The complex sentence

Simple complex and compound sentences are distinguished in Setswana. The distinction between these types of sentences is based on the grammatical structure or composition of the sentences. Each type of sentence has a specific clausal structure (Louwrens, 1994: 178). The simple sentence consists of one independent clause, the complex sentence consists of an independent clause and at least one dependent clause and the compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses.

The complex sentence is a sentence which consists of at least two clauses. Each clause includes its own verb phrase (VP). The one clause functions as the main clause and the other clause as the subordinate clause. The VP in the main clause appears in the indicative or imperative mood while the VP in the subordinate clause can occur in the subjunctive, participial (situative) or infinitive mood. The subordinate clause is dependent as it is semantically and syntactically dependent on the main clause for its existence (cf. Louwrens, 1991: 30-43; Louwrens, 1994: 139-140; Watters, 2000: 217; Krüger, 2013b: 111-128).

The complex sentence in (1) consists of the independent clause Phefo e tsena mo ntlong ‘The wind comes into the house’ and the dependent clause fa re bula lebati ‘when we open the door’. The verb e a tsena ‘it comes in’ in the independent clause denotes the indicative mood. The verb re bula ‘we open’ in the dependent clause denotes the participial mood.

To follow an exposition of the constituents of the complex sentence is presented and phenomena such as word order, agreement and grammatical functions are also included in this exposition.

The constituent structure of the main clause can consist of an ‘NP’ as the first constituent and a ‘VP’ as second constituent (DALL, 2000: 3). The ‘NP’ as the first constituent functions as the subject in the main clause and can be replaced by a pronoun phrase (‘PROP’), a possessive particle phrase (‘POSSPARTP’) or a qualificative particle phrase (‘QUALPARTP’) (The Department of African Languages and Literature, University of Botswana, 2000: 5). However, the subject can be omitted, and the subject agreement morpheme refers to the omitted subject and then performs an anaphoric function (Krüger, 2006: 32, 53). For example, the main clause in (2) is E a tsena ‘It comes in’ and is structured with only a main verb.

The second constituent in the main clause is a ‘VP’. (For an exposition of the syntactic structure of the ‘VP’ refer to the Topic on the Simple sentence.) The head of the ‘VP’ is a main verb, one of the copulative verbs or an auxiliary verb and the syntactic structure of the ‘VP’ that include these verbs can be summarised as follows:

• The VP with a main verb (VPMAIN) can only be structured with a main verb but the main verb may also be followed by constituents such as an indirect object, a direct object, an oblique and one or more than one adjunct. It is not compulsory to include these constituents in the VPMAIN as the minimal structure of the VPMAIN only requires the inclusion of a main verb. In (3) the VPMAIN consists of the main verb ba rekela ‘they buy for’, the indirect object bana ‘children’ and the direct object dijô ‘food’.
  Example 3

  Basadi ba rekela bana dijô.

  ba- sadi ba- rek-el- a ba- ana di- j- ô

  NPre2-woman AgrSubj2-buy-ApplSuf-VEnd NPre2-child NPre10-eat-DevSuf

  The women buy food for the children.

• The VP with an identifying copulative verb (VPIDCOP) is constructed with an identifying copulative verb and it must be followed by a complement. One or more than one adjunct may also be included. In (4) the VPIDCOPV consists of the identifying copulative verb ke ‘is’, the complement modiri ‘worker’ and the adjunct mo bankeng ‘in the bank’.
  Example 4

  Ene ke modiri mo bankeng.

  ene ke mo- dir- i mo (ne)- banka-ing

  AbsPro1 IdCopV NPre1-work-DevSuf LocPart NPre9-bank- LocSuf

  He is a worker in the bank. / She is a worker in the bank.

• The VP with a describing copulative verb (VPDESCOP) is constructed with a describing copulative verb and it must be followed by a complement. One or more than one adjunct may also be included. In (5) the DesCopV consists of a describing copulative verb of noun class 2 ba ‘are’ and the complement ‘kae?’ ‘where?’.
  Example 5

  Bana ba kae?

  ba- ana ba kae

  NPre2-child DesCop2 Adv

  Where are you?

• The VP with an associative copulative verb (VPASSCOP) is constructed with an associative copulative verb and it must be followed by a complement. One or more than one adjunct may also be included. In (6) the VPASSCOPV consists of an associative copulative verb ba na ‘they are’ and the complement is the associative particle phrase (ASSPARTP) le dijô ‘with food’. An adjunct jaanong ‘now’ is also included.
  Example 6

  Bana ba na le dijô jaanong.

  ba- ana ba- na le di- j- o jaanong

  NPre2-child AgrSubj2-AssCopV AssPart NPre10-eat-DevSuf Adv

  The children now have food.

