Eating

The basic verb “to eat” is eat (st), based on the root 'alh₁. Like other transitive verbs, in its most basic form it needs a noun phrase object specifying what is eaten. If you don't want to mention what is eaten, you have to use the form of the verb that contains the unspecified object prefix: eat (uo). It is also possible to use other object markers to say such things as “it is eating me”: eat so.

The forms mentioned so far are used for eating most kinds of things, but there are other forms that indicate that the object is of a certain type. There are forms for eating stick-like things eat (st), round things eat (st), and areal things eat (st). The latter is also used to mean that one is eating “stuff” or browsing at a smorgasboard.

Another common form is the habitual form eat (uo), which describes a typical instance of a habitual event. This is used when talking about eating a regular meal. If, for example, you call someone on the telephone and he or she wants to say that they are eating dinner, he or she will say “na'ts'ut'alh”. On the other hand, if you want to say that you will have an allergic reaction if you eat peanut butter, you will not use the habitual form since your allergy is a problem whether or not you are eating a regular meal.

There are also forms for “eat it all, eat it up” and for “leave it uneaten”.

There are also forms that indicate that you have eaten until you are stuffed or sick: eat (uo) to satiation, glut oneself on (uo), and that you are eating due to fear: eat (st) due to fear.

This root has a babytalk counterpart ba'₁, which is used not only by small children and when speaking to them but when speaking to others in an endearing manner. “'imba'” can mean “eat, sweetie!”.

There are also roots for more specific types of eating: zuz₁ “eat with a spoon”, which applies to both liquids and solids, so in English terms, both eating and drinking, goos₁ “crunch”, ghum₂ “crunch hard”, and jum₁ “pop”. Verbs based on the root tloh₁ “handle mushy stuff in a controlled manner” are used to describe wolfing your food down.

The root dilh₁ describes eating items from a “mess”, individually. Some things that we eat consist of a large number of small things that we do not generally single out. When we eat berries or nuts, we typically scoop up a bunch, without paying attention to individuals. This verb root is used in the less common case in which we do single out individuals.

The verb eat (st:n) one at a time, which adds the prefix for round things, is often used to describe eating berries off the bush, where you pick one or a few berries at a time and put them in your mouth. It is not, however, restricted to this situation. If you sit on the couch eat berries or cherries from a bowl, one at a time, what you are doing is also described by this verb. You aren't eating directly from the bush, but you are eating members of a large set one at a time. If, on the other hand, you use a spoon or your fingers to eat many berries in one shot, this verb would not be appropriate.

This is also the verb used to describe taking pills. A nurse may say: Ndi yoo nildilh “Take this pill”. nildilh is the appropriate verb because you are being asked to take one of the many pills in the bottle. The same root is used without the “round” prefix in verbs such as “eat (st) individually” and eat them individually. For example, to describe a bear eating ants, you might say “yuldilh”.

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