Verb Phrases

Verb phrases (VP's) in Sereer consist of a verb optionally modified by any or all of the following components: any number of adverbs, a single determiner, a prepositional phrase, a relative clause, and a possessive NP. These components are ordered as follows:

1) Verb
2) Adverb
3) Noun Phrase
4) Prepositional Phrase

Valence patterns and alignment

Intransitive Verbs

Sereer Examples of intransitive verbs include 'to die' and 'to sleep'

Copula-like clauses

Direct object and oblique arguments follow verbs, and there are no restrictions on the ordering of these arguments, as shown in (1) and (2):

<gl id="YandeLetter" fontsize=12> Miñaan acooɗa (a) Yande oleetar ole \gll Miñaan a-cooɗ-a (a) Yande oleetar ol-e masc.name 3sg.-give-3sg. fem.name ol-e \trans Miñaan gave Yande the letter </gl>

<gl id="LetterYande" fontsize=12> Miñaan acooɗa oleetar ole (a) Yande \gll Miñaan a-cooɗ-a oleetar ol-e (a) Yande masc.name 3sg.-give-3sg. fem.name ol-e \trans Miñaan gave the letter (to) Yande </gl>

Ditransitive Verbs

Direct object and oblique arguments follow verbs, and there are no restrictions on the ordering of these arguments, as shown in (1) and (2):

<gl id="YandeLetter" fontsize=12> Miñaan acooɗa (a) Yande oleetar ole \gll Miñaan a-cooɗ-a (a) Yande oleetar ol-e masc.name 3sg.-give-3sg. fem.name ol-e \trans Miñaan gave Yande the letter </gl>

<gl id="LetterYande" fontsize=12> Miñaan acooɗa oleetar ole (a) Yande \gll Miñaan a-cooɗ-a oleetar ol-e (a) Yande masc.name 3sg.-give-3sg. fem.name ol-e \trans Miñaan gave the letter (to) Yande </gl>