2.1. Past tense: LE¸
Models
| 1) | YÁ¸ LE¸ SEN. | ‘I went.’ |
| 2) | YÁ¸ LE¸ ȽTE. | ‘We went.’ |
| 3) | YÁ¸ LE¸ SW̱. | ‘You went.’ |
| 4) | YÁ¸ LE¸ SW̱ HÁLE. | ‘You folks went.’ |
| 5) | YÁ¸ LE¸. | ‘He/she/it/they went.’ |
| 6) | ȻENET LE¸ SEN. | ‘I took it.’ |
| 7) | ȻENET LE¸ ȽTE. | ‘We took it.’ |
| 8) | ȻENET LE¸ SW̱. | ‘You took it.’ |
| 9) | ȻENET LE¸ SW̱ HÁLE. | ‘You folks took it.’ |
| 10) | ȻENETES LE¸. | ‘He/she/it/they took it.’ |
‣ 1 The rule for forming the past tense in SENĆOŦEN is very easy: put LE¸ 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 SENĆOŦEN, these tenses are not required. They are generally used if the speaker wants to make sure the listener does not misunderstand. So, for example, the sentence YÁ¸ SEN 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. Constructions where using the past and future markers makes a big difference are covered in §23.
‣ 3 The past tense is formed the same way in both transitive and intransitive verbs.
‣ 4 Note that the LE¸ precedes the subject except when the subject is the ‑ES ending.
‣ 5 Note that LE¸ and the future marker SE¸ introduced in the next section are grammatical particles, and so are never stressed.
 | ÁȽE E SW̱ U¸ ÍY¸ OL¸? | ‘How are you?’ |
 | U¸ ÍY¸ SEN. | ‘I’m fine.’ |
| STOṈET LE¸ SW̱ ȻEĆÁ? | ‘What did you do?’ |
| ȻONEṈET LE¸ SEN. | ‘I ran.’ |
| X̱ENIṈ LE¸ ȻEĆÁ EN¸ ŚW̱ȻONEṈET? | ‘Why did you run?’ |
| ȻENET LE¸ SEN. | ‘I took it.’ |
| 2.1A. Translate each of the following into English. 1. ȻENÁṈET LE¸ SEN. 2. ŚTEṈ LE¸ SW̱. 3. ȻENET LE¸ ȽTE. 4. ITET LE¸. 5. XĆIT LE¸ ȽTE. 6. W̱ITEṈ LE¸ SEN. 7. NEḴEṈ LE¸. 8. JISEṈ LE¸ SW̱. 9. ȽÁU¸ LE¸ ȽTE. 10. X̱OṈ LE¸ SEN. 11. IȾEṈ LE¸ SW̱ HÁLE. 12. W̱EĆET LE¸ SW̱. 13. ȽIȾET LE¸ SW̱ HÁLE. 14. ȻENITES LE¸. 15. ȻÁ¸ET LE¸ SEN. | 2.1B. Translate each of the following into SENĆOŦEN past tense. 1. I grew. 2. She walked. 3. We got dressed. 4. You cried. 5. He ran away. 6. We ran. 7. They jumped. 8. I slept. 9. You dove. 10. You all flew. 11. I broke it. 12. You held it. 13. We dried it. 14. You all lifted it. 15. She hit it. |