Lesson 4

Tenses

Rohingya distinguishes 3 tenses and 4 aspects, as shown in the examples below. In these tenses, the helping verb félai shows perfect action (comparable to English "has/have") and félaat shows perfect continuous action (compare English "has/have been"). The helping verb táki and táikki are comparable to English "be" and "been".

Verb-form-suffix (basic and/or helping verb) indicate both person and tense. The suffixes ~ir, ~yi, ~lám, ~youm are used for the first person, the suffixes ~or, ~yó, ~lá, ~bá for the 2nd person, and the suffixes ~ar, ~ye, ~l, ~bou for the 3rd person.

Similarly ~ir, ~or, ~ar indicate present continuous tense, ~yi, ~yó, ~ye present perfect tense, ~lám, ~lá, ~l past tense, and ~youm, ~bá, ~bou future tense.

 

 

1st person

2nd person

3rd person

present

simple present

Añí

hái.

I eat.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

hóo.

hós.

You eat.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

há.

He/She/They eats/eats/eat.

present progressive

Añí

ir.

I am eating.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

or.

or.

You are eating.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

hár.

He/She/They is/is/are eating.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

hái

boi.

He/She/They is/is/are eating.

perfect

Añí

hái

félaiyi.

I have eaten.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

hái

hái

félaiyó.

félaiyós.

You have eaten.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

hái

félaiye.

He/She/They has/has/have eaten.

perfect continuous

Añí

hái

félair.

I have been eating.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

hái

hái

féloor.

féloor.

You have been eating.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

hái

félaar.

He/She/They has/has/have been eating.

Past

near past

Añí

háiyi.

I ate.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

háiyo.

háiyós.

You ate.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

háaiye.

He/She/They ate.

far past

Añí

háailam.

I ate.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

háailá.

háailí.

You ate.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

háail.

He/She/They ate.

past progressive

Añí

at

táikkilám.

I was eating.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

at

at

táikkilá.

táikkilí.

You were eating.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

at

táikkil.

He/She/They was/was/were eating.

perfect

Añí

hái

félailám.

I had eaten.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

hái

hái

félailá.

félailí.

You had eaten.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

hái

félail.

He/She/They had eaten.

perfect continuous

Añí

hái

félaat

táikkilám.

I had been eating.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

hái

hái

félaat

félaat

táikkilá.

táikkilí.

You had been eating.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

hái

félaat

táikkil.

He/She/They had been eating.

Future

simple future

Añí

háiyoum.

I will eat.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

háiba.

háibí.

You will eat.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

háibou.

He/She/They will eat.

future progressive

Añí

at

tákiyoum.

I will be eating.

Añí

háiyoum

boi.

I will be eating.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

at

at

tákibá.

tákibí.

You will be eating.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

háiba

háibi

goi.

goi.

You will be eating.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

at

tákibou.

He/She/They will be eating.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

háibou

goi.

He/She/They will be eating.

perfect

Añí

hái

félaiyoum.

I will have eaten.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

hái

hái

félaibá.

félaibí.

You will have eaten.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

hái

félaibou.

He/She/They will has/has/have eaten.

perfect continuous

Añí

hái

félaat

tákiyoum.

I will have been eating.

Tuñí/Oñne

Tui

hái

hái

félaat

félaat

tákibá.

tákibí.

You will have been eating.

Ite/Ibá/Itará

hái

félaat

tákibou.

He/She/They will has/has/have been eating.

 

Inflection for person

Rohingya verbs indicate person by suffixes.

Present Tense
lek = write (command to you sg.)
lekí = I/we write.
lekó = write (command to you pl.)
lekós = You write (sg./pl.).
leké = He/she/they write(s).

Present Continuous Tense
lekír = I/we am/are writing.
lekór = You (sg./pl.) are writing.
lekér = He/she/they is/are writing.

Present Perfect Tense
lekífélaiyi = I/we have written.
lekífélaiyo = You (sg./pl.) have written.
lekífélaiyós = You (sg.) have written. (used to very closed people)
lekífélaiye = He/she/they has/have written.

Future Tense
lekíyóum = I/we will write.
lekíbá = You (sg./pl.) will write.
lekíbi = You (sg.) will write. (used to very closed people)
lekíbóu = He/she/they will write.

Past Tense (Immediate/near past)
leikkí = I/we wrote.
leikkó = You (sg./pl.) wrote.
leikkós = You (sg.) wrote. (used to very closed people)
leikké = He/she/they wrote.

Past Tense (Remote past)
leikkílám = I/we wrote long ago.
leikkílá = You (sg./pl.) wrote long ago.
leikkílí = You (sg.) wrote long ago. (used to very closed people)
leikkíl = He/she/they wrote long ago.

Past Tense (If possibility)
lekítám = I/we would have written.
lekítá = You (sg./pl.) would have written.
lekítí = You (sg.) would have written. (used to very closed people)
lekítóu = He/she/they would have written.

Forming Noun, Doer, Tool, Action
lekóon = act of writing.
        e.g. Debalor uore lekóon gom noó. Writing on wall is not good.
lekóya = writer.
        e.g. Itará ttu lekóya bicí. They-have many writers.
lekóni = thing with which you write.
        e.g. Añártú honó lekóni nái. I-have no any writing-thing (i.e. pen, pencil)
lekát = in the action of writing.
        e.g. Tui lekát asós. You are busy-in-writing.

 

Case

Examples of the case inflection are given below, using the singular forms of the Rohingya term for "hóliba (tailor)" which belongs to Rohingya's first declension class.

  • hólibaye (nominative) "[the] hóliba" [as a subject] (e.g. hólibaye tíai táikke éçe – the tailor is standing there)
  • hólibar (genitive) "[the] hóliba's / [of the] hóliba" (e.g. hólibar nam Ahmed – the tailor's name is Ahmed)
  • hóliballa (dative) "[to/for the] hóliba" [as an indirect object] (e.g. hóliballa hádiya ekkán diyí – I gave a present for the tailor)
  • hólibare (accusative) "[the] hóliba" [as a direct object] (e.g. Añí hólibare deikkí – I saw the tailor)
  • hólibaloi (ablative) "[by/with/from/in the] hóliba" [in various uses] (e.g. Añí hólibaloi duan ot giyí – I went to the shop with the tailor).'
  • óu hóliba / hóliba ya (vocative) "[you] the hóliba" [addressing the object] (e.g. "cúkuria tuáñre, óu hóliba (sáb)" – thank you, tailor).

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