Verb form

A verb form (known in Toaq as a jena) is any string of words that can be placed in verb position. In Toaq, this can be:

• an atomic (“single-word”) verb like rua to be a flower;
• an atomic verb taking an incorporated object like bue jî to be my house or chua sâ ruaı to be the name of a royal;
• a predicatizer taking a noun form like po jí to be mine / of me or mea chóaq to be among the guests;
• a quote like shu ‹kası› to be the word ‘kası’ or mı Dıao to be Dıao; to be named ‘Dıao’;
• an ë-phrase like ë dea súq múao to be your kicking a tree; to be an event of you kicking a tree;
• a serial verb composing any of the above like leo maı to try to love or du ë cheo soı sá shụqguamea to seem like a fight between plain civilians;
• a conjunction of atomic verbs like de ru nuı to be beautiful and small;
• a focusing of an atomic verb like jụaqrıatua even to open; to go so far as to open.

We use the phrase verb form in place of verb, verb phrase, predicate for reasons of clarity – see technical discussion at Verb form, noun form.