Difference between revisions of "Language/Lingala/Grammar/The-Past-Tense-To-Be"

Language/Lingala/Grammar/The-Past-Tense-To-Be (edit)

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 To create the past tense of kozala, first drop the ‘ko-’ from the infinitive form and replace it with the appropriate subject pronoun – again, na-, o-, a-, to-, bo-, ba-, e- – and then add ‘-ki’ to the end of the infinitive root.
-na+zala+ki	nazalaki	(nah-ZAH-lah-kee)	I was
+{| class="wikitable"
-o+zala+ki	ozalaki	(oh-ZAH-lah-kee)	you were
+| colspan="3" |Lingala
-a+zala+ki	azalaki	(ah-ZAH-lah-kee)	he/she was
+|English
-to+zala+ki	tozalaki	(toh-ZAH-lah-kee)	we were
+|-
-bo+zala+ki	bozalaki	(boh-ZAH-lah-kee)	you were (plural)
+|na+zala+ki
-ba+zala+ki	bazalaki	(bah-ZAH-lah-kee)	they were
+|nazalaki
-e+zala+ki	ezalaki	(eh-ZAH-lah-kee)	it was
+|(nah-ZAH-lah-kee)
+|I was
+|-
+|o+zala+ki
+|ozalaki
+|(oh-ZAH-lah-kee)
+|you were
+|-
+|a+zala+ki
+|azalaki
+|(ah-ZAH-lah-kee)
+|he/she was
+|-
+|to+zala+ki
+|tozalaki
+|(toh-ZAH-lah-kee)
+|we were
+|-
+|bo+zala+ki
+|bozalaki
+|(boh-ZAH-lah-kee)
+|you were (plural)
+|-
+|ba+zala+ki
+|bazalaki
+|(bah-ZAH-lah-kee)
+|they were
+|-
+|e+zala+ki
+|ezalaki
+|(eh-ZAH-lah-kee)
+|it was
+|}
 Somewhat confusingly, Lingala uses the same word for yesterday and tomorrow – lobi (LOH-bee) – so it is important to listen for (or look for, if you’re reading) the distinctive ‘kee’ sound at the end of every past tense verb form.