A grammar of Pite Saami, 2014

8 Verbs
Verbs in Pite Saami form an open class of words which are defined syntactically
by their ability to head a verb complex, as well as morphologically by inflecting
for person, number, tense and mood. Verbs consist of a stem which is followed
by a class marker and an inflectional suffix or suffixes, as illustrated in (1).
(1) ∑ + class-marker + mood/tense/person/number
Verb stems can have up to five allomorphic forms throughout the verbal paradigm
due to a complex combination of morphophonological alternations. Verbs
form at least five inflectional classes. The inflectional suffixes are exponents for
person, number, tense and/or mood. Pite Saami distinguishes three number categories
(singular, dual and plural), two tense categories (present and past) and
the three modal categories (indicative, imperative and potential).
The first sections of this chapter (§8.1 on the inflectional categories number,
tense and mood; §8.2 on non-finite forms and periphrastically marked categories
of future, aspect and negation; §8.3 on passive voice) provide a description of
relevant morphological categories as a background for the discussion of morphological
marking strategies for verbs in §8.4. Finally, §8.5 draws on the initial
sections to posit inflectional classes for verbs.
8.1 Finite verbs and inflectional categories
8.1.1 Person and number
All finite verbs agree in number with the subject of the clause and inflect for
singular, dual or plural. Finite verbs in the indicative and the potential mood
also agree in person. Inflectional morphology is present even if the subject of
the clause is not overt. For instance, in (2), the finite verbs minne and gillge both
agree with da, the 3pl subject; in (3), the finite verb lijmen agrees with the 1du
subject månnå ja Jåssjå.