Kyrgyz phrasal verbs

V + V

There are many cases in Kyrgyz where two (or more) verbs occur in a sequence. Usually this is in combinations where there's a sequence of events (each one represented by a verb) or additional aspectual or mood information being added to an event (where a second verb is an auxiliary conveying that aspectual/mood information).

V + V as a single verb

There are, however, a few V + V combinations which can be interpreted (and certainly translated) as if they are behaving as a single verb.

• алып кел- < ал- ‘take’ + кел- ‘come’ = bring
• алып бар- < ал- ‘take’ + бар- ‘go (+dest)’ = take / bring (over)
• алып кет- < ал- ‘take’ + кет- ‘leave’ = take away
• алып жүр- < ал- ‘take’ + жүр- ‘go’ = carry (in some contexts)

Some of these have abbreviated forms in speech:¹

• апкел- = алып кел-
• апар- = алып бар-

¹ In Kazakh, the forms әкел-, апар-, and әкет- are the standard written forms of these words, and only in very high registers are they written as two separate verbs.

V1 + V2 with V2's valency

In most instances of V1 + V2 (+ V3, etc.), the main verb is V1 and the valency of the compound verb is that of V1. However, in some [rather rare] scenarios, V2 is treated as the main verb and the valency of the compound verb is that of V2.

FIXME: example

N + V

• башты/башымды/жүрөктү/жүрөгүмдү айлант-

• ичим айлан

Other

• кус+ку