Completed Past Events
I/he: -ay; you singular/she: -tay; we: -nay; you plural: -teen; they: -een.
How It Works
Regular affirmative past endings are -ay for I/he, -tay for you singular/she, -nay for we, -teen for you plural and -een for they. Learn these actual forms: first-person plural -nay retains ay, while the other plural endings contain ee.
The stem and ending consonant undergo the same alternations as in the present. For example, kari gives feminine past karisay, while class-three booq uses its vowel stem in booqannay. A past-time word such as shalay “yesterday” helps establish the event’s time.
Compare waan shaqeeyay “I worked/have worked” with waan shaqaynayaa “I am working.” A past progressive and a former repeated habit use separate constructions. Negative past forms and affirmative focused-subject agreement also require their own patterns; do not mechanically reuse this full affirmative paradigm.
Examples (3)
- Shalay waan shaqeeyay.
I worked yesterday.
The vowel stem inserts y before the first-person singular past ending.
- Hodan way karisay cashada.
Hodan cooked dinner.
The feminine ending has s after the class-two i stem.
- Annagu waan booqannay maktabadda.
We visited the library.
The class-three vowel stem precedes first-person plural nnay.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Contrast familiar present agreement endings with completed-event past forms.
Related Patterns
- Finding a Verb's Pattern
Explains the stems used in past forms.
Level 3 - Negating a Past Event
Provides the distinct negative construction.
Level 3 - -ayayAn Action That Was in Progress
Describes an action unfolding at a past reference point.
Level 3 - Infinitive + jirayActions That Used to Happen
Expresses a former repeated habit.
Level 3
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice Completed Past Events in Bubblegum
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