stylistic:style_transfer, structural:summarization
Sentence structure

Sentences in Berber languages can be divided into verbal and non-verbal sentences. The topic, which has a unique intonation in the sentence, precedes all other arguments in both types.

Verbal sentences have a finite verb, and are commonly understood to follow verb–subject–object word order (VSO). Some linguists have proposed opposing analyses of the word order patterns in Berber languages, and there has been some support for characterizing Taqbaylit as discourse-configurational.

Existential, attributive, and locational sentences in most Berber languages are expressed with non-verbal sentences, which have no finite verb. In these sentences, the predicate follows the noun, with the predicative particle d sometimes in between. Two examples, one without and one with a subject, are given from Kabyle as follows:

ð

PRED

a-qšiš

EL: M -boy

ð a-qšiš

PRED EL:M-boy

"It is a boy." (Kabyle)

nətta

he

ð

PRED

a-qšiš

EL: M -boy

nətta ð a-qšiš

he PRED EL:M-boy

"He is a boy." (Kabyle)

Non-verbal sentences may use the verb meaning "to be," which exists in all Berber languages. An example from Tarifit is given as follows:

i-tiři

3SG: M -be: I

ða

here

i-tiři ða

3SG:M-be: I here

"He is always here." (habitual) (Tarifit)