Past tenses of Interslavic verbs are very easy and regular. There is only one pattern for all verbs (except for a few of irregular verbs). This pattern is based on the infinitive. L-participle Interslavic (as well as spoken Slavic) operates past tenses with the so called L-participle. It is a special form of indeclinable verbal adjective made from the infinitive.
děla-ti → děla-l, děla-la, děla-lo, děla-li (to do) pisa-ti → pisa-l, pisa-la, pisa-lo, pisa-li (to write) vidě-ti → vidě-l, vidě-la, vidě-lo, vidě-li (to see) pek-ti → pek-l, pek-la, pek-lo, pek-li (to bake) mog-ti → mog-l, mog-la, mog-lo, mog-li (to can) simple past tense The simple past tense is formed in a similar way as the L-participle.
Examples: děla-ti → děla-h, děla-še, děla-še, děla-hom, děla-ste, děla-hu (to do) pisa-ti → pisa-h, pisa-še, pisa-še, pisa-hom, pisa-ste, pisa-hu (to write) peč-ti → peč-e-h, peč-e-še, peč-e-še, peč-e-hom, peč-e-ste, peč-e-hu (to bake) Note: The foregoing simple past tense forms are found in the past tenses of Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin, (Slavo) Macedonian and Bulgarian and were in all Slavic languages in the past. They are not, however, found in the modern Western Slavic and Eastern Slavic languages except Sorbian. composed past tense = prior present tense As noted above, the Western Slavic and Eastern Slavic languages do not use the simple past tense (-hu, -še , ...). Instead, they use the composed past tense made by the combination of the verb byti (to be) in the present tense and the L-participle in corresponding personal form (m. or f. or n. or pl.). Example:
As You can see, it is not required to use "jest, je, sut" in the 3rd person: je dělal → dělal, sut dělali → dělali. Jesi li pisala pismo? Did You (f.) write a letter? Ne, on pisal to pismo. No, he did write this letter. Remember the simple past tense of the verb byti (to be):
If you use the past form of the verb byti (to be) instead of the present form, you will create the "prior past tense". Example: Běše li pisala pismo? Had you (f.) written a letter? Ne, on běše pisal to pismo. No, he had written this letter. symmetric system of Interslavic present and past tenses If we do not assume a simplified system with only one past tense (either simple or composed), we can define the complex symmetric system of four tenses in two time levels: the present level and the past level.
Example of the present time level: Hvalimo Vas, že jeste kupili knigy. Thank you for buying the books. (thanking = present, buying = prior-present) The same example moved to the past time level: Hvalihmo Vas, že běste kupili knigy. We did thank you for buying the books. (thanking = past, buying = prior-past) It is obvious, that the relationship between thanking and buying is the same in both time levels: Buying goes first, thanking goes after. |
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