Tariana has several distinct types of complex predicates which co-exist with serial verb constructions. Similarly to serial verb constructions, complex predicates are monoclausal, and consist of two verbs in one predicate slot. Unlike serial verb constructions, they may contain an overt marker of syntactic dependency between the two verbs – for instance, a subordinator and/or a verbal suffix. The two verbs of a complex predicate can be identical – these are complex predicates involving repetition. Usually, no other constituent can intervene between the verbs which form a complex predicate. The order of verbs is fixed and depends on the predicate construction type. If a complex predicate can be negated, there is one negative marker per predicate. The cross-referencing on the verbs is identical in most cases. Components of a complex predicate cannot acquire different values for any of the verbal categories. This implies that every complex predicate can have just one tense-evidentiality, aspect, Aktionsart, mood and modality marker. However, these markers can be distributed in different ways: we will see below that in passives they go onto the last verb, while in complex predicates with repetition they get distributed between the verbs. Most complex predicates cannot be nominalised or relativised, unlike serial verbs (see §19.4).

Complex predicates express a variety of modal and other meanings. There are eleven types of complex predicate discussed in §§19.1-11. In the final section, §19.12, complex predicates are contrasted with serial verb constructions.