LESSON 54

Ordinary Past (continued)

In this lesson, instead of a new vocabulary, continue memorizing the past suffixes of verbs given in Lesson 53.

108. For forming this past tense in agreements with nouns of classes other than first, it is important to remember the rules for vowel and consonant change. Here are some examples:

109. Vowel stems in past. For the conjugation of vowel-stem verbs in the ordinary past, remember that a before other vowels drops out. Thus:

Exercises:

I. Translate into English:

1. Inka zagiye ku ruzi kunywa amazi. 2. Twibagiwe kuzana ibitabo byacu. 3. Mbese mwogeje neza amasahane yose? 4. Twizeye ijambo rya Yesu kuko twumvise ibitangaza (insert “which”) yakoze. 5. Ubukene bw’umugabo bwazanye amagorwa menshi n’ubwoba. 6. Ihene yanyoye amazi mu ruzi. 7. Inyamaswa zishe intama eshatu. 8. Inkumi zogeje amasahane mabi yose. 9. Injangwe yacu yafashe imbeba nyinshi. 10. Umuriro wazanye umwotsi mu nzu yose.

II. Translate into Kinyarwanda:

1. Two blind men went to the church to pray. 2. Thieves entered the house in the night because the man was sleeping hard (cyane). 3. The old man’s workmen built a big house in his kraal. 4. I wrote the names of all the girls in the school. 5. The new books fell on the floor. 6. The old man died yesterday. 7. Did you (pl.) hear the words of the teacher? 8. Sin brought death to all people. 9. Did you (s.) remember to send three men to Kigali to buy food? 10. We repented of all our sins and Jesus came into our hearts.