŋ: "one's self / each other"

"wash" + leŋ = "wash yourself"

"hit" + leŋ = "hit each other"

"see" + leŋ = "see yourself / see each other"

-tɨ: again (like English "re-", but slightly different)

"kill" + tɨ = "kill again" (can be another thing, not re-kill the same thing)

"dig" + tɨ = "dig again" (can be continuing a project after a break, not just re-diging something that got filled back in)

-yɨ: repeated action

"lick (once)" + yƗ = "lick with multiple licks"

"vomit (once)" + yɨ = "vomit several times"

(In English we can give this meaning with a progressive: "He coughed" vs. "He was coughing")

-kɨ: action with repeated sub-actions

"kill" + kƗ = "kill with multiple strokes"

"cut up (animal)" + kɨ = "cut up with multiple strokes"

"toss" + kƗ = "scatter"

can have other related meanings:

"talk" + kɨ = "talk around, thus gossip"

"wait" + kɨ = "wait intensely"

-la: collective action

"fall" + la = "fall together" ("fall" can also be plural, but with la everything fell at the same time, from one cause)

"eat" + la = "eat in a group" (e.g. sheep put to pasture)