Primary (Simple) Verb Stems

Observation

ᐊᐱᐤ

apiu.

S/he sits.

The stem of a verb like ᐊᐱᐤ apiu s/he sits cannot be broken down into smaller units in which we could identify another stem. Such a stem is called a primary (simple) verb stem with only one element.

In this example, the stem is api, followed by the third person ending (or inflection) -u.