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6.4 Tense

The category of tense has binary opposition of future/non-future. The future is marked by the auxiliary ty

. The Aorist of ‘simple’ past is not marked and there is no simple present at all except with some stative verbs expressive or natural properties.

One either has progressive present or habitual present or some modal in the non-future.

pu¹ zv²	‘She¹ is/was beautiful²’
¹ ny² rkri³	‘My¹ son is/was tall³’
pu¹ v²	‘He¹ is/was good²’
k¹ hn² vr³	‘They (pl.)¹ came here²’
n¹ fis n² v³	‘Ni¹ went to³ office²’
¹ bzr² nn³ pu⁴ h⁵	‘I¹ saw⁵ her⁴ in³ (the) bazaar²’
pu¹ zv² ty³	‘She¹ will be³ beautiful²’
¹ ny² rkri³ ty⁴	‘My¹ son² will be⁴ tall³’
k¹ hn² vr³ ty⁴	‘They(pl.)¹ will⁴ come³ here²’
ni¹ fs² n³ v⁴ ty⁵	‘Ni¹ will⁵ go⁴ to³ office²’

6.5 Aspect

The category of aspect has a six-way opposition, depending on the kind of action in terms of its distribution over a period of time.

The Habitual aspect is marked by -y

suffixed to the verb.

pu¹ phr² rkr³ -y²	‘He¹ reads² fast³’
k¹ kwhr² lhy³	‘We¹ live³ in Kohima²’
n¹ pu² u³ khruhy⁴	‘Ni¹ helps⁴ her² mother³’
mth¹ nh tsy²	‘(The) cattle¹ graze²’

The Iterative aspect which expresses recursive or repetitive action is denoted by the reduplication of the verb root, if monosyllabic or of the last syllable, if polysyllabic.

¹ illh² n³ vvy⁴	‘I¹ often go⁴ to³ Shillong²’
	‘I¹ keep going⁴ to³ Shillong²’
pi r¹ vrrli²	‘Please¹ keep coming²’
pu¹ hn² vrr³ ty⁴	‘He¹ will⁴ keep coming³ here²’
dr¹ h² khnhi³ v⁴	‘Take⁵ this² medicine¹ twice⁴
kni⁵ tstsli⁵	daily³’

In the indicative mood non-future tense, the interative always co-occurs with the habitual aspect as in the first example above.

The Immediacy aspect denotes the immediate occurence of the action identified by the verb. It expresses in other words imminent action and is marked by -

suffixed to the verb in its future tense form

v(t)ty	®	v(t) tyi	‘BE going to go; BE about to go’
tt ty	®	tt tyi	‘BE about to start’
kst ty	®	kst tyi	‘BE going to meet’

The Durative or progressive aspect indicates action which is limited in duration and is in progress. It is generally marked for tough-movement verbs by

and z

being more frequent.

¹ lsk² n³ vi⁴	‘I¹ am going⁴ to³ school²’
nhck¹ tz²	‘The children¹ are running²’
kpru(r)¹ pu² vri³	‘An² aeroplane¹ is coming³’

The progressive aspect may be marked for non-tough movement verbs either by the auxiliary verb b

‘to be’ by the suffix

nhck1 k² lsn³ phr b/i⁴	‘The children¹ are reading⁴ their² lessons³’
¹ d² ls³ pu⁴ th b/i⁵	‘I¹ was writing⁵ a⁴ letter³ yesterday²’
pu¹ mhl b/i²	‘He¹ is thinking²’

The following conditions of occurrence of the durative aspect markers howevr may be noted:

(1) When the action denoted is general habitual action (an indefinite number of events spread over a period of time, rather than a single event) or if non-habitual, involving a series of intermittent events over a period of time rather than a single transitory event, it is marked by ba. Both the above mentioned types of action are in progress in some sense but not necessarily or exactly at the time of the locutionary act.

¹ lsk² n³ v b⁴	‘I¹ am going⁴ to³ school²’
	(i.e. I am a student)
k¹ pu² kpthdi³	‘They (pl.)¹ are following⁴ his²
mj b²	teachings³’
	(i.e. They are his followers)
k¹ dmpr² nn³	‘They (pl.)¹ are selling⁶ cabbage⁴
kb⁴ s khrdi⁵ z b⁶	having brought⁴ (it) from³ Dimapur²’

(2) When the action identified by the verb has just started as opposed to the action which started long back and is going on. The first is marked by -

and the second by ba.


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