This section will discuss basic argument realization with verbs. It will cover:
As has been noted elsewhere in this grammar, Skerre has what is known as "split ergativity." The lexical NPs have an ergative-absolutive pattern, which treats the transitive subject differently from a class comprising intransitive subjects and objects. The pronouns, in contrast, have a nominative-accusative pattern, which treats objects differently from the two kinds of subject. Because of this "split," each pattern in this section and the related next section, will have a line showing the realization for lexical NPs, and a separate line for the realization of pronouns.
Throughout this section, the following abbreviations will be used: ERG, ABS, DAT, LOC, and ABL (the last three often grouped together as OBL) will be used for the respective prenominal case markers, while NOM and ACC will be used for the subject markers and the object suffixes respectively. INDPT with a subscript means that argument must be realized as an independent pronoun with a particular case marking in front of it.
On to the different patterns...
Verbs in the strict intransitive class have just one argument. It is marked in the following way:
| ARG1 | |
| NP | ABS |
| Pronoun | NOM |
The classes of verbs that are marked like this include:
These verbs have two arguments, but the semantically most prominent one is coded with the absolutive case, making them (partially) like strict intransitives. Their pattern is given below. In many cases, the second argument is optional.
| ARG1 | ARG2 | |
| NP | ABS | OBL |
| Pronoun | NOM | INDPTOBL |
The oblique can be a prepositional phrase headed by ya (dative), te (locative), or soo (ablative).
This includes the following verb classes:
| Verb Class | Examples |
| Perception Verbs* | tirak, look at; totar, listen to | Verbs of Communication | tsen, ask; teres, greet; res, speak to |
| Interaction Verbs | saare, obey; keno, work for; nara, help |
| Verbs of Relative Motion | hori, meet; ranos, follow |
| Verbs of Directed Activity | atset, search for; kito, aim at; hiro, touch; rahan, hunt |
| Verbs of Emotion† | heres, be angry at; woona, envy |
| Verbs of Similarity | hoosa, resemble |
| Motion Verbs | her, move; quos, go; yakor, walk |
The following verb classes fall into this category:
| Verb Class | Examples |
| Verbs of Location | kan, be located; ik, exist | Verbs of Position | iree, sit; sos, lie (down); aris, stand |
| Verbs of Habitation | sawen, dwell; nahir, settle |
| Image Creation Verbs | tona, write, mark on; taanit, body-paint |
| Verbs of Ability | watsawa, be successful at; nati, fail; yirtsa, be capable (of), competent at |
| Verbs of Mental Activity* | rintsa, remember; aset, understand; yowar, forget |
This is the smallest class of the three:
Some intransitive verbs take a proposition as one of their arguments (no transitive verbs do). The proposition is realized as a kind of complement clause, whose structures are discussed on the subordination page. The verb classes that utilize the different kinds of complement clauses are given here and here
If and when there is a nominal argument with a complement clause-taking verb it is marked as follows, just like the strict intransitives:
| ARG1 | PROP ARG | |
| NP | ABS | Complement Clause |
| Pronoun | NOM | Complement Clause |
A few intransitive verbs that take a complement clause can also take a third argument, which is a noun phrase. This noun phrase is always marked in the dative (following one of the extended intransitive patterns above). This is found with a small class of verbs of communication, including yik, tell ; taaka, command; and a few others.
The prototypical two-argument verbs, transitives, are marked like the following:
| ARG1 | ARG2 | |
| NP | ERG | ABS |
| Pronoun | NOM | ACC |
This pattern encompasses the following verb classes:
| Verb Class | Examples |
| Change of State Verbs | wena, break; rawo, cook; tsos, kill; yari, destroy | Verbs of Contact by Impact | haka, cut; tsat, hit; take, bite; yoha, dig |
| Verbs of Exerting Force | tora, push; toque, drag, haul |
| Verbs of Ingestion | hos, eat; sahi, drink |
| Verbs of Creation and Transformation | rir, make, produce; kenat, build; orat, turn; seni, draw (a picture) |
| Verbs of Grooming & Bodily Care | kater, dress; kosa, wash; henta, brush (hair) |
| Verbs of Emotion* | towo, love; tses, hate; hira, confuse; nita, terrify |
| Perception Verbs† | ’ok, see; sori, hear; hana, smell |
| Verbs of Prolonged Contact | oosera, keep; kaya, store |
Beyond the transitives above, there are further transitives which usually or often take a third NP argument. The pattern is like that shown in the table below:
| ARG1 | ARG2 | ARG3 | |
| NP | ERG | ABS | OBL |
| Pronoun | NOM | ACC | INDPTOBL |
Like the above extended intransitives, particular classes choose a particular case marker to head the phrase that denotes their third argument. In some cases, the third argument may be optional; in others, it is obligatory.
These verb classes generally have a third argument recipient or beneficiary. They include:
These verbs have an optional starting point, which (if realized) is marked as an ablative.
The third argument of the final class seems to vary depending on the deictic aspects of the verb's meaning. What the generalizations are is not yet clear. Given below are the verb classes in this final subcategory of extended transitives. Their ARG3 case is in parentheses following them.
The following chart summarizes the argument realization possibilities with Skerre verbs.
| Class | NP Case Possibilities | Pronoun Sets |
| Strict Intransitive | ABS | NOM |
| Intransitive with Oblique | ABS, DAT ABS, LOC ABS, ABL |
NOM, INDPTDAT NOM, INDPTLOC NOM, INDPTABL |
| Intransitive with Complement Clause | ABS, CP | NOM, CP |
| Intransitive with Oblique and Complement Clause | ABS, DAT, CP | NOM, INDPTDAT, CP |
| Transitive | ERG, ABS | NOM, ACC |
| Extended Transitive | ERG, ABS, DAT ERG, ABS, LOC ERG, ABS, ABL |
NOM, ACC, INDPTDAT NOM, ACC, INDPTLOC NOM, ACC, INDPTABL |