A three-way opposition in tense is available when the auxiliary
verb «se known as copula is used in
equational1 and existential ltype of sentences, as in
:
|
| |
itu da or  sile |
‘it was big’ |
| itu daor |
‘it (is) big’ |
| itu daor
hobo |
‘it will be big’ |
| itu daor nsile |
‘it was not big’ |
| itu daor nse |
‘it is not big’ |
| itu daor nhobo |
‘it will not be big’ |
| itu daor nse
ki |
‘is it big?’ |
| tay horu suali ekta sile |
‘She
was a small girl’ |
| tay horu suali |
‘She is a small girl’ |
| tay horu suali |
‘She will be a small girl’ |
| tay puali ekta thkisile |
‘She had a child’ |
| |
(lit. he/she child one remain past) |
| |
1 2
3 4
5 |
| tay puali ekta se |
‘She has a
child’ |
| tay puali ekta pabo |
‘She will have a child’ |
| 1
2 3 4 5 |
(lit. he/she child one
get will) |
| |
1 2 3
4 5 |
| tay puali ekta th
kinsile |
‘She did not have a child«’ |
| tay puali ekta th
kinse |
‘She does not have a child«’ |
| tay puali ekta npabo |
‘She will
not have a child«’ |
| 1
2 3 4 5 6 |
(lit. he/she child one
no get will) |
| |
1 2
3 4 5 |
| moto yate sile |
‘Moti was here’ |
| moti yate se |
‘Moti is here’ |
| moti yate hobo |
‘Moti will be here’, etc. |
|
The tenses of a verb in this language do not show any agreement/ concord
in number/person with the number/person of the noun/pronoun functioning as
the subject. The following examples would illustrate this point.
|
1In equation type of sentences, the simple present
is indicated only in negative sentences, as in itu danor nase ‘it is not
big’.
|
| |
Number :
|
| |
moy jayse
‘I went’
hoykhan jayse
‘we went’
tay huru suali sile
‘she was a small girl’
taykhan huru suali sile
‘They were small girls’
tay jabo
‘She/he will go’
taykhan jabo
‘they will go’
|
| |
Person :
|
| |
moy jayse
‘I went’
puni jayse ‘you(sg) went’
tay jayse ‘she/he
went’
itu jayse ‘it
went’
moy tak diskise ‘I saw her/him’
puni tak dikise ‘you saw her/him’
tay muk dikise ‘he/she saw me’, etc.
|
Tense morphemes:
|
The
undermentioned tense morphs can be deduced from the illustrative
examples given in this section.
|
| |
Simple past:
se/sile
Simple future: bo
Simple present: se1
|
Alternates of the
tense morphemes:
|
-ile is an
alternant form of the simple past morpheme -se. -ile occurs with the
LV se and -se occurs
elsewhere. The simple future tense morpheme bo has no alternant form.
|
| 3.3.4.2. |
Aspect:
|
Both the tense
and aspect are concerned with the time element, but with one
difference, viz., whereas the tense is concerned with the location of
the time of an action in relation to the time of utterance, the aspect
is concerned with the temporal distribution of an action, event or
state of affairs. In other words, the aspect concerns the manner in
which the action specified by the verb in a sentence is experienced or
regarded, for instance, the different aspects indicate whether or not
the action has been completed in (space) progress, etc. What is
pertinent to note here is that no clear cut demarcation of the area of
tense and aspect is possible, rather to a great extent they
|
1se
is the locative verb which also functions as the auxiliary verb. The
base form itself indicates the present tenses. The other verbs do not
show a simple present form.
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