Editing Navajo language (section)

===Verbs===
In Navajo, verbs are the main elements of their sentences, imparting a large amount of information. The verb is based on a [[stem (linguistics)|stem]], which is made of a [[root (linguistics)|root]] to identify the action and the semblance of a suffix to convey [[grammatical mood|mode]] and [[grammatical aspect|aspect]]; however, this suffix is fused beyond separability.<ref name="byu">

{{cite book |last1=Eddington |first1=David |last2=Lachler |first2=Jordan |chapter=A computational analysis of Navajo verb stems |chapter-url=https://linguistics.byu.edu/faculty/deddingt/navajo.pdf |editor1-last=Rice |editor1-first=Sally |editor2-last=Newman |editor2-first=John |title=Empirical and Experimental Methods in Cognitive/functional Research |date=2010 |publisher=CSLI Publications/Center for the Study of Language and Information |isbn=978-1-57586-612-3 }}</ref> The stem is given somewhat more transparent prefixes to indicate, in this order, the following information: postpositional object, postposition, adverb-state, [[iterativity]], [[grammatical number|number]], [[direct object]], [[deictic]] information, another adverb-state, mode and aspect, subject, classifier (see later on), [[mirativity]] and two-tier [[evidentiality]]. Some of these prefixes may be null; for example, there is only a plural marker (''da/daa'') and no readily identifiable marker for the other grammatical numbers.<ref name="McDonough 2003 21 22"/>

Navajo does not distinguish strict [[grammatical tense|tense]] per se; instead, an action's position in time is conveyed through mode, aspect, but also via time adverbials or context. Each verb has an inherent aspect and can be conjugated in up to seven modes.<ref name="Young Morgan 1992 868">{{Harvnb|Young|Morgan|1992|p=868}}</ref>

For any verb, the usitative and iterative modes share the same stem, as do the progressive and future modes; these modes are distinguished with prefixes. However, pairs of modes other than these may also share the same stem,<ref>{{Harvnb|Faltz|1998|p=18}}</ref> as illustrated in the following example, where the verb "to play" is conjugated into each of the five mode paradigms:

* Imperfective: ''-né'' – is playing, was playing, will be playing
* Perfective: ''-neʼ'' – played, had played, will have played
* Progressive/future: ''-neeł'' – is playing along / will play, will be playing
* Usitative/iterative: ''-neeh'' – usually plays, frequently plays, repeatedly plays
* Optative: ''-neʼ'' – would play, may play

The basic set of subject prefixes for the imperfective mode, as well as the actual conjugation of the verb into these person and number categories, are as follows.<ref>{{Harvnb|Faltz|1998|pp=21–22}}</ref>

{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ <!-- caption here -->
!
! scope="col" | Singular
! scope="col" | Dual/plural
|-
! scope="row" | 1.
| ''sh-''
| ''iid-''
|-
! scope="row" | 2.
| ''ni-''
| ''oh-''
|-
! scope="row" | 3.
| colspan="2" | –
|-
! scope="row" | 4.
| colspan="2" | ''ji-''
|}
{{col-2}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ <!-- caption -->
!
! scope="col" | Singular
! scope="col" | Dual/plural
|-
! scope="row" | 1.
| ''naa'''sh'''né'' – I am playing
| ''ne'''iiʼ'''né'' – We are playing
|-
! scope="row" | 2.
| ''na'''ni'''né'' – You (s.) are playing
| ''na'''oh'''né'' – You (pl.) are playing
|-
! scope="row" | 3.
| colspan="2" | ''{{wikt-lang|nv|naané}}'' – He/she/it is playing, they are playing
|-
! scope="row" | 4.
| colspan="2" | ''na'''ji'''né'' – He/she/it/one is playing, they/people are playing
|}
{{col-end}}

The remaining piece of these conjugated verbs—the prefix ''na-''—is called an "outer" or "disjunct" prefix. It is the marker of the Continuative aspect (to play about).<ref>{{Harvnb|Faltz|1998|pp=12–13}}</ref>

Navajo distinguishes between the first, second, third, and fourth persons in the singular, dual, and plural numbers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Faltz|1998|p=21}}</ref> The fourth person is similar to the third person, but is generally used for indefinite, theoretical actors rather than defined ones.<ref name="harder">{{cite journal|title=On the use of the fourth person in Navajo, or Navajo made harder|journal=International Journal of American Linguistics|last1=Akmajian|first1=Adrian|last2=Anderson|first2=Stephen|volume=36|number=1|date=January 1970|pages=1–8|doi=10.1086/465082|s2cid=143473426}}</ref> Despite the potential for extreme verb complexity, only the mode/aspect, subject, classifier, and stem are absolutely necessary.<ref name="McDonough 2003 21 22">{{Harvnb|McDonough|2003|pp=21–22}}</ref> Furthermore, Navajo negates clauses by surrounding the verb with the circum[[clitic]] ''doo= ... =da'' (e.g. ''mósí doo nitsaa da'' 'the cat is not big'). ''Dooda'', as a single word, corresponds to English ''no''.<ref name="Young Morgan 1992 882">{{Harvnb|Young|Morgan|1992|p=882}}</ref>