Verbs - Past Tense

The following chart shows how to put verbs into the past tense, based on their verb class.

From this lesson forward, an attempt will be made to include the verb class number as a superscript to the verb root.

class past tense
1a add j; + verb suffix
1b drop the -s;, then add z;l; + verb suffix
1c drop the -y;, then add d;w; + verb suffix
2 add e;j; + verb suffix
3 add ,d; + verb suffix
4 drop the -c, double the last letter, and add the verb suffix
5 ~
6 add j;j; + verb suffix
7 add e;j; + verb suffix

For future reference, we will need define the past tense stem as the part of the past tense verb before the verb suffix. So for the verbs jL6 and fhj;jpU7, the past tense stems would be jlj;j;- and fhj;jpUe;j;-.

examples
    1. ehd; nra;Njd; = "I did"
    2. mtu;fs; Mz;lhu;fs; = "They ruled"
    3. ehq;fs; nrd;Nwhk; = "We went"
  2. eP tsu;e;jha; = "You grew"
  3. mts; Ngrpdhs; = "She spoke"
  4. ePq;fs; Nghl;Bu;fs; = "You put"
  5. (see below)
  6. ehk; nfhLj;Njhk; = "We gave"
  7. mJ ele;jJ = "It walked"
Examples of Irregular Verbs

verb past tense present tense future tense
epy;5 epd;whu;fs; epw;fpwhu;fs; epw;ghu;fs;
tpy;5 tpw;whd; tpw;fpwhd; tpw;ghd;
Nfs;5 Nfl;lhs; Nfl;fpwhs; Nfl;ghs;
th2 te;jhu;fs; tUfpwhu;fs; tUthu;fs;
jh2 je;Njd; jUfpNwd; jUNtd;
nrhy;3 nrhd;Ndd; nrhy;fpNwd; nrhy;Ntd;
gz;Z3 gz;zpNdhk; gz;ZfpNwhk; gz;ZNthk;
Ngh3 Nghdhu; Nghfpwhu; Nghthu;