In Konkani, verbs play a central role in sentence structure and are classified into several types based on their function, meaning, and grammatical structure. In this lesson, we will focus primarily on Action verbs, since they are the most common type of verb in Konkani.

Action verbs are verbs that express physical or mental actions. These verbs show what the subject of a sentence is doing. These verbs can describe both tangible actions (like running, jumping, or cooking) and mental activities (like thinking, deciding, or imagining).

Action Verbs

First, let’s look at 5 commonly used action verbs in Konkani. Don’t worry about memorizing them at this point. Our main objective is to learn how to use them.

  1. Kartha (kar-tha) - to do

  2. Vatha (vuh-tha) - to go

  3. Yetha (yay-tha) - to come

  4. Katha (kah-tha) - to eat

  5. Pitha (pi-tha) - to drink

It might not take you long to notice that all verbs in the above examples have a similar ending form of -tha. In Konkani many verbs end with the suffix -tha in their infinitive (basic) form. The infinitive form of a verb is its basic, unconjugated form. For example, in english, the infinitive form of a verb is usually preceded by the word “to”. The verbs in their basic form are often used as root forms to build various tenses. Hence, these words might undergo changes depending on the subject, tense, and level of formality.

In the future lessons, we will learn how subject, tenses and formality change these action verbs.