Defective verb

Inlinguistics,adefective verbis averbthat either lacks aconjugatedform or entails incomplete conjugation, and thus cannot be conjugated for certain grammaticaltenses,aspects,persons,genders,ormoodsthat the majority of verbs or a "normal" or regular verb in a particular language can be conjugated for.That is to say, a defective verb lacks forms that most verbs in a particular language have.

English

Common defectives

The most commonly recognizeddefective verbs inEnglishare auxiliary verbs—the class ofpreterite-present verbs—can/could,may/might,shall/should,must,ought,andwill/would(wouldbeing a later historical development). Though these verbs were not originally defective, in most varieties of English today, they occur only in amodal auxiliarysense. However, unlike normal auxiliary verbs, they are not regularly conjugated in the infinitive mood. Therefore, these defective auxiliaries do not accept each other as objects. Additionally, they do not regularly appear as participles.

For example,canlacks an infinitive, future tense, participle, imperative, andgerund.The missing parts of speech are instead supplied by using the appropriate forms ofto beplusable to.So, whileI could writeandI was able to writehave the same meaning,I couldhas two meanings depending on use, which areI was able toorI would be able to.One cannot say *I will can,which is instead expressed asI will be able to.Similarly,musthas no true past tense form, this instead being supplied byhad(the past tense of have), and "to have to" in the infinitive, an example of composite conjugation. The past tense expressing the obligatory aspect of must is expressed as "had to", as inHe had to go."Must have", on the other hand, expresses probability or likelihood in modern English; for example,"If that's thunder, there must have been lightning."

Some verbs are becoming more defective as time goes on; for example, althoughmightis etymologically the past tense (preterite) ofmay,it is no longer generally used as such (for example,*he might not goto mean "he was forbidden to go" ). Similarly,shouldis no longer used as the past ofshall,but with a separate meaning indicating possibility or moral obligation. (However, the use of the preterite formshouldas asubjunctive formcontinues, as inIf I should go there tomorrow,...,which contrasts with the indicative formI shall go there tomorrow.) The defective verboughtwas etymologically the past tense ofowe(the affection he ought his children), but it has since split off, leavingoweas a non-defective verb with its original sense and a regular past tense (owed).

Beyond the modal auxiliaries,bewareis a fully defective verb in current Modern English: its only, unmarked form is regularly used (in simple aspect, active voice) in the infinitive (I must beware of the dog), imperative (Beware of the dog, [Let the] buyer beware) and subjunctive (She insists that he beware of the dog), but too much of the finite indicative mood is formally lacking (all simple past *bewared,one simple present *bewares,all aspects*am bewaring,etc.). The wordbegoneis similar: any usage other than as an imperative is highly marked. Another defective verb is the archaicquoth,a past tense which is the only surviving form of the verbquethe,"to say" (related tobequeath).

Impersonal verbs

Impersonal verbssuch asto rainandto snowshare some characteristics with the defective verbs in that forms such asI rainorthey snoware not often found; however, the crucial distinction is that impersonal verbs are "missing" certain forms for semantic reasons—in other words, the forms themselves exist and the verb is capable of being fully conjugated with all its forms (and is therefore not defective) but some forms are unlikely to be found because they appear meaningless or nonsensical.

Nevertheless, native speakers can typically use and understand metaphorical or even literal sentences where the "meaningless" forms exist, such asI rained on his paradeorShe doesn't frost cakes, she snows them.

Contrast the impersonal verbrain(all the forms of which exist, even if they sometimes look semantically odd) with the defective verbcan(onlyI canandI couldare possible). In most cases, a synonym for the defective verb must be used instead (for example, "to be able to" ). (The forms with an asterisk⟨*⟩are impossible, at least with respect to the relevant sense of the verb; these phonemes may by coincidence be attested with respect to ahomograph[as with "canning" = "the act of preserving andpackaging in cans"].)

