Basic Actions Part 15: How to Talk About What You Can and Can’t Do with Intransitive Verbs – “I can stay.”

In this last post our series focusing on beginner sentences with intransitive verbs, we will learn how to make basic “can” statements with our intransitive verbs. We will be using the word siña to make sentences like “I can stay” or “I can go to the store.” We’ll also be looking at how to make negative statements, like “I cannot stay” and turning our statements into questions like “Can I stay?” Before reading this post, it is recommended that you have familiarity with transitive verbs and how to conjugate them to make basic sentences. To review these topics, please see my post for an Introduction to Transitive Verbs & Affixes. And to see the whole series of lessons on basic sentences with intransitive verbs, see the full list here.

Word List: 30 Intransitive Verbs for Beginners

Here’s another post to prepare for learning about intransitive sentences. I’ve included 30 intransitive verbs that beginners can use to get started when creating basic action sentences, such as “I walked” or “They went to the store.” Each list indicates if the verb takes the UM infix, the MA prefix, or no affix for being used in basic action sentences, and can be used to practice sentence types in my notes tagged under Basic Intransitive Sentences.

Man- Prefix for Intransitive Verbs

Continuing on with the in-depth look at the man- prefix, this post explores the application of the man- prefix to intransitive verbs. I lay out my own way of understanding the application of the man- prefix to intransitive verbs.