7.
Active :
-n
mp
tn-chò
I-nom him hang-past
I hanged him
Passive
: mp-nà
tn-chò
he me-by hang-past
He was hanged by me
4.3. Tense :
"The
essential characteristic of the category of tense is that
it relates the time of action, event or state of affairs
referred to in the sentence to the time of the utterance".
"(J. Lyons)1. Hockett2
defines the tense as "a grammatical category showing
different locations of an event in time".
Verbs in Lotha are marked morphologically for tense.
Lotha verb shows three way opposition for tense 1. present
2. past 3. future. Tense markers occur at the end of the
verb.
4.3.1. Present tense :
It
indicates that action which takes place when the utterance
is uttered. The present tense marker is-là,
it gives the meaning of both present indefinite as well
as continuous.
Examples
:
1. -n
ótsì ts-là
I-nom
rice eat-present
I eat rice or I am eating rice