I rain		I can		I am able to
I rained		I could		I was able to
I am raining		*I am canning		*I am being able to
I have rained		*I have could		I have been able to
to rain		*to can		to be able to

Arabic

InArabic,defective verbs are calledأفعال جامدةʾafʿāl jāmidah(lit.,'solid verbs'). These verbs do not change tense, nor do they form related nouns. A famous example is the verbلَيْسَ⁩laysa'it is not',though it is not the only auxiliary verb that exhibits this property. Some Arabic grammarians argue thatدَامَ⁩dāma(as an auxiliary verb) is also completely defective; those who dispute this claim still consider it partially defective. Some other partially defective verbs areفَتِئَ⁩fatiʔaandزَالَ⁩zāla,which have neither an imperative form nor an infinitive form when used as auxiliary verbs.

Catalan

InCatalan,defective verbs are usually defective for semantic reasons.Due to their impersonal nature,haver-hiandcaldreare only used in the third person. The implicit repetition intrinsic to the meaning ofsolerresults in it only having forms in the present and imperfect tenses. Verbs pertaining to meteorological phenomena, such asploure,can only be conjugated in the third person singular, although a third person plural form is also possible when used with a metaphorical sense. Additionally,lleureis used only in the third person, whiledarlacks present tense forms, with the exceptions of the first person plural and second person plural. Defective verbs in Catalan can generally also be used in the impersonal forms of the infinitive, gerund, and past participle.

Finnish

At least one Finnish verb lacks the first infinitive (dictionary/lemma) form. In Finnish, "kutian helposti" ( "I'm sensitive to tickling" ) can be said, but for the verb "kutian" (here conjugated in singular first person, present tense) there is no non-conjugated form. Hypothetically, the first infinitive could be "kudita", but this form is not actually used. Additionally, thenegative verb(ei, et, en, emme...) has neither an infinitive form nor a 1st person singular imperative form.

French

There are several defective verbs in French.

• falloir( "to be necessary"; only the third-person forms withilexist; the present indicative conjugation,il faut,is very commonly used,impersonal verb)
• braire( "to bray"; only infinitive, present participle, and third-person forms exist)
• frire( "to fry"; lacks non-compound past forms; speakers paraphrase with equivalent forms offaire frire)
• clore( "to conclude"; lacks an imperfect conjugation, as well as first and second person plural present indicative conjugations)
• gésir( "to lie horizontally", often used in inscriptions on gravestones; can only be conjugated in the present, imperfect, present imperative, present participle and extremely rarely, the simple future forms)

Impersonal verbs, such as weather verbs, function as they do in English.

German

In contemporary German, the verberkiesen,which means "to choose/elect" (usually referring to a person chosen for a special task or honour), is only used in the past participle (erkoren) and, more rarely, the past tense (ich erkoretc.). All other forms, including the infinitive, have long become obsolete and are now unknown and unintelligible to modern speakers. It remains commonplace in the closely relatedDutch languageasverkiezen;for example,Verkiezingen in Nederland(Elections in the Netherlands).

Classical Greek

"No singleGreekverb shows all the tenses ", and" most verbs have only six of "the nine classes of tense-systems, and" [s]carcely any verb shows all nine systems ".

The verb χρή (khrē,'it is necessary'), only exists in the third-person-singular present and imperfect ἐχρῆν / χρῆν (ekhrēn / khrēn,'it was necessary').

There are also verbs like οἶδα (oida,'I know'), which use the perfect form for the present and the pluperfect (here ᾔδηēidē,'I was knowing') for the imperfect.

Additionally, the verb εἰμί (eimi,'I am') only has a present, a future and an imperfect – it lacks an aorist, a perfect, a pluperfect and a future perfect.

Hindustani

InHindustani(HindiandUrdu) all the verbs except the verbhona(to be) lack the following conjugations.