• The VP with an auxiliary verb (VPAUX) is constructed with an auxiliary verb and it must be followed by a complement. One or more than one adjunct may also be included. In (7) the VPAUX consists of an auxiliary verb ba setse ‘they already’ and the complement is the VPMAIN ba kwala ditlhatlobô ‘they are writing examinations’.
  Example 7

  Bana ba setse ba kwala ditlhatlhobô

  ba- ana ba- setse ba- kwal- a di- tlhatlhob-ô

  NPre2-child AgrSubj2-Aux AgrSubj2-write-VEnd NPre10-examine- DevSuf

  The children are already writing examinations.

The verb in the main clause is in the indicative or imperative mood (Cole, 1955: 269-270). In (8) the verb in the main clause ke tla ba bitsa ‘I will call them’ expresses a factual statement and therefore denotes the indicative mood.

In Setswana the verb in the main verb may denote the imperative mood (Cole, 1955: 445-446). In (9) the verb tsamaya ‘go’ expresses a command and therefore denotes the imperative mood (cf. Berg, 2018: 67-92, 118-120, 127-151).

The verb in the subordinate clause can denote the subjunctive, participial (situative) or infinitive mood.

The subjunctive

The subjunctive mood expresses the purpose with which the preceding action mentioned in the main clause is carried out. This subordinate clause is also referred to as a subordinate clause of purpose or a subjunctive clause (Louwrens, 1991: 44). The action or process mentioned in the verb proceeds or results from a previous action or given information. The resulting action is conditioned causally. This means that the preceding action or process or information must be the cause of or give rise to the subjunctive action (Cole, 1955: 269-270; Lombard et al., 1985: 154; Krüger, 2013: 121-123).

The verb in the positive is morphologically marked with a verbal ending <-ê> and the subject agreement morpheme of the third person singular, noun class 1 and noun class 1a is an a. The negative is marked with a negative morpheme se.

The subordinate clause can consist of the conjunction gore ‘that’, ‘so that’ as an introductory member and this head must be followed by a complement. This complement has the same syntactic structure as that of the simple sentence. The complement of gore ‘so that’ in (10) is a ‘VP’ that only consists of the verb a mpônê ‘he/she see me’.

The complement of gore ‘so that’ in (11) is a ‘VP’ that consists of the verb a tlê ‘he/she comes’ and the locative class noun kwano ‘here’.

Syntactic function of the subordinate clause with a verb in the subjunctive mood

The subordinate clause that includes a verb in the subjunctive mood functions as an adjunct in the complex sentence. This adjunct in this instance is a secondary descriptive of goal, result or purpose (Cole, 1955: 455; Krüger, 2013: 121). In (12) the subordinate clause gore ke go thusê ‘so that I might help you’ indicates the purpose of the action mentioned in the main clause.

The participial (the situative)

The participial mood indicates that the action or process mentioned in the verb takes place simultaneously with another process or participates in the execution of another process (Krüger, 2013: 123). The participial thus expresses one of two meanings in a sentence i.e., simultaneous actions or conditional actions. The participial can also be referred to as a situative subordinate clause or a participial clause (Louwrens, 1991: 46).

The verb in the participial mood in the positive includes at least a subject agreement morpheme and a root with a verbal ending -a. The negative is marked with a negative morpheme sa and the verbal ending is -e. The subject agreement morpheme of the third person singular, noun class 1 and noun class 1a is an a in the negative.

The participial clause expresses a simultaneous action when no conjunction is included in this clause. In (13) the subordinate clause ba tshameka ‘they play’ expresses a simultaneous action with the action mentioned in the verb in the main clause, i.e., re bone ‘we saw’.

When the participial clause includes a conjunction as an introductory member a conditional action is expressed. The conjunction as head in this subordinate clause must be followed by a complement. This complement has the same syntactic structure as that of the simple sentence. Cole (1955: 389-391) presents the conjunctions that can be used as introductory members in the subordinate participial clause. They are fa ‘if, when, that, whether’, le fa ‘though, although, even if, even when’, ka ‘as since, because, for, seeing that’, etšwa (etšwê, ntšwša, ntšwšê) ‘though, although, whereas in fact’ and le morôrô ‘though, although, even if’.

• fa ‘if, when, that, whether’:
  Example 14

  Ke tla tla fa pula e na.

  ke- tla- tl- a fa (ne-)-pula e- n- a

  AgrSubjP1sg-FutPre-come-VEnd Conj NPre9-rain AgrSubj9-fall-VEnd

  I shall come if/when the rain falls.

