Sample Pages
APPENDIX 0
phrases with would or might.
All seven of these forms are classed together within a single dimension because they are mutually exclusive with one another. Also, as has already been pointed out, they are all represented by prefixes (or, in the case of the immediate tense, lack of a prefix) in one and the same slot in the verb structure.
The tense that refers to past actions within the present day (the 'hodiernal' tense) is characterized by an /-a-/ immediately after the subject prefix:
| nkora... | 'I do....' |
| nakoze... | 'I did.... (sometime today)' |
Most subject prefixes have a slightly different form when they stand before a vowel:
| asoma... | 'he/she reads....' |
| yasomye... | 'he/she read....(sometime today)' |
| tugeenda... | 'we go....' |
| twagiiye... | 'we went....(sometime today)' |
| mugeenda... | 'you (pl.) go....' |
| mwagiiye... | 'you (pl.) went....(sometime today).' |
| ugeenda... | 'you (sg.) go....' |
| wagiiye... | 'you (sg.) went....(sometime today).' |
Choose the better approximate translation, and state whether the verb is IMEDIATE tense, or HODIERNAL tense:
| Nataanguye.... | 'I began...(sometime today).' 'I begin...' |
[hodiernal] |
| Nkora kazi. | 'I work.' 'I worked...(sometime today).' |
[immediate] |
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