2.1. Past tense: ____ yaʔ
| hiyáʔ yaʔ cn. | ‘I went.’ |
| hiyáʔ yaʔ st. | ‘We went.’ |
| hiyáʔ yaʔ cxʷ. | ‘You went.’ |
| hiyáʔ yaʔ cxʷ hay. | ‘You folks went.’ |
| hiyáʔ yaʔ. | ‘He/she/it/they went.’ |
| ƛ̕kʷə́t yaʔ cn. | ‘I took it.’ |
| ƛ̕kʷə́t yaʔ st. | ‘We took it.’ |
| ƛ̕kʷə́t yaʔ cxʷ. | ‘You took it.’ |
| ƛ̕kʷə́t yaʔ cxʷ hay. | ‘You folks took it.’ |
| ƛ̕kʷə́ts yaʔ. | ‘He/she/it/they took it.’ |
► 1 The rule for forming the past tense in Klallam is very easy: put yaʔ after the verb.
► 2 In English the past tense is required if the action happened in the past, and you must use future tense if the action is to be in the future. In Klallam these tenses are not required. They are used only if the speaker wants to make sure the listener does not misunderstand. So, for example, the sentence hiyáʔ cn could mean ‘I go’ or ‘I went’ or ‘I will go,’ depending on context. If the context does not make it clear, then use the past or future tense.
► 3 The past tense is formed the same way in both transitive and intransitive verbs.
► 4 Note that the yaʔ precedes the subject except when the subject is the ‑s ending.
► 5 Note that yaʔ and the future marker caʔ introduced in the next section are grammatical particles, and so are never stressed.
 | ʔəsx̣ʷaʔníŋ cxʷ. | ‘How are you?’ |
 | ʔuʔə́y̕ cn. | ‘I’m fine.’ |
| ʔaʔstúʔŋət yaʔ cxʷ ʔuč. | ‘What did you do?’ |
| kʷánəŋət yaʔ cn. | ‘I ran.’ |
| ʔaʔstúʔŋət kʷaʔčaʔ. | ‘Why?’ |
| ƛ̕kʷə́t yaʔ cn. | ‘I took it.’ |