The causal verb is formed by prefixing the syllable pe-, pi-, pa- [41] to the root: this is probably the verb pi, meaning "to give"; e.g. cho, "eat," pecho, "feed"; tàng, "finish," petàng, "cause to finish, end"; ingrum, "be gathered together," pàngrum, "collect"; virdèt, "be lost," pi-virdèt, "destroy." This syllable takes precedure of che- in reflexive verbs: e-chainòng e-pa-chi-thu-koi-làng, "he has caused us to slaughter all our cows": here e- is the pronoun of the first person plural inclusive of the addressee; pa-, the causal prefix; chi-, the reflexive particle, indicating that the cattle slaughtered were their own; thu, a verb, "to kill by cutting"; koi, a particle indicating completeness; làng, the tense-suffix.
Compound verbs meet us at every step in Mikir. Roots are heaped together, and the compound is closed by the tense-suffix. Ordinarily the first root determines the general meaning of the compound, the rest being adverbial supplements of modifying force:--chiru-pi-lèm-lo, "he pretended to weep" (chiru, "weep," lèm, "seem, appear," pi-lèm, "cause to seem, pretend"); ke-phlòng-dàm abàng, "somebody who will go and set fire (to the funeral pile)" (phlòng, "kindle," dàm, "go"); kroi-dun-lo, "she consented" (kroi, "agree, obey," dun, "go or be with another"); ne do-dun-ji-ma, "will you stay with me?" (do, "stay," dun, as above). The texts which follow supply a multitude of other examples.
These adverbial supplements to verbs, inserted between the principal verb and the tense-suffixes, are a very characteristic feature of the language, and their proper use is one of the most difficult things for a learner to master. Certain roots take constant supplements of this kind, and are scarcely ever found without them; thus the verbs thi, "die," i, "lie down to sleep," and jàng, "close the eyes," are almost invariably followed by lòt; rèng, "to live," takes èt before verbal suffixes; lòng, "to get," takes lòk; chingbar, "to be equal (in size, weight, height)," and chingdòn, "to be equal in length," take chit; inghòn, "to love," and ingjinso, "to pity," both take duk; jòk and thèt, both meaning "to escape, get loose," take phlòt. The complements for verbs meaning "to fall" have been mentioned above (p. 82). These supplements frequently cause the tense-endings to be dispensed with, in which case the action is understood to be in the narrative past or historic present. No doubt most of them were originally separate verbal roots, but are not now capable of being used separately.
