siké

See also: sike

Navajo

Etymology

si- (modal) + -∅- (classifier) + -ké (neuter perfective stem of root -KÉ, “to sit — 2 actors”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (NV)

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Verb

siké

1. they (2 actors) are sitting, are at home, are waiting

Usage notes

This verb is used for sitting in pairs. For individual sitting, see sidá. For sitting in groups of three or more, see naháaztą́.

Singular forms of this verb refer to one subject sitting in a pair with another participant.

• Shideezhí bił séké. — I stayed with my younger sister, I sat with her.

The plural or distributive plural forms refer to several subjects sitting in pairs independent one from another.

• Tsídii naazké / ndaazké. — Birds are sitting in pairs, forming three or more pairs.

This is a neuter verb. As such, it is conjugated only in the perfective.

Conjugation

Paradigm: Neuter perfective (si).

Positional si-perfective verbs like siké form their plural with na-/ni-/n-, with or without distributive da-.

PERFECTIVE	singular	duoplural	plural
1st person	séké	siiké	nisiiké/ndasiiké
2nd person	síníké	sooké	nisooké/ndasooké
3rd person	siké		naazké/ndaazké
4th person	jizké		njizké/ndajizké

4th person has variants: dzizké, ndzizké and ndadzizké.

See also

• sidá (1), siké (2), naháaztą́ (3+) (to be sitting)