1. Indicative Mood
   • Present
   • Imperfect
2. Presumptive Mood
3. Subjunctive Mood
   • Present

The comparison between the conjugations ofhona(to be) and the conjugations of all other verbs are shown in the table below:

non-aspectual conjugations of "honā(to be) " mood tense singular plural 1P - mãĩ 2P - tum1 3P - yah/ye, vah/vo 1P - ham1 2P - āp1 2P - tū 3P - ye, ve/vo ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀ indicative present hū̃ ho hai hãĩ perfect huā huī hue huī huā huī hue huī̃ imperfect thā thī the thī thā thī the thī̃ future2- 1 hoū̃gā hoū̃gī hooge hoogī hoegā hoegī hoẽge hoẽgī future2- 2 hū̃gā hū̃gī hoge hogī hogā hogī hõge hõgī presumptive present past subjunctive present hū̃ ho ho hõ future hoū̃ hoo hoe hoẽ contrafactual past hotā hotī hote hotī hotā hotī hote hotī̃ imperative present — hoo ho hoiye future — honā hoiyo hoiyegā	non-aspectual conjugations of "karnā(to do) " mood tense singular plural 1P - mãĩ 2P - tum1 3P - yah/ye, vah/vo 1P - ham1 2P - āp1 2P - tū 3P - ye, ve/vo ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀ indicative present — — — — perfect kiyā kī kiye kī kiyā kī kiye kī̃ imperfect — — — — — — — — future2- 1 karū̃gā karū̃gī karoge karogī karegā karegī karẽge karẽgī future2- 2 — — — — — — — — presumptive present past subjunctive present — — — — — — — — future karū̃ karo kare karẽ contrafactual past kartā kartī karte kartī kartā kartī karte kartī̃ imperative present — karo kar kariye future — karnā kariyo kariyegā
1the pronounstum,āp,andhamcan be used in both singular and plural sense, akin to the English pronounyou,although the singular use ofhamis proscribed.
2the indicativefuture 1andfuture 2conjugations aresynonymous,however, only thefuture 2conjugations can be used as thepresumptive moodcopula.

Some verbs in Hindustani which have monosyllabic verb roots ending in the vowels /i/, /ī/ or /e/ are defective because they have the second person intimate and formal future imperative conjugations which are uncommon to native speakers of Hindustani and are almost rarely used. The * mark before some intimate imperative forms below shows those rarely used forms.

Verbs	Infinitive	Intimate		Neutral		Formal
		Present	Future	Present	Future	Present	Future
do	karnā	kar	kariyo	karo	karnā	kījiye	kījiyegā
give	denā	de	diyo	do	denā	dījiye	dījiyegā
drink	pīnā	pī	*pīiyo	piyo	pīnā	pījiye	pījiyegā
live	jīnā	jī	*jīiyo	jiyo	jīnā	*jīiye	*jīiyegā
sew	sīnā	sī	*sīiyo	siyo	sīnā	*sīiye	*sīiyegā

Hungarian

SomeHungarianverbs have either no subjunctive forms or forms which sound uncommon to native speakers; for example,csuklik'hiccup'.See alsoa short summary about themin the English-language Wiktionary.

Irish

Arsa'says'can be used only in the past or present tense. Thecopulaislacks a future tense, an imperative mood, and a verbal noun. It has no distinct conditional tense forms either, but conditional expressions are possible, expressed using past tense forms; for exampleBa mhaith liom é,which can mean both'I liked it'and'I would like it'.The imperative mood is sometimes suppletively created by using the imperative forms of the substantive verbbí.Future tense forms, however, are impossible and can only be expressed periphrastically.

There is alsodar'[it] appears, seems',a temporally independent verb that always appears in combination with the prepositionle.

Dar liom go bhfuil ceart agat.

Dar liom

It seems to me

go

that

bhfuil

be.PRES.DEP.INDIR.REL

ceart

correct

agat.

at.2SG

{Dar liom} go bhfuil ceart agat.

{It seems to me} that be.PRES.DEP.INDIR.REL correct at.2SG

"It seems to me that you are right."

