LESSON 71

Far Past Tense

Vocabulary

141. You learned that the ordinary past tense is used in speaking of that which has been done today. For more distant time, yesterday or before, use the far past tense, of which the tense sign is -ara-. Thus, there is: personal prefix, tense sign -ara- , past stem: tw-ara-koze: we worked. ya-ara-giye - he went away.

1) Note the conjugation when nothing follows the verb within the clause except cyane or ati:

In the singular, the first a of -ara- is short, in the plural it is long. Both are high tones. Remember that for past time today the tones are low. Vowel-stem verbs follow the regular rule: naribagiwe - I forgot; waribagiwe - you forgot; yaribagiwe - he forgot, etc.

2) If something follows the verb, within the clause, the -ra is dropped (but -a- retained), giving the appearance of the ordinary past, but the tone is high instead of low.

Note the short a in the singular, but long in the plural.

3) In dependent clauses and in the negative, though the time is far distant, the -ra- is omitted. However, the tone distinctions remain the same.

Note: You will hear and see exceptions to rule 2) and 3).

Exercises:

I. Translate into English:

1. Yesu yaciye imigani myinshi, kandi abantu benshi baramukurikiye. 2. Umugabo yagize ingeso mbi cyane, nyamara nyuma yaraziretse. 3. Twateguye neza ibintu byacu byose. 4.Nagiye mu kindi gihugu mu kwezi kwa gatanu. 5. Abahungu batinze kenshi mu ishuri kuko bavuye kure. 6. Ejo twarabategereje, ariko ntimwaje. Yee, twaribagiwe. 7. Abana batwinginze ngo tubajyane, kandi twarabyemeye. 8. Umubyeyi wanjye yambwiye kwasa inkwi, kandi narabikoze. 9. Utegure ameza neza, kuko dufite abashyitsi kandi bavuye kure. 10. Umwigisha afite ingeso yo guca imigani iminsi yose.

II. Translate into Kinyarwanda:

1. The people heard the Gospel; they thought about it much (add -ho to end of verb). 2. The boys prepared much food because they went on a long journney. 3. The workmen carried large boxes on their heads. 4. I waited a whole day to see the European. 5. The old man told many proverbs to teach the young men. 6. Didn’t you go to help build the church? Yes, we went. 7. The girls prepared their clothes nicely because they wanted to go to school. 8. Did you (pl.) hear that thieves stole the rich man’s cows? What did you think about it? (add -ho to end of verb). 9. We were late to arrive there, but we wanted to enter in order to see the leaders (important men). 10. The pastor (nmupastori) spoke very good words; afterward many sinners were saved.