Indo-European copula
A feature common to all Indo-European languages is the presence of a verb corresponding to the English verb to be.
General features
This verb has two basic meanings. In a less marked context it is a simple copula (I'm tired; That's a shame!), a function which in non-Indo-European languages can be expressed quite differently. In a more heavily marked context it expresses existence (I think therefore I am); the dividing line between these is not always easy to draw. In addition, many Indo-European languages use this verb as an auxiliary for the formation of compound (periphrastic) tenses (I'm working; I was bitten). Other functions vary from language to language. For example, although in its basic meanings, to be is a stative verb, English puts it to work as a dynamic verb in fixed collocations (You are being very annoying).
The copula is the most irregular verb in many Indo-European languages. This is partly because it is more frequently used than any other, and partly because Proto-Indo-European offered more than one verb suitable for use in these functions, with the result that the daughter languages, in different ways, have tended to form suppletive verb paradigms. This article describes the way in which the irregular forms have developed from a series of roots.
The Proto-Indo-European roots
*h1es-
The root *h1es- was certainly already a copula in Proto-Indo-European. The e-grade (see Indo-European ablaut) is found in such forms as English is, German ist, Latin est, while the zero grade produces forms beginning with /s/, like German sind, Latin sumus, Vedic Sanskrit smas, etc. In PIE, *h1es- was an athematic verb in -mi, that is, the first person singular was *h1esmi; this inflection survives in English am, Sanskrit asmi, Old Church Slavonic есмь (jesm'), etc.
The present indicative of this verb is generally reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European thus:
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | *h1és-mi | *h1s-més |
| 2 | *h1és-si (already in PIE reduced to *h1ési) | *h1s-th1é |
| 3 | *h1és-ti | *h1s-énti |
*bhuH-
The root *bhuH- (where H stands for a laryngeal of unknown quality) probably meant "to grow", but also "to become". This is the source of the English infinitive be and participle been (Germanic participles have the suffix in -an), as well as, for example, the Scottish Gaelic future tense bithidh, and the Slavic infinitive, etc. for example Russian быть [byt']. PIE /bh/ becomes Latin /f/, hence the Latin future participle futūrus and perfect tense fuī; Latin fiō 'I become' is also from this root, as is the Greek verb φύω, from which physics and physical are derived. Jasanoff (2003: 112) reconstructs the present indicative of this verb as follows:
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | *bhúH-i-h2e(i) | *bhuH-i-mé- |
| 2 | *bhúH-i-th2e(i) | *bhuH-i-(t)é- |
| 3 | *bhúH-y-e | *bhuH-y-énti |
*wes-
The root *wes- may originally have meant "to live". The e-grade is present in the German participle gewesen, the o-grade (*wos-) survives in English and Old High German was, while the lengthened e-grade (*wēs-) gives us English were. (The Germanic forms with /r/ result from grammatischer Wechsel.) See Germanic strong verb: Class 4.
*h1er-
The root *h1er- meant "to move". This is probably the origin of the Old Norse and later Scandinavian languages' present stem: Old Norse em, ert, er, erum, eruð, eru; the second person forms of which were borrowed into English as art and are.[1] Other authorities link these forms with *h1es- and assumes grammatischer Wechsel (/s/→/r/), although this is, to a degree, difficult to explain in the present stem.
*steh2-
The root *(s)teh2- survives in English with its original meaning: "to stand". From this root comes the present stem of the so-called "substantive verb" in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, tá and tha respectively. In Latin, stō, stare retained the meaning "to stand", until local forms of Vulgar Latin began to use it as a copula in certain circumstances. Today, this survives in that several Romance languages use it as one of their two copulae, and there is also a Romance tendency for a past participle derived from *steh2- to replace that of the main copula. On the absence of the initial s- in Celtic, see Indo-European s-mobile.
The resulting paradigms
Hittite
The Hittite verb "to be" is derived from the Indo-European root *h1es-.
| Present indicative | Preterite indicative | Imperative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | ēšmi | ešun | ēšlit ēšlut ašallu |
| 2nd sg. | ēšši | ēšta | ēš |
| 3rd sg. | ēšzi | ēšta | ēšdu |
| 1st pl. | (ašweni) | ēšwen | —— |
| 2nd pl. | ēšteni | ēšten | ēšten |
| 3rd pl. | ašanzi | ešer | ašandu |
Vedic Sanskrit
The Vedic Sanskrit verb as (to be) is derived from the Indo-European root *h1es-.
| Person | Present, Indicative, Active | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| 1. | asmi | svas | smas |
| 2. | asi | sthas | stha |
| 3. | asti | stas | santi |
- bhū - 'to be'
| Person | Present, Indicative, Active | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| 1. | bhavāmi | bhavāvas(i) | bhavāmas(i) |
| 2. | bhavasi | bhavathas | bhavatha |
| 3. | bhavati | bhavatas | bhavanti |
Ancient Greek
The Ancient Greek verb eimi (I am) is derived from the Indo-European root *h1es-.
