| Zarma verbs are not conjugated like in English. There are no conjugation endings, the verb itself never changes, either for person or number. Our ideas of tense in a verb and their ways of looking at time don't really coincide. Actual time elements will quite often be gotten from the context rather than from the verb, though if a verb has auxiliaries, they can give some clues. In the indicative mood, a Zarma verb really can show just one of two things: whether the action is completed (perfect) or not (imperfect).
Notes:
- the verb "to be" and "to have" will be discussed in a special fact sheets.
- irregular verbs with respect to sentence order are discussed here.
Perfect
A Zarma verb, without any auxiliaries, is in the past positive (or completed positive) tense (or state of being), see
Lesson 1.D.5. In the past tense, when the direct object precedes the verb, it is pointed out and distinguished from the subject by the particle "na". This "na" precedes the direct object, see
Lesson 2.C.2.
The past negative is formed by placing the negative "mana" after the subject where the auxiliary regular goes whether the direct object is present or not, see
Lesson 8.D.1.
Imperfect
The present tense of the verb uses the same auxiliary as the future tense does, see
Lesson 3.D.2. This is the auxiliary "ga". Like in English the repeated or habitual action are
distinguished from the progressive or continuous present, see
Lesson 5.D.3. The auxiliary "ga" is only used in case of a habitual action.
The negative of the present and future tenses is formed with the negative "si" that replaces "ga". Note that for present it must be actual present action, not a present state dependent on past action, see
Lesson 8.D.2.
Progressive
The progressive or continuous present and past positive use the auxiliary "go no ga" plus verb. It expresses the idea of being in the act or process of doing the action. The auxiliary "go ga" also shows the progressive or continuous aspect of the verb. It may also sometimes contains the idea of having just begun the action. This and the previous are generally interchangeable for showing action in progress, see
Lesson 5.D.3. and 15.C.1.
The progressive present and past negative use the auxiliary "si no ga" or "si ga" plus verb, see Lesson 10.C.3.
Special auxiliaries (see
Lesson 5.D.3.)
An action about to take place or the idea of 'to be about to' do something is shown be using
"ga ba ga" as auxiliaries before the verb.
The verbs "kaa" and "koy use as auxiliaries "go" or "go no", before the verb to show the immediate present. Or the "go no" may be separated with the first half before the verb and the rest after it; this is more emphatic.
Subjunctive
The subjunctive in Zarma is formed with the particle "ma" in the regular place for an auxiliary. It shows not an actual action but a possible action, see
Lesson 10.D.1.
The subjunctive mode is not used in conditional sentences, but rather the indicative, see
Lesson 10.D.2.
Imperative
The particle "ma" is also the sign of the imperative mode. The imperative may be used with the second and third person singular and with all three persons in the plural. Sometimes "wa" is used in stead of "ma", see
Lesson 11.D.2. |
