Miskito grammar

• lih 'turtle'
• naha 'this'
• pihni 'white'
• banhta 'roof'
• walhwal 'four'
• banghkaia 'to fill'

Syllables may have up to two consonants preceding the vowel nucleus, and two following it. This may be represented by the formula (C)(C)V(C)(C). Examples of monosyllabic words:

• ba 'definite article'
• ya? 'who?'
• an? 'how many?'
• wal 'two'

• plun 'food'
• puls! 'play!'
• praks! 'close it!'

Within words of more than one syllable interior clusters may therefore contain more than two consonants (rarely more than three), but in such cases there is generally a morpheme boundary involved:

• wamtla 'your house'
• alkbia 'he will take it'

Simplification of underlying consonant clusters in verb forms takes place, with stem consonants disappearing when certain suffixes are added to verb stems of certain phonological shapes:

• sab-aia 'perforate' → Imperative sa-s, Negative imperative sa-para, Future II 2 sa-ma, 3 sa-bia, Different-subject participle 3 sa-ka

• atk-aia 'buy' → Imperative at-s, Negative imperative at-para, Future II 2 at-ma, 3 at-bia, Different-subject participle 3 at-ka

The demonstratives naha, baha, naura, bukra and the interrogative determiners ani and dia precede the noun they determine and require the ligature (see below).

• naha araska 'this horse'
• baha araska 'that horse'
• ani araska? 'which horse?'

The indefinite article and most quantifiers follow the noun and do not require a ligature.

• aras kum 'one horse, a horse'
• aras kumkum 'some horses'
• aras an? 'how many horses?'
• aras yumhpa 'three horses'

The general article ba and the proximal article na stand at the end of the noun phrase and require no ligature. The proximal article expresses proximity.

• aras ba 'the horse'
• utla na 'the house'
• papiki atkan araska na 'this horse that my father bought'

Optionally the article may be combined with other determiners or quantifiers, and with the ligature (which seems to convey a greater degree of definiteness).

• naha araska na 'this horse'
• baha araska ba 'that horse'
• aras kum ba 'there is one horse'
• araska ba 'the horse in question, the horse which...'

The determiners are used sometimes with pronouns to emphasize the subject in question.

• Witin ba patkira sa. 'He is guilty.'

A noun phrase possessor precedes the possessed noun with ligature (unless inalienable, see above).

• Mark araska 'Mark's horse'
• Mark napa 'Mark's tooth'

The possessor may be a personal pronoun if it is emphasized.

• yang araski 'my horse'
• mannan nampa 'your (pl.) tooth'

Such pronouns may be omitted. In either case, personal possessors are grammaticalized as morphological indices.

• araski 'my/our (exc.) horse'
• nampa 'your (sg./pl.) tooth'

Ai and wan precede the noun, with ligature unless inalienable.

(aras→araska)

(bila)

• ai araska 'his... horse'
• ai bila 'his mouth'

• wan araska 'our (inc.) horse'
• wan bila 'our (inc.) mouth'

The indices for first or second person are generally suffixed to the -ka or -ya ligature when either is present (with loss of final -a before -i):

(aras→araska)

(tasba→tasbaya)

• araski 'my... horse'
• tasbayi 'my land'

• araskam 'your horse'
• tasbayam 'your land'

Otherwise they are mostly infixed after the infixed ligature -a-:

(utla→watla:)

(sula→sualia:)

• waitla 'my house'
• suailia 'my deer'

• wamtla 'your house'
• suamlia 'your deer'

Nouns of the inalienable class (with no ligature) take the same possessive indices, which may again be either suffixed:

(bila)

• bili 'my/our (exc.) mouth'

• bilam 'your mouth'

...or infixed:

(napa)

• naipa 'my/our (exc.) tooth'

• nampa 'your tooth'

Some nouns infix in the first person but suffix in the second, and there are some other miscellaneous irregularities.

(kakma)

(duri→duarka)

• kaikma 'my/our (exc.) nose'
• duairka 'my/our (exc.) boat'

• kangmkma 'your nose'
• duarmka 'your boat'

Number is not a morphological category in Miskito. Plural number is indicated in noun phrases by the particle nani or -nan placed after the noun or pronoun. Nani is optional with numerals.