| Present indicative | |
|---|---|
| 1st sg. | εἰμί (eimi) |
| 2nd sg. | εἶ, εἶς, ἐσσί (ei ,eis, essi) |
| 3rd sg. | ἐστί(ν) (esti(n)) |
| 1st pl. | ἐσμέν, εἰμέν (esmen, eimen) |
| 2nd pl. | ἐστέ (este) |
| 3rd pl. | ἐντί, εἰσί(ν), enti, eisi(n) |
Slavic languages
| Old Church Slavonic | Ukrainian | Russian | Polish | Serbo-Croatian Bosnian = Croatian = Serbian |
Bulgarian | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | byti | buty | быть, byt' | być | biti | да бъда, da bada |
| Present | esmĭ esi estĭ esmŭ este sǫtŭ |
je je je je je je |
есмь, esm' (rare) еси, esi (rare) есть, est' есмы, esmy (arch.) есте, este (arch.) суть, sut' |
jestem jesteś jest jesteśmy jesteście są |
jesam, sam jesi, si jest, je jesmo, smo jeste, ste jesu, su |
съм, sam си, si е, e сме, sme сте, ste са, sa |
| Imperfect | – – běaše – – běaxǫ |
bijah, bjeh/beh bijaše, bješe/beše bijaše, bješe/beše bijasmo, bjesmo/besmo bijaste, bjeste/beste bijahu, bjehu/behu |
бях, byah беше, beshe беше, beshe бяхме, byahme бяхте, byachte бяха, byaha | |||
| Imperfective aorist | běxŭ bě bě běxomŭ *běste běšę |
бях, byah бе, be беше, be бяхме, byahme бяхте, byachte бяха, byaha | ||||
| Future | bǫdǫ bǫdeši bǫdetŭ bǫdemŭ bǫdete bǫdǫtŭ |
budu budeš bude(t′) budem(o) budete budut′ |
буду, budu будешь, budeš' будет, budet будем, budem будете, budete будут, budut |
będę będziesz będzie będziemy będziecie będą |
budem budeš bude budemo budete budu |
ще бъда, shte bada ще бъдеш, shte badesh ще бъде, shte bade ще бъдем, shte badem ще бъдете, shte badete ще бъдат, shte badat |
| Imperative | – bǫdi bǫdi bǫděmŭ bǫděte bǫdǫ |
– buvaj/bud′ – buvajmo/bud′mo buvajte/bud′te – |
– будь, bud’ – будем, budem будьте, bud’te – |
– bywaj/bądź – bywajmy/bądźmy bywajcie/bądźcie – |
– budi (neka bude) budimo budite (neka budu) |
- бъди, badi - - бъдете, badete - |
| Perfective aorist | byxŭ by(stŭ) by(stŭ) byxomŭ byste byšę |
bih bi bi bismo biste biše |
бих, bih би, bi би, bi бихме, bihme бихте, bihte биха, biha | |||
| Present participle | sy m. sǫšti f. sy n. |
buvajučyj m. buvajuča f. buvajuče n. |
будущий, budušči m. будущая, buduščaja f. будущее, buduščeje n. |
będący m. będąca f. będące n. |
budući m. buduća f. buduće n. |
бидейки, bideyki only predicative use |
| Resultative participle | bylŭ m. byla f. bylo n. |
бил, bil била, bila било, bilo | ||||
| Past active participle | byvŭ m. byvŭši f. byvŭ n. |
buvšyj m. (‘former’ adj.) buvša f. buvše n. |
бывший, byvšij m. (‘former’ adj.) бывшая, byvšaja f. бывшее, byvšee n. |
Italic languages
Except for Latin, the older Italic languages are very scarcely attested, but we have in Oscan set (they are), fiiet (they become), fufans (they have been) and fust (he will be), and in Umbrian sent (they are). This section will explain Latin, and the Romance languages that have evolved from it.
In Spanish, Catalan, Galician-Portuguese and to a lesser extent, Italian there are two parallel paradigms, ser/èsser/essere from Latin esse "to be" on one hand, and estar/stare from Latin stare, "to stand" on the other.
For simplicity, the table below has only the full conjugation of the present tense, and the first-person singular forms of some other tenses.
| Latin | (Old) French | Spanish | Italian | Portuguese | Catalan | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | esse | stāre | être | ester | ser | estar | essere | stare | ser | estar | ser, ésser | estar |
| Present indicative | sum es est sumus estis sunt |
stō stās stat stāmus stātis stant |
suis es est sommes êtes sont |
este estes este estons estez estent |
soy eres es somos sois son |
estoy estás está estamos estáis están |
sono sei è siamo siete sono |
sto stai sta stiamo state stanno |
sou és é somos sois são |
estou estás está estamos estais estão |
sóc ets és som sou són |
estic estàs està estem esteu estan |
| Present subjunctive | sim | stet | sois | este | sea | esté | sia | stia | seja | esteja | sigui | estigui |
| Preterite | fuī | steti | fus | estai | fui | estuve | fui | stetti | fui | estive | fui (unused) |
estiguí (unused) |
| Imperfect | eram | stābam | étais | estais | era | estaba | ero | stavo | era | estava | era | estava |
| Future | erō | stābō | serai | esterai | seré | estaré | sarò | starò | serei | estarei | seré | estaré |
| Past participle / Supine |
n/a | stātum | été (borrowed) |
esté | sido | estado | stato (borrowed) |
stato | sido | estado | sigut (dialectal) |
estat |
In several modern Romance languages, the perfect is a compound tense formed with the participle as in English, but the old Latin perfect survives as a commonly-used preterite in Spanish and Portuguese, and as a literary "past historical" in French, Italian and Catalan.
