AdjCopDep: Depending on certain grammatical circumstances, the copula does occur with nominal predicates.

(1a) tēm jūɣ oɣər.

det tree tall

‘This tree is tall.’

(1b) tēm jūq-qən oɣər-ɣən.

det tree-du tall-du

‘These two trees are tall.’

(1c) tēm jūɣ-ət oɣər-t.

det tree-pl tall-pl

‘These trees are tall.’ (Karjalainen–Vértes 1964: 263.)

(2) pūpi čēwer kińťa wökkəŋ.

bear rabbit cmpr strong

‘A bear is stronger than a rabbit.’

(3a) ʌüw jəmat kārkaməŋ.

he/she very hard_working

‘He/she is very hard-working.’

(3b) nüŋ jəmat kārkaməŋ wos-ən.

you very hard_working cop-2sg

‘You are very hard-working.’

(3c) ʌüw jəmat kārkaməŋ woʌ.

he/she very hard_working be.pst.3sg

‘He/she was very hard-working.’

(4) mā soɣ-am wərtə os kür-ɣəʌ-am pəɣta-ɣən.

I fur-1sg red and leg-du-1sg black-du

‘My fur is red, my two legs are black.’ (Pesikova et al. 1996: 121.)

(5) səməŋ-kə waʌ-a!

brave-tra be-imp.2sg

‘Be brave!’

The following are unmarked predicates in Surgut Khanty: present tense, indicative mood, third person singular, dual and plural forms. In these cases, the nominative predicative construction does not entail the copula (1), (2), (3a), (4). In other cases, the copula appears in the construction: wos­ with first and second person subjects in present tense sentences (3b), while the appropriate form of the substantive verb is used in past tense and imperative sentences (3c), (5).