| I strike thee once | tchibatáplilis, repeatedly | tchibátaspilis |
| I strike him, her once | batā′plilis | batáspilis |
| ye | tchibatap'hólilis | tchibatas'hópilis |
| them | batas'húpilis | batas'húpilis |
| He, she strikes me once: | tchábataplis, repeatedly: | tchabátaspis |
| thee | tchíbataplis | tchibátaspis |
| him, her | batáplis | batáspis |
| us | púbataplis | pubátaspis |
| ye | tchibatap'hólis | tchibatas'hópis |
| them | batáspis | batas'hópis |
The same verb to strike gives origin to the following genera verbi, each appearing under two different forms, and all being quoted in the present tense of the declarative mode, affirmative voice:
| Active: | batā′plilis | I strike (now) by one blow |
| batā′spilis | I strike (now) by several blows | |
| Passive: | tchabátapkas | I am struck once, by one blow |
| tchabátaspkas | I am struck more than once (obsolete) | |
| Reciprocal: | itibatáplikas | we strike each other once |
| itibatáspigas | we strike each other repeatedly | |
| Reflective: | ilbatā′plilis | I strike myself by one blow |
| ilbatáspilis | I strike myself by several blows | |
| Causative: | bataplídshilis | I cause to strike once |
| bataspídshilis | I cause to strike repeatedly. |
Postpositions govern the absolute case of the noun just as they do in Creek:
kónut tchígi í-aχnun i-aulídshis the skunk stays under the house.
sáwut áhi ígapun untchóχolis the racoon sits on the top of the tree.
ótaki labáki near or around an island.
ótagi apálu-un on the other side of the island.
yántuntun hitchkátigan beyond sight, is an instance of a postposition figuring as preposition, and is connected with the objective case of a noun. It is not a real postposition, but an adverb used in this function.
ALIBAMU.
The disconnected remarks on the Alibamu Indians which we find in the documents and chronicles represent them as early settlers on Alabama river, at a moderate distance from the confluence of Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers. In our legend they are introduced among the four tribes contending for the honor of being the most ancient and valorous.
D. Coxe, Carolana, p. 24 mentions their tribal name in the following connection: "On Coussa river[50] are the Ullibalies[51], Olibahalies, Allibamus; below them the Tallises." Allen Wright derives Alibamu (also written Allibamous, Alibami, Albámu, incorrectly Alibamon) from Cha'hta: álba thicket and áyalmu, place cleared (of trees, thickets): álba ayamúle I open or clear the thicket. If this derivation is correct, the name, with its generic definition, could apply to many localities simultaneously. Let us hear what Sekopechi or "Perseverance," an old man of that tribe, related to Agent Eakin concerning their early migrations and settlements. (Schoolcraft, Indians I, 266 sqq):
"The Great Spirit brought the Alabama Indians from the ground between the Cahawba and Alabama rivers, and they believe that they are of right possessors of this soil. The Muscogees formerly called themselves Alabamians ("thicket-clearers"?), but other tribes called them Oke-choy-atte, "life."[52] The earliest oral tradition of the Alibamu of a migration is, that they migrated from the Cahawba and Alabama rivers to the junction of the Tuscaloosa (?) and Coosa rivers, where they sojourned for two years. After this they dwelt at the junction of the Coosa and Alabama rivers, on the west side of what was subsequently the site of Fort Jackson. It is supposed that at this time they numbered fifty effective men. They claimed the country from Fort Jackson to New Orleans for their hunting grounds."