LESSON 51

Ordinary Past Tense

Vocabulary

kunywa (nyoye) - to drink ibiryo - food
gucana (canye) - to light (fire, lamp) kare - early
kurya (riye) - to eat

103. Ordinary Past Tense. All the tenses dealt with thus far were formed by changes in the prefix. But the past tenses are formed by changing the suffix as well as the prefix. There are some rules to go by for forming these suffixes, but since so many verbs are irregular in this respect, the past stem will be given with all verbs from now on.

Here are the past stems of a few verbs that you have learned:

gukora - -koze kuvuga -vuze
kugenda -giye kuzana -zanye
kujya -giye

Now note the conjugation:

nakoze - I worked twakoze - we worked
wakoze - you (s.) worked mwakoze - you (pl.) worked
yakoze - he, she worked bakoze - they worked

The rule for forming this tense is: personal prefix + a (which is the tense sign), + past stem of verb: n - a - koze

Note the contraction: u-a-koze becomes wakoze; a-a-koze becomes yakoze; tu-a-koze becomes twakoze, etc.

104. The main use of this tense is to express that which has happened earlier in the same day; it may also be used for that which happened at a previous time, but the tone is different.

Past today (if nothing follows the verb)

nakoze twakoze
wakoze mwakoze The tone on a is long and low.
yakoze bakoze

If something follows the verb (other than cyane or ati) , the singular takes a short a, but it is still a low tone, whether long or short.

nakoze imirimo twakoz’e imirimo
wakoze imirimo mwakoze imirimo
yakoze imirimo bakoze imirimo

Past time before today: The form is the same but the tone is high. (See par. 141)

I. Translate into English

1. Abagabo ibagiye kare mu gitondo kuko bafite akazi kenshi. 2. Mwagiye kare cyane gushaka ibiryo byanyu. 3. Abana bariye ibiryo bike. 4. Ejo umwigisha yavuze amagambo meza mu ishuri. 5. Twacanye umuriro mwinshi kuko dushaka guteka vuba. 6. Abakozi bakoze umunsi wose kuko bashaka amafaranga menshi. 7. Inshuti yanjye yavuze ko izagaruka vuba cyane. 8. Abana banyoye amata yose mu gitondo. 9. Umukene yariye ibiryo byinshi maze (then) yagiye. 10. Umukozi yazanye inkwi nini mu nzu.

II. Translate into Kinyarwanda:

1. Two boys worked well in the garden but the other three worked badly. 2. You (pl.) drank much dirty water. 3. The children brought their books to school today because they want to read. 4. The girl brought wood and she lit a big fire. 5. We eat meat and beans and bananas, and we drank much water. 6. I worked hard yesterday, and I brought my food. 7. What did you (s.) say? I said that I will come back tomorrow. 8. The girls made a fire because they want to cook (some) meat and (some) sweet potatoes. 9. Where did you (pl.) go yesterday? We went to Cyangugu to buy (some) food. 10. I think that Mary brought a new chair to school.