To quote Subrahmanyam (1971 : 223) in all CDr. languages, excepting Kolami, a class of verbs contain *ci (or its variants -si or -ji) as the suffix of the past adverb; in Gondi-Kon a-Pengo it has been extended to all verbs. The -ci in this suffix is from the *c- the past suffix. In Central Dravidian, Kolami and Naiki employ the past stem as the past adverb as in South Dravidian. But all the other CDr.languages have two principle allomorphs, i.e., *-i and *-ci for the past adverb. Of the two variants *-i and *ci-, the former represents
the PDr. *i past suffix while the latter is an innovation in this group.
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Krishnamurthy (1961 : §§ 2.46. 4.47) suggested that it is originally a combination of the two past tense morphemes *c and *i and observed that the allomorph *c suffix occurs throughout the family and the occurence of that *-ci as the past participal morphemes characterizes only the CDr. languages.
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It is possible to say that the adverbial suffix *-ci is a common innovation in CDr. (except Kolami-Naiki). It represents two original past suffixes, *c and *i. It has been extended to verb stems ending in -n in Gondi-Kui group. It spread to all verb stems at the expense of *i in Gondi, including Maria, Kona and Pengo.
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| Past conditional: |
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In Maria past conditional is expressed by the additional of -ek to the past stem (and also past perfect) of a verb.
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tit-t-ek |
‘if/when (one) ate’ |
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mat-t-ek |
‘if/when(one) stayed’ |
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wa:t-t-ek |
‘if/when (one) came’ |
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a -t-ek |
‘if/when (one) wept’ |
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a -t-ek |
‘if/when (one) cooked’ |
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The suffix is also found in Gondi (of Adilabad) Kui and Parji.
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Gondi (Adil) |
su:r-t-e:ke |
‘if when (subj.) saw’ |
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Kui |
ta:k-it-eka |
‘if (subj.) walked’ |
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Parji |
var-ek |
‘when (subj.) came’ |
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Gondi -e:ke and Kui -eka related to each other. It is not certain whether Kona i a (va:-t-ia ‘if (subj.) come(s)’) is related to them. Pengo -is (va:t-is ‘if one comes’) and Kuvi -ihe/ihi (na:nu) pa:yi-it-ihi ‘if (l) beat (him)’, (na:nu) to:s-t-ihe ‘if (I) show (him)’ seem to be related with one another.
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| Non-past Suffixes: |
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As observed by Subrahmanyam (1971 : 237) a study of the various non-past stems in the Dravidian languages reveals that the formation of the present tense as distinct from the future tense is a later development in the family. The suffixes used for the present tense in many of the languages are historically relatable to the future tense suffixes. While considerable similarity is found in the formation of future tense, there is not much similarity in the formation of the present in the sister languages even within the close-knit subgroups. It is inferred from such a situation that in Proto stage there was only one tense which may be called non-past, to express both the present and the future meaning and
that the emergence of the present tense as a distinct category in the individual languages is a later development.
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| Present Suffix |
In Abujhmaria the present tense suffix is -nt- with a variant -int-. This may be a reflex of the PDr. non-past suffix *-tt- (  *-t) which is found in other languages also like Old Tamil, kanna·a, Telugu, Gondi, Kui, Kuvi, Kolami, Naiki, Parji, Gadba and Kurux.
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