LESSON 55

Negative of Ordinary Past

Vocabulary

110. The negative of the ordinary past is simply the negative prefix, personal prefix, tense sign, and past stem: nti - tw - a - koze.

The same rule applies for vowel-stem verbs: sinogeje - I didn’t wash, ntibubatse - they didn’t build.

With other classes: inka ntizagiye - the cows didn’t go

111. Remember that kuva is usually followed by mu or ku (par. 11), though it may not, always be, e.g. wavuye he? navuye mu ishuri - where did you come from? I came from school. (This implies that one has been in the school. If you said, “Navuye ku ishuri,” you would mean, “I came from the area around the school.”

Exercises:

I. Translate into English:

1. Sinshobora kwandika urwandiko; sinazanye ikaramu yanjye. 2. Abantu bangahe bavuye mu rusengero? 3. Navuye mu byaha byinshi; ubu nzakurikira Yesu imyaka yanjye yose. 4. Mbese ntimwazanye amakaramu yanyu n’impapuro zanyu? 5. Iteraniro rinini ryakurikiye Yesu hose, ntiryashatse kuva kuri we. 6. Ababyeyi bacu ntibubatse inzu nini cyane. 7. Mbese ntiwaguze impapuro n’ikaramu? 8. Imbwa ntizaje mu rusengero; ntitwashatse ko zinjira. 9. Inyamaswa ntizumvise abantu; nuko rero (so) bafashe nyinshi. 10. Umujura ntiyabonye ibintu byinshi kuko umusore yinjiye mu nzu.

II. Translate into Kinyarwanda:

1. The boys didn’t come from the school; they came from church. 2. The children wrote on all the paper and we didn’t have any other. 3. The blind men fell; they couldn’t see the path. 4. Didn’t you (s.) want to cook the sweet potatoes in the evening yesterday, or did you forget? 5. The young men did not eat all the beans. 6. We didn’t ask the teacher to write a letter because he is very busy (= has much work). 7. Didn’t you (pI.) bathe this morning? Your legs are very dirty. 8. They sang two songs at church, but I didn’t sing. 9. Didn’t the young girls agree to hoe in our garden today? 10. The dog didn’t look at the cat; it looked for food.