Lesson 8 — Grammatical Topic — Another verb prefix:  sili– "wanting to"

The prefix  sili– adds the meaning "want to" to any verb. It comes right after person and number markers:
	k–sili–nan	"I want to go"
	p–sili-tap	"you want to go in
	k–sili–kuti	"I want to see it" or "I want to watch"
This prefix usually becomes  sil– when it comes before a vowel,				ksilikuti
	sili–ukuy >	ilukuy	"to want to throw something away"
	sili–otoyin >	silotoyin	"to want to lie down"
	sili–uli >	iluli	"to want to grab something"
but it can also show up as  siliy–:
	sili–itaq >	siliyitaq	"to want to hear something"	siliyitaq

There's no apparent rhyme or reason to when you keep the second vowel of  sili– before a vowel and when you drop it. You could say the combination of  sili– plus a verb either way, but it's more usual to drop it, especially in rapid speech.
And of course the  s– that means "he/she/it" combines with  sili– to make  sili–, as in
	s–sili–ip >	siliip	"he/she wants to say something"
	ini–s–sili–kitwon >	inisilikitwon	"he/she doesn't want to come out"
	no–s–sili–an >	noilan	"he/she will want to eat"
	s–sili–uli ha ii >	iluli ha ii	"the child wants to grab it"	iluli ha ii

Here are some examples of  sili– with more complicated sentences:
	ini–k–sili–amn >	inikiliamn	"I don't want to know"
	p–i–sili–itaq he heni? >	pisiliyitaq he heni?	"do you two want to hear this?"
	s–sili–kuta ha ii hi kp >	silikuta ha ii hi kp	"the child wants to get up now"
	p–sili-talik–i he? >	pilitaliki he?	"do you want to be married?
	s–iy–sili–itaq ha al–expe >	sisilitaq ha alexpe	"they all want to hear the singer"
	s–sili-kuti–wa ha ku + R >	ilikutiwa ha kuhku	"he wanted to see the people"

With an inanimate subject — something that has no will of its own to want something —  sili– means "to be about to," as in:
	s–sili–tuhuy >	silituhuy	"it's about to rain"	silituhuy
	s–sili–kot ha k–w >	silikot ha kw	"my knife is about to break"

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