Subordinate clauses are clauses that appear only with another clause; they cannot exist on their own. Subordinate clauses in Skerre, for the most part, are preceded by small words called complementizers; there are different complementizers for different types of subordinate clauses. The different types are:
Complement clauses are whole clauses that behave like arguments. There are two formal types of complement clauses in Skerre, those that begin with a complementizer and those that begin with a verb.
An overwhelming number of number of verbs select for complement clauses that introduced by a complementizer. In this case the complementizer is saa. As the following examples show, saa precedes the subordinated clause, which does not have any unusual characteristics:
Eyik-ha ya teken saa eyowor a Karak ta siqua tir. PFV-say=1SG.NOM DAT 3PL COMP PFV-out-go ABS (name) LOC morning this I told them that Karak left this morning.
Tor-ha saa kitsaa-ha ya toora. want=1SG.NOM COMP IRR-go.IRR=1SG DAT market I want to go to the market.
Saa is never preceded by a syntactic marker and saa-phrases are almost always placed last in the sentence.
The verb classes that can only take saa-clauses include:The other kind of complement clauses consists of just a verb along with whatever complements the second verb might take; this second verb must be in the base form. The subordinate subject, which has to be the same as the main clause subject in this construction, is not overtly expressed. The following is an example:
Sik-ha res so Sires. be.able=1SG.NOM speak INS language I can speak the language (=Skerre).
Certain verb classes that take complement clauses can appear with both saa-clauses and bare verb clauses (no verbs appear with just verbal complement clauses). In the former, the verb has only argument: the saa-clause. These verb include:
Relative clauses are clauses that serve as modifiers of nouns. Relative clauses are made up of three parts, given below in their ordering in Skerre:
| head noun | the complementizer, to | modifying clause |
The head noun, in some sense, is grammatically part of both the main clause and the modifying clause. To convey this, Skerre uses two strategies: the gap strategy and the resumptive pronoun.
The gap strategy is used when the head noun would be either the absolutive NP or ergative NP in the modifying clause. The gap strategy does not repeat the noun in the modifying clause and instead leaves a gap (The location of the gap is not important). This is the same strategy that English uses. Here's an example, with the modifying clause in brackets ([ ]).
Tirak-ha ya keriyos to [ eyasin a tsowos ya Karak _ ]. look.at=1SG.NOM DAT man REL PFV-give-TR ABS spear DAT (name) (gap) I looked at the man who _ gave the spear to Karak
Note that the head noun (keriyos) is case-marked for the main clause, and not for the role it has in the modifying clause.
The resumptive pronoun strategy is very similiar to the gap strategy. In the resumptive pronoun strategy, a pronoun, co-referential with the head noun, appears where the gap would be. This is used for relativizing everything but ergative and absolutive NPs. In the following example, ter is the resumptive pronoun for winahir. The modifying clause again is in brackets.
Okin-ha a winahir to [ yoquoquos-wo ya ter ]. see-TR=1SG.NOM ABS NMLZ-settle REL out-PROG~go=1PL.NOM DAT RESUMP I see the village where we're going. (lit. I see the village that we are going to it.).
Note again that the head noun, winahir, is case-marked for the main clause, and not for the role it has in the modifying clause.
The following table summarizes which grammatical roles can be relativized in Skerre, and which of the above relativization strategies is used for that role, if applicable.
| Grammatical Role | Can Be Relativized in Skerre? | Strategy Used |
| subjects/ergatives* | Yes | Gap |
| direct objects/absolutives* | Yes | Gap (optionally resumptive pronoun) |
| Ya-, ta-, so-, or ni-phrases | Yes | Resumptive Pronoun |
| Possessors | No | N/A |
*Skerre syntax does not clearly point to either an ergative or an accusative basis for relativization.
Embedded questions are questions that are subordinate elements of a sentence. They are the question equivalent to the complement clause. Embedded yes-no questions are marked by the complementizer, awa. An embedded question:
Etsen-ha ya Tsotar awa eyasin a tsowos ya Karak. PFV-ask=1SG.NOM DAT (name) whether PFV-give-TR ABS spear DAT (name) I asked Tsotar if he had given the spear to Karak.
Embedded content questions also involve the complementizer awa, plus a content question, with the question word in-situ, as in the following:
Adverbial Clauses
Etsen-ha ya Tsotar awa eyasin a ser ya Karak. PFV-ask=1SG.NOM DAT (name) whether PFV-give-TR ABS what DAT (name) I asked Tsotar what he had given to Karak.