• le fa ‘though, although, even if, even when’:
  Example 15

  Ke tla lema le fa pula e sa na.

  ke- tla- lem- a le fa (ne-)-pula e- sa- n- a

  AgrSubjP1sg-FutPre-plough-VEnd Conj NPre9-rain AgrSubj9-fall-NegPre-VEnd

  I shall plough though rain has not fallen.

• ka ‘as since, because, for, seeing that’:
  Example 16

  Re tla ya gae ka ba jelê.

  re- tla- y- a (le-)-gae ka ba- j- il- ê

  AgrSubjP1pl-FutPre-go-VEnd NPre5-home Conj AgrSubj2-eat-PerfSuf-VEnd

  We shall go home since they have eaten.

• etšwa (etšwê, ntšwša, ntšwšê) ‘though, although, whereas in fact’:
  Example 17

  O apara makgasa etšwa a na la madi.

  o- apar-a ma- kgasa etšwa a- na le ma- di

  AgrSubj1-wear-VEnd NPre6-rag Conj AgrSubj1-AssCopV AssPart NPre6-money

  He wears rags although he has money.

• le morôrô ‘though, although, even if’:
  Example 18

  Ba rata lefatshe la bônê le morôrô e le sekaka.

  ba- rat- a le- fatshe la bônê le morôrô e-le se- kaka

  AgrSubj2-love-VEnd NPre5-country PossPart5 AbsPro2 Conj AgrSubj- IdCopV NPre6-desert

  They love their country though it is a desert.

Syntactic function of the subordinate clause with a verb in the participial mood

A verb in the participial mood as subordinate clause functions as an adjunct in the complex sentence. This adjunct is a secondary descriptive of time, reason, concession or situation (Cole, 1955: 454-455; Krüger, 2013: 123). In (19) the subordinate clause fa a tlilê ‘when he has come’ indicates the stipulation or precondition for the execution of another action in the main clause.

The infinitive can be used as a noun (noun class 15) or a verb (cf. Cole, 1995: 237-239; Krüger, 2013: 126-127)

In (20) the NP consists of the infinitive noun go goa ‘the screaming’ and this head is followed by a modifier (qualificative) ga bana ‘of the children’. In this instance the infinitive has nominal characteristics. Noun class 15 includes the infinitive nouns. If the infinitive noun is followed by a modifier the modifier agrees with the infinitive noun as it must show the same noun class information as that of the head.

A verb in the infinitive mood expresses the purpose with which the action is carried out. In (21) the ‘VP’ consists of the infinitive verb go thusa ‘to help’ and it is followed by an ‘NP’ i.e. the noun bana ‘children’. The ‘NP’ functions as the object in this ‘VP’.

The infinitive verb is morphologically marked with the infinitive prefix go of noun class 15.

Syntactic function of the verb in the infinitive mood

The verb in the infinitive mood indicates a meaning of purpose, it can be used as a complement of deficient verbs or as a complement of an auxiliary verb.

Adjunct

The subordinate clause that includes a verb in the infinitive mood functions as an adjunct in the complex sentence. This adjunct is a secondary descriptive of purpose (Krüger, 2013: 127). In (22) the subordinate clause go thusa bana ‘to help the children’ indicates the purpose of the action mentioned in the main clause Ke ne ke kopa batho ‘I asked the people’.

Complement of deficient verbs

An infinitive verb can function as the complement of a deficient verb. Deficient verbs cannot stand alone because they must be followed by a verb in order “to produce a complete predication” (Cole, 1955: 286). Deficient verbs are classified according to the complement they take. Examples of the deficient verbs that take an infinitive verb as complement is batla ‘want, seek, look for, desire’ and rata ‘love, like, desire, want’ amongst others.

In (23) the deficient verb Ke batla ‘I want’ is followed by a ‘VP’ go ithuta Setswana ‘to learn Setswana’. The head of this ‘VP’ is an infinitive verb go ithuta ‘to learn’.

Complement of auxiliary verbs

The infinitive verb can function as the complement of some auxiliary verbs (24) (cf. Pretorius, 1997: 346-247)

The subordinate clause in a complex sentence usually follows the main clause. However, when the subordinate clause is a participial clause, it can appear at the beginning of the complex sentence. This is possible as it is conditionally mobile when it includes a conjunction fa ‘if, when, that, whether’ (25), le fa ‘though, although, even if, even when’ (26) or ka ‘as since, because, for, seeing that’ (27) as head in the subordinate clause. The main clause then follows the subordinate clause (cf. Cole, 1955: 390; Krüger, 2013: 124).

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