There is a tendency for a past participle derived from stare (or more specifically its supine, statum) to replace that of the main copula derived from esse. For example, the French participle été comes from statum.
For further information, see the main article.
Germanic languages
- Main article: Germanic verb
| Old Norse | Danish | Old English | English | Old High German | German | Dutch | Gothic | Swedish | Old Swedish | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | vera | være | wesan | bēon | be | wesan | sein | zijn / wezen | wisan | vara | vara |
| Present indicative | em ert (est) er (es) erum eruð eru |
er |
eom eart is sint sint sint |
bēo bist biþ bēoþ bēoþ bēoþ |
am (art) is are are are |
bim bis(t) ist birum birut sint |
bin bist ist sind seid sind |
ben bent is zijn zijn / gij zijt zijn |
im is ist sijum sijuþ sind |
är |
æm æst ær ærum ærin æro |
| Present subjunctive | siá sér sé sém séð sé |
være (extremely rare) |
sīe sīe sīe sīen sīen sīen |
bēo bēo bēo bēon bēon bēon |
be |
sî sîs(t) sî sîm sî(n)t sîn |
sei sei(e)st sei seien sei(e)t seien |
zij |
sijau sijais sijai sijaima sijaiþ sijaina |
vare (rare) |
væri væri væri sēin sēn sē |
| Preterite | var várum |
var |
wæs wǽre wæs wǽron wǽron wǽron |
was (wast) was were were were |
was wâri was wârum wârut wârun |
war warst war waren wart waren |
was was was waren waren / gij waart waren |
was wast was wesum wesuþ wesun |
var |
var vart var vārom vārin vāro | |
| Past participle | verit | været | —— | been | —— | gewesen | geweest | —— | varit (supine) | varin | |
Old English kept the verbs wesan and bēon separate throughout the present stem, though it is not clear that they made the kind of consistent distinction in usage that we find, for example in Spanish. In the preterite, however, the paradigms fell together. Old English has no participle for this verb.
Celtic languages
In the earliest Celtic languages there was a distinction between the so-called substantive verb, used when the predicate was an adjective phrase or prepositional phrase, and the so-called copula, used when the predicate was a noun. This contrast is maintained today in the Goidelic languages but has been lost in the Brythonic languages.
The conjugation of the Old Irish and Middle Welsh verbs is as follows:
| Old Irish substantive verb | Old Irish copula | Middle Welsh | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present | (at)·tó (at)·taí (at)·tá (at)·taam (at)·taïd (at)·taat |
am at is ammi adib it |
wyf wyt yw, mae, taw, oes ym ywch ynt, maen(t) |
| Preterite | ·bá ·bá ·boí ·bámmar ·baid ·bátar |
basa basa ba bommar unattested batar |
buum buost bu buam buawch buant |
| Future | bia bie bieid, ·bia beimmi, ·biam bethe, ·bieid bieit, ·biat |
be be bid bimmi unattested bit |
bydaf bydy byd bydwn bydwch bydant |
The forms of the Old Irish present tense of the substantive verb, as well as Welsh taw, come from the PIE root *stā-. The other forms are from the roots *es- and *bhū-. Welsh mae originally meant "here is" (cf. yma 'here').
In modern Gaelic, person inflections have almost disappeared, but the negative and interrogative are marked by distinctive forms. While some grammar books still distinguish the substantive verb from the copula, some treat the substantive forms as assertive forms of the copula;[2] since the verb is in any case suppletive, this is a matter of perspective.
| Scottish Gaelic | Irish | |
|---|---|---|
| Present affirmative interrogative negative negative interrogative |
tha a bheil chan eil nach eil |
tá an bhfuil níl (ní fhuil) nach bhfuil |
| Assertive present | is | is |
| Past affirmative interrogative negative negative interogative |
bha an robh cha robh nach robh |
bhí an raibh ní raibh nach raibh |
| Assertive past | bu | ba |
| Future affirmative interogative negative negative interogative |
bithidh am bi cha bhi nach bi |
beidh an mbeidh ní bheidh nach mbeidh |
Gaelic (bh)eil and Irish (bh)fuil are from Old Irish fil, originally an imperative meaning "see!" (PIE root *wel-, also in Welsh gweled, Germanic wlitu- "appearance", and Latin voltus "face"), then coming to mean "here is" (cf. French voici < vois ci and voilà < vois là), later becoming a suppletive dependent form of at-tá. Gaelic robh and Modern Irish raibh are from the perfective particle ro (ry in Welsh) plus ba (lenited after ro).
References
- Jasanoff, Jay H. (2003). Hittite and the Indo-European Verb. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-924905-9.