Korean

Korean has several defective verbs. (말다malda'to stop or desist') may only be used in the imperative form or in thehortativeform, after an 'action verb +지(ji)' construction. Within this scope it can still conjugate for different levels of politeness, such as하지 마!Haji ma!'Stop that!',in contrast with하지 마십시오Haji masipsiyo'Please, don't do that'.Also,데리다derida'to bring/pick up someone'is only used as데리고derigo'bringing X and...',데리러derireo'in order to pick up',or데려deryeo'to pick up'in some compound forms.

Latin

Latinhas defective verbs that possess forms only in theperfecttense; such verbs have no present tense forms whatsoever. These verbs are still present inmeaning.For example, the first-person formodi( "I hate" ) and infinitiveodisse( "to hate" ) appear to be the perfect of a hypothetical verb*odo/odio,but in fact have a present-tense meaning. Similarly, the verbmemini,meminisseis conjugated in the perfect, yet has a present meaning:

meminī

meministī

meminit

meminimus

meministis

meminērunt

Instead of the past-tense "I remembered", "you remembered", etc., these forms signify the present-tense "I remember", "you remember", etc. Latin defective verbs also possess regularly formedpluperfectforms with simple past tense meanings andfuture perfectforms with simple future tense meanings. Comparedeponent verbs,which are passive in form but active in meaning.

The verbcoepī,coepisse,which means "to have begun" or "began", is another verb that lacks a present tense system. However, it is not present in meaning. The verbincipiō,incipere( "I begin," "to begin" ) is used in the present tense instead. This is not a case ofsuppletion,however, because the verbinciperecan also be used in the perfect.

The verbsinquitandait,both meaning "said", cannot be conjugated through all forms. Both verbs lack numerous inflected forms, with entire tenses and voices missing altogether.

Malayic

ManyMalayic languages,includingMalayandIndonesian,have many defective verbs. Defective verbs in the related Besemah language (South Barisan Malay), for example, has been explained by McDonnell (2016). He is not directly using the term "defective verb", but instead "verb root productivity".

Verb inflection in Besemah

	Bound root	Verbal root		Nominal root
		Transitive	Intransitive
Root	*capak	idup	tanam	gunting
	"to discard"	"to live"	"to plant"	"scissors"
Free	—	idup	tanam	gunting
		"live, on"	"plant (pv) "	"scissors"
-an	capakan	—	tanaman	guntingan
	"discarded"		"plant"	"cut"
be-	becapak	—	betanam	begunting
	"take off"		"plant rice"	"use/have scissors"
te-	tecapak	teidup	tetanam	tegunting
	"inadvertently discarded"	"inadvertently take on"	"be planted"	"inadvertently cut"
N-	ncapak	—	ntanam	nggunting
	"throw up"		"plant"	"cut"

Polish

Widać'it is evident'andsłychać'it is audible'are both highly defective inPolish.The only forms of these verbs that exist are the infinitives. They both work as impersonal verbs in a visible or audible situation that does not require another verb (although may have one), and they have no distinction between singular and plural. For exampleWidać blask wśród drzew'A glow is visible among the trees'orJego głos słychać w całym domu'His voice can be heard in the whole house'.

Portuguese

A large number ofPortuguese verbsare defective inperson;that is, they lack the proper form for one of the pronouns in some tense. The verbcolorir( "to color" ) has no first-person singular in the present, thus requiring a paraphrase, likeestou colorindo( "I am coloring" ) or the use of another verb of a similar meaning, likepintar( "to paint" ).

Russian

SomeRussianverbs are defective, in that they lack a first person singular non-past form: for example,победить'to win',убедить'to convince',дудеть'to play the pipe'.These are all verbs whose stem ends in a palatalizedalveolar consonant;they are not aclosed class,but include in their number neologisms and loanwords such asфрендить(to friend, as on a social network).Where such a verb form would be required, speakers typically substitute a synonymous verb (Я выиграю), or use aperiphrasticconstruction involvingnominalizationand an additional verb (Я одержу победу). Also the wordмогу'I'll be able to, I'll manage to'is used:(Я) смогу победить, (я) смогу убедить.

