Veps Finno-Ugric verb [Lat. verbum ‘word’; translation of Grk ‘that which is said; predicate’]

Type of word with a complex system of forms and functions. Verbs indicate phenomena which take place during time: activities, processes, and states. Morphologically, they are marked by conjugation, as well as the grammatical categories of voice, mood, tense, person, and number (the latter two in agreement with the subject), and in some languages, aspect. Because of its valence, the verb is the syntactic center of a sentence; it is related to the subject by agreement. Grammatically, finite forms ( finite verb form) are distinguished from non-finite forms ( non-finite verb form). Main verbs have different functions from modal auxiliaries in the formation of the predicate. The valence of the verb determines the number and kind of complements. The relationship between the subject and the verb is reflected in the distinction between impersonal and personal verbs; the object-verb relation is reflected in reciprocal ( reciprocity) and reflexive use of verbs. The pattern of conjugation determines whether a verb is regular or irregular ( irregular verb). Semantically, there exists a number of controversial classifications based both on semantics and syntax, such as the following: (a) action verbs (read, buy); (b) process verbs (run, swim, climb); (c) stative verbs (sleep, live, stay); (d) verbs of occurrence (succeed, happen); (e) weather verbs (rain, snow).