Language/Burmese/Grammar/Irregular-Verbs
Irregular verbs in Burmese can be tricky to learn, but once you understand them, you'll be able to have more fluid conversations in the language. In this lesson, we'll focus on some common Burmese irregular verbs and how to conjugate them in various tenses. By the end of this lesson, you'll have a better understanding of how to use these verbs in context and how they differ from regular verbs.
Present Tense
In Burmese, the present tense is typically used to describe an action that is happening right now or is a habitual action. To conjugate irregular verbs in the present tense, you'll need to be familiar with their base form. Let's take a look at some common irregular verbs and their present tense conjugations:
ရှာမည် (shamañ) – to find or search for
| Burmese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ရှာပါ | shapà | I find / I am finding |
| ရှာနေပါ | sha ne ba | You find / You are finding |
| ရှာနေတယ် | sha ne tay | He finds / He is finding |
| ရှာပြီ | shapì | We find / We are finding |
| ရှာနေပြီ | sha ne pì | They find / They are finding |
As you can see, the present tense conjugation of "shamañ" changes depending on the person or object performing the action. "Shamañ" is commonly used in everyday conversations, especially when asking for directions or searching for something.
သွား (swa) – to go
| Burmese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| သွားပါ | swa pà | I go / I am going |
| သွားနေပါ | swa ne ba | You go / You are going |
| သွားတယ် | swa tay | He goes / He is going |
| သွားတာ | swa ta | She goes / She is going |
| သွားတဲ့အခါ | swa tè a kha | We go / We are going |
| သွားတဲ့အချိန် | swa tè a chyin | They go / They are going |
"Swà" is a common verb in Burmese, and its present tense conjugation is crucial to learn. You'll use it in phrases such as "ခရီးသွား" (kha ti swa) which means "to travel".
Past Tense
The past tense in Burmese is used to describe an action that has already happened. Generally speaking, you can form the past tense of an irregular verb by changing the ending from "-ပြ" (-pi) to "-ရဲ့" (-re). Here are some examples of past tense conjugations of irregular verbs:
ဝင် (wing) – to enter
| Burmese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ဝင်ပြီ | wing pì | I entered / I have entered |
| ဝင်ရဲ့ | wing re | You entered / You have entered |
| ဝင်တိုင်းရဲ့ | wing taing yè re | He entered / He has entered |
| ဝင်မြင်ရဲ့ | wing myin re | She entered / She has entered |
| ဝင်တဲ့ | wing tè | We entered / We have entered |
| ဝင်တိုင်းတဲ့ | wing taing yè tè | They entered / They have entered |
"Wiñg" is an irregular verb that is often used when referring to entering a room or building.
ခြောက်လာ (khauk la) – to understand
| Burmese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ခြောက်လာတဲ့ | khauk la tè | We understood / We have understood |
| ခြောက်လာနောက်ပါ | khauk la ne ba | You understood / You have understood |
| ချောက်လာတယ် | chauk la tay | He understood / He has understood |
| ချောက်လာတာ | chauk la ta | She understood / She has understood |
| ခြောက်လာပြီ | khauk la pì | I understood / I have understood |
| ချောက်လာတိုင်းတဲ့ | chauk la taing yè tè | They understood / They have understood |
"Khauk la" is used when talking about understanding or comprehending something, and its past tense form is necessary to use in many conversations.
Future Tense
The future tense is used to describe an action that is going to happen at some point in the future. In Burmese, the future tense is typically formed by adding "နောက်" (ne ka) to the end of the sentence. Here are some common irregular verbs and their future tense conjugations:
မတ် (mat) – to play
| Burmese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| မတ်မှရလို့ရပါတယ် | mat hmài leh ya ba tay | He will play football |
| မတ်မှနောက်ပါ | mat hmà nè ka ba | I will play/We will play |
| မတ်မှနောက်ရပါတယ် | mat hmà nè ka ya ba tay | You will play |
| မတ်မှနောက်ပြီးပါပဲ | mat hmà nè ka pì pya | They will play |
"Mat" is commonly used when referring to playing games or sports, and it is important to learn its future tense conjugation in order to express future actions.
Imperative Form
The imperative form is used to give commands or orders in Burmese. It is usually formed by adding "က" (ka) to the end of the verb, regardless of whether the verb is regular or irregular. Here are some examples:
သွား (swa) – to go
- သွားပါ (swa pà) – Go (informal)
- သွားလို့ (swa leh ya) – Let's go (informal)
ပြု (pyu) – to use
- ပြုပါ (pyu pà) – Use (informal)
- ပြုစောင့်ပါ (pyu saung pya) – Let's use (informal)
Conclusion
Irregular verbs in Burmese can be challenging to learn, but once mastered, they will help you have more natural conversations with Burmese speakers. Keep in mind that the key to learning any language is consistent practice, so be sure to use these verbs as often as possible in various tenses. In the next lesson, we will continue with irregular verbs but in the past tense.
Related Lessons
- Nouns
- 0 to A1 Course
- Expressing Manner and Frequency
- Negation
- Questions
- Regular Verbs
- Future Tense
- Plurals
- Gender
- Simple Sentences