Many experiential verbs describe processes that humans cannot generally undergo, such asпригореть'to be burnt, regarding food',куститься'to grow in clusters',andпротекать'to seep'—are ordinarily nonsensical in the first or second person. As these forms rarely appear, they are often described as "defective" in descriptions ofRussian grammar.However, this is a semantic constraint rather than a syntactic one; compare the classic nonsensical-but-grammatical sentenceColorless green ideas sleep furiously,or more directly, the English phraseI am raining.First and second person forms of these verbs do see use in metaphor and poetry.

Spanish

Spanish defective verbs generally use forms with stem endings that begin with -i.The verbs are not commonly used.

• aguerrir
• arrecirse
• aterirse
• balbucir(found in forms ending in -i, but mostly replaced bybalbucear)
• blandir
• despavorir
• empedernir
• garantir(usually replaced bygarantizar,which is regular)
• soler(always used as helping verb, so many forms, although possible, won't make sense)
• usucapir(to acquire property rights through customary use; only in the infinitive in legal texts)

The following two verbs used to be defective verbs but are now normally conjugated.

• abolir(theNueva gramática de la lengua españolafrom the Real Academia (section 4.14d) now conjugates it normally, usingabolo/aboles,etc.)
• agredir

Swedish

The auxiliary verbmåste'must'lacks an infinitive, except in Swedish dialects spoken in Finland. Also, the verb is unique in that the formmåsteserves as both a present'must'and past'had to'form. Thesupinemåstis rare.

Turkish

While theTurkish copulais not considered a verb inmodern Turkish,it originated as the defective verb*imek— which is now written and pronounced as a suffix of the predicate.*İmekand the suffixes derived from it exist in only a few tenses; it is replaced by negativedeğilin the tenses originally supplied by*imek,and remaining forms byolmak'to become'otherwise.

The verb can be conjugated only in certain tenses: pastidi,inferential perfectiveimiş,conditionalise,and (non-finite) personal past participleidük(usable with possessive suffixes, notice the form was irregular).

Ukrainian

UkrainianVerbs ending in-вісти(for example,розповісти'to tellPFV'andвідповісти'to answerPFV') lack imperative mood forms; imperfective verbs are used instead (for example,відповідай).

Welsh

Welshhas several defective verbs, a number of which are archaic or literary. Some of the more common ones in everyday use includedylwn( "I should/ought" ), found only in the imperfect and pluperfect tenses,meddaf( "I say" ), found only in the present and imperfect, andgeni( "to be born" ), which only has a verb-noun and impersonal forms; for example,Ganwyd hi(She was born, literally "one bore her" ). Common defective verbs in the spoken language areeisiau(pronounced, and often spelt, asisioorisie) andangenwhich mean 'to want' and 'to need' respectively; both are in fact nouns but are used in speech as if they were verb-nouns though they do not take the precedingyn,comparedw i'n canu'I sing' vs.dw i eisiau'I want'. The literary language would use these as nouns and not as defective verbs; for example,mae eisiau arnaf'I want', literally 'there is a want on me'.

See also

• Unpaired word– another form of lexical gap

Further reading

• Baerman, Matthew; Brown, Dunstan; Corbett, Greville G. (2009a).Surrey Typological Database on Defectiveness.University of Surrey.doi:10.15126/SMG.21/1.
• Baerman, Matthew; Brown, Dunstan; Corbett, Greville G. (2009b).Surrey Cross-linguistic Database on Defectiveness.University of Surrey.doi:10.15126/SMG.21/2.
• Baerman, Matthew; Brown, Dunstan; Corbett, Greville G., eds. (2010).Defective paradigms: Missing forms and what they tell us.Proceedings of the British Academy. Vol. 163. Oxford: Oxford University Press and British Academy.ISBN978-0-19-726460-7.