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Lesson 5: Dusun Affixes for Verb & Adjective (Imbuhan)

One of the most fascinating — and also most challenging — aspects of learning Dusun is mastering its system of affixes (imbuhan). These include prefixes, suffixes, and infixes that attach to verbs and adjectives to express things like tense, mood, voice, direction, and even emphasis.

Dusun has over 50 unique affix forms used with verbs and adjectives. Some words can change completely in meaning depending on which affix is applied. Understanding these forms is essential for fluency — without them, your sentence can sound awkward, incomplete, or even completely wrong.

Let's take the root verb tandang (to kick) as an example. Below is a list of its various affixed forms. You might be surprised — but yes, Dusun speakers use these regularly in daily conversation:

📌 Present Tense Variants:
tandang, angatandang, atandang, guntandang, ingkatandang, katandang, manandang, mananandang, mintandang, mogitandang-tandang, mokitandang, obintandang, panandang, panandangan, papatandang, patandango, patandangon, pointandang, pokitandang, pokitandangan, popintandang, sangkatandangan, sangkatandang-tandang, sitandang, sipanandang

📌 Past Tense Variants:
kinatandangan, minintandang, mintandang, minokitandang, minanandang, minogitandang-tandang, nangatandang, natandang, nakatandang, nakatandangan, pinanandang, pinanandangan, pinapatandang, pinatandang, pinopitandang, pinitandang, pinintandangan, pinokitandangan, pinopintandang, sinangkatandangan, sinangkatandang-tandang, sinitandang, sinipanandang, tinandang

It may seem overwhelming, but yes — these forms are truly used by native speakers in real conversations. Each affix has its own nuance and function, and with time, you’ll begin to recognize their patterns and meanings naturally.

🔍 Why are there so many affixes?

Dusun is an agglutinative language, meaning it builds meaning by “gluing” parts together — much like LEGO blocks. Instead of using extra words like English does (“I want to go” or “You can run?”), Dusun encodes those ideas directly into the verb form using affixes. (siongoi oku, katangkus ko?)

🌏 Comparison to Tagalog

Tagalog (Filipino) works in a similar way — both languages come from the Austronesian family. If you’ve learned Tagalog verbs like kumain, kinakain, kainin, kakain, you’ll feel right at home in Dusun. Just like in Tagalog, each affix combination has a specific role — whether showing tense, focus, voice, or direction. BTW, they claim that a Tagalog verb has 100+ possible affixes and combinations.

⏳ Dusun Focuses Heavily on the Past

Interestingly tapi tidak semestinya betul ya, Dusun appears to have more verb forms for the past tense than for the present or future. From my observation, this may reflect a cultural tendency to tell stories, explain past actions, or even debate what has happened — though that's just a fun theory. What’s clear is: past tense is rich and detailed in this language.

⚠️ Mistakes Can Change Everything

In Dusun, using the wrong affix can totally flip the meaning of your sentence:

• Change the voice (active ↔ passive)
• Change the focus (who did what)
• Change the time frame
• Or worse — make your sentence nonsense or rude!

That’s why it’s important to study affixes carefully. We’ll go slowly and cover each one step by step.

📘 What We'll Cover

In this lesson, we will:

• Introduce the most common affixes: papa/popo, ma/mo, si, ka/ko, and their past tenses-
• Explain their meanings, examples, and when to use them
• Compare similar affixes and show when each is used

Dusun verbs are highly flexible and dynamic due to the wide use of affixes—prefixes, suffixes, and infixes—that modify the meaning, tense, or nuance of a verb. Understanding how these affixes work is crucial to mastering the language. Some affixes indicate desire, ability, future or past tense, casual or scattered action, or even command tone.

Dusun verbs are modified using various types of affixes:

• Prefixes – added at the beginning of the root verb (e.g., si-, ka-, ko-, minan-, mongoi)
• Suffixes – added at the end of the root verb (e.g., -an, -on, -o)
• Infixes – inserted into the middle of the root verb (e.g., in, as in tinandang from tandang)
• Reduplication – repeating part or all of the root to express scattered or repeated action (e.g., sangtangkus-tangkus)

Each of these affix types changes the meaning or function of the verb. The table below provides examples of how they’re used in actual Dusun sentences.

Below is a summary table of the most common affixes used in Dusun, along with examples and their English meanings.

🔹 Common Dusun Verb Affixes

Affix	Use	Malay equiv	Dusun Example	English Translation
si-	Desire / Want	ingin, mahu, hendak	Siboli oku kurita Sianu yau doh tanak	I want to buy a car She wants a child
ka- / ko-	Ability	dapat, mampu	Kagampot ko? Kokito oku dau	Can you reach? I can see him
ki-	ownership	mempunyai	Kikurita ko? Kisawo noh ih John?	Do you have a car? Does John have a wife
ma-/mo-	Present action	me-, ber-	Momoli oku'd sada Manangkus oku sodopon	I am buying fish I will run this afternoon
momo-	doer focused, causative		–	–
moki-	receiver asking for an action	minta ...	Mokikoruhang oku diya baino Mokitandang ko doho?	I need you to accompany me today You want me to kick you?
papa-/popo-	causation, to make things happen	memberi ...	Papapanau oku ti kurita ku Mongoi oku popokirim ti surat	I am driving my car I am going to post this letter
-an / -on	Future intention / Mission (receiver-focused)		Akanon ku ilo takano Igitan ku longon dau	I will eat that rice I will hold her hand
o- / a-	Passive / Potential form	boleh di ....	Oinum ih ti waig boh Atakad di nuluhon?	The water is drinkable Is the hill climbable?
sang- / song- + reduplication	Scattered/random action by many	ber ... an	Sangtangkus-tangkus Songihad-ihad	Running around Crying all over
mi-	reciprocal by multiple doers	ber ..an	Mitumbuk yolo Midamot kito mamanau	They are hitting each other We go together
poim- / poin- / poing-	non-completive action	sedang ber....	Poingodop oku norikatan dih John Poimpasi poh ih manuk nu?	I was sleeping when John came Is your chicken still alive?
mim- / min- / ming-	repetitive action	ber....2	Mintangkus nopo karaja nu Mingihad ih Mary nokokito dih John	All you ever do is running Mary keeps crying when she sees John
minan-	Past action (doer-focused)	telah mem...	Minanandang ih John dih buul Minanakau ih Mary dih kambing ku	John kicked the ball Mary stole my goat
kaka- / koko-	Recent past (just happened)	baru sahaja	Kokorikot ku Amu oku louson, kakaakan ku	I just arrived I’m not hungry, I just ate
in (infix)	Simple Past (receiver-focused), done with intention	telah di...	Tinandang dih John ih buul Binoli ku ih manuk	The ball was kicked by John I bought the chicken
naka- / noko-	Past perfect (Doer focused)	telah me...	Nakatandang oku noh do buul Nokoinum oku do waig	I have kicked a ball I had drunk water
na- / no-	Past Perfect (Receiver focused), sometimes NOT intentionally	telah di...	Naakan ku ih takano Noinum oku ih waig	I have eaten the rice I had drunk the water
pina- / pino-	Past action (intentional) done to other	telah di...	Pinatahak ku dih John ih tusin Pinoinum ku ih tungau	I gave the money to John I gave drink to the cat
tongo- / tanga-	to express plurality	menandakan banyak/ramai	tongo tanak tongo tombolog	children birds

✅ Note: You’ll learn how to construct and apply these affixes more deeply in the next section. These patterns become easier with practice, especially when matched with real sentence examples in the Dictionary and Quizzes.

.. nanti saya update