Adverbial clauses are clauses that act as adverbials; they explain the circumstances, the conditions, or the cause for the action. They all have the following structure:
| Complementizer | Simple Clause |
The simple clause is ordered as discussed in section 19. With respect to their ordering in the larger sentence, adverbial clauses often come after the main clause, but they are not required to.
The rest of this section will talk about the different kinds of adverbial clauses, grouped by similar function.
Temporal clauses anchor an event at a particular time or timeframe. The complementizers that begin temporal clauses are given below:
| Complementizer | English equivalent | |||||||
| kiyes | while, when | |||||||
| sas | before | |||||||
| tsoo | after | |||||||
| kesa | since (temporal) | |||||||
| yos | until | |||||||
| teki | as soon as | |||||||
| Tsoo | eyowor-na, | eyasin-ha | a | tsowos | ya | Karak. |
| after | PFV-out-go=2SG.NOM | PFV-give-TR=1SG.NOM | ABS | spear | DAT | (name) |
| After you left, I gave the spear to Karak. | ||||||
As their name suggests, causal clauses give a cause for some state of affairs. All causal clauses begin with the complementizer wisor, because. The following verb is in a realis TAM. A causal clause:
Wisor eyowor-na, eyasin-ha a tsowos ya Karak. because PFV-out-go=2SG.NOM PRV-give-TR=1SG.NOM ABS spear DAT (name) Because you left, I gave the spear to Karak.
Purpose clauses also use the complementizer wisor, but they require that the following verb be in the irrealis, as in this example:
Eyowor-ha wisor kitsaa-ha ya toora. PFV-out-go=1SG.NOM in.order IRR-go=1SG.NOM DAT market I left in order to go to the market.
Consequential clauses begin with the complementizer kat, as a result, so, as shown below:
Eyowor kat ekanar-ha. PFV-out-go so PFV-be.alone=1SG.NOM He left, so then I was alone.
This complementizer, in contrast to wisor, has no TAM restrictions.
Conditional clauses primarily use the complementizer ye, if. However, the verbs of two parts of the conditional clause (the if-clause [protasis in traditional terminology] and the then-clause [apodosis]) use different forms to convey different meanings.
To make simple conditions (where the the if-clause implies nothing about the then-clause), one uses verbs with realis forms in both parts. An example of this is given below:
Ye yires, koni-wo yowor. if snow NEG=1PL.NOM out-go If it snows, we are not leaving.
For hypothetical conditions (where one speculates about the future in the then-clause), the scheme is as follows:
| If-clause | Then-clause |
| Realis verb | Future verb |
An example:
Ye sot a taran, rokaninoo-na. if die ABS clan.leader FUT-lead-1PL.ACC=2SG.NOM If the clan leader dies, you will lead us.
Hypothetical conditions can also have other verb forms for the then-clause, including imperatives and questions. Note that all these imply futurity.
For counterfactual conditions (where the if-clause talks about something that is not or was not true), the scheme as is follows:
| If-clause | Then-clause |
| Irealis verb | Irrealis verb |
An example:
Ye kiketarin a sirahan tsa Karak, koni-ha kitsaa. if IRR-guide-TR ABS NMLZ-hunt ERG (name) NEG=1SG.NOM IRR-go.FUT If Karak were to lead the hunt, I would not go.
There are three other kinds of adverbial clauses I will mention to close out this section. None of them have restrictions on which verb form can appear after them.
Adverbial clauses which denote that one clause is similar to another (or are dissimilar) begin with the complementizer, ho, as in:
Ya ques tar, koni-ti seya ho ak-wo. DAT land that NEG=3PL.NOM sing as do=1PL.NOM In that country, they don't sing as we do.
Concessive clauses use the complementizer tsar, although.
Tsar watirak a ques-we, ik a quee i itor. although DENOM-mountain ABS land=1PL.POSS exist ABS many GEN animal Although our country is mountainous, there are many animals.
Finally, comparative clauses begin with es, than, both for single noun comparatives and for clauses, as shown below:
Seraa hat a ques-we es rana a aran-te. be.beatiful more ABS land=1PL.POSS than be.large ABS city=1PL.POSS Our country is more beautiful than their city is large.