• yang nani or yangnan 'we (exc.)'
• baha nani or bahanan 'those'
• naha watla nani na or naha watlanan na 'these houses'
• uplika karna nani ba or upla karnanan ba 'the strong people'
• aras (nani) yumhpa 'three horses'

Adjectives used attributively usually follow the head noun and do not require a ligature:

• aras pihni ba 'the white horse'

but some (including past participles) precede it, in which case the noun, unless inalienable, takes its ligature:

• aras karna ba 'the strong horse'
• upla pruannan ba 'dead people'

Dative complements are marked by the multi-purpose enclitic postposition ra, which is also a locative (doing duty for both dative and spatial meanings of English 'to', as well as 'in'). The same marker is also often used with direct objects.

• Locative ra: Nikaragua ra auna. 'I am going to Nicaragua.' Honduras ra iwisna. 'I live in Honduras.'
• Dative ra: Yang Joly ra buk kum yabri. 'I gave Joly a book.' "I Joly-ra book one gave.'
• Accusative ra: Yang Joly ra kaikri. 'I saw Joly.' "I Joly-ra saw."

This and other postpositions are placed after the last element in a noun phrase, e.g.

• aras ra 'to the horse'
• aras pihni ra 'to the white horse'
• aras pihni kum ra 'to a white horse'

For example, utla bilara literally means 'in the mouth of the house'.

• utla bila-ra 'inside the house'

Relationals index pronominal complements in the same way as nouns index their possessors.

• ai bila-ra 'inside him/her/them'
• (yang) bili-ra 'inside me'
• (man) bilam-ra 'inside you'

Some examples of relationals in use:

• Witin yang ninira balan. 'He came behind me.'
• Man nani kainamra Bilwi ra wamna. 'I will go to Bilwi before you (pl.).'
• Witin dur lamara takaskan. 'He paused near the door.'
• Naha batilka utla bilara mangkaisna. 'I will put this bottle inside the house.'
• Upla aihkika witin dukiara but munan. 'Most people voted for him.'

Verbs are conventionally cited with the infinitive suffix -aia. The stem of many such verbs (obtained by subtracting the infinitive ending) are monosyllabic (bal-, dim-, tak-, dauk-, kaik-, bri-, wi-, pi- etc.); a few are non-syllabic (e.g. w- 'go').

• balaia 'come'
• waia 'go'
• dimaia 'go in'
• takaia 'go out'

• daukaia 'make'
• munaia 'do'
• briaia 'have'
• kaikaia 'see'

• aisaia 'speak'
• wiaia 'tell'
• walaia 'hear'
• piaia 'eat'
• yapaia 'sleep'

Present tenses:

puluya

pulisa

Past tenses:

pulata

pulan

Future tenses:

pulaisa

pulbia

Presence of the personal pronouns (yang, man, witin, yawan, yang nani...) referring to the indexed subject or object is optional (i.e. there is pro-drop).

• Mai kaikisna. 'I see you.'

The absence of an object index preceding a transitive verb signals a third person object:

• Kaikisna. 'I see him/her/it/them'
• Waitla kaikisna. 'I see my house.'

Other participant roles may be expressed by personal pronouns with the appropriate postpositions, e.g.

• Yang ra tri paun aiks. 'Give me three pounds.'
• Man wal aisaia want sna 'I want to talk to ("with") you.'

Forms for a third-person subject, in addition to indexing specific subjects that are equivalent to 'he', 'she', 'it', 'they' or 'we (inclusive)', are also used with transitive verbs to indicate a non-specific subject, thus providing a passive-like construction.

• Ai kaikan. 'He (etc.) saw me' but also 'I was seen.'

To indicate that a verb has a plural subject, a finite auxiliary, banghwaia, may be added at the end of the verb group, preceded by a same-subject participle.

• Maria ra kaiki banghwri. 'We (exc.) saw María.'

Present I expresses that an action is happening or about to happen at the time of speaking.

• Yang Miskitu aisuna. 'I am speaking Miskito.'
• Yang naha minit takuna. 'I am about to go out this minute.'

Present II is a general present, indistinctly progressive or habitual.

• Yang Miskitu aisisna. 'I speak Miskito.'

Past I is a perfect.

• Yang kuirku ba dakakatna. 'I have fed the pigs.'

