VMk: Neither the agent nor the patient is marked, but they are both marked on the verb. (Agreement is shown with both the unmarked agent and the unmarked patient.)
VDepMk[ONonA]: The patient is marked as such, while the agent is not. Both the unmarked agent and the marked patient are marked on the verb. (Twoway agreement is shown; the agent is unmarked.)
(1) īmi ʌītot wär.
woman food make.pst.3sg
‘The woman was cooking.’
(2) īmi ťū ʌītot wär-təɣ.
woman det food make-pst-obj.3sg.
‘As about that dish, it has been cooked by the woman.’
(3) mā qūʌ-ʌ-am nik moʌ-ʌ-am.
I fish-pl-1sg in_water cook.pst-pl.obj-1sg
‘I cooked my fish.’
(4) īmi mān-t wū-ʌ.
woman I-acc know-prs.3sg
‘The woman knows me.’
In Surgut Khanty, the agent is covert in the active voice but marked on the verb, which means that the verbal morphology has to refer to the person and number of the agent (1, 2, 3). If the patient of the verb is the topic, the object (patient) is coded in the verbal suffix too (2). Furthermore, if the object (patient) is dual or plural, its number is also marked on the verb (3). Since personal pronouns have accusative forms, pronominal patients are marked (4).