As the nucleus of a main clause Past II is a simple aorist past. Connected to a following verb in a past or present tense within a switch reference chain, it functions as the different-subject participle (see below).

• Yang Meri ra kaikri. 'I saw Meri.'
• Yang buk nani ba sakri witin Meri ra yaban. 'I found the books and he gave them to Meri.' (or 'I having found the books...')

Future I expresses that an event is imminent.

• Jon pruaisa. 'Jon is going to die.'

Future II is a general future. It is also used as an irrealis in subordinate clauses.

• Man naha apilka pima kaka, man pruma. 'If you eat this apple, you will die.'
• Yawan anira wabia? 'Where shall we go?'
• Jon wantkan Meri balbia. 'Jon wanted Meri to come.'

The second-person imperative ends in -s; its negative (prohibitive) counterpart ending in -para. A gentler order may be expressed using the Past II second-person form (ending in -ram). The first-person inclusive plural imperative ('Let's...') ends in -p(i).

• Sturi nani kumkum yang nani ra ai wis! 'Tell us some stories!'
• Baku pali saura ai munpara. 'Do not treat me like that!'
• Umpira ai kaiks! 'Have pity on me!'

The switch reference participles are used in verb or clause chains sharing the same subject; only the last verb adopts a finite tense form.

• Utla wina taki kauhri. 'I fell coming out of the house.' ("Coming out of the house — I fell.")

These participles are also used in many compound verbs and periphrastic formations.

• bri balaia 'to bring' ("to have and come")
• puli kan 'he was playing'

The anterior participle further expresses that an event occurred before that expressed by the following verb.

• Watla ra dimisi witin wal aisari. 'After entering the house I spoke to him.' ("Having entered the house — I spoke with him."

The different-subject participle in -ka signals a change of subject between it and the following verb, and is used when the latter is in a future tense.

• Paul buk nani ba sakka witin Slilma ra yabia. 'When Paul_i finds the books, he_j will give them to Slilma.'

When the subject of the different subject participle is first or second person, the ending is -rika if the main verb is future.

• Man yarika takbia. 'You will let it out.' ("You letting, it will get out.")

When the last verb of a different-subject chain is in the present or past tense, the preceding verb must be in the Past II tense.

• Paul buk nani ba sakan witin Slilma ra yaban. 'When Paul_i found the books, he_j gave them to Slilma.'

The negative participle can be followed by a finite form of kaia to express any person-tense combination; alternatively these categories may be left implicit by omitting the auxiliary.

• Man ai kaikras kapram. 'You did not see me.'
• Man ai kaikras. 'You do/did/will not see me.'

The past participle, identical in form to the third-person of Past II, is used: (a) as a passive adjective;

• Satail ba bip tawa ni daukan kan. 'The saddle is made of cow's hide.'

(b) in a periphrastic passive construction with kaia as auxiliary;

• Yang kupran kapri. 'I was beaten.'

(c) in an idiomatic construction with daukaia 'make'.

• Mai kaikan ai daukisa. 'I would like to see you.' ("Seen you makes me.")

The uses of the infinitive: (a) approximates that of infinitives in many European languages:

• Aikuki la dauki banghwan tasba pis kum atkaia. 'They made a joint agreement to purchase a piece of land.'
• Pedro ai muihni nani aikuki aisaia wan. 'Pedro went and spoke with his brothers.'
• Diara sut brisma, dia mita wark pliki waia? 'You have everything, why go and look for work?'

(b) include several modal constructions.

• Yang wamtla ra waia want sna. 'I want to go to your house.'
• Yang wamtla ra waia sna. 'I have to go to your house.'
• Yang wamtla ra waia kapri. 'I should have gone to your house.'

Note: Given the differences in terminology, the following comparative table for names of non-finite forms used in this article, Salamanca's Miskito school grammar and Green's Lexicographic Study of Ulwa (a related language with similar categories) may be found useful:

Puli kapri 'I was playing' consists of the same-subject participle of pulaia followed by the first person of Past II of kaia 'to be', "playing was-I".

• puli kapri 'I was playing' ("playing was-I")

Pulaia sna 'I am to play, I have to play' consists of kaia after an infinitive.

• pulaia sna 'I am to play' ("play-to am-I")

This construction with the auxiliary in Past II can express an impossible condition: pulaia kapri 'I should have played' or 'I would have played'.

• pulaia kapri 'I should/would have played' ("play-to was-I")

Combining the infinitive with other auxiliary verbs we obtain other modal constructions.

• pulaia want sna 'I want to play' ("play-to want am-I")

The particle sip, with an anomalous distribution, is used in expressions of possibility and ability.

• Witin sip sa utla kum paskaia. 'He can build a house.'
• Witin sip utla kum paskras sa. 'He cannot build a house.'

Another type of construction consists of a conjugated main verb followed by a third-person form of kaia. Various tense sequences for the two verbs are possible and convey a range of nuances. Past perfect and future perfect can be expressed by placing both verbs in Past II or future II respectively.

• pulri kan 'I had played'
• pulamna kabia 'I shall have played'

By compounding the past perfect construction again with sa, and then kaka for 'if' (itself really a form of kaia), we obtain an unfulfilled hypothetical clause.

• pulri kan sa kaka 'if I had played'

In Miskito sentences the verb (or verb group) regularly comes last. The subject, if expressed as a noun phrase, normally precedes objects and other constituents. In these examples the verb is in bold.

• Jon pruaisa. 'Jon is going to die.'
• (Yang) Honduras ra iwisna. 'I live in Honduras.'
• (Yang) Meri ra kaikri. 'I saw Meri.'
• Baha ya daukan? 'Who did this?'
• (Yang) Meri ra buk kum yabri. 'I gave Meri a book.'
• Mairin ba tuktan ra li ni tahbisa. 'The woman is bathing the baby with water.'
• Yang ra tri paun aik. 'Give me three pounds.'

However, long or heavier constituents (here in bold) may follow the verb.

• Yang witin ra yabaia wantsna. 'I want to give it to him/her.'
• Naha mani champianshipka ba ya wintakbia ni? 'Who do you think is going to win the championship this year?'

Demonstrative and interrogative determiners, the possessive proclitics ai and wan, and certain adjectives, precede the noun, which takes the ligature in these cases.

• baha araska 'that horse'
• ani araska? 'which horse?'
• ai araska 'his/her horse'
• aras karna ba 'the strong horse'

Articles and quantifiers follow nouns.

• aras ba 'the horse'
• aras kum 'a/one horse'
• aras uya 'many horses'
• aras an? 'how many horses?'

Adpositions and relationals follow the noun phrase.

• aras ba wal 'with the horse'
• aras ba kainara 'in front of the horse'

Auxiliaries follow main verbs.

• puli kapri 'I was playing'
• pulri kan 'I had played'
• pulaia want sna 'I want to play'

The object proclitics ai, mai and wan precede the main verb.

• mai kaikisna 'I see you'

The negative particle apia follows future-tense verbs, but precedes forms of kaia 'to be'.

• Ai kaikma apia. 'You will not see me.'
• Baha watla tawanki ra apia sa. 'That house is not in my village.'

In compound verbs, the conjugated element comes last.

• aisi kaikri 'I read it' ("speaking I-saw")
• bri aulna 'I am bringing it' ("having I-am-coming")
• want sna 'I want it'
• win takbia 'he/she/it will win'

Sentence particles follow the verb.

• Man balma ki? 'Will you come?'
• Ya win takbia ni? 'I wonder who will win!'

In subordination structures the rule that places subordinate elements first is frequently overridden by a tendency to place long and heavy constituents last.

• Watla ra dimisi witin wal aisari. 'After entering the house I spoke to him.'
• Piter buknan ba sakan tem, Slilma ra yabri. 'When Piter found the books, I gave them to Slilma.'
• Johan wantkan Kati balbia. 'Johan wanted Kati to come.'

Relative clauses precede the head.

• Meri atkan araska ba 'the horse that Meri bought'

Complement and circumstantial clauses may precede or follow the main clause.

• Plawar abalkaisna brid daukaia mata. 'I am going to mix flour in order to make bread.'
• Witin plun atkaia auya kan bara, ai yaptika ba balan. 'When he was about to buy food, his mother came.'

One is to mark animate direct objects with the postposition ra.

• Meri ra kaikri. 'I saw Meri.'

Another is to identify the agent of a transitive verb with the postposition mita. Since mita always occurs with agents of transitive verbs it might be viewed as a proto-ergative marker.

• Puisin mita ikan. 'The poison killed him/her.'
• Piter mita Meri wamtlara brih wan. 'Piter brought Meri to your house.'

Yet another way to identify the subject is for it to participate in a verbal periphrasis. Outwardly, the 'particle' bui is placed after such subjects. Bui is the same-subject participle of buaia 'get up', so the semantic route of this grammaticalization is, for example, from 'Who will get up and remove it?' to 'Who (subject) will remove it?' The use of bui allows an object to precede a subject (for topicalization) without this leading to ambiguity. Bui almost always occurs with subjects of transitive verbs and so may again be understood as a proto-ergative marker.

• Prari bui duri abakan. 'The hurricane sunk the canoe.'
• Yâ bui ai kangban? 'Who touched me?'

Lika is a particle that may follow a sentence constituent identifying it as sentence topic.

• Baku lika yang maipara an man mampara sin aitani kabia. 'That way, it will be good for me and for you too.'
• Yang nini lika Juan. 'My name is Juan.'
• Pedro mahka wan, bara María lika takaskan. 'Pedro left, and/but María stayed.'

Sika may be placed after a definite noun phrase to foreground it; its effect is similar to that of focus clefting in English.

• Naha sika diara nani na dawanka kabia. 'This is who is going to own these things.'
• Witin sika yaptiki. 'She is my mother.'

Miskito has periphrastic causative expressions using one or another of the causation verbs yabaia 'give', munaia 'make', swiaia 'let'. In these constructions, the verb of causation is subordinated to the verb of action.

• Pedro tuktika ra swika pulbia. 'Pedro will let the child play.' "P. letting the child, (it) will play"

To negate a verb, the invariable negative participle in -ras is used either alone or followed by an auxiliary specifying tense and person.

• Man ai kaikras. 'You do/did/will not see me.'
• Man ai kaikras kapram. 'You did not see me.'

For the future tenses only, another option is to place apia after the future verb form.

• Man ai kaikma apia. or Man ai kaikras kama. 'You will not see me.'

The second person imperative has its own special negative form, with the verbal suffix -para.

• Baku yang nanira ai wipara. 'Do not speak to us like that!'

The verb kaia, having no negative participle, is negated by a preposed apia.

• Yang aitani apia sna. 'I am not worthy.'

'Nothing', 'nobody' and so on are expressed using indefinite words, generally accompanied by sin 'also, even', usually in combination with negative verb forms.

• Upla kumi sin balras. 'Nobody came.'
• Yang upla kumi sin ra kaikras. 'I didn't see anybody.'
• Muihki upla kumi ra sin diara wiras. 'My brother did not tell anybody anything.'
• Pyu kumi sin sîka nît apia kaka dipara. 'Never take medicine if you do not need it.'

The sentence-final particle ki may, optionally, be used in either yes-no or wh-questions.

• Man balma ki? 'Will you come?'
• Buk an brisma ki? 'How many books do you have?'

With or without ki, in wh-questions the interrogative element either stands at the beginning of the question...

• Ya baha daukan? 'Who did this?'
• Diakan man baku lukisma ki? 'Why do you think so?'

...or immediately precedes the verb.

• Yawan anira wabia? 'Where shall we go?'
• Inska ba wal dia daukamna ki? 'What shall I do with the fish?'

Yâ 'who' as the agentive subject of a question may be followed by the bui marker (see above).

• Ya bui ai kangban? 'Who touched me?'

Indirect questions may be followed by saba (or sapa).

• Witin wan dia daukan saba kaikaia. 'He went to see what he had done.'

In yes–no questions sentence-final ki is optional. Such questions may be answered with au 'yes' or apia 'no'.

• Man sma ki? — Au, yang sika. 'Is it you? — Yes, it's me.'
• Man nani naha sut kaikisma? 'Do you (pl.) see all this?'

Mood particles may be placed at the end of a sentence (i.e. following the verb). See the example of ki above.

• Yang baku sma bika! 'Why, you are like me!'
• Wimna kaka laubia ni? 'I wonder if he'll get angry if I tell him.'

• Kumi ba sirpi kan bara wala ba tara kan. 'One was small and the other was big.'
• Juan an Pedro talia sa. 'Juan and Pedro are similar.'
• Ai aisika, apia kaka ai yaptika wal aisaia sa. 'It is necessary to talk to his father or his mother.'
• Witin aisan sakuna yang tanka briras. 'He spoke but I didn't understand.'

In the external head strategy there is no subordination marker of any kind and the relative clause precedes the head noun, which takes a ligature, beside which it usually has an article too.

• Sarah atkan watla ba Bilwi ra sa. 'The house that Sarah bought is in Bilwi.'
• Naha tawanka ra truk kum bri uplika manis bara sa. 'In this town there are a lot of people who own a car.'

If the head is not expressed, an article following the relative clause serves to identify and delimit it.

• Aras ra alkan nani ba bui asiki ra brih wan. 'Those who caught the horse took it to my father.'

In the internal head construction, the head noun is not extracted from the place it underlyingly occupies in the relative clause, which is bounded by an article as in headless external head clauses.

• Sarah watla atkan ba Bilwi ra sa. 'The house that Sarah bought is in Bilwi.' (as if to say: "The Sarah bought the house is in Bilwi.")

In the 'headless' counterpart of the internal construction, the place of the head within the relative clause is occupied by an interrogative pronoun.

• Dia makama ba, yang maikamna. 'I will give you what you ask.'

A complement clause may bear no subordination marker but merely be followed by the article ba functioning in practice as a nominalizer.

• Yang nahwala waitna kum ra ikan ba nu takri. 'I have heard the news that a man was killed yesterday.'

Indirect questions end in saba (i.e. sa 'is' + ba article).

• Witin wan dia daukan saba kaikaia. 'He went to see what he had done.'

The tense of complement clauses does not follow that of the matrix clause, but directly expresses a time relation in reference to the matrix.

• Witin nani walan Pedro ba raya sa. 'They heard that Pedro was alive.' ("...that P. is alive")

Complement clauses that have no autonomous time reference ('irrealis') take Future II.

• Jon Sarah balbia wantkan. 'Jon wanted Sarah to come.'

Conditional ('if') clauses add kaka and precede the consequence clause. (Kaka is the third-person different subject participle of kaia 'be', literally "it being (the case that)".)

• Man naha apilka pima kaka, man pruma. 'If you eat this apple, you will die.'
• Yang naha tasba wina katna kaka, aiklabaia kapri. 'If I were from this land, I would fight.'
• Witin nahwala sula kum kaikan kan sa kaka, ikaia kan. 'If he had seen a deer yesterday, he would have killed it.'

Concessive ('although') clauses may end in sin 'also, either, even', or in sakuna 'but'.

• Aisikam nani balbia apia, yang witin nani ra bik takamna sin. 'Your parents will not come, even if I beg them to.'
• Piter wintakaisa, witin saura pali sa sakuna. 'Piter will win, even though he is very bad.'

Circumstantial clauses generally end in a subordinating conjunction of some sort. Sometimes the article ba precedes the conjunction, which may take the form of a preposition...

• * Witin plun atkaia auya kan bara, ai yaptika ba balan. 'When he was about to buy food, his mother came.' (bara = ba + ra)

a relational...

• Baha daukaia dukiara diara manis nit sa. 'In order to do that, many things are needed.'
• Plawar abalkaisna brid daukaia mata. 'I am going to mix flour in order to make bread.'
• Plun piras kainara ai mihta sikban. 'Before eating food he washed his hands.'

or a noun.

• Yang buk kum aisi kaiki kapri taim, man bal dimram. 'When I was reading a book, you came in.'

Miskito has a large number of light-verb constructions or compound verbs which consist of two words but express meanings that are lexically determined for the construction as a whole, e.g.

• aisikaikaia 'read' ("speak and see")
• bribalaia 'bring' ("have and come")
• bilawalaia 'obey' ("hear word")
• kupiabaikaia 'get angry' ("split heart")

A similar construction is used in verbs that are loans from English: the borrowed lexeme is an invariable element (help, wark, want...) followed by a Miskito verb, e.g.

• helpmunaia 'help' ("do help")
• warktakaia 'work' ("go out work")
• wantkaia 'want' ("be want")

Nominal compounds are much less common.

• bip mairin 'cow' ("